Pharma Industry Lead

Ascentria Search Partners; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Ascentria Search Partners is seeking a Pharma Industry Lead in Chicago to drive growth across a portfolio of strategic pharmaceutical manufacturers. You will leverage established relationships to open doors with priority accounts and agencies, build pipeline, and translate relationships into revenue growth across DTC, HCP, contextual, and intent-based advertising solutions.

This senior role requires a strong network within the Chicago pharma ecosystem, a proven track record in selling into

Qualifications

• 7+ years of digital media, advertising, or marketing technology sales experience in pharma/healthcare.
• Established relationships within the Chicago pharmaceutical ecosystem, especially AbbVie or Eli Lilly.
• Proven success growing large pharmaceutical accounts.
• Executive-level communication and presentation skills.
• Entrepreneurial mindset and ability to build a market.

Responsibilities

• Own the growth strategy for a portfolio of priority pharmaceutical manufacturers and develop account plans.
• Open doors across priority accounts and agencies to build pipeline and close opportunities.
• Grow relationships beyond brands to increase penetration across manufacturers and budgets.
• Develop trusted relationships with senior brand, media, investment, search, strategy, and agency leaders.
• Connect objectives to our solutions spanning expressed search intent, contextual media, DTC, and HCP activation.
• Build strong agency partnerships to identify opportunities across brands and manufacturers.
• Own pipeline, forecasts, and revenue targets with cross-functional collaboration.
• Partner with Product, Strategy, Account Management, Ad Ops, and Media.net to create solutions.
• Stay ahead of pharma marketing trends including AI, privacy-safe media, and compliance.

Skills

Relationship building

Executive communication

Strategic selling

Agency partnerships

Job description

Our client is a next-generation contextual and intent-based marketing platform that helps leading pharmaceutical brands reach high-intent patients and healthcare professionals across the open web. With exclusive access to one of the world’s largest sources of implicit search intent, we help healthcare marketers engage audiences during critical moments of research, consideration, and decision-making.

Role Overview

Our client is seeking an experienced Pharma Industry Lead to drive growth across a portfolio of strategic pharmaceutical manufacturers, with a particular focus on AbbVie, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, and Sanofi.

Based in Chicago, this is a senior, high-impact sales role for someone with established relationships across pharmaceutical brands and their agency partners who can quickly create access, build senior-level relationships, and translate those relationships into meaningful revenue growth.

The Pharma Industry Lead will be responsible for expanding existing partnerships, penetrating dormant and net-new accounts, activating new brands, and growing adoption across our client’s DTC, HCP, contextual, and intent-based advertising solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Account Leadership: Own the growth strategy for a portfolio of priority pharmaceutical manufacturers, developing account plans that identify key brands, decision-makers, agency relationships, investment priorities, and expansion opportunities.
• New Business Development: Leverage established industry relationships to open doors across priority accounts and agencies, build pipeline, and convert new relationships into active business.
• Account Penetration & Expansion: Grow relationships beyond individual brands or buying teams to increase penetration across manufacturers, therapeutic categories, and DTC and HCP budgets.
• Executive Relationship Development: Build trusted relationships with senior brand, media, investment, search, strategy, and agency leaders who influence planning and budget decisions.
• Solution Selling: Connect client objectives to our differentiated solutions spanning expressed search intent, contextual media, DTC engagement, and verified HCP activation.
• Agency Partnership: Develop strong relationships with key agency teams and use those partnerships to identify opportunities across multiple brands and manufacturers.
• Pipeline & Revenue Ownership: Build and maintain a healthy pipeline, deliver accurate forecasts, and consistently achieve quarterly and annual revenue targets.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner closely with Product, Strategy, Account Management, Ad Operations, and Media.net to develop solutions, respond to client needs, and unlock larger strategic opportunities.
• Industry Leadership: Maintain a strong understanding of pharmaceutical marketing trends, including evolving patient and HCP journeys, AI and search behavior, privacy-safe media, omnichannel measurement, and pharmaceutical media compliance.

Qualifications

• Established relationships within the Chicago pharmaceutical ecosystem are essential. Candidates should bring strong, current relationships within at least one priority manufacturer, particularly AbbVie or Eli Lilly, and/or the agencies and decision-makers supporting those accounts.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage existing relationships to secure meetings, navigate complex organizations, identify decision-makers, and create new revenue opportunities.
• 7+ years of digital media, advertising, or marketing technology sales experience, with significant experience selling into pharmaceutical or healthcare organizations.
• Proven success growing large, complex pharmaceutical accounts through both new business development and strategic expansion.
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical media buying, including DTC and HCP marketing, agency dynamics, brand planning cycles, and compliance considerations.
• Experience selling contextual, search, programmatic, performance, native, or other digital advertising solutions.
• Strong relationships across pharmaceutical agencies, including media, investment, search, strategy, and planning teams.
• Demonstrated track record of meeting or exceeding ambitious revenue targets.
• Executive-level communication and presentation skills with the ability to operate credibly with senior clients and agency leaders.
• Entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to operate independently, identify opportunities, and build a market rather than simply manage an existing book of business.

Why Join Our client

• Own a strategic market: Play a leading role in expanding the pharmaceutical business across Chicago and several of the industry’s most important manufacturers.
• Sell a differentiated offering: Bring unique intent signals, exclusive supply, and innovative DTC and HCP solutions to some of the world’s largest healthcare marketers.
• Significant growth opportunity: Build beyond individual campaigns and brands to develop large, strategic relationships across manufacturers and their agency ecosystems.
• Strong leadership and support: Work alongside experienced leaders and highly engaged Product, Strategy, Operations, and Account Management teams.
• Entrepreneurial culture: Have the autonomy to build relationships, develop account strategies, and pursue opportunities while benefiting from the resources of a growing organization.
• Competitive compensation: Attractive base salary, uncapped commission opportunity, and comprehensive benefits.