Vice President, Sales

Job Summary

The Vice President of Sales will be pivotal leader in shaping Cristcot’s commercial launch of its first ulcerative colitis (UC) therapy. This leader will design, build, and lead a hybrid field organization that combines an internal commercial team with an externally deployed field sales team through a contract sales organization (CSO). The role is accountable for aligning these teams under one integrated field strategy, creating a high-performance culture, and ensuring consistent, compliant execution across the customer journey.

The Vice President of Sales will directly lead and develop the internal field leadership team while providing executive oversight and governance for the external CSO field sales team and other agency partners. The successful candidate will balance people leadership, field-force strategy, vendor management, launch execution, and cross-functional partnership to deliver revenue, access, and customer engagement objectives.

Primary Relationships

• Within Cristcot, the Vice President of Sales will collaborate closely with Commercial, Marketing, Market Access and other cross functional teams.
• Outside Cristcot, the Vice President of Sales will serve as the primary executive relationship manager for contract sales organizations (CSOs), field agencies, training partners, and other outsourced commercial vendors.

Primary Job Responsibilities

The Vice President of Sales will lead the Sales organization driving product launches and delivering against corporate revenue goals, setting clear strategic director and ensuring tactical preparation and executing results in successful launches and sustained success.  Working collaboratively across functional launch team including team members from commercial, manufacturing, medical affairs, IT, government affairs, patient advocacy, legal, regulatory & market access.

The Activities of the Vice President of Sales will include, but are not limited to:

• Develop and execute an integrated national field strategy for a hybrid organization consisting of internal Regional Business Directors as well as an external CSO field sales team.
• Recruit, onboard, coach, develop, and retain high-performing internal field leaders; establish clear expectations, performance goals, succession plans, and a culture of accountability.
• Define the roles, operating model, decision rights, communication channels, and coordinated customer engagement approach across internal and external field teams.
• Lead the evaluation, selection, onboarding, and ongoing management of the CSO and other external commercial partners.
• Establish governance, business-review cadence, performance expectations, service-level standards, and corrective-action processes for the CSO field sales organization.
• Develop and monitor field-force KPIs, scorecards, incentive measures, and performance dashboards that provide visibility into both internal and CSO execution.
• Partner with CSO leadership to ensure the external field team is appropriately recruited, trained, deployed, coached, and retained in alignment with Cristcot's strategy, culture, and compliance requirements.
• Provide strategic direction for field-force sizing, territory alignment, targeting, customer segmentation, deployment, and resource allocation; adjust the model as customer access and business needs evolve.
• Ensure Regional Business Directors and Thought Leader Liaisons work in close coordination with the CSO field team, Marketing, Market Access, and Medical Affairs to deliver a cohesive customer experience.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Medical Affairs, Market Access, and Commercial Operations to ensure all field personnel have the appropriate tools, training, messaging, and resources for compliant, effective execution.
• Safeguard the appropriate commercial and medical affairs boundaries, including the responsible coordination of thought leader engagement and field requests for Medical Affairs support.
• Conduct regular field and vendor business reviews; address performance gaps through clear action plans, accountability mechanisms, and timely escalation when needed.
• Oversee sales budgets, CSO and vendor contracts, contractual performance, and return on investment; manage expense budgets responsibly.
• Drive and remain accountable for the sales forecast in partnership with Business Information and Commercial Analytics; translate insights into actionable field plans.
• Ensure regional and territory business plans are in place, aligned to corporate revenue goals, and executed with disciplined follow-through.
• Represent Sales on the cross-functional launch team and ensure field perspectives inform launch readiness, customer strategy, and post-launch optimization.
• Foster innovation, experimentation, continuous improvement, and a One Team culture across internal employees and external partners.
• Ensure all activities and communications comply with company policies, promotional standards, legal and regulatory requirements, and the highest ethical standards.

Skills and Qualifications:

• 15+ years of pharmaceutical experience with Bachelors degree required
• Advanced degree preferred
• 10+ years in sales leadership with deep experience in being a leader of leaders
• Significant launch experience in specialty products with experience in product reimbursement and hub services
• Experience launching products utilizing hybrid field sales models preferred
• Demonstrated success leading Contract Sales Organizations (CSOs), outsourced commercial teams, or third-party sales agencies within the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry
• Experience selecting, negotiating with and managing commercial vendors and agency partnerships
• Proven ability to influence and lead through indirect management structures rather than direct reporting relationships
• Strong vendor management, contract oversight and executive relationship management skills
• Experience establishing governance models, performance metrics and operational excellence across outsourced commercial organizations
• Prior experience building & leading sales teams, marketing and other multiple teams in cross-functional environments
• Experience working with leading pharmaceutical contract sales organizations such as Syneos Health, EVERSANA, Amplity Health, Inizio Engage, IQVIA, or similar commercial partners preferred
• Experience managing both internal and outsourced specialty sales forces supporting gastroenterology, immunology, or specialty pharmaceutical products preferred
• Gastroenterology experience preferred
• Demonstrated success integrating agency partners into cross-functional launch teams while maintaining a "One Team" culture preferred
• Results-oriented and excellent analytical, strategic, business planning, communication, and decision-making skills
• Demonstrated track record of building a team, and coaching and developing next-generation leaders; proven leadership capabilities
• Strong verbal and written communication skills to influence and negotiate internally/externally to deliver ideal outcomes
• Proven ability to work in a cross-functional team setting (clinical, medical affairs, health economics, sales, managed markets, regulatory, legal, R&D, project management)
• Demonstrated experience managing budgets
• Ability to thrive in an environment of rapid change, and capacity to work in a fast-paced company with competing priorities
• High ethical and professional standards
• Collaborative & motivational leadership and internal stakeholder management skills
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to execute flawlessly to deliver results
• Ability to travel up to 70%