Senior Director, Supply Chain

Xenon Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:XENE) – a biopharmaceutical company with operations in Vancouver, BC, Canada and Boston, MA, USA – is committed to delivering innovative medicines to provide a brighter future for patients suffering from neurological disorders. 

At Xenon, we are advancing an exciting pipeline of neurology-focused therapies, with a particular emphasis on novel treatments for both adult and pediatric patients with epilepsy. XEN496 is currently being evaluated in the Phase 3 “EPIK” clinical trial in young patients with KCNQ2-DEE, a rare and severe form of childhood epilepsy. Late-stage development plans are also underway for our XEN1101 program, building upon the compelling data from the Phase 2b “X-TOLE” study in adult patients with focal epilepsy. We are also proud of the leading-edge science coming out of our discovery labs, with many early-stage research programs underway. In addition to Xenon’s proprietary programs, we have ongoing collaborations with our valued pharmaceutical partners. With a healthy balance sheet to support our growth plans, we continue to build a fully-integrated, premier neuroscience company with strong discovery, development, and commercial operations.

Our employees are smart, passionate, dedicated, and driven by their incredibly important work to discover, develop, and deliver new medicines for patients in need. Building and maintaining a respectful, collaborative, inclusive, and productive culture is a priority for us.  We are looking for great people who thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic work environment to join our team during this transformative time for Xenon.

We are seeking a Senior Director, Supply Chain to join our team. The Senior Director, Supply Chain will build and lead the Supply Chain function in support of Xenon’s anticipated commercialization of our products. The Senior Director will lead all aspects of commercial/launch supply to ensure the compliant, reliable, cost-effective, and timely supply of our products.
 

The Senior Director will have expertise in commercial supply chain planning, operations and practices as well as proven leadership ability in a fast paced, multi-location environment and will have a strong track record of collaborative interactions with all levels of internal staff as well as external stakeholders, including, but not limited to, consultants, CMOs and CROs.
 

This position reports to the Vice President, Product Development and Operations and will be located in either the Vancouver, BC, Canada or Boston, MA, USA location; we may consider other locations for an exceptional candidate.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for Xenon’s commercial supply chain and clinical supplies functions, including demand/supply/capacity planning, sourcing, labeling, packaging, inventory management, import/export and distribution.
• Ensure the consistent, reliable, timely and compliant supply of products in accordance with the forecast and inventory requirements, the planning assumptions, and supply budget.
• Prepare for the commercial launch of Xenon’s products. Collaborate with diverse functions (CMC, Quality, Commercial, Legal and Finance) to build new infrastructure for commercialization readiness.
• Participate in the selection of, and the negotiation of commercial Supply Agreements with the Company’s strategic manufacturing, third-party logistics (3PL), packaging, serialization, depot and distribution partners.
• Manage vendors in the establishment of processes and systems to support compliance with the U.S. DSCSA and product serialization.
• Establish and lead Sales, Inventory and Operations Planning (SIOP) processes including Demand Planning, Production Planning, and Operational Planning for all products and product stages both for Xenon and commercialization partner needs.
• Manage inventory planning using a range of tools (i.e., in-house spreadsheets or commercial EIM software).
• Develop and propose short and long term goals for the department in accordance with overall Company and Development strategies.
• Propose and manage Financial Reporting and Budgeting for Supply Chain Team. Provide Finance with needed data, reports, purchase orders, inventory reports, etc. to ensure timely reporting and budget adherence in accordance with the Company’s strategic and operating plans and Finance policies.
• Recruit, lead, direct, develop, coach and evaluate direct reports in accordance with the Company’s Human Resource policies and practices.
• Act in accordance with Company policies, including, for example, the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics and ensure policies are understood and followed by direct reports.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Advanced degree in Science, Business, Supply Chain Management, or a related field.
• 12+ years of pharmaceutical industry experience, including 8+ years of global commercial supply chain experience and leadership, including successful new product introduction/launch experience.
• APICS certification (CSCP or CPIM) would be an asset.
• Experience with orphan drug products would be an asset.
• Technical proficiency in supply chain technologies and processes as well as in related pharmaceutical regulations.
• Experience managing pharmaceutical supply chains and inventories across a wide range of drug product types.
• Familiarity with the management of clinical supplies (including packaging, labeling and blinding).
• Demonstrated success in establishing a supply chain function in support of a fast-growing company.
• Demonstrated complex problem-solving ability and sound judgement.
• Excellent oral and written communication, leadership and interpersonal skills as well as the ability to build credibility and trust inside and outside the Company.
• Proven ability to build and develop high performing teams; excellent delegation and conflict resolution skills.
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 15% of the time, both domestically and internationally.