Executive Director, Global Commercial Analytics- Market Research

Vertex Inc. • Boston, MA

1d

About The Position

The Executive Director, Global Commercial Analytics- Market Research will lead Vertex’s global Market Research capability within Global Commercial Strategy. Reporting to the Vice President, Global Commercial Analytics, this leader will build a team that generates objective insights into patients, healthcare professionals, caregivers, markets, and other stakeholders to inform development, commercialization, launch, and lifecycle decisions.

The role combines strategic leadership with hands-on research expertise. The Executive Director will establish an operating model in which the internal team frames business questions, selects methodologies, conducts qualitative research, designs quantitative instruments, interprets findings, and translates evidence into business implications. External research partners provide reach and specialized support, while Vertex retains accountability for research quality, insight generation, and business application.

The leader will set standards, governance, prioritization, budget discipline, vendor strategy, and a multi-year capability roadmap. They will build and develop a high-performing global team, integrate Market Research with related commercial and analytics functions, and measure and improve the quality, adoption, timeliness, and decision impact of research.

Requirements

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in market research, behavioral or social science, psychology, business, marketing, life sciences, statistics, or a related discipline.
• Extensive leadership experience in primary market research, customer insights, or related insight-generation functions within biopharmaceuticals, healthcare, or another complex industry.
• Deep hands-on expertise in qualitative market research, including study design, discussion-guide development, interviewing or moderation, observation, synthesis, and translation of findings into business implications.
• Strong experience designing quantitative market research, including questionnaire development, sampling approaches, methodological choices, quality control, analysis plans, and interpretation.
• Ability to translate ambiguous business questions into rigorous research plans and actionable recommendations for senior commercial and development leaders.
• Experience leading research across pipeline, product development, launch, lifecycle, and in-line stages, including product-profile testing, positioning, patient journeys, demand studies, and adoption-barrier research.
• Experience generating insights from patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, payers, and other healthcare stakeholders across multiple geographies.
• Ability to build internal Market Research capability and develop teams that can lead substantive research work, not solely manage external agencies.
• Ability to select, direct, and challenge research vendors while maintaining internal intellectual ownership and accountability for quality and interpretation.
• Exceptional strategic thinking, listening, synthesis, storytelling, and executive communication skills, including the ability to distinguish evidence from assumption.
• Proven success leading and developing global teams and influencing effectively in a highly matrixed organization.
• Ability to maintain high standards for privacy, compliance, and research integrity.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree such as an M.A., M.S., Ph.D., MBA, or other relevant qualification.
• Curiosity about advances in AI, technology, automation, and industry trends, and sound judgment in adopting capabilities that improve decision-making, innovation, efficiency, and patient outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Global Market Research organization and capability agenda across pipeline, pre-launch, launch, lifecycle, and in-line disease areas.
• Partner with GCS disease leaders and BI&A pod leads to identify priority business questions and develop integrated, decision-focused learning agendas.
• Establish a hands-on research model in which internal team members actively shape and conduct research.
• Build internal qualitative research expertise, including discussion-guide development, moderator preparation, direct observation and moderation where appropriate, debriefing, coding, synthesis, and interpretation.
• Ensure substantive internal involvement in quantitative research design, including hypotheses, questionnaire development, sampling, method selection, quality review, analysis plans, and interpretation.
• Lead research across disease understanding, market landscapes, patient and customer journeys, segmentation, unmet need, treatment dynamics, adoption barriers, product profiles, positioning, messages, demand, and product-choice drivers.
• Ensure research incorporates perspectives from patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, payers, and other relevant stakeholders, reflecting global, regional, and local market realities.
• Establish common standards for research design, methodological rigor, ethics and compliance, documentation, knowledge management, and reuse of insights.
• Synthesize qualitative and quantitative evidence into insights, implications, decision options, and recommendations for development, strategy, launch, and lifecycle planning.
• Integrate Market Research with Decision Science, Forecasting, Competitive Intelligence, Portfolio Analytics, Value & Access, HEOR, Medical, and regional Commercial insight generation.
• Create mechanisms to connect research over time, distinguish enduring insights from hypotheses, identify evidence gaps, and prevent fragmented or duplicative studies.
• Select and manage external research partners while maintaining internal ownership of research design, respondent experience, quality, interpretation, and application.
• Establish governance, prioritization, budget discipline, vendor strategy, and a multi-year Market Research capability roadmap.
• Build, develop, and retain a high-performing global team with strong research skills, business judgment, therapeutic curiosity, and executive communication capability.
• Measure research quality, adoption, timeliness, and decision impact, and continuously improve the operating model.

Benefits

• Annual bonus and annual equity awards.
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• Generous paid time off, including a week-long company shutdown in the summer and winter.
• Educational assistance programs, including student loan repayment.
• Commuting subsidy.
• Matching charitable donations.
• 401(k).

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive