Senior Director, Distribution Operations

Statistics show that women and underrepresented groups tend to apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Sobi encourages you to change that statistic and apply. Rarely do candidates meet 100% of the qualifications. We look forward to your application!

At Sobi, each person brings their unique talents to work as a team and make a difference. We are dedicated to developing and delivering innovative therapies to improve the lives of people who live with a rare disease. Our edge comes from our team of people and our commitment to patients.

Our mission and culture at Sobi North America get us excited to come to work every day, but here are a few more reasons to join our team:

• Competitive compensation for your work
• Generous time off policy
• Summer Fridays
• Opportunity to broaden your horizons by attending popular conferences
• Emphasis on work/life balance
• Collaborative and team-oriented environment
• Making a positive impact to help ultra-rare disease patients who are in need of life saving treatments

The Senior Director, Distribution Operations is a pivotal leadership role in the Market Access department responsible for overseeing the day-to-day distribution of rare disease specialty therapies across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The role requires strategic foresight and tactical management to ensure reliable operations while anticipating and mitigating challenges affecting product availability. 

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Primary responsibilities include the following (other duties may be assigned)

National and International Logistics:

• Lead commercial distribution operations for the United States and Puerto Rico, while supporting the Canadian market as required.
• Oversee 3PL vendor performance, ensuring optimal service levels, effective processes, KPI attainment, and alignment with distribution goals. 
• Provide leadership managing issues related to international distribution of product including import/export, common carrier requirements, and licensing/registration. Make process improvements as required in a matrixed environment.

Strategic Foresight & Risk Management:

• Lead planning and execution efforts to ensure seamless product distribution, maintaining close communication with internal teams and external partners to foresee and navigate obstacles.
• Proactively identify and address potential disruptions to product availability impacting the commercial forecast such as packaging or artwork changes, expiry dating, manufacturing lead times, production delays, shipping delays, and import/export regulations.
• Anticipate and manage risks related to operations including weather delays, temperature excursions, shipping concerns, and other critical factors affecting product distribution.  Report proactively to executive management as necessary.

Compliance & Regulatory Management:

• Manage and ensure compliance with GXP, DSCSA, state licensing, state price transparency reporting, drug takeback programs, and other regulatory requirements.  This will require both vendor and Sobi employee oversight.
• Ensure vendors meet all contractual requirements in a compliant fashion.  This may sometimes require adeptly collaborating across various teams both nationally and globally.
• Collaborate closely with the Quality Assurance department and supervise team’s efforts to manage temperature excursions, deviation reports, CAPAs, SOPs, and work instructions, ensuring swift resolution and continuous improvement.

Collaboration & Cross-functional Leadership:

• Work closely with Quality, Technical Operations, Finance, Legal, and Regulatory teams to drive distribution performance and align with company goals.
• Collaborate with the Technical Operations team to synchronize supply chain operations with demand planning and commercialization strategies.
• Play a key role in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings, briefing the executive team on product launch scenarios, risk items, and opportunities.
• Partner with Trade Relations account managers to address issues impacting Specialty Pharmacy and Specialty Distributor partners.  Examples would include order management, inventory management, and product returns.
• Collaborate with other colleagues in the Market Access department including Payer Accounts, GPO, Patient Services, and Field Reimbursement.
• Support the activity of the franchise organizations and provide senior level distribution insight as needed.

Data Management and Oversight:

• Lead team’s efforts to provide data reporting, analysis, and insight regarding sales, inventory, and patient journey across 3PL, Specialty Pharmacies, and Specialty Distributors.
•  Lead efforts with outsourced partner in Compendia data management and reporting.
•  Manage data using 3PL portals, EDI data sets, and data aggregators to ensure accurate reporting leveraging visualization tools such as Tableau.
•  Build strong relationships with vendors and external partners to support business continuity and growth.

