Vice President, US Market Access

Skyhawk Therapeutics; Waltham (MA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

Skyhawk Therapeutics seeks a VP of US Market Access to lead payer strategy and market access execution for SKY-0515 and future assets. This hands-on builder role requires proven orphan/rare disease launch experience and the ability to stand up access capabilities in a small biotech.

You will collaborate across Commercial, HEOR, Legal, Medical Affairs, Marketing and Sales to align payer strategy with launch readiness, contracting, and patient access programs, including value-based arrangements

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute Skyhawk’s national US payer strategy across Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid channels.
• Build and personally lead relationships with national and regional MCOs, PBMs, IDNs and specialty pharmacy/hub partners.
• Design and lead the account-planning and workload model for the payer-facing field team.
• Own the strategy and execution for pre-approval payer engagement in coordination with Legal/Compliance.
• Lead the evaluation, design, and negotiation of value-based agreements and other innovative contracting models with payers.
• Partner with HEOR, Pricing, Medical Affairs, Finance, Marketing and Legal to structure outcomes-based terms, rebate architecture, risk-sharing mechanisms.
• Evaluate managed access and alternative reimbursement pathways for applicability to the US market.
• Own Skyhawk’s Medicare (PDP and MA) and Medicaid access strategy, including formulary review timing, prior authorization/step-therapy criteria, and rebate/pricing program compliance.
• Monitor CMS policy — Inflation Reduction Act provisions, Medicare drug price negotiation, and related rulemaking — on launch and lifecycle strategy.
• Serve as the market access lead on the cross-functional launch team, ensuring payer, distribution, and patient-access workstreams are sequenced and resourced correctly ahead of approval.
• Partner with Distribution/Trade and 3PL on channel strategy, contracting, and operational readiness.
• Work with Patient Services to design hub and patient-support program eligibility criteria, ensuring alignment between payer coverage realities and the support patients receive.

Job description

The VP, US Market Access will lead Skyhawk’s payer strategy and market access execution for SKY-0515 and future pipeline assets, with direct accountability for payer engagement, formulary access, contracting strategy — including value-based and other innovative agreements — and government program strategy across Medicare and Medicaid. This is a hands-on, builder role: the successful candidate will have led access strategy for at least one orphan/rare disease launch and be comfortable operating with the resourcing and pace of a small biopharma company, not just directing work built by larger teams.

This role sits at the center of Skyhawk’s commercial organization and requires close, day-to-day collaboration with Distribution/Trade, Patient Services, Marketing, HEOR, Commercial Operations and Sales teams to ensure payer strategy, patient access, and commercial execution move in lockstep — particularly given the complexity of a rare disease launch where every patient’s access journey matters.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute Skyhawk’s national US payer strategy across Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid channels, including payer segmentation, tiering, and call-prioritization frameworks that reflect coverage policy, formulary timing, and covered-lives concentration.
• Build and personally lead relationships with national and regional MCOs, PBMs, IDN’s and specialty pharmacy/hub partners — this role is expected to be in the room for the organization’s highest-value payer conversations, not solely directing others.
• Design and lead the account-planning and workload model for the payer-facing field team as it's built out, including geographic/territory design and prioritization logic.
• Own the strategy and execution for pre-approval payer engagement (e.g., health care economic information exchange), in close coordination with Legal/Compliance, ensuring all activity stays within applicable regulatory guardrails.

Value-Based & Innovative Contracting

• Lead the evaluation, design, and negotiation of value-based agreements and other innovative contracting models with payers, where appropriate for SKY-0515 and future assets.
• Partner with HEOR, Pricing, Medical Affairs, Finance, Marketing and Legal to structure outcomes-based terms, rebate architecture, and risk-sharing mechanisms that are operationally feasible to track and administer.
• Evaluate managed access and alternative reimbursement pathways (e.g., ex-US precedents such as outcomes-based pilots) for applicability to the US market where relevant.
• Own Skyhawk’s Medicare (PDP and MA) and Medicaid (state and managed) access strategy, including formulary review timing, prior authorization/step-therapy criteria, and rebate/pricing program compliance (e.g., 340B, Medicaid Drug Rebate Program).
• Monitor and plan for the practical impact of evolving CMS policy — including Inflation Reduction Act provisions, Medicare drug price negotiation, and related rulemaking — on launch and lifecycle strategy.

Launch Readiness & Commercial Execution

• Serve as the market access lead on the cross-functional launch team, ensuring payer, distribution, and patient-access workstreams are sequenced and resourced correctly ahead of approval.
• Partner with Distribution/Trade and 3PL partners on channel strategy, contracting, and operational readiness (order-to-cash, chargebacks, data flows) as they affect payer access.
• Work with Patient Services to design hub and patient-support program eligibility criteria, ensuring alignment between payer coverage realities and the support patients receive.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Marketing to ensure