Director, External Expert Strategy & Engagement

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The Director, External Expert Strategy & Engagement is a critical role responsible for defining, standardizing, and overseeing the company’s global strategy for engaging a broad spectrum of external stakeholders. This includes Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), Digital Opinion Leaders (DOLs), Payers/Access Stakeholders, Academic/Integrated Health Systems, Patients/Caregivers, and Patient Advocacy Groups. The role is accountable for establishing the governance, process clarity, and technological infrastructure necessary to ensure coordinated, high-value, and non-transactional interactions across all functional areas, distinguishing tactics based on the asset lifecycle stage (Early vs. In-line). This position reports directly to the Executive Director of External Engagement and Field Excellence.

Job Description

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Governance and Accountability

• Establish clear accountability and process ownership for all external expert engagement activities, defining roles and responsibilities across the Medical Affairs (GMA) function to address the current pain point of limited clarity on accountabilities and responsibilities.
• Develop and implement a standardized global strategy for external engagement that distinctly tailors objectives based on asset lifecycle (e.g., Early Asset engagement must focus on obtaining input from KOLs and Payers on trial design and clinical/economic value).

System and Data Management

• Coordinate with stakeholder engagement liaisons (from GMA, Commercial, Clinical Development, Market Access, Patient Advocacy and Stakeholder Management, Corporate Communications, and Government Affairs) and IT to migrate multiple, overlapping stakeholder lists.
• Drive process adherence for the consistent upkeep and governance of the centralized external stakeholder list, ensuring the database accurately tracks engagement across all categories of stakeholders (e.g., Patients/Caregivers, Academic Systems, Digital Opinion Leaders).
• Champion the use of the centralized system to track all medical expert interactions, contact attempts, and strategic insights captured.

Coordination and Best Practices

• Facilitate connections between the designated primary stakeholder lead contact and any internal team member seeking subsequent outreach to prevent multiple concurrent communications and requests.
• Encourage and mandate best practices for GMA preparation before any stakeholder outreach, ensuring all engagement is high-quality and strategically aligned.
• Partner with the Training team to develop standardized training and resources for internal teams on proper engagement protocols, compliance guidelines, and use of the centralized Veeva system, highlighting the specific goals for engaging each stakeholder group.
• Collaborate with Global Training Lead to coordinate any needed training on external engagement processes and/or capabilities.
• Consider technology and AI to support workflow improvement.

Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Advanced scientific or clinical degree is required (PharmD, MD, PhD, or equivalent).
• Minimum of 8 - 10 years of progressive experience in the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, with at least 5 years in Global Medical Affairs, Strategic Operations, or an equivalent function focused on External Expert/KOL Engagement.
• Proven experience in designing, implementing, and managing global engagement processes across multiple therapeutic areas and across different asset lifecycle stages.
• Demonstrated success in leading a complex cross-functional project (e.g., system migration, process standardization) involving IT and multiple business units.

Skills And Competencies

• Exceptional ability to drive process governance and change management across a global matrix organization.
• Superior Stakeholder Management and influencing skills, capable of gaining consensus and driving compliance among diverse functional leaders (Commercial, Clinical, Global Medical Affairs).
• Strong technological acumen with proven experience working with Veeva or similar management platforms for centralized data management.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate the strategic value of coordinated external engagement to senior executive leadership.
• Motivated and solution-oriented, with a clear focus on simplifying complex processes for end-users.

Competencies

Accountability for Results -

Stay focused on key strategic objectives, be accountable for high standards of performance, and take an active role in leading change.

Strategic Thinking & Problem Solving - Make decisions considering the long-term impact to customers, patients, employees, and the business.

Patient & Customer Centricity - Maintain an ongoing focus on the needs of our customers and/or key stakeholders.

Impactful Communication - Communicate with logic, clarity, and respect. Influence at all levels to achieve the best results for Otsuka.

Respectful Collaboration - Seek and value others’ perspectives and strive for diverse partnerships to enhance work toward common goals.

Empowered Development - Play an active role in professional development as a business imperative.

Minimum $183,335.00 - Maximum $274,160.00, plus incentive opportunity: The range shown represents a typical pay range or starting pay for individuals who are hired in the role to perform in the United States. Other elements may be used to determine actual pay such as the candidate’s job experience, specific skills, and comparison to internal incumbents currently in role. Typically, actual pay will be positioned within the established range, rather than at its minimum or maximum. This information is provided to applicants in accordance with states and local laws.

Application Deadline : This will be posted for a minimum of 5 business days.

Company benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, prescription drug coverage, company provided basic life, accidental death & dismemberment, short-term and long-term disability insurance, tuition reimbursement, student loan assistance, a generous 401(k) match, flexible time off, paid holidays, and paid leave programs as well as other company provided benefits.

Come discover more about Otsuka and our benefit offerings; .

Disclaimer

This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the people assigned to this position. It is not intended to include every job duty and responsibility specific to the position. Otsuka reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs as necessary.

Otsuka is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will be given consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, national origin, veteran status, marital status, or any other legally protected characteristic.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation, if you are unable or limited in your ability to apply to this job opening as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by contacting Accommodation Request ([email protected]) .

Statement Regarding Job Recruiting Fraud Scams

At Otsuka we take security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please be aware individuals may approach you and falsely present themselves as our employees or representatives. They may use this false pretense to try to gain access to your personal information or acquire money from you by offering fictitious employment opportunities purportedly on our behalf.

Please understand, Otsuka will never ask for financial information of any kind or for payment of money during the job application process. We do not require any financial, credit card or bank account information and/or any payment of any kind to be considered for employment. We will also not offer you money to buy equipment, software, or for any other purpose during the job application process. If you are being asked to pay or offered money for equipment fees or some other application processing fee, even if claimed you will be reimbursed, this is not Otsuka. These claims are fraudulent and you are strongly advised to exercise caution when you receive such an offer of employment.

Otsuka will also never ask you to download a third-party application in order to communicate about a legitimate job opportunity. Scammers may also send offers or claims from a fake email address or from Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, etc, and not from an official Otsuka email address. Please take extra caution while examining such an email address, as the scammers may misspell an official Otsuka email address and use a slightly modified version duplicating letters.

To ensure that you are communicating about a legitimate job opportunity at Otsuka, please only deal directly with Otsuka through its official Otsuka Career website .

Otsuka will not be held liable or responsible for any claims, losses, damages or expenses resulting from job recruiting scams. If you suspect a position is fraudulent, please contact Otsuka’s call center at: 800-363-5670. If you believe you are the victim of fraud resulting from a job recruiting scam, please contact the FBI through the Internet Crime Complaint Center at: , or your local authorities.

Otsuka America Pharmaceutical Inc., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc., and Otsuka Precision Health, Inc. (“Otsuka”) does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs/resumes submitted by search firms to any Otsuka employee directly or through Otsuka’s application portal without a valid written search agreement in place for the position will be considered Otsuka’s sole property. No fee will be paid if a candidate is hired by Otsuka as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails.

If you have questions about this posting, please contact [email protected]