Please note that this position is based in San Diego, CA or Princeton, NJ. Acadia's hybrid model requires this role to work in our office three days per week on average.
As the Director, Field Force Effectiveness for Acadia’s Neuro-Psych Franchise, you will lead the strategy, design, and execution of initiatives that drive the performance and impact of our field-based teams. In this highly visible and cross-functional leadership role, you’ll partner closely with Commercial, Marketing, Patient Services, and Sales leadership to ensure teams are optimally deployed, effectively targeted, and motivated to deliver exceptional patient outcomes.
Your team will own the processes and analytics that power field deployment, targeting, incentive compensation, and performance reporting—ensuring that every representative has the right insights, structure, and rewards to succeed. This includes overseeing territory alignment, call planning, incentive compensation design and administration, and field performance analytics to enhance sales execution, patient onboarding, and business growth.
This position requires a seasoned leader with deep expertise in biopharmaceutical commercialization, a proven ability to translate data into strategy, and the leadership acumen to influence at all levels of the organization. You’ll play a pivotal role in shaping how Acadia brings life-changing neuro-psychiatric treatments to patients through a field force that is empowered, informed, and inspired to make a difference.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Lead and administer the field deployment, sizing, and territory alignment efforts for the Neuro-Psych franchise by partnering with sales, marketing, patient services and account management leadership to ensure that Acadia’s field teams are optimally deployed to achieve commercial objectives
- Lead and administer the field targeting and POA call planning/optimization process by working with commercial leadership teams to ensure that our field teams are focused on the right customers with the right contact frequency, by leveraging the right promotional to channel with the right discussion topic to ensure our patients have access and receive the best treatment outcomes from our products.
- Leverage predictive modeling to increase and optimize field force effectiveness, customer experiences, and other business outcomes.
- Help inform the commercialization plan for potential new assets as well as existing commercial brands, particularly as it relates to sales force sizing requirements, call plan, identification of target customers, and overall market opportunity
- Lead the design and the administer of the field incentive compensation, contest/award functional area for the US Neuro-Psych field teams by collaborating with internal stakeholder and vendors to ensure that plans are motivating, rewarding, and are align with business objectives:
- Lead the evaluation, development, design and administer IC Plans, contests, and annual awards for Neuro-Psych field teams, along with their field management teams
- Provide leadership around governance, inquiries, and approval process for IC plans, contests, and awards
- Implement strategies and the administrative processes to ensure accurate performance and bonus/contest payout calculations.
- Ensure timely communication and documentation to the field teams around IC/contest/award plans, IC goals, IC performance status reports(scorecards), and the administration processes
- Collaborate with others on the COBO team and IT on data governance to ensure the consistent performance metric definitions are being utilized and that the necessary data integrations needed for IC are accurate, efficient, and reliable.
- Working with the CIP team, to help lead the US Neuro-Psych field-based performance analysis and reporting capabilities at a sub-national and customer level by working with sales, patient services, and national account leadership
- Monitor and assess field and territory execution against key business targets to identify gaps and business opportunities, including the assessment of current business situation utilizing key sales performance dashboards and reports to provide insights and make recommendations to on market/ /customer opportunities and field force effectiveness improvements to ensure objectives are met in advancing patient care
- Work with field and patient service management to assist in analyzing performance , facilitating business reviews, and examining the execution and effectiveness of POA and field based initiatives
- Partnering with the CIP group to ensure reporting platforms and metrics/KPIs are aligned to achieve sales objectives and goals
- Provide input and support for the POA and Brand planning process and ensuring key outputs and initiatives affecting the field teams are implanted on time.
- Collaborate with CIP and the IT groups to ensure systems and data infrastructure (data warehouse), along with its governance/process, around alignment, targeting, incentive compensation, Veeva CRM, syndicated 3-party data, and sales force performance reporting capabilities are designed to support the US field force objectives and needs.
- Lead efforts, by partnering with sales training, to improve the business skills of the field management team and field personnel with the goals of; improved territory management, business acumen skills, and overall performance
Education/Experience/Skills:
- Requires a Bachelor’s degree in marketing, health care, business administration or related field, or an equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be considered. MBA a plus.
- A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience within the pharmaceutical or biotech industry with demonstrated proficiency in biopharmaceutical field incentive compensation, field force deployment, targeting, field force performance analytics.
- Requires at least 3 years’ of combined experience working in a commercial analytics, incentive compensation and/or field operations (ex. deployment, targeting etc.) roles supporting field based teams.
- Requires at least 2 years of people management experience
Must possess:
- Proven success in leadership position with the ability to establish a clear vision, strategies and initiatives to optimize the effectiveness of field base teams.
- Demonstrated success in optimizing field force effectiveness by leveraging performance metrics and implementing deployment, alignment, and targeting strategies
- Strong knowledge of incentive compensation plan design and administration
- Previous direct report management experience with the proven ability to establish clear expectations, motivate, manage performance, and to coach others.
- Proven success building strong working relationships with field leadership and other cross functional partners
- Ability to think critically and form a methodical analytic approach to solve business problems
- Knowledgeable in commercial data warehouse concepts, industry physician/patient/payer level data, VeevaCRM platform, and reporting tools (PowerBI and/or similar analytics reporting software).
- Highly proficient with MS Excel and PowerPoint
- Well organized with a proven ability to multitask, prioritize, delegate, and manage shifting strategies/tactics/responsibilities in a dynamic, cross-functional teamwork environment.
- Strong interpersonal and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to communicate complex concepts and ideas to leadership and the field teams in a easy to understand and relatable terms.
- Ability to challenge the status quo and drive organizational action
- Travel approximately 20%
Physical Requirements:
This role involves regular standing, walking, sitting, and the use of hands for handling or operating equipment. The employee may also need to reach, climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and maintain visual, verbal, and auditory communication both in a standard office environment and while working independently from remote locations. Employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. This position requires the ability to travel independently overnight and/or work after hours as required by travel schedule or business needs.
In addition to a competitive base salary, this position is also eligible for discretionary bonus and equity awards based on factors such as individual and organizational performance. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance, and location.
What we offer US-based Employees:
- Competitive base, bonus, new hire and ongoing equity packages
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- Employer-paid life, disability, business travel and EAP coverage
- 401(k) Plan with a fully vested company match 1:1 up to 5%
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a 2-year purchase price lock-in
- 15+ vacation days
- 13 -15 paid holidays, including office closure between December 24th and January 1st
- 10 days of paid sick time
- Paid parental leave benefit
- Tuition assistance
EEO Statement (US-based Employees): Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every one of the qualifications in the exact way they are described in job postings. We are committed to building a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and innovative company, and we are looking for the BEST candidate for the job. That candidate may be one who comes from a less traditional background or may meet the qualifications in a different way. We strongly encourage you to apply, especially if the reason you are the best candidate isn’t exactly what we describe here.
It is the policy of Acadia to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to considerations of race, including related to hairstyle, color, religion or religious creed, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, gender transition, country of origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, legally-protected medical condition or information, marital status, domestic partner status, family care status, military caregiver status, veteran or military status (including reserve status, National Guard status, and military service or obligation), status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, enrollment in a public assistance program, or any basis protected under federal, state or local law.
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