Senior Director, Commercial Excellence

Summit Therapeutics•Princeton, NJ

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director, Commercial Excellence leads the headquarters side of Commercial Operations at Summit Therapeutics, building and governing the systems, rules, and processes used across Marketing, Market Access, Market Research, Finance, and Compliance. The function’s backbone includes people, processes, data, commercial technology, training, reporting, and analytics. This leader establishes a nationally consistent operating model for Marketing Operations, commercial data and technology, commercial training, incentive compensation, territory design, CRM, targeting and segmentation, roster management, and field reporting standards. Summit has not previously commercialized a product, so this leader will build the function to support the launch of ivonescimab, future indications, and the wider portfolio. The role is the single point of operational accountability for the function and partners with Field Excellence, the dedicated operational partner to Sales. It also serves as the functional partner for Oncology Nurse Educators and Regional Marketing Directors, who report to Marketing, and Field Reimbursement Managers, who report to Market Access. The position has no sales quota, territory-based sales incentive compensation, or promotional activity with customers. It reports to the Executive Director, Commercial Operations and has four direct reports: the Director, Marketing Operations; Director, Commercial Data & Technology; Director, Commercial Excellence; and Director, Field Learning & Development. The role is based in Princeton, New Jersey, with approximately 25% domestic travel, including national and regional sales meetings.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
At least 12 years of commercial or sales operations experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry.
Senior-level field experience.
Product launch experience.
Deep understanding of market dynamics, data sources, field roles, and buying pathways.
Detailed understanding of sales processes, sales data tracking, sales force automation, incentive compensation operations, and sales force alignments.
Expertise in CRM platforms, incentive compensation modeling, and commercial analytics.
Ability to develop and coach direct reports.
Excellent verbal, written, and stakeholder management skills, including the ability to influence and manage expectations with sales management and cross-functional teams.
Strong leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and project management skills.
Ability to excel in fast-paced, high-growth biotechnology environments.
Approximately 25% domestic travel, including national and regional sales meetings.

Nice To Haves

MBA or advanced degree.
Oncology experience or knowledge.
Experience with buy-and-bill products and the data limitations associated with them.

Responsibilities

Set the function’s strategy, operating model, and annual plan to support the ivonescimab launch, future indications, and the broader portfolio.
Own the people, processes, data, commercial technology, training, reporting, and analytics backbone of Commercial Operations, ensuring each element is built and governed for the functions that depend on it.
Serve as the primary operational counterpart to Marketing, Market Access, and Market Research, resolving cross-functional operational conflicts before they reach the field.
Partner functionally with Oncology Nurse Educators and Regional Marketing Directors in Marketing, and Field Reimbursement Managers in Market Access, ensuring their work uses consistent systems, definitions, and processes.
Lead Marketing Operations through the Director, Marketing Operations, including promotional review workflow, material fulfillment, meetings and events, speaker programs, agency management, and budget.
Oversee commercial data and technology through the Director, Commercial Data & Technology, including commercial data strategy, customer master data, the data warehouse, third-party data contracting, and commercial systems such as CRM; set system business requirements and partner with IT on delivery.
Oversee commercial training through the Director, Field Learning & Development, including training strategy, launch training, the learning management system, and onboarding.
Lead incentive compensation design and governance, territory design and change governance, CRM business requirements and administration, targeting and segmentation methodology, roster management, and goal setting through the Director, Commercial Excellence.
Set field reporting standards based on metric definitions owned by the Director of Commercial Analytics & Information Support.
Support Finance and Compliance with process governance, audit readiness, and Sunshine Act reporting.
Partner with the National Senior Director, Field Excellence to bring field patterns back to headquarters and address them consistently across the organization.
Manage vendor relationships across all four teams and build and own the function’s annual budget.
Ensure commercial operations activities comply with legal, regulatory, and quality standards.
Lead, coach, and develop the four direct reports.
Perform other duties as assigned.