Senior Director, Marketing New Product Planning

Akebia Therapeutics; Cambridge (MA); On-site; USD 257,000 - 317,000; Full time

Job summary

Akebia Therapeutics is seeking a Senior Director, New Product Planning to lead commercial assessments, generate actionable market insights, and provide strategic guidance across the product lifecycle.

You will partner with R&D, Medical Affairs, Business Development, Regulatory, Commercial and Executive Leadership to inform decisions on target product profiles, development prioritization, launch planning, and lifecycle strategy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred (MBA, PharmD, PhD, MPH, or equivalent).
• Minimum of 10 years in pharma/biotech with 8+ years in new product planning, commercial strategy and brand management.
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical development, commercialization, market access, and competitive strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority in cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and execute commercial assessment activities for pipeline assets and anemia market.
• Maintain disease area and competitive intelligence to identify trends, unmet needs, threats, and opportunities.
• Identify knowledge gaps and address them through KOL engagement and market research.
• Serve as commercial lead on cross-functional program teams to inform target product profiles and launch plans.
• Partner with Clinical Development and Medical Affairs to shape positioning, value proposition, and evidence generation priorities.
• Communicate market access, reimbursement and differentiation requirements for successful commercialization.
• Model forecast assumptions for financial planning and partnerships with BD/commercial strategy.
• Manage external vendors and ensure high-quality deliverables within scope, budget, and timelines.
• Foster a collaborative, patient-focused culture.

Skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic planning

Market insights

Commercial strategy

Presentation skills

Education

Bachelor's Degree

MBA/PhD/PharmD/MPH or equivalent

Job description

Nearly 37 million Americans are currently affected by Chronic Kidney Disease. 37 million. At Akebia we take that number very seriously and every day we come to work, with the purpose of bettering the lives of each person impacted by kidney disease and the renal community that serves them.

Our tenacious, passionate employees’ challenge the status quo and work to develop unique therapeutics that have the potential to set new standards of care for people living with kidney disease.

This is life-changing work, and we are all in, are you?

Senior Director, New Product Planning

Position Summary

Akebia is seeking a strategic, collaborative and analytically driven Senior Director, New Product Planning to support the advancement and commercialization planning of Akebia’s pipeline programs. This individual will play a critical role in shaping development and commercialization strategies by leading commercial assessments, generating actionable market insights and providing strategic guidance to cross-functional program teams across the product lifecycle.

The Senior Director, New Product Planning will serve as the commercial lead for pipeline opportunities, partnering closely with R&D, Medical Affairs, Business Development, Regulatory, Commercial and Executive Leadership to inform key decisions related to target product profiles, development prioritization, competitive differentiation, launch planning and lifecycle strategy.

The ideal candidate is a highly strategic and execution-oriented leader with strong business acumen, exceptional cross-functional leadership capabilities and deep experience translating market insights into actionable commercial recommendations in a fast-paced biotech environment.

This role reports to the Vice President, Marketing.

Summary Of Key Responsibilities

• Lead and execute commercial assessment activities for pipeline assets, business development opportunities and the anemia market, including market sizing, competitive landscape evaluations, opportunity assessments and commercial risk analyses
• Lead and maintain comprehensive disease area and competitive intelligence to identify market trends, unmet needs, and emerging competitive threats/opportunities
• Identify knowledge gaps and create detailed plans to address them through KOL engagement and market research
• Serve as the commercial representative on cross-functional program teams, providing strategic input to inform target product profiles, clinical development, regulatory and commercialization strategies
• Partner with Clinical Development and Medical Affairs to shape positioning strategies, value proposition development, evidence generation priorities, patient identification and patient advocacy
• Understand and communicate requirements for market access, reimbursement and differentiation to ensure successful commercialization of pipeline assets
• Inform the development of forecast assumptions for financial models
• Partner closely with Business Development and Corporate Strategy teams to evaluate external innovation opportunities and support diligence activities, where applicable
• Effectively manage external vendors and consultants to ensure high-quality deliverables within scope, budget, and timelines
• Contribute to a collaborative, mission-driven culture focused on delivering meaningful outcomes for patients

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree required, advanced degree preferred (MBA, PharmD, PhD, MPH, or equivalent)
• Minimum of 10 years in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry and 8+ years of proven experience inclusive of new product planning, commercial strategy and brand management
• Strong understanding of pharmaceutical product development, commercialization, market access, and competitive strategy
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority and operate effectively in cross-functional program teams

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in nephrology, rare disease, or specialty therapeutics preferred
• Proven ability to synthesize complex clinical and market information into actionable business recommendations
• Strong analytical, communication, and presentation skills
• Highly collaborative, proactive and adaptable with strong project management skills
• Ability to travel up to 15% for internal meetings, customer engagement and medical congresses

Base Compensation for this role will depend on a number of factors including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience, and may fall outside of the range shown. Base pay is only one component of the company’s total rewards package, all regular employees are also eligible for the corporate bonus program or the incentive compensation program (if applicable), as well as equity. Additional benefits include health care, vision, dental, retirement, PTO, etc.

Targeted Base Salary: $256,730 USD - $317,138 USD

Are you an Akebian?

An Akebian is curious, empathetic, and values making connections to people and ideas. Akebian’s aren’t afraid of diving in and owning a process or a problem, because we all want to deliver a great solution. Akebian’s believe that we are better together because we are all working toward a common purpose – to better the life of each person impacted by kidney disease. Want to learn more about what it means to be an Akebian? Visit our website: www.akebia.com

Akebia is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes all job applicants. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.