Sr Director, Commercial Operations

Thermo Fisher Scientific • Waltham, MA

6d • $192,700 - $275,000 • Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director, Commercial Operations will advance commercial excellence, sales force effectiveness, and data-driven decision-making across the organization. As a proactive strategic partner to senior Sales and Commercial Leadership, this leader will anticipate business needs, identify emerging performance trends, and turn data and market intelligence into actionable recommendations that improve commercial execution and support sustainable growth.

The role will establish analytics, operating mechanisms, forecasting capabilities, and leading indicators that help leadership understand current performance, its causes, likely future outcomes, and appropriate actions. A key mandate is to advance the responsible use of artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, automation, and modern sales technologies to improve seller productivity, forecasting accuracy, pipeline management, customer and opportunity prioritization, and commercial effectiveness.

The Senior Director will lead a diverse, distributed team and collaborate with Sales, Marketing, Finance, Digital/IT, and other partners. The role oversees sales planning, performance management, sales compensation, territory alignment, commercial analytics, CRM effectiveness, forecasting, pipeline management, and sales enablement technologies. Success requires a collaborative, commercially minded, influential leader who can lead transformation in a global, matrixed environment.

The position has standard office hours (40 hours per week) in an office environment and requires approximately 20–25% travel. The estimated salary range for this position based in Massachusetts is $192,700–$275,000. The position may also be eligible for a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Science, a related technical discipline, or another relevant field.
• At least 10 years of relevant experience in sales operations, commercial operations, sales effectiveness, commercial excellence, analytics, or a related discipline.
• Significant leadership experience, including responsibility for leading teams and enterprise-level commercial initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to advise senior Sales and Commercial Leadership proactively and identify trends, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Experience with Salesforce.com or a comparable CRM platform.
• Demonstrated experience applying AI, advanced analytics, predictive methodologies, or automation to commercial or sales processes.
• Strong financial acumen, including experience with revenue planning, business performance management, and sales compensation design.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving capabilities, including the ability to turn complex information into concise, actionable business recommendations.
• Experience optimizing sales processes and leading large-scale change-management or organizational-transformation initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability to lead distributed teams and operate effectively in a global, matrixed organization.
• Strong project and program-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple strategic priorities simultaneously.
• Exceptional communication, presentation, and executive-engagement skills.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior stakeholders and collaborate effectively across functions, regions, and cultures.
• Ability to travel approximately 20–25%.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting complex scientific, technical, healthcare, life sciences, or similarly regulated markets.
• Experience implementing AI, machine learning, predictive analytics, or automation capabilities within Sales or Commercial Operations.
• Experience leading commercial-transformation initiatives across multiple businesses, regions, or customer segments.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a trusted, proactive strategic advisor to Sales and Commercial Leadership, identifying trends, risks, opportunities, and recommended actions.
• Develop and execute the Commercial Operations strategy in alignment with business objectives, growth priorities, and customer needs.
• Establish commercial analytics, dashboards, KPIs, and performance-management frameworks to support timely, data-driven decisions.
• Develop predictive and prescriptive insights, scenario modeling, and capabilities that identify potential outcomes, risks, opportunities, and actions.
• Improve sales forecasting processes, methodologies, tools, and governance, and strengthen forecast accuracy and business predictability.
• Identify pipeline gaps, forecast risks, and emerging opportunities; recommend actions and partner with Sales Leadership to improve opportunity management, pipeline development, forecast quality, and execution.
• Champion responsible use of AI, predictive analytics, automation, and emerging technologies across Commercial Operations and Sales.
• Identify, prioritize, implement, and measure AI-enabled solutions and next-generation sales tools that improve seller productivity, opportunity prioritization, forecasting, pipeline management, and decision-making.
• Partner with Digital/IT, data, and technology teams to deliver scalable, secure, and sustainable commercial solutions, with appropriate governance and performance measures.
• Lead sales force effectiveness, sales planning, territory design and alignment, resource deployment, capacity planning, quota setting, and performance measurement.
• Develop and administer sales compensation and incentive programs aligned with strategic and financial objectives.
• Simplify commercial processes, remove inefficiencies, improve customer and employee experience, and promote scalable best practices while accounting for local market requirements.
• Optimize CRM systems, sales technology platforms, and enablement tools to improve adoption, data quality, forecasting, pipeline visibility, and commercial execution.
• Establish adoption and effectiveness metrics for commercial tools and improve the seller and sales-leader experience by addressing workflow friction.
• Develop a team that operates as strategic business partners and foster curiosity, innovation, analytical rigor, continuous improvement, and accountability.
• Lead change-management and organizational-transformation initiatives, including communication, stakeholder alignment, and sustainable adoption.
• Manage multiple complex strategic initiatives with effective governance, execution discipline, and stakeholder communication.
• Build cross-functional partnerships across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Digital/IT, and other functions.
• Lead and develop a distributed team in a global, matrixed organization.

Benefits

• Choice of national medical and dental plans and a national vision plan, including health incentive programs.
• Employee assistance and family support programs, including commuter benefits and tuition reimbursement.
• At least 120 hours of paid time off and 10 paid holidays annually.
• Paid parental leave: 3 weeks for bonding and 8 weeks for caregiver leave.
• Accident and life insurance, and short- and long-term disability in accordance with company policy.
• Competitive 401(k) U.S. retirement savings plan.
• Employees’ Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), offering eligible colleagues the opportunity to purchase company stock at a discount.
• Potential eligibility for a variable annual bonus based on company, team, and/or individual performance results in accordance with company policy.

What This Job Offers

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