Director, Thought Leader Liaison - East

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ridgefield (CT); On-site; USD 196,000 - 294,000; Full time

Job summary

Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is seeking a Director, Thought Leader Liaison to lead regional teams and foster compliant, long-term KOL relationships across designated therapeutic areas.

You will translate national strategies into regional priorities, coach TLLs, map KOLs, and partner with Marketing, Medical Affairs, and Value & Access to execute engagement plans while maintaining high ethical and regulatory standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required. Advanced degree preferred (MBA/PharmD/PhD).
• 10+ years US pharmaceutical sales, patient services, market access or related roles; TLL exp preferred.
• 5+ years of people leadership in a complex matrix; ability to lead field teams.
• Proven success building KOL relationships and executing strategic engagement plans.

Responsibilities

• Translate national Thought Leader Liaison strategy into regional priorities and plans.
• Lead regional KOL mapping, segmentation, and engagement planning.
• Coach, develop, and retain a team of Thought Leader Liaisons.
• Collaborate with Marketing, Medical Affairs and other teams to execute engagement strategies.
• Ensure compliant engagement and timely capture of insights from field interactions.

Skills

People leadership

KOL engagement

Strategic engagement plans

Field-based experience

Market access knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MBA / PharmD / PhD preferred

Job description

Description

As an employee of Boehringer Ingelheim, you will actively contribute to the discovery, development and delivery of our products to our patients and customers. Our global presence provides opportunity for all employees to collaborate internationally, offering visibility and opportunity to directly contribute to the companies' success. We realize that our strength and competitive advantage lie with our people. We support our employees in a number of ways to foster a healthy working environment, meaningful work, mobility, networking and work-life balance. Our competitive compensation and benefit programs reflect Boehringer Ingelheim's high regard for our employees.

The Director, Thought Leader Liaison leads a regional team of Thought Leader Liaisons responsible for developing and maintaining compliant, long-term commercial relationships with Key Opinion Leaders and regional influencer across the designated therapeutic area(s).

The incumbent of this role translates the national Thought Leader engagement strategy into regional priorities and execution plans, ensuring coordinated, compliant engagement aligned with approved brand, disease-state, and launch strategies. The Director coaches and develops TLLs, oversees regional KOL mapping and engagement planning, and ensures that insights generated through field interactions are captured, synthesized, and communicated to appropriate internal stakeholders.

The role serves as a key connection between the TLL Head, field-based TLLs, Marketing, Medical Affairs, Value & Access, Customer Engagement, and other relevant internal partners, enabling coordinated engagement and appropriate information sharing across functions. The Director partners closely with Medical Affairs and other stakeholder-facing teams to execute KOL mapping and engagement strategies.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Translates the national Thought Leader Liaison strategy into clear regional priorities, engagement plans, and execution expectations aligned with approved brand, disease-state, pre-launch, launch, and in-market objectives.
• Leads regional KOL identification, mapping, segmentation, and engagement planning in partnership with appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Identifies regional opportunities, educational needs, and emerging external trends, ensuring consistent execution of the national strategy while adapting engagement plans to relevant regional needs.
• Leads, coaches, develops, and retains a team of Thought Leader Liaisons.
• Establishes clear role expectations, objectives, and compliant ways of working while providing regular field coaching, performance feedback, development planning, and succession planning.
• Builds team capabilities in KOL engagement, business acumen, insight generation, strategic communication, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Supports the recruitment, onboarding, and ongoing readiness of TLL talent while fostering an inclusive, accountable, and high-performing culture aligned with BI behaviors.
• Provides leadership and direction for the development of compliant, long-term commercial relationships with national and regional KOLs, healthcare professionals, institutions, and relevant professional organizations.
• Ensures TLL engagement is based on approved commercial objectives, documented educational needs, and appropriate customer segmentation. Supports TLLs in developing strategies for complex or high-priority KOL relationships while maintaining direct engagement with a limited number of strategic KOLs to strengthen relationships, gather insights, and stay connected to evolving customer needs.
• Ensures that all engagement remains distinct from scientific exchange led by Medical Affairs and from activities owned by Stakeholder Relations, Patient Advocacy Relations, Value & Access, Sales, or other functions.
• Ensures TLLs capture accurate, meaningful, and timely market, customer, educational, competitive, and executional insights through approved systems and processes.
• Reviews and synthesizes regional insights to identify themes, emerging needs, and potential business implications, and communicates actionable findings to the TLL Head and appropriate internal stakeholders.
• Partners with Marketing, Medical Affairs, Value & Access, Customer Engagement, and other functions to support coordinated stakeholder engagement while maintaining clear functional responsibilities and effective feedback loops between field and headquarters teams.
• Performs all Company business in accordance with all regulations (e.g., EEO, FDA, OIG, PhRMA, etc.) and Company policy and procedures. When violations are noted/observed they are to be immediately reported to upper management. Demonstrates high ethical and professional standards with all business contacts to maintain Boehringer’s excellent reputation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required. Advanced degree such as an MBA, PharmD, PhD, or other relevant graduate degree preferred.
• 10+ years US pharmaceutical sales, patient services and reimbursement, market access, account management or marketing experience; previous TLL experience preferred.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience within a complex matrix organization. This role requires directing activities of field teams including talent development and organizational leadership capability.
• Demonstrated success developing and managing KOL relationships and executing strategic and tactical engagement plans in a field based or customer facing role.
• Broad business acumen in Marketing, Sales, Managed Markets and Medical Science
• Practical knowledge of pharmaceutical marketing that includes FDA regulatory and legal environment.
• Ability to gather, synthesize, and communicate marketplace insights that inform commercial strategy, brand planning, customer engagement, and leadership decision-making.
• Strong understanding of customer and industry contracting practices and trends, territory planning, prioritization, and organizational skills.
• Ability to travel 50-75%
• Valid Driver's License and an acceptable driving record.

Eligibility Requirements

• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without restriction.
• Must be willing to take a drug test and post-offer physical (if required)
• Must be 18 years of age or older

Compensation Data

The base salary range for this position is $195,800 to $293,800 The position may be eligible for a role-specific discretionary bonus, relocation assistance, and/or other compensation elements. We continuously review market data and may adjust salary ranges as needed in the future. Actual compensation will be based on job-related factors such as skills, experience, qualifications, and other factors permitted by law. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage, retirement savings opportunities, paid time off, paid holidays, disability and life insurance benefits, and other company-sponsored benefits. For additional information regarding our benefits and Total Rewards offerings, please click here (https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/us/careers/explore-our-company/our-total-rewards) .

JOB ID

39582

Job function

Sales

Career level

Experienced professionals

Organization

BI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Working time

Full-Time

Job flexibility

Field

Boehringer Ingelheim is an equal opportunity global employer who takes pride in maintaining a diverse and inclusive culture. We embrace diversity of perspectives and strive for an inclusive environment, which benefits our employees, patients, and communities. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to a person’s actual or perceived race, including natural hairstyles, hair texture and protective hairstyles; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; citizenship status, marital status; gender, gender identity or expression; sexual orientation, mental, physical or intellectual disability, veteran status; pregnancy, childbirth or related medical condition; genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing) or any other class or characteristic protected by applicable law