Director, Field Effectiveness & Operations

About the role

We are seeking a Director, Field Effectiveness & Operations to develop and operate a high-performing commercial field operations function in support of Xenon’s first anticipated product launch in epilepsy.

Responsibilities

• Build and operationalize Xenon’s field effectiveness infrastructure to support launch readiness, launch execution, and post-launch optimization across commercial field teams
• Partner with Field Strategy, Marketing, Market Access, Medical, Data Strategy & Analytics, IT, Finance, HR, Legal, and Compliance to translate launch strategy into field-ready processes, tools, and operating rhythms
• Serve as a primary Commercial Operations partner to field strategy and leadership, ensuring field execution needs are anticipated, prioritized, and translated into operational and scalable solutions
• Develop and produce field execution analytics and identify gaps in execution quality, adoption, and performance variability
• Territory Alignment, Targeting & Field Deployment Operations
• Collaborate on strategy and lead operational execution of territory alignment, targeting refinement, field deployment support, and related vendor workstreams in partnership with Commercial Analytics, Sales leadership, Market Access, IT, and external partners
• Own targeting operations and refinement processes, ensuring targeting outputs are accurate, actionable, timely, and aligned to commercial strategy
• Translate field design, account segmentation, and targeting logic into field-ready CRM workflows, call plans, execution guidance, and KPIs
• CRM, Field Technology & Operational Enablement
• Serve as the business owner or key Commercial Operations partner for field-facing systems and tools, including CRM, field reporting, account planning tools, dashboards, and related technology platforms
• Collaborate on business requirements for CRM workflows, field reporting, dashboards, account planning tools, and other field enablement capabilities
• Incentive Compensation & Performance Operations
• Lead incentive compensation operations in partnership with Sales leadership, Finance, HR, Legal, Compliance, and Analytics
• Develop and lead IC governance, plan operations, goal-setting inputs, payout operations, issue resolution, documentation, and field communications
• Support leadership decision-making by providing clear operational insights on IC effectiveness, field behavior, execution quality, and launch performance signals
• AI, Automation & Innovation in Field Effectiveness
• Identify, develop, and implement AI-enabled and automation-based solutions that improve field productivity, launch performance, and leadership decision-making
• Partner with Commercial Analytics, Data Strategy, IT, Legal, Compliance, Privacy, and business stakeholders to evaluate appropriate AI use cases across field operations and commercial execution
• Cross-Functional Partnership
• Partner closely with the Senior Director, Field Strategy & Enablement and commercial training team to ensure training materials, onboarding, and launch readiness programs incorporate relevant systems, processes, data, dashboards, CRM workflows, targeting, IC, and operational expectations
• Team Leadership & Functional
• Manage and develop direct reports and/or contractors over time, including potential roles focused on incentive compensation, field operations, and field effectiveness
• Operate effectively as both a strategic leader and hands-on builder in a lean, pre-launch / launch-stage biotech environment

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree in business, life sciences, analytics, healthcare, or related field preferred
• 10+ years of progressive experience in pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences commercial operations, sales operations, field effectiveness, sales force effectiveness, field analytics, or related roles
• Demonstrated experience supporting launch readiness or commercial launch execution, ideally in a specialty, rare disease, neurology, CNS, or complex market environment
• Strong knowledge of field operations capabilities, including CRM, territory alignment, targeting, field deployment, call planning, incentive compensation, field reporting, and performance management
• Experience partnering with Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Medical Affairs, Analytics, IT, Finance, HR, Legal, Compliance, and external vendors
• Demonstrated ability to translate commercial strategy into scalable operational processes, tools, dashboards, and execution plans
• Strong understanding of field-facing technology platforms, CRM workflows, business requirements, data quality, and reporting adoption
• Practical understanding of pharmaceutical compliance considerations related to field operations, CRM, data capture, incentive compensation, and field communications
• Excellent project management, cross-functional leadership, executive communication, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, evolving, build-mode environment with high ambiguity and competing priorities