Executive Director, Commercial Operation Strategy & Chief of Staff

Overview

Who We Are:

At Dendreon, we’re transforming the battle against cancer with personalized immunotherapy. Our flagship product, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), was the first FDA-approved immunotherapy for metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer, utilizing a patient’s own immune cells to fight the disease.

If you’re driven by the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on cancer patients' lives, we invite you to join our team. With Immunotherapy Manufacturing Facilities in Seal Beach, CA, and Union City, GA, a strong Research & Development group in Seattle, WA, and a highly skilled Commercial team across the nation, Dendreon is at the forefront of cancer treatment innovation.

Core Values

• Put Patients First: Every day is an opportunity to improve the lives of those living with cancer.
• Act with Integrity: We commit to transparency, honesty, and always doing what’s right.
• Build Trust: Trust is earned through candid, open communication and a collaborative approach.
• Raise the Bar: We embrace continuous improvement and innovation, always striving to elevate our people.
• Drive Results: We are accountable to each other and deliver success together.
  
  

Position Summary

The Executive Director, Commercial Operations, Strategy, Chief of Staff will build and lead an integrated Customer Engagement Ecosystem (CEE) that connects