Regional Account Director, Health Plan and Employers

General Scope and Summary

Sage Therapeutics is searching for a creative, resourceful, integrative thinker for an important role that is responsible for complete business ownership of select Regional Health Plans and influential national/regional employers. This position will facilitate payer access and reimbursement for Sage products with covered accounts and ensure coordinated/targeted pull-through with Field Sales. In addition, this position will have a critical role in partnering with influential employers and driving advocacy of Sage in-line and pipeline products. The Regional Account Director (Market Access) will maintain a high level of collaboration and integration with Marketing, Sales, Medical, Legal, Pricing/Contracting, and Senior Leadership. This position will require up to 40% travel.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Responsible for complete business ownership of assigned Regional Payer Accounts; develop Account strategy and objectives in line with MAx objectives; align account strategy with other key Sales, Marketing, Medical, and Market Access functions and ensure cross-functional support.

• Build and deliver strategic account plans for assigned Payer Accounts to effectively deliver patient access and subsequently deliver sales goals with broader organization.

• Create and implement valued customer programs to build long-term relationships with accounts based on deep understanding of the customer organization, structure, business strategy, and priorities.

• Navigate complex payer accounts and drive product advocacy with all key stakeholders and decision makers within assigned accounts, including pharmacy and medical.

• Responsible for contract negotiation (where applicable), per corporate guidelines, to attain patient access and reimbursement for Sage products, while being mindful of contractual revenue deductions and net sales optimization. Utilize both access and valued based contracting options based on customer capabilities and philosophies.

• Lead cross-functional teams and utilize approved tools and resources to develop to drive mutual success between Sage and accounts.

• Own pull-through process, where applicable, by understanding the market access landscape in assigned region and consistently communicates with Field Sales on access situation with all relevant payers, both national and regional.

• Collaborate with NAD team to (1) understand national payer access landscape and (2) build regional payer support to help shape national payer/PBM product decisions.

•  Partner closely with select regional and national employers and employer coalitions to drive support for disease states and Sage products within these respective organizations and with other external stakeholders, such as affiliated health plans and PBMs. 

•  Act as account management expert by communicating customer insights and concerns to all relevant internal stakeholders, to attain necessary resources and tools to drive optimal Payer access.

• Proactively identify critical risk areas with Regional Payers and develop mitigation strategies.

• Work cross-functionally and collaboratively across all necessary Sage functional areas.

** For Sage 217 and 324, position will require working with Alliance Partner (Biogen) to build business model to properly support regional contracted accounts and pull-through strategy.

Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills

Basic Qualifications

• BA/BS required. Masters degree in business, healthcare, or science-related field is preferred.

• A minimum 10 years of experience in pharmaceutical sales, market access, marketing, or operations.

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in Payer Account Management required.

 Preferred Qualifications

• Must thrive working in a fast-paced, innovative environment while remaining flexible, proactive, resourceful, and efficient.

• Must possess the ability to navigate complex accounts and drive product advocacy with all key stakeholders and decision makers within assigned accounts, including pharmacy and medical.

• Excellent analytical skills coupled with the ability to communicate complex issues/topics in a simple way to resolve customer issues and build solutions.

• Experience needed in contracting/contract negotiations with payer accounts. Value/Outcome based contracting preferred.

• Maintain a strong understanding of PBM, National and Regional Health Plan business, and changing market landscape.

• Proven ability to navigate complex customers and build relationships across all key stakeholders, including executive management.

• Proven ability to maximize sales volume post formulary acceptance through effective collaboration and partnership with external customers and internal sales field forces (pull-through).

• Strong analytical and computer capabilities.

• Attention to detail and the ability to work individually, within a multi-disciplinary team, as well as with external partners and vendors.

• Possesses strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Embrace our Core Values: Put People First, Do Big, Be Accountable, Grow through Learning and Change, and Work Fun.

• Excitement about the vision and mission of Sage.

All Sage new hires will be required to provide documentation that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or, if not, that they are legally entitled to an accommodation due to a medical condition or a sincerely held religious belief.  Requests for accommodation will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and Sage will consider, among other things, whether the proposed accommodation would create an undue hardship.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.

EEO is the Law

EEO is the Law - Poster Supplement

We value our relationships with professional recruitment firms. To protect the interests of all parties, and given the large volume of inquiries received from third-party placement agencies, we are not able to respond to all agency inquiries. We do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than directly from candidates for current or future positions. Submission of unsolicited resumes in advance of a signed agreement between our company and a placement agency does not create an implied obligation and, if an unsolicited candidate represented by a placement agency is hired, we are not obligated to pay a fee. Only approved recruitment firms will be allowed to provide services to Sage Therapeutics, Inc.