VP, Market Access

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals•Irvine, CA

8d•$300,000 - $420,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Reporting to the Chief Commercial Officer, the VP, Market Access is an enterprise leader responsible for shaping and executing Tarsus’ market access strategy to expand patient access and support sustainable commercial growth across marketed products and the pipeline. The role will help drive the next phase of growth for XDEMVY® by maximizing appropriate patient access, accelerating new patient starts, minimizing payer friction, optimizing formulary positioning, and protecting brand economics. The leader will also build the access infrastructure needed for future products. The position oversees payer strategy and relationships, pricing and contracting, reimbursement, patient services, and distribution channels. It partners across the organization to incorporate access considerations early in product development, inform business development opportunities, and build high-performing teams that deliver measurable results for patients and the business. The role is ideally based in Tarsus’ Irvine office, with remote work potentially available in a hybrid work environment. Some travel may be required, up to 20%. The expected base pay range is $300,000–$420,000, plus bonus, stock equity, and comprehensive benefits. Tarsus describes its culture through commitment to patients, empowerment to champion innovation, and teamwork to amplify impact.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required.
15 or more years of progressive pharmaceutical commercial experience, including launch experience, payer expertise, distribution and patient services (including gross-to-net oversight), cross-functional collaboration, and leadership of field-based reimbursement and patient services teams.
Blockbuster or $1B+ brand experience, including a demonstrated record of taking a product from launch to $500 million–$1 billion or more in annual revenue.
Deep specialty pharmaceutical experience, including payer/PBM contracting expertise and hands-on patient access or hub experience.
Experience scaling an organization through rapid growth and building teams and infrastructure for its next stage of growth.
Managed care experience, including strong national and regional account management expertise and senior-level relationships across commercial and government payer systems, including PBMs, Medicare, Medicaid, and specialty pharmacy.
Fluency in formulary strategy, utilization management, benefit design, medical versus pharmacy benefit, rebates, and gross-to-net economics.
Ability to work with integrity, accuracy, and attention to detail.
Strong technical, data-driven, and analytical skills to identify and solve problems.
Self-motivated, assertive, and self-confident, with the ability to act urgently and meet time-sensitive deadlines.
Strong organizational skills, including productivity, innovation, priority-setting, and completing assignments on time and on budget.
Ability to make thoughtful and timely decisions and take action without perfect information, using data and analytics to inform judgment.
Ability to collaborate, incorporate diverse perspectives, manage relationships, and influence without relying on hierarchy.
Entrepreneurial approach and ability to balance enterprise strategy with hands-on execution in a fast-paced, resource-conscious environment.
Mastery of Tarsus Leadership Competencies for Leading the Enterprise: Grows Capacity, Business Acumen, Innovative Mindset and Action, Effective Communicator, and Strategic Thinking.

Nice To Haves

MBA or another advanced degree.
Experience supporting Business Development due diligence for licensing, partnerships, or mergers and acquisitions from a market access, pricing, and reimbursement perspective.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute managed care payer strategy, setting short- and long-term goals and tactics to drive and maintain broad, profitable access across the product portfolio.
Lead formulary and reimbursement strategies and partner with Medical on HEOR evidence-generation needs and planning.
Establish and expand relationships with national and regional payers, managed care organizations, PBMs, specialty pharmacies, and integrated delivery networks.
Own the access-to-revenue chain and reduce payer friction, including prior authorization and step-edit burden, approval rates, and patient abandonment.
Develop payer value propositions grounded in clinical, economic, and real-world evidence to improve formulary positioning across pharmacy and medical benefit designs.
Lead government program strategy, including Medicare Part D, Medicaid, and government pricing, in partnership with Government Affairs and Legal.
Assess healthcare policy, payer requirements, and competitive dynamics; advise the Executive Team on implications and recommend adjustments to access, pricing, and reimbursement strategies.
Attend access-related trade shows, payer meetings, and industry conferences.
Develop managed market pricing strategies consistent with customer and market dynamics and the overall portfolio.
Develop and evolve cross-functional pricing committee governance, including SOPs and policies, in partnership with Legal, Finance, Compliance, and leadership.
Oversee contracting strategy, negotiation, contract performance, and partnership with Finance on gross-to-net assumptions, forecasts, and net revenue.
Negotiate payer and PBM positioning and develop contracting models such as value-based, outcomes-based, or portfolio agreements while protecting brand economics.
Improve gross-to-net economics through rebate strategy, utilization-management trade-offs, and benefit-design insight, and translate access decisions into financial implications for Finance and the Executive Committee.
Engage early in product value proposition, therapeutic product profiles, positioning, and specifications to support access from the earliest stages of development.
Oversee patient services, field reimbursement, and distribution channel strategy to advance patient support.
Partner with Business Development on diligence for licensing, acquisition, and partnership opportunities, assessing payer, pricing, reimbursement, and access dynamics.
Lead integrated market access launch plans, readiness milestones, and access strategies for new indications and acquired assets.
Partner cross-functionally with Marketing, Medical, Clinical Development, Sales, Finance, Legal, Regulatory, Government Affairs, HEOR, the Executive Leadership Team, and other departments to enhance access and profitability.
Build and lead a high-performing market access organization by developing leaders, coaching talent, building capabilities, strengthening succession depth, and aligning teams on strategy, negotiation, and pull-through of sales and patient messaging.
Build access analytics and insights capabilities; define and use KPIs including coverage quality, prior authorization approval rates, time-to-fill, first-fill conversion, abandonment, persistence, and gross-to-net per prescription to guide decisions.
Foster a culture of engagement, accountability, collaboration, innovation, urgency, and focus on patient needs and Tarsus’ corporate vision.
Set functional priorities, allocate resources, and develop and manage budgets to achieve measurable results while balancing broader organizational financial objectives.
Comply with corporate policies and procedures and applicable healthcare laws and regulations.
Observe Company Health, Safety, and Environmental guidelines.
Perform other assigned duties and responsibilities; the listed duties are not exhaustive.