Operational Excellence Director France

Sobi offers the opportunity to work at an international pharmaceutical company focused on specialty pharmaceuticals meeting the high medical needs of rare disease patients and providing treatment and services to them. Our employees come from a variety of backgrounds within research, healthcare, industry and the academic sphere.

Job Description

Under the guidance of the General Manager France and Belgium, the Operational excellence director is responsible for leading and embedding a culture of performance excellence across the affiliate. This includes:

1. Launch Excellence as part of the cross-functional team in partnership with the GM
2. Coordinating special projects for the affiliate and be the main point of contact of the EU commercialization excellence team
3. Sales Force Effectiveness
4. Operational Excellence and Customer Focus
5. Business Insights, Analytics, and Market Segmentation
6. Omnichannel Development
7. Forecasting in partnership with BUDs & Finance Director

The incumbent will operate with high ethical standards aligned with Sobi corporate values, the ABPI Code, and all applicable SOPs, ensuring completion of all initial and ongoing training.

This role involves leading significant organizational change, requiring a resilient, solutions-oriented, and growth-focused mindset.

The role is part of the local Leadership Team, requiring a strong leadership and collective approach, being able to actively contribute to the affiliate strategy beyond its area of expertise.

Key Objectives and Responsibilities

• Lead the transformation of the French affiliate toward a data- and insights-driven culture, using segmentation and analytics to optimize business decisions, commercial planning, and customer engagement.
• Build and implement strategic frameworks for market segmentation , account management, and business intelligence to drive targeted and effective customer interactions in total partnership with BUDs
• In collaboration with business units and cross-functional teams, develop and standardize commercial excellence tools (e.g. account planning, real-time dashboards, dynamic segmentation models).
• Advance omnichannel strategy, enabling seamless, insight-driven engagement across all customer touchpoints.
• Champion a customer- and market-centric approach across portfolios and brands, supporting informed, focused decision-making.

Accountabilities and Deliverables

1. Launch Excellence

• Co-lead the development of affiliate launch excellence playbooks, embedding market segmentation, competitive intelligence, and customer insight as core elements.
• Lead commercial readiness by developing robust go-to-market models:
  • Patient journey mapping
  • Market sizing and segmentation
  • Sales force sizing and targeting
  • Competitive environment analysis
  • Post-launch monitoring and insights generation

2. Operational Excellence and Customer Focus

• Coordinating special projects for the affiliate and be the main point of contact of the EU commercialization excellence team
• Lead initiatives to embed a customer-centric and agile operating model across commercial functions.
• Use segmentation and engagement analytics to refine resource deployment across portfolios and territories.
• Foster continuous improvement, removing inefficiencies and driving scalable processes to support growth.
• Build capabilities in data literacy, business acumen, and customer insight interpretation across commercial teams.

 3. Sales Force Effectiveness

• Drive segmentation and targeting frameworks using market and customer insights to support prioritization of accounts and resource allocation.
• Monitor and optimize KPI performance in collaboration with BUDs, NSMs, and leadership. Proactively escalate risks or opportunities.
• Maximize use of Veeva CRM for account planning, customer profiling, call planning, and closed-loop marketing.
• Support rollout of business acumen and account excellence training in partnership with European Customer Excellence teams.
• Use qualitative and quantitative insights to drive customer understanding and improve go-to-market strategy.
• Participate and lead with BUDs quarterly Business reviews with cross functional teams

4. Business Insights and Market Segmentation

• Enhance and structure the affiliate’s use of business analytics and insights to support commercial strategy, performance tracking, and customer understanding.
• Implement advanced market segmentation frameworks , integrating patient journey, disease epidemiology, referral mapping, and behavioural profiling.
• Provide actionable insights to senior leaders to support strategic decisions in customer engagement, portfolio allocation, and investment prioritization.
• Develop customer archetypes/personas using market research and segmentation analytics to inform tailored engagement.
• Align with global and EU-level initiatives to pilot new analytical tools and methodologies.

5. Omnichannel Development

• Review and constantly challenge the vision for omnichannel engagement in France and develop a roadmap for its implementation, aligned with customer expectations and digital trends.
• Accelerate the deployment of omnichannel capabilities (e.g. Sobi Pro, VAE, CLM), integrating insights from segmentation to personalize engagement.
• Lead measurement of omnichannel effectiveness, using customer-centric KPIs (reach, engagement, preferences) to inform strategy.
• Collaborate with global digital marketing to ensure alignment and adaptation of global tools to the local ecosystem.

6. Forecasting

• Lead bottom-up and top-down forecasting with BUDs and FD (patients, volumes, revenues) incorporating insights from segmentation and real-world data.
• Co-own LRP (Long-Range Plan) assumptions and business cases with BUDs,
• Finance Director and GM, bringing deep understanding of customer dynamics and market trends.

Qualifications

• University degree (scientific or business discipline preferred)
• Proven experience in Commercial Excellence, Business Insights, Strategic Marketing or Sales management within the pharmaceutical or biotech industry
• Demonstrated expertise in market segmentation , data analysis, and insight generation
• Experience in launching new products and leading cross-functional launch teams
• Proficient in CRM and analytics tools (Veeva, Power BI, Qlik, etc.)
• Experience leading change and capability building initiatives

Person Specification

• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills
• Excellent ability to turn data into insight and insights into action
• Experience with segmentation methodologies, customer profiling, and targeting strategies
• Proven leadership and coaching skills to foster a high-performance culture
• Change agent with a collaborative and persuasive communication style
• Resilience and emotional intelligence to thrive in fast-paced, evolving environments
• Deep commitment to ethical standards and customer-centricity

Additional Information

Personal Attributes

• The role is likely to suit someone with an outgoing personality, who enjoys building things as part of a team and who is not afraid of the unknown. Ambiguity is a characteristic of a fast-growing organization and the successful candidate is likely to be someone who thrives on change and on the possibilities created by a changing environment.
• Significant drive and enthusiasm should be a prominent part of your character
• A strong team player, with demonstrated decision-making abilities
• Highly developed interpersonal skills, and the ability to build and maintain networks both externally as well as internally
• Structured and organized approach, in a flexible and adaptable spirit
• Highest levels of personal integrity, with a strong personal commitment to adhere to all rules, regulations, standard operating procedures and the values and ethics, compliance to rules and regulations
• A facility and ease in communicating in a scientific environment and with specialized audiences