Contracts Professional/Specialist- Commercial & Medical Affairs

Contracts Professional/Specialist – Commercial & Medical Affairs

Allakos Inc. is a clinical-stage company developing therapeutic antibodies for inhibitory receptors on the surface of immune effector cells involved in allergic, inflammatory, and proliferative diseases.

Allakos is committed to developing innovative therapies that transform patients’ lives.  We are looking for bright and talented individuals to join our team and share in our passion and commitment to improving the lives of patients.

Position Summary:

As a member of the Allakos team you will have the opportunity to manage the contracting process for Allakos Commercial and Medical Affairs Departments, as well as negotiating and executing a variety of Allakos agreements. The level of this position in undetermined and is flexible depending on the experience of the successful candidate. The ideal candidate must be energized by working in a complex and fast-paced environment and be able to quickly understand and support business objectives with sound and ethical judgment. 

Your Role:

You will be responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining Allakos’ contracts and contracting processes for the Commercial and Medical Affairs Departments and will efficiently and effectively assist these departments with all of their contracting needs.  This involves assessing, analyzing, drafting, reviewing, negotiating, and finalizing Allakos contracts with a wide variety of individuals and entities, including for example marketing/ad agencies and other vendors, healthcare professionals, medical societies, patient advocacy organizations, distributors, pharmacies, payers/PBMs and other healthcare-related entities.

This role will report directly to the Vice President, Healthcare Law & Healthcare Compliance Officer.

You will work strategically, efficiently, and independently and be the sole negotiator on most contracts, collaborating with team members and management on highly complex contract matters.

 Responsibilities:

• Manage agreements from start to finish including reviewing contract requests, updating data fields in contract management system (Cobblestone), assigning contracts for review, tracking status, and circulating agreements for execution.
• Ensure that agreements are timely reviewed and handled, and all agreement records are accurately maintained in contract management system.
• Draft, review and negotiate a wide range of agreements.
• Independently support Medical Affairs and Commercial Departments’ contract needs and act as the primary liaison for agreements between the business and the Legal Department.
• Arrange and conduct meetings with business stakeholders to understand business priorities; to resolve issues related to contracting; to provide updates on the status of assigned agreements; and to respond to inquiries related to agreements including contractual terms.
• Provide training to business stakeholders on Allakos policies and processes relevant to contracts.
• Provide detailed information to business regarding negotiated terms, and any deviations from standard Allakos contract template terms. Provide guidance and clear explanations for the differences in risk exposure.
• Proactively lead continuous improvement of templates, playbooks and workflow processes.
• Team with Legal Department and the business to develop, implement and support compliance processes that relate to contracting.
• Attend and occasionally present at department and group meetings, staying current on department and group projects, goals, and issues.
• Perform administrative functions including scheduling meetings/conference calls, maintaining departmental files (electronic or otherwise), managing contract documentation flow and ongoing maintenance of the contract management system utilized by Allakos.
• Understand and effectively use Microsoft Office Suite, Cobblestone, and other business-specific software.
• Comply with all laws, regulations and policies that govern Allakos’ business.
• Other responsibilities vary depending upon experience and desire of candidate to support various Legal Department projects and priorities.

Qualifications and Expertise:

• Extensive contract management experience in the life sciences
• Outstanding communication skills to effectively gather relevant information from business groups and interact and negotiate with others, both internally and externally.
• Strong interpersonal skills to build and maintain positive relationships with business stakeholders, including senior leaders, and internal and external partners, including working directly with outside counsel.
• Outstanding writing and analytical skills to independently draft, review, negotiate and revise
• High attention to detail, strong organizational, project management and multitasking skills to manage multiple matters, to independently set own work priorities and to meet required work
• Solutions-oriented, with demonstrated commitment to partnering with business to meet Allakos’ goals.
• Ability to perform independent analysis of unique problems of increasing complexity and diversity and propose solutions to attorney or supervisor as needed.
• Flexibility to take on special projects and/or additional responsibilities as needed
• Working knowledge of, or aptitude to learn, the healthcare ecosystem including healthcare system stakeholders’ goals and business lines.
• Compliance-minded; eager to learn about and able to work capably in the heavily regulated environment in which biotechnology companies like Allakos operate.
• Bachelor's Degree; JD candidates preferred.
• Minimum 10+ years of relevant experience.

The salary is competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications.

The Allakos Values are: Selflessness, Drive, Clarity, Thoughtfulness, Fun, and Leadership

Allakos is an equal opportunity employer. Allakos will consider all qualified applicants for employment without discrimination on grounds of disability, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave status, race or national or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, gender identity or re-assignment, marital or civil partnership status, protected veteran status (if applicable) or any other characteristic protected by law.