Associate Director, Market Access & Patient Services Analytics

Ionis•Boston, MA

7d•Hybrid

About The Position

Ionis Pharmaceuticals is seeking an Associate Director, Market Access & Patient Services Analytics. This role will serve as an advanced analytics lead and trusted advisor for Market Access and Patient Services within the Commercial Analytics & Operations team. The position aims to enhance the speed, agility, and quality of operational decision-making by leading advanced analytics projects. These projects will focus on identifying patient access barriers, quantifying the impact of payer and channel dynamics, pinpointing opportunities to improve patient access and program performance, and developing self-serve analytics tools. The individual will be responsible for bringing structure to ambiguous business questions, leveraging domain expertise in payer, hub, and specialty pharmacy data with modern data science methods to move from descriptive to predictive analytics. This role will work closely with brand-aligned Commercial Analytics leads and will significantly influence Market Access and Patient Services strategy and broader commercial decision-making.

Requirements

At least 12+ years of related professional experience (8+ years with an advanced degree).
Advanced degree in a quantitative discipline preferred.
5+ years of hands-on experience delivering advanced analytics within the pharmaceutical/biotech industry (statistical modeling, machine learning, or experimentation).
Demonstrated expertise in patient services, hub, and/or specialty pharmacy data environments.
Track record of analytics projects that influenced strategic or operational decisions.
Experience supporting analytics for one or more product launches required, multiple launches preferred.
Comfort operating with autonomy and ambiguity, structuring open-ended problems, devising solutions from limited information, and managing competing priorities.
Recognized as a subject matter expert in access and/or patient services analytics, with a track record of shaping analytical approaches and business decisions.
Ability to operate as a thought partner to senior stakeholders, critically interrogating data and challenging assumptions.
Excellent interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills, with the ability to distill complex analytics into clear, actionable recommendations and compelling narratives.
Exceptional collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively as an individual contributor and driver of alignment across teams.
Strong applied experience with machine learning, statistical analysis, predictive modeling, and analytics design for operational experimentation.
Proficiency with SQL required.
Proficiency with at least one programming language (Python or R strongly preferred).
Experience with distributed/big-data tooling (e.g., Spark) a plus.
Demonstrated expertise with specialty pharmacy datasets, including patient status/sub-status, dispense, hub performance, and patient affordability programs.
Strong working knowledge of market access data types: formulary/coverage databases, adjudicated claims, prior authorization and appeals data, and payer mix analysis.
Baseline understanding of access barriers, payer behaviors, contracting dynamics, patient support flows, and channel mix changes impacting covered demand.
Familiarity with building and maintaining payer spines and standardizing payer information across datasets.
Experience automating data crosswalks and customer mapping a plus.
Experience with real-world datasets such as medical claims, pharmacy claims, labs, and EHR data; pharmacy and medical benefit experience preferred.
Experience with Power BI, Tableau, or other data visualization tools, including dashboard development.
Familiarity with indication expansion dynamics preferred, particularly transitions from rare to broader patient populations; rare disease data management/analysis experience a plus.
Exposure to HEOR datasets, real-world evidence methodologies, or gross-to-net analytics preferred.
Familiarity with Courier Health, Claritas Rx, or other patient-oriented CRM/field force platforms as data sources preferred.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in a quantitative discipline.
Experience with distributed/big-data tooling (e.g., Spark).
Experience automating data crosswalks and customer mapping.
Pharmacy and medical benefit experience.
Familiarity with indication expansion dynamics, particularly transitions from rare to broader patient populations; rare disease data management/analysis experience.
Exposure to HEOR datasets, real-world evidence methodologies, or gross-to-net analytics.
Familiarity with Courier Health, Claritas Rx, or other patient-oriented CRM/field force platforms as data sources.

Responsibilities

Scope and lead deep-dive analytics projects to identify strategic opportunities in the access and patient services landscape, quantifying the impact of payer behaviors, utilization management, contracting, and channel mix on demand and brand performance.
Act as an analytical advisor and thought partner to Market Access and Patient Services leadership, framing business questions, making sound judgments with limited data, and delivering actionable recommendations.
Drive payer and access decision analytics, including reimbursement scenario modeling, quantifying the impact of coverage decisions, and providing analytical input for contracting and pull-through strategies.
Synthesize findings into executive-ready narratives to influence resource allocation, program design, and access strategy.
Anticipate future analytical needs related to evolving payer and policy landscapes, competitive entrants, and new product launches, and contribute to building the necessary capabilities.
Build, validate, and deploy predictive and statistical models for patient drop-off risk, time-to-therapy bottlenecks, payer policy impacts, and demand shifts.
Apply analytical principles and introduce new methods (machine learning, segmentation, experimental design) to large datasets to optimize program effectiveness and forecast access trends.
Design and analyze operational experiments and pilots to determine effective interventions and foster a test-and-learn culture.
Conduct patient journey analytics to understand program utilization and inform affordability strategy and gross-to-net implications.
Identify and resolve operational bottlenecks across the patient journey using data to optimize demand/capacity and vendor/partner performance.
Analyze pull-through performance across payer accounts, specialty pharmacies, and prescriber segments to identify and address access gaps.
Engineer and automate data crosswalks to transform fragmented data into decision-grade assets and reduce manual effort.
Establish scalable, self-service reporting and dashboard ecosystems.
Serve as a subject matter expert on patient services and access analytics, promoting analytical rigor and providing thought leadership.
Build cross-functional networks and strong working relationships with key internal stakeholders.
Contribute to the analytics capability of the broader organization through knowledge sharing and methodological guidance.
Partner with Market Access, Patient Services, Trade & Distribution, Forecasting, and Commercial Analytics leads to integrate access and patient services insights into brand strategy.
Inform the data and vendor strategy for access and patient services analytics, evaluating and integrating various data sources.
Prioritize and deliver high-impact ad hoc analyses for stakeholders, tailoring outputs to the decision at hand.