Executive Director, Sales - West

ARS Pharmaceuticals Operations, Inc.

1d•$295,000 - $325,000

About The Position

ARS Pharmaceuticals is seeking a field-based sales leader to translate the neffy® brand strategy into consistent, effective field execution across the company’s portfolio. The Executive Director, Sales leads the Western U.S. sales organization and owns decisions involving customer targeting and segmentation, sales force effectiveness, field messaging execution, and payer pull-through. The role reports into commercial leadership and serves as a link between brand strategy and field execution. Ideal candidate locations are metro areas near major airports, including Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle. The position is accountable for building and sustaining a high-performing team through recruiting, hiring, developing, and retaining talent, while fostering accountability, urgency, and excellence. As a strategic contributor to commercial leadership, the role provides input on budget planning, incentive compensation, compensation strategy, competitive response, messaging, and brand positioning. It partners closely with Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs, Strategy, and Commercial Operations to align priorities, use analytics and insights to guide performance and resource allocation, and shape the annual brand plan. All activities must comply with applicable regulations and company policies. The role leads sales strategy and performance, coaches Area Sales Managers, oversees sales meetings and development training, and helps determine field force sizing, structure, and territory alignment. It manages the sales budget, supports customer and payer strategies, owns execution of access pull-through tactics, and collaborates across functions on brand messaging, analytics, incentives, targeting, and business planning. It also partners with Human Resources and Compliance on hiring, employee relations, talent development, engagement, and monitoring promotional activity. The position requires a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience, along with at least 10 years of pharmaceutical or biotech industry experience and a strong sales leadership record. An MBA or MS is preferred. Second-line leadership experience is strongly preferred but not required. Allergy/Immunology experience is strongly preferred. Travel by car and plane may be required up to 60% of the time. The full-time salary range is $295,000 to $325,000, with possible discretionary annual performance bonus and equity. The company also offers 401(k) matching and a benefits package including employer-paid medical, dental, and vision coverage.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in business or life sciences, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
At least 10 years of pharmaceutical or biotech industry experience with a strong track record of sales leadership and performance.
Strong business acumen and the ability to build business plans using performance metrics and marketplace opportunities and barriers.
Ability to identify opportunities to maximize return on investment for promoted products and understanding of the allergy market and competition.
Understanding of the reimbursement landscape and expertise in traditional retail and specialty pharmacy/distribution models.
Account-selling experience and knowledge of centers of excellence, key academic medical centers, and patient referral approaches.
Proven success developing and implementing sales strategies and driving revenue growth and expansion.
Ability to build relationships and collaborate internally and externally.
Demonstrated ability to think innovatively and resolve issues as they arise.
In-depth knowledge of pharmaceutical marketing principles and ability to learn disease-state information and transfer knowledge to peers and direct reports.
Ability to travel by car and plane up to 60% throughout assigned territories and for national conferences and meetings.
May need to meet credentialing requirements for access to academic institutions, medical facilities, and organizations in the assigned region; requirements may include background checks, drug screens, and proof of immunization or vaccination.
All work must be conducted in compliance with Federal, State, and Local regulations and company policies.

Nice To Haves

MBA or MS.
Second-line leadership experience; candidates with significant field leadership, cross-functional influence, or demonstrated readiness for expanded leadership responsibilities will also be considered.
Experience executing or training against leadership development principles.
Experience in Allergy/Immunology.
Working knowledge of marketing, analytics, targeting strategies, emotional intelligence principles, and challenger selling.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic direction and inspirational leadership to the sales organization, modeling company and brand priorities.
Deliver revenue and market share targets through disciplined execution of selling strategies.
Analyze sales performance, trends, competition, and opportunities with Commercial Operations and translate insights into field direction.
Lead, coach, and develop Area Sales Managers and hold them accountable for team performance and growth.
Ensure training translates into effective customer interactions and consistent use of disease-state knowledge, clinical messaging, and brand strategy.
Lead national sales meetings and oversee business and development training.
Support decisions on field force sizing, structure, and territory alignment to maximize reach and resource efficiency.
Build relationships with regional thought leaders in collaboration with Medical Affairs and other partners, ensuring compliant engagement.
Manage the sales budget, monitor spending, and reallocate resources as needed; ensure direct reports’ expenses and promotional spending comply with policy.
Partner with Market Access, Supply Chain, and field counterparts on customer and payer strategies, sharing field insights to inform access priorities.
Own execution of national and area-level pull-through tactics and ensure the field communicates and leverages access wins.
Promote cross-functional collaboration to coordinate coverage of target accounts.
Collaborate with Marketing to translate neffy® brand strategy into field execution and provide field insights on positioning, messaging, promotional resources, and competitive response.
Drive field adoption of brand messaging and tactics and provide timely feedback on their effectiveness.
Partner with Commercial Operations on analytics, reporting, performance tools, incentive compensation, goal setting, annual business planning, targeting, call planning, and territory alignment.
Partner with Human Resources to hire, develop, train, and retain a productive sales team.
Support fair and consistent resolution of employee relations matters by coaching managers and using Human Resources and Compliance guidance.
Work with the HR Business Partner to address team strengths and gaps, improve engagement, strengthen coaching, and develop talent.
Monitor national compliance of field sales promotional activities and ensure appropriate reporting procedures are followed.