Director, Medical Affairs Team - Internal Medicine

Main Responsibilities

• Coaching & Developing Medical Affairs Leads
• Provide daily leadership, coaching and development for Medical Affairs team members, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous growth between medical, marketing and sales.
• Serve as a player-coach by balancing direct category ownership within Internal Medicine while guiding and supporting peers across the broader Medical Affairs function.
• Align priorities, drive execution, and ensure consistency across the team.
• Provide performance feedback, coaching and development planning to support individual growth, enhance team performance, and advance organizational objectives.
• Support talent planning, onboarding and capability-building initiatives to ensure the Medical Affairs organization is equipped to meet current and future business needs.
• Brand Marketing Partnership & Support
• Proactively work with the Brand Marketing Team on medical insights and messaging that inform strategic development and implementation of marketing plans and product responses to competitors for both on-market and future innovative product launches.
• Create and/or guide agency or Key Opinion Leader (KOL) generated technical content for products across the aligned portfolio; serve as a subject matter expert in the medical review of brand-aligned content within the Ad and Promotional Review process.
• Provide portfolio leadership across Medical Affairs categories by aligning priorities, sharing best practices, and guiding the four category leads to deliver coordinated medical support that meets business needs and market dynamics.
• Actively participate in Therapeutic Focus and Category Insight groups.
• Collaborative Partnerships with Customers and Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs)
• Partner with Marketing Internal Medicine Category Lead and other Veterinary Professional Services colleagues to contribute to, or lead if delegated, key tactical customer activities and meetings based on brand strategy plans (e.g., advisory board meetings, speakers' bureaus, professional association relationship management, KOL development and engagement, segmented customer education/training).
• Help to identify new KOLs and cultivate meaningful connections.
• Study Development with Product Development Regulatory Affairs Department (PDRA) & External Key Opinion Leaders
• Contribute to the assessment and identification of technical/medical and business gaps and needs for assigned products.
• Fulfil identified and delegated liaison relationships with key animal health organizations critical to the product/therapeutic area supported to promote and enhance the image of Dechra.
• Identify future trends and marketplace dynamics and work across functional teams to support post-approval and lifecycle management projects. Contribute to data generation/study plans and monitor progress, milestones, and budget.
• Partnerships and Training/Education
• Advise and assist with strategic focus and tactical pull-through of technical content within training programs and materials to ensure consistency and clarity of key marketing messages and the medical appropriateness of product usage.
• Identify needs for new and enhanced technical presentations and assume a leadership role in their development and communication with internal colleagues of all levels.
• Aid in developing/presenting sales training to Dechra personnel, Dechra contractual KOLs/technical advisors, and strategic partnerships on an as-needed basis.
• Organizational Effectiveness
• Demonstrate the ability to lead and successfully guide implementation and execution of initiatives with minimal oversight through understanding and ability to function within the organizational structure.
• Lead the Internal Medicine category while directly managing and developing the other four Medical Affairs category leads to ensure aligned priorities, consistent execution, and strong cross-portfolio collaboration.
• Develop ongoing and strong collaborative relationships with key stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
• Proficient at project management, striking balance of personal workflow priorities within those of the team and business to meet key deliverable milestones; manages conflict effectively and with positive outcomes.

Ideal Candidate

• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or equivalent
• 7+ years of combined clinical and industry experience
• Experience leading, coaching and developing a team of medical professionals
• Active veterinary license, in good standing
• Demonstrated experience leading and developing people, including coaching senior individual contributors or team leads
• Strong strategic/analytical thinking, problem-solving skills, and attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with various stakeholders
• Ability to work and navigate in an environment of regulatory and legal processes
• Excellent judgment in conflict management and influence
• Excellent computer skills, proficiency in MS Office (Outlook, SharePoint, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), and the ability to learn Dechra systems
• Ability to travel as required - often up to 25-30% for industry conferences, professional meetings, and collaboration with key internal/external stakeholders.