Reporting to the Head of Commercial, the VP, Head of Commercial Operations will be responsible for developing and leading Skyhawk’s commercial operations capabilities, with the ultimate focus on ensuring commercial readiness and optimizing the planning and execution of our commercial launch plan for the company’s lead asset, SKY-0515. This is a critical senior leadership role that will be instrumental in the Company’s continued success.
Responsibilities
- Conduct key market analytics and develop actionable insights (e.g., Forecasting, Market Segmentation, Customer Targeting, Salesforce Size & Structure, and Field Force Alignment) and partner with vendors on the implementation and roll out of key commercial infrastructure and processes, including MDM (Master Data Management), Data Warehouse, CRM, Sales & Activity Reporting, Executive Dashboarding and Field Incentive Compensation.
- Partner with senior leaders across all corporate and commercial functions (Finance, Legal, IT, HR, Compliance, CMC/Operations, Medical Affairs, Sales, Marketing, & Market Access/Strategic Accounts) to ensure strategic alignment and business direction.
- Design, build, and operate CRM, MDM, and data warehouse to support all commercial and launch business processes; manage commercial data management systems including master data management, data warehouse, field reporting, field incentive compensation, and business/sales force analytics.
- Lead the Commercial Operations function and assigned staff to oversee sales operations, including salesforce sizing and structure, incentive compensation, alignment, targeting, customer mapping, territory metrics, and customer analytics.
- Drive sales team effectiveness through territory planning/POA (Plan of Action), sales performance tracking, development and delivery of customer engagement, and sales enablement tools.
- Drive cross‑functional planning, alignment, and integration preparation for launch readiness across the entire company including IT, Supply Chain, HR, Legal/Compliance, and Finance.
- Lead preparations for governance meetings, business reviews and leadership engagements.
- Partner with Commercial stakeholders to drive strategic decision making and budget planning and management based on key market insights.
- Manage marketing operations and effectively partner with Medical to ensure timely review of promotional materials and congress and conference organization.
- Collaborate to support operational priorities in finance (GTN calculations/analytics, reporting, and commercial budgeting), CMC/Operations (demand forecasts), legal (commercial contract management), Market Access & Finance (government pricing analytics and administration), Market Access/Trade Distribution (state licensure), compliance (Sunshine Act reporting), and business development (asset diligence, market assessments, business analytics, and NPV analyses).
Requirements, Education, Experience & Skills
- Bachelor's degree required, MBA preferred.
- 15+ years of experience within biotech/pharmaceuticals, with recent focus in commercial operations leadership.
- 10+ years of leadership in commercial operations with direct experience in incentive compensation, sales operations, insights, and analytics.
- Proven expert in leading and developing commercial operations functions.
- Launch experience for rare disease indications, highly preferred.
- Comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment.
- Ability to generate, quantify and analyze data in creating solutions for sales force and marketing optimization.
- Experience selecting and overseeing external vendors and outsourced partnerships.
- Strong ability to engage and motivate people and have the managerial courage to make and stand by difficult decisions.
- True team player – authentic, humble, building a positive team spirit and leading through the ups and downs of drug development.
- Demonstrated ability to motivate and lead teams with managerial courage.
- Experience in and understanding of other commercial functions (e.g., marketing, market access, sales, sales training, business development, etc.) will be an important consideration for this role.
- Highly analytical, comfortable formulating and delivering data‑driven, fact‑based analyses of the business and utilizing insights to propose effective strategies to meet corporate objectives.
- Resourceful, creative problem solver who seeks out and is receptive to new ideas and approaches to solving persistent challenges.
- Ability and willingness to work effectively and seamlessly at multiple “altitudes” within the organization, with a “no job is too big or too small” attitude necessary to succeed in a startup environment.
- Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication skills, including the ability to convey insights and recommendations via PowerPoint and to support C‑Suite and board of directors presentations.
- Demonstrated ability to adapt to changes in the work environment, manage competing demands, and respond to uncertainty with maturity and professionalism.
- Highly skilled in influencing cross‑functional teams, including interfacing with key internal and external stakeholders and scientific and commercial teams.
Skyhawk Therapeutics is committed to pay transparency and equitable compensation practices. The base salary range for the VP, Head of Commercial Operations is $250,000–$400,000 annually. This range reflects the minimum and maximum target for such a position. Skyhawk Therapeutics will assess the appropriate level for a qualified candidate based on job‑related skills, professional experience, and relevant education or training.
About Skyhawk
Skyhawk is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing small molecule therapeutics that modify RNA expression. We use our novel SkySTAR® platform (Skyhawk Small molecule Therapeutics for Alternative splicing of RNA) to develop drug candidates directed toward targets for some of the world’s most intractable diseases, including neurological conditions, cancer, and traditionally “undruggable” targets.
As set forth in Skyhawk Therapeutics’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.
Voluntary Self‑Identification
For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the voluntary self‑identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.
Voluntary Self‑Identification of Disability
Select a category if you are a protected veteran or have a disability. The categories are provided for reporting purposes only and are not used in the hiring decision.
- Disabled veteran – veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or who would be entitled to compensation if not for a service‑connected disability.
- Recently separated veteran – any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of discharge or release from active duty.
- Active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran – veteran who served on active duty during a war or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized by the Department of Defense.
- Armed forces service medal veteran – veteran who participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.
- Disability categories include, but are not limited to:
- Alcohol or other substance use disorder (not currently using drugs illegally)
- Autoimmune disorder, e.g., lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS
- Blind or low vision
- Cancer (past or present)
- Cardiovascular or heart disease
- Celiac disease
- Cerebral palsy
- Deaf or serious difficulty hearing
- Diabetes
- Disfigurement, e.g., caused by burns, wounds, accidents, or congenital disorders
- Epilepsy or other seizure disorder
- Gastrointestinal disorders, e.g., Crohn's Disease, irritable bowel syndrome
- Intellectual or developmental disability
- Mental health conditions, e.g., depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, PTSD
- Missing limbs or partially missing limbs
- Mobility impairment, benefiting from use of a wheelchair, scooter, walker, leg brace(s) and/or other supports
- Nervous system condition, e.g., migraine headaches, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS)
- Neurodivergence, e.g., ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia, other learning disabilities
- Partial or complete paralysis (any cause)
- Pulmonary or respiratory conditions, e.g., tuberculosis, asthma, emphysema
- Short stature (dwarfism)
- Traumatic brain injury