Strategic Client Director

Norstella; United States; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

HSA/FSA

Dental & Vision

Life and AD&D

401k with match

Disability coverage

Parental leave

Paid time off & holidays

Job summary

Norstella is seeking a Strategic Client Director to own a portfolio of Real World Data accounts from a remote US location. This commercial role focuses on revenue retention, expansion, and renewals, coordinating Sales, Pre-Sales, and Consulting while not owning delivery.

The candidate will build executive-level relationships, translate data value into ROI, and drive quarterly business reviews to demonstrate ongoing client value and success.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in account management or client partnerships in life sciences data.
• Demonstrated experience managing senior client relationships and driving commercial outcomes (NRR, expansion, renewals).
• Deep understanding of real world data, healthcare data, or adjacent life-sciences data products.
• Ability to translate complex data products into clear customer value narratives.
• Experience running QBRs or structured partnership reviews with executive stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Drive retention and growth across named accounts and portfolio.
• Ensure value realization and ROI narratives for clients.
• Own the client relationship with decision makers and end users.
• Identify expansion opportunities and route to Sales / Pre-Sales Solutioning.
• Monitor account health and Mitigate risk with internal partners.
• Coordinate internal teams without owning execution; escalate when needed.
• Feed the commercial loop with feedback on expansion signals.

Skills

Strategic client mgmt

Executive stakeholder mgmt

Data/healthcare domain

QBRs / reviews

Cross-functional collab

Portfolio management

Executive presence

Communication skills

Tools

Salesforce

Job description

Strategic Client Director

Reports to: VP, Strategic Client Partnerships | RWD - IHD Platform - IHD Insights as a Service

Norstella - RWD | Remote US | Full-time | Individual Contributor

About The Company

Norstella is a premier and critical global life sciences data and AI solutions provider dedicated to improving patient access to life-saving therapies. Norstella supports pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the full drug development lifecycle — from pipeline to patient. Our mission is simple: to help our clients bring therapies to market faster and more efficiently, ultimately impacting patient lives.

Norstella unites market-leading brands - Citeline, Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, Skipta and The Dedham Group and delivers must-have answers and insights, leveraging AI, for critical strategic, clinical, and commercial decision-making. We help our clients:

• Accelerate the drug development cycle
• Assess competition and bring the right drugs to market
• Make data driven commercial and financial decisions
• Match and recruit patients for clinical trials
• Identify and address barriers to therapies

Norstella serves most pharmaceutical and biotech companies around the world, along with regulators like the FDA, and payers. By providing critical proprietary data supporting AI-driven workflows, Norstella helps clients make decisions faster and with greater confidence. Norstella’s investments in AI are transforming how data is consumed and decisions are made, disrupting inefficient legacy workflows and helping the industry become more efficient, innovative, and responsive to patient needs.

About The Opportunity

A commercially-focused client partnership role

Norstella's Real World Data business is building a dedicated Strategic Client Partnerships team to own the full subscription lifecycle across RWD, IHD Platform, and IHD Insights as a Service. The Strategic Client Director is the primary relationship owner for a named portfolio of accounts - responsible for ensuring customers realize value from their investment, identifying opportunities for expansion, and ensuring every renewal is earned well before the contract anniversary.

This is a commercially-focused role. Strategic Client Directors are measured on revenue outcomes - not delivery metrics. When product or delivery issues arise, they coordinate the right internal teams and follow through. They do not absorb execution.

Responsibilities

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

Drive retention and growth. Maintain positive net revenue retention across a named portfolio of RWD, IHD Platform, and IHD IaaS accounts. Partner with Sales, Pre-Sales Solutioning, and Consulting to identify whitespace and convert expansion opportunities.

Ensure value realization. Understand each client's priorities, use cases, and definition of success. Lead structured quarterly business reviews that translate data usage into clear ROI narratives - so customers can always articulate what Norstella RWD delivers for their business.

Own the client relationship. Build and maintain relationships with decision makers, influencers, and end users across each account. Be the face of Norstella RWD for your portfolio - proactively engaging throughout the contract year, not just at renewal.

Identify expansion opportunities. Surface upsell signals - additional data modules, seat expansions, new use cases, and adjacent Norstella products - and route them to Sales and Pre-Sales Solutioning with enough context to convert. Maintain an active expansion pipeline.

Monitor and act on account health. Proactively review leading indicators of account health to identify risk before it becomes a support issue. Define and lead risk mitigation plans in partnership with the VP and internal teams.

Coordinate, not absorb. Act as the internal advocate for your clients - routing product issues to LinQ Support, delivery concerns to Engagement Management, and consulting needs to the Consulting team. Follow through to resolution without owning the execution.

Feed the commercial loop. Provide consistent, structured feedback to Sales, Pre-Sales Solutioning, and Consulting when expansion or new use case signals emerge from your accounts.

Prepare accounts for renewal. Ensure the renewal decision is made well before the contract anniversary. Partner with the Renewal Operations Specialist to deliver a smooth, on-time contracting process.

Commercial KPIs

How Success Is Measured

KPI

Definition

Net Revenue Retention Primary health metric across the assigned account portfolio.

Expansion ARR New revenue generated from upsells, cross-sells, and seat expansions within existing accounts.

Gross Renewal Rate Percentage of ARR renewed on time and at or above contract value.

Clear Ownership Boundaries

COORDINATE AND ESCALATE - DON'T ABSORB EXECUTION

Area

Ownership

• Product & Support Issues Route to LinQ Support. Follow up, don't resolve.
• New Implementation Work Route to Engagement Management and Delivery.
• Consulting Engagements Identify the need and connect the teams. Consulting owns scoping and delivery.
• Renewal Contracting Partner with the Renewal Operations Specialist, who owns the paperwork end-to-end.

Essential Requirements

• 5+ years in account management or client partnership roles, ideally within life sciences data, healthcare, or biopharma
• Demonstrated experience managing senior client relationships and driving commercial outcomes (NRR, expansion, renewals)
• Deep understanding of real world data, healthcare data, or adjacent life-sciences data products
• Ability to translate complex data products into clear customer value narratives
• Experience running QBRs or structured partnership reviews with executive stakeholders
• Strong cross-functional collaborator - comfortable working with Sales, Delivery, Product, and Consulting without owning their work
• Highly organized, able to manage a portfolio of accounts simultaneously without dropping threads
• Excellent communicator with strong executive presence

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with RWD, IHD Platform, or IHD Insights as a Service specifically
• Experience in a post-sale role that explicitly separated commercial ownership from delivery execution
• Familiarity with Salesforce or equivalent CRM for pipeline and renewal tracking
• Background in biopharma market access, HEOR, or outcomes research

Guiding Principles At Norstella

• 01: Bold, Passionate, and Mission-First
• 02: Integrity, Truth, and Reality
• 03: Kindness, Empathy, and Grace
• 04: Resilience, Mettle, and Perseverance
• 05: Humility, Gratitude, and Learning

Please Note - All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. We do not provide visa sponsorship or transfers. We are not currently accepting candidates who are on an OPT visa.

Benefits

• Medical and Prescription Drug Benefits
• Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• Dental & Vision Benefits
• Basic Life and AD&D Benefits
• 401k Retirement Plan with Company Match
• Company Paid Short & Long-Term Disability
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid Time Off & Company Holidays

Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.

Sometimes the best opportunities are hidden by self-doubt. We disqualify ourselves before we have the opportunity to be considered. Regardless of where you came from, how you identify, or the path that led you here- you are welcome. If you read this job description and feel passion and excitement, we’re just as excited about you.