Director, Medical Affairs

Boston, MA, USA Req #116 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 Director, Medical Affairs to join our team. The Director is responsible for the development and implementation of scientific communications and medical plans with the Medical Affairs team. This individual is expected to have skills to be able to translate highly complex medical scientific content to tactics, have medical operations expertise, in addition to skills in managing complex projects. The Director develops scientific initiatives in collaboration with other members of the Medical Affairs team, as well as cross functional partners such as Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, HEOR, and Commercial.

The Director will be a key member of a very collaborative Clinical Development team. This is a highly strategic and hands-on role that will initially be an individual contributor with the possibility of growing a team in accordance with business needs. The Director will have proven leadership ability in a fast paced, multi-location environment and interact with all levels of internal staff, as well as external stakeholders, including, but not limited to CROs, Opinion Leaders, Advisory Boards, and Committees.

This position initially reports to the Vice President, Medical Affairs and will be located in the Boston, MA, USA location; we may consider other locations for an exceptional candidate.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develops the scientific communications strategic and tactical plans, including scientific publications, platforms, field-based medicine material, training, and other content, and related materials.
• Designs and develops integrated medical strategies.
• Plays a leadership role on cross-functional teams, partnering with internal stakeholders to deliver on strategic medical plans.
• Collaborates cross-functionally with Therapeutic Area Head(s), Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Biostatistics, Medical Writing, Regulatory, Development Program Management, and Commercial to ensure integrated cross functional project plans for programs and trials.
• Contributes to the OL engagement and mapping process.
• Supports the planning, preparation, and execution of advisory boards
• Supports the planning and execution of medical education activities.
• Ensures scientific communication and strategy planning and other processes are in place and consistently followed and optimized.
• In collaboration with the Vice President, Medical Affairs, develops strategy for the Field Based Medicine team buildout and participates in the recruitment process.
• Involved in and develops SOPs for the activities conducted by Medical Affairs.
• Provides medical input into Promotional Review Committee for promotional and external materials, as needed.
• Participates in Phase IV and IIT strategy planning and provides scientific and strategic input.
• Participates in budgetary processes as part of annual planning
• 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, if any
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD, Pharm, MD, or other recognized doctorate level education with supporting applicable health science background.
• A minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, with a strong medical or scientific background; previous management experience preferred.
• Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills, ability to build credibility and trust inside and outside the Company.
• Experience in leading and building a team strongly desired.
• Previous launch experience strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to build and develop high performing teams, excellent delegation, and conflict resolution skills.
• Be science and data driven while at the same time, creative and flexible in strategic thinking and problem solving.
• Previous field-based medicine experience desired.
• Ability to travel up to 25%, both domestically and internationally.