Associate Director, Commercial Capabilities

Responsibilities

• Commercial Capability Strategy
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive commercial capability strategy aligned to commercial objectives, organizational priorities, and future workforce needs.
• Identify, assess, and prioritize critical capabilities required across commercial functions, including Sales, Market Access, Key Account Management, Field Reimbursement Managers, Commercial Operations, and other business functions.
• Partner with senior leaders to translate business priorities into capability roadmaps and workforce development strategies.
• Establish capability frameworks, competency models, and role-based proficiency standards that support workforce performance and development.
• Guide strategic capability investment and resource allocation decisions to ensure alignment with commercial strategy, business priorities, workforce needs, and long-term organizational objectives.
• Evaluate current and future workforce capability needs and provide recommendations to strengthen workforce readiness and performance.
• Capability Architecture & Development Pathways
• Design and govern integrated capability frameworks and development pathways for commercial roles, including Sales Representatives, Field Reimbursement Managers, Key Account Managers, District Managers, Sales Directors, Market Access, and other commercial and corporate functions.
• Partner with Business Unit Learning Leads, Leadership Development, and Learning Operations to implement and sustain onboarding programs, role-based development pathways, and development experiences.
• Drive consistency in capability standards, adult learning methodologies, and developmental experiences while enabling flexibility to address unique business requirements.
• Ensure capability solutions support the employee lifecycle, from onboarding and role transition through advanced and ongoing development.
• Develop and maintain career development frameworks that support workforce planning, role progression, and organizational development priorities.
• Product Launch Readiness & Competitive Capability Planning
• Partner with Brand, Marketing, Sales Leadership, Market Access, and other key stakeholders to define capability requirements and readiness strategies for product launches and major business initiatives.
• Develop and maintain repeatable launch readiness frameworks that accelerate organizational preparedness and execution excellence.
• Coordinate capability planning efforts to ensure teams possess the capabilities required to successfully execute launch strategies and business priorities.
• Partner with BU Learning Leads, Learning Operations, and Leadership Development to translate launch readiness requirements into scalable learning and development solutions.
• Leverage internal performance data, external benchmarks, competitive intelligence, and marketplace insights to assess capability requirements across commercial roles and inform development strategies that position products for success throughout launch, growth, maturity, and lifecycle management stages.
• Partner with commercial stakeholders to build competitive readiness strategies that strengthen organizational capabilities and support sustained brand performance.
• Learning Strategy, Governance & Strategic Communications
• Support execution of the Commercial Learning & Development strategy by translating strategic objectives into actionable tactics.
• Create governance processes that clarify ownership, decision-making, accountability, and execution responsibilities across Commercial Learning & Development initiatives.
• Identify, document, and proactively manage strategic risks, dependencies, and barriers that may impact capability development objectives and business outcomes.
• Develop and execute strategic communication plans that provide visibility into capability priorities, investments, progress, risks, achievements, and business impact.
• Prepare executive-level presentations, communications, and reporting materials for senior leadership, governance forums, and key stakeholder groups.
• Represent Commercial Learning & Development in internal and external forums, sharing best practices, benchmarking approaches, and supporting organizational thought leadership in capability development and workforce performance.
• Monitor external trends, emerging practices, and innovations in capability development, workforce transformation, and learning strategy to inform future investments and recommendations.
• Capability Insights & Continuous Improvement
• Partner with Learning Operations to define capability success measures and leverage workforce analytics, learning effectiveness measures, and modern capability development approaches to evaluate impact, identify capability gaps, and inform workforce investment decisions.
• Utilize learning, performance, and business insights to inform capability prioritization, roadmap planning, and resource allocation recommendations.
• Collaborate with Learning Operations to assess the effectiveness of capability initiatives and recommend enhancements based on stakeholder feedback, learner insights, and business outcomes.
• Monitor evolving commercial priorities, market dynamics, workforce trends, and industry best practices to proactively identify emerging capability requirements.
• Continuously refine capability strategies, development approaches, and capability investments to ensure ongoing relevance and business impact.
• Stakeholder Engagement & Cross-Functional Partnership
• Serve as a strategic advisor to Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Commercial Operations, Human Resources, and other key stakeholders on capability priorities and workforce readiness.
• Facilitate capability planning discussions and provide recommendations that align business objectives, talent needs, and organizational capabilities.
• Collaborate with Leadership Development, Learning Operations, and Business Unit Learning Leads to ensure leadership, functional, and commercial capability initiatives are integrated, aligned, and mutually reinforcing.
• Influence stakeholders across functions and business units to drive alignment, adoption, and execution of capability priorities without direct authority.
• Build strong partnerships across the organization to create an integrated approach to capability development that supports commercial success and organizational effectiveness.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years of experience in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or a related industry.
• 10+ years of experience in Commercial Learning & Development, Capability Development, Sales Training, Sales Leadership, Commercial Operations, Organizational Development, Commercial Excellence, or a related function.
• Demonstrated experience developing capability frameworks, competency models, development pathways, onboarding programs, or workforce development strategies that support business performance.
• Experience translating business priorities and workforce needs into capability development solutions and measurable business outcomes.
• Experience supporting commercial product launches, launch readiness initiatives, or commercial transformation efforts.
• Proven ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives and influence stakeholders across multiple organizational levels without direct authority.
• Experience partnering with commercial leaders to align budget allocation with business priorities and organizational objectives.
• Demonstrated understanding of adult learning principles, capability development methodologies, and workforce development approaches.
• Strong business acumen, strategic thinking, systems orientation, and project leadership skills.
• Excellent communication, consulting, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• PREFERRED:
• Demonstrated experience establishing frameworks, governance processes, development programs, or operating models that improve workforce readiness and organizational performance.
• Experience leveraging workforce analytics, learning effectiveness measures, and business insights to inform capability decisions.
• Training, coaching, facilitation, instructional design, talent development, or change management certifications.