Head of Commercial Learning, US Biopharmaceutical

Are you ready to build the complete sales professional and elevate field performance across a complex US portfolio? How would you turn strategy, science, and data into sharper, compliant customer conversations that change clinical behavior and improve patient outcomes?

In this role, you will set the vision, strategy, and execution for commercial learning and capability development across the US Biopharmaceutical portfolio (Cardiovascular, Renal, Metabolic, Respiratory, Immunology & Vaccines) shaping how our customer-facing teams compete and win. You will ensure representatives own the science and clinical evidence, understand customer and competitive context, navigate access barriers, and orchestrate cross-functional capabilities to deliver the right message to the right customer in the right way.

You will own an end-to-end performance strategy—standards, practice environments, certification, manager coaching, field reinforcement, and measurement—that translates learning into observable changes in field behavior and stronger business performance. Your work will create a common capability foundation for new hires, differentiated sales pathways, and function-specific depth, enabling teams to use CRM, data, analytics, and approved AI ethically and effectively.

Accountabilities:

• Enterprise Capability Strategy: Define and own a multi-year commercial capability strategy linked to US priorities, with clear governance, standards, investment choices, success measures, and continuous improvement.
• Build the Complete Sales Professional: Set an integrated capability model for representatives spanning scientific and clinical acumen, business acumen, competitive selling, customer engagement, account planning, healthcare-system understanding, access navigation, data fluency, CRM, AI-enabled execution, and cross-functional orchestration.
• Competitive Selling Excellence: Establish and evolve a differentiated, compliant approach to competitive selling that converts brand strategy, clinical evidence, market-access realities, customer insight, and competitive intelligence into sharp customer conversations and clear asks.
• Customer and Account Orchestration: Prepare representatives to integrate account insight, patient needs, clinical opportunities, access realities, and enterprise resources; engage specialist teams appropriately; and maintain compliant role boundaries.
• Healthcare-System and Access Fluency: Build working knowledge of payer and provider dynamics, reimbursement and prior-authorization processes, access barriers, support resources, and appropriate escalation—equipping reps to recognize and sell through barriers compliantly.
• Tiered Learning Architecture: Create a common foundation for new hires followed by differentiated role-based pathways, partnering with specialist functions to own their depth and certification.
• Strategy to Field Execution: Partner with Sales, Brand, Medical, Market Access, Compliance, Customer Engagement, Data and Analytics, and Global Learning to translate strategy and science into a small number of clear field behaviors, messages, tools, and coaching priorities.
• Launch Readiness: Own capability and field readiness for launches end to end—from gap assessment to scientific and competitive readiness, practice, certification, manager coaching, and post-launch reinforcement—grounded in real customer, account, access, and patient-identification dynamics.
• Manager Reinforcement System: Make first-line managers the reinforcement engine through a common coaching model, expectations, observation tools, cadence, and accountability.
• Data, CRM, and AI Integration: Embed approved tools into customer preparation, prioritization, personalization, engagement, and follow-through—building sound judgment to use data and AI effectively, ethically, and compliantly.
• Impact Measurement: Establish measures beyond knowledge and completion to assess proficiency in realistic conversations, adoption of priority behaviors, coaching quality, consistency of execution, time to effectiveness, and contribution to customer and business outcomes.
• Portfolio Prioritization: Challenge demand, stop or simplify low-value activity, and focus resources on the few capabilities with the greatest impact—preventing order-taking and training without a clear performance need.
• Build and Lead the Function: Recruit, develop, and inspire a high-performing team of therapy-area and capability leaders known for improving performance, not just delivering programs.
• Governance and Compliance: Ensure scientific accuracy; medical, legal, regulatory, and commercial compliance; and optimal use of vendors, platforms, budget, and learning modalities to achieve outcomes.

Essential Skills/Experience:

• Bachelor's degree required - Advanced education in life sciences, business, or a related discipline is valued but does not substitute for relevant commercial leadership experience.
• Significant pharmaceutical commercial and field experience - 10+ years of relevant experience, including direct sales, sales leadership, or equivalent accountability for customer-facing execution and business performance.
• Demonstrated competitive-selling leadership - Proven success building or leading selling systems that improve differentiation, objection handling, customer influence, and field execution in competitive markets.
• Evidence of behavior and performance impact - A demonstrated record of translating strategy, science, customer insight, and competitive context into changed field behavior and measurable commercial impact.
• Strong US healthcare-system and access understanding - Working knowledge of provider and payer dynamics, reimbursement and prior-authorization pathways, patient-support resources, and the compliant role of sales in addressing access barriers.
• Scientific and clinical credibility - Ability to understand complex evidence and ensure it is translated into accurate, differentiated, practical, and compliant customer engagement.
• Manager coaching and reinforcement experience - Proven ability to equip first-line managers to observe, coach, reinforce, and hold teams accountable for sustained application.
• Enterprise and cross-functional leadership - Demonstrated ability to lead across Sales, Marketing, Medical, Market Access, Compliance, Customer Engagement, Data and Analytics, Human Resources, and senior leadership in a complex matrix.
• Digital, data, and AI fluency - Ability to integrate CRM, analytics, and approved AI capabilities into practical field workflows and performance expectations.
• Portfolio and launch leadership - Experience prioritizing enterprise capability investments and leading field readiness across multiple brands, therapy areas, or significant launches.
• People and resource leadership - Experience building high-performing teams and managing budgets, vendors, technology partners, and enterprise-scale programs.
• Ethical leadership - Strong knowledge of commercial compliance requirements and a demonstrated commitment to appropriate, patient-centered, and ethical customer engagement.
• Field presence - Willingness to travel frequently for field visits, customer-facing observation, leadership meetings, and business reviews.

Desirable Skills/Experience:

• Advanced degree - MBA, MS, PharmD, PhD, EdD, or another relevant graduate degree.
• Breadth of commercial experience - Leadership across multiple therapy areas, primary and specialty care, complex accounts, and cross-functional customer models.
• Enterprise capability transformation - Experience creating or materially evolving a commercial capability, selling-excellence, or manager-coaching operating model at scale.
• Modern practice and assessment - Experience using simulation, analytics, digital learning, and technology-enabled practice to assess proficiency and accelerate performance.

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

Why AstraZeneca:

Here, scientific rigor meets commercial courage to turn ideas into real impact for patients. You will feel the energy of a team that thinks big, moves fast, and starts small to scale what works—pioneering digital and data-led solutions that change the patient journey. We bring diverse expertise into the same room to spark bold thinking, give leaders the autonomy to act, and create a trusted space to experiment, learn quickly, and protect our teams as we push boundaries. Your contribution will help shape the next decade of how medicines reach patients, accelerating outcomes that matter while growing alongside top industry talent. We value kindness alongside ambition, pairing high standards with genuine support so you can do your best work and see the difference it makes.

Call to Action:

If you are ready to build the enterprise capabilities that elevate field performance and improve patient outcomes, take the lead and share your story with us today!

Date Posted

Closing Date

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.