Associate Director, Thought Leader Liaison

Position Summary:

Apellis is hiring an experienced and talented individual for the role of Thought Leader Liaison (TLL) for the US Ophthalmology business unit. The Thought Leader Liaison is a field-based role that will be responsible for building and nurturing strategic partnerships with US KOLs. This role will be critical in helping us obtain insights that help advance educational offerings by Apellis and will ultimately help build advocacy among the ECPs (Retina Specialists, Comprehensive Ophthalmologists and Optometrists) - as well as galvanizing focus and collaboration internally on KOL engagement. This is an excellent opportunity to make a significant impact on the first ophthalmic commercial launch at Apellis.

The South-Central region includes Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Build productive relationships and create advocacy for Apellis and our therapies with national and regional ECP thought leaders, and other key influencers in assigned geography.
• Ensure appropriate tailoring and positioning of new Apellis therapies and services aligned to customers' needs.
• Connect physician thought leaders with other relevant parts of the organization (e.g. marketing, market access, medical affairs, Apellis leadership team) while maintaining compliance guidelines on appropriate medical / commercial collaboration.
• Establish Apellis among the eyecare and KOL community as an industry-leading science driven company, committed to retina, and to helping patients worldwide with complement mediated diseases.
• Serve as a primary contact at Apellis with key influencers in the community.
• As a member of the US KOL Engagement Committee, a cross-functional committee, create strategic engagement plans for leading US KOLs and ensure coordinated KOL engagement across the organization.
• Identify local and regional KOL and peer-to-peer engagement opportunities and facilitate execution of these opportunities in collaboration with the sales & marketing teams.
• Maintain the promotional speaker bureau - identify and recruit potential speakers, train and coach speakers on approved promotional slide decks, partner with ECP marketing team on planning speaker training events and assist speakers with completion of annual compliance training.
• Partner closely with KOLs and treating physicians to identify and refine peer-to-peer program offerings and formats to ensure they are resonant with key customers.
• Partner with ECP marketing team on content development, strategy, and logistics for peer-to-peer engagements by providing input on speaker programs, and congress symposia.
• Partner with ECP marketing team on the execution of commercial ECP advisory boards: help identify appropriate advisors based on objectives and agenda and provide input into meeting objectives and content.
• Build and nurture strong, positive relationships with key cross-functional partners, including medical affairs and field teams.
• Compliantly liaise with cross functional partners to address customer needs, identify and share KOL insights, identify and initiate projects of mutual interest to Apellis and customers, anticipate market trends, and uncover competitive intelligence to ensure delivery against business objectives.
• Identify new opportunities to involve Apellis in meaningful programs and sponsorships at congresses and society meetings.
• Attend national & regional conferences, state society meetings, leadership team customer meetings, and speaker events. Ensure alignment across Apellis for thought leader interactions to deliver a cohesive customer experience.

Education, Registration & Certification:

• BS/BA or higher degree required.

Experience:

• 6+ years of biotech / pharma experience, particularly customer facing roles; cross functional experience in other areas such as training, reimbursement, marketing, or sales leadership is a plus.
• New product launch experience preferred.
• Ophthalmic disease experience - retina and buy & bill experience highly preferred.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

• Reputation and proven ability to develop respected, productive relationships with new and existing physician thought leaders and other healthcare professionals. Genuine commitment to understanding and meeting customer needs.
• Has a growth mindset and embraces change and ambiguity with a positive and solution-oriented attitude. Ability to be successful in a fast-paced, results driven, entrepreneurial environment.
• Operates with the highest levels of integrity, compliance, and professionalism.
• Collaborative team player with a reputation of establishing trust and credibility quickly with cross functional partners. Viewed by peers as a catalyst for helping the broader team achieve success and celebrating success together.
• Strong clinical and scientific acumen, and excellent oral and written communication skills. Viewed by physicians and KOLs as a credible and knowledgeable scientific resource.
• Proven ability to educate, influence, and engage in healthy debate with physicians, especially KOLs.
• Resilient and selflessly focused on delivering for the team.
• Keeps abreast of retina industry trends and competitive insights.
• Demonstrated understanding of the pharmaceutical industry legal, compliance, and regulatory guidelines for physician interactions and engagements.

Travel Requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 50-75%, including some weekends to attend congresses or other meetings.

Benefits and Perks:

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a 401(k) plan with company match, inclusive family building benefits, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, disability and life insurance, and more! Visithttps://apellis.com/careers/ to learn more.

Company Background:

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company that combines courageous science and compassion to develop life-changing therapies for some of the most challenging diseases patients face. We ushered in the first new class of complement medicine in 15 years and now have two approved medicines targeting C3. These include the first and only therapy for geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness around the world. With nearly a dozen clinical and pre-clinical programs underway, we believe we have only begun to unlock the potential of targeting C3 across many serious diseases.

For more information, please visithttp://apellis.comor follow us onTwitterandLinkedIn

EEO Statement:

Apellis is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practices laws. Apellis strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy), gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, marital status, AIDS/HIV status, smoker/nonsmoker, and occupational pneumoconiosis or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

For San Francisco postings: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.