Team Leadership & Stakeholder Communication:

• Provide leadership and oversight to a small, high-performing operations team.  Recruit, retain, and develop highly qualified talent.
• Lead high-level presentations to executive management and collaborate across multinational and culturally diverse groups.
• Design and create impactful data visualizations and reports to communicate insights to stakeholders, tailored to both executives and channel partner managers.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in Supply Chain, Logistics, Business, or a related field. Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) preferred.

Experience:

• 10-15 years of experience in distribution operations, with at least 3-5 years of that experience in a leadership role, within the biotech or pharmaceutical industry.
• Proven experience with U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canadian distribution models, particularly for specialty medicines.
• Proven ability to lead and manage 3PL and logistics vendor partnerships.
• Experienced in all phases of the product management lifecycle as it pertains to distribution including development, commercialization, LOE, and product removal activities.
• Strong understanding of regulatory environment and requirements, including GXP, 340B, DSCSA, state licensing, state price transparency reporting, and drug takeback programs.
• Experience writing deviation reports, CAPAs, SOPs, and other quality-related documents in collaboration with Quality Assurance.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience presenting to executive leadership.
• Ability to work confidently within a matrixed multinational organization
• Strong leadership and team management experience
• Expertise in time management, project management, and the ability to balance multiple priorities in a small company with a fast-paced environment.

Skills:

• Strong analytical and methodological skills in health economics and outcomes research.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and build relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Leadership and team management skills, with the ability to inspire and develop team members.
• Strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities.

KEY LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES & PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Willing to have direct and honest conversations, and not afraid to confront challenges and develop actionable plans.
• Competitive spirit with a strong drive to achieve results.
• Open to feedback and coaching with a commitment to continual learning and improvement.
• Ability to navigate a complex organization and influence results.
• Entrepreneurial, flexible, and results-focused with a high degree of intellectual curiosity, honesty, and capability.
• Low ego and humble in spirit despite a track record of outstanding performance.

POSITION TYPE / EXPECTED HOURS OF WORK

This position regularly requires long hours and may include weekend work.

TRAVEL

Eastern time zone preferred.  Living near a major airport is preferred.

Travel as appropriate to implement strategic initiatives, approximately 25%-50%.

All Sobi employees need to demonstrate behaviors in line with Sobi's core values: Care, Ambition, Urgency, Ownership and Partnership. Are you ready to be on the Sobi team? Come join a culture that empowers every person to be the person that makes a difference for rare disease.

Salary range: $230,000 to $285,000

Why Join Us?

We are a global company with over 1,700 employees in more than 30 countries and are committed to the societies where we operate. With a deeply skilled management team directing our day-to-day wins, and a Board with a stellar track record, we’re ready to take on the world’s diseases, ailments and adversity. Our people believe they have the power to make a positive impact in others’ lives because that’s exactly what we do here. If you’re seeking a career that taps into your talents in a way that makes the world a better, healthier place, we just may have a job for you.

We know our employees are our most valuable asset, and our culture conveys that. We offer a competitive benefits package, to support the health and happiness of our staff.

Sobi Culture

At Sobi, we refuse to accept the status quo. This is because we have witnessed first-hand the challenges facing those affected by rare diseases, and have used this knowledge to shape our business to find new ways of helping them.

As a specialized biopharmaceutical company, we are dedicated to rare diseases. And we see this focus as a strength. By effectively turning our research into ground-breaking treatments, we help make medicine more accessible and open up more possibilities for patients and more opportunities for those caring for them. This has been our approach since day one, but we know we can’t change the world of rare diseases on our own. Accomplishing this requires strong partnerships with patients, partners and stakeholders across the entire value chain. Together, we define how our business can create solutions that serve the needs of those affected by rare diseases while facilitating sustainable growth.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

Sobi is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions at Sobi are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veterans and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status or protected groups by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

Sobi is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. Disabled/Veterans. 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 use or access this website to apply for a vacancy as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by sending an email to [email protected]

COVID-19 Policy

For the safety of our employees and all individuals with whom we interact professionally, Sobi North America requires all new hires in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with proof of vaccination status. We will consider requests for reasonable medical or religious accommodations, as well as any state-specific exemptions, as required by applicable law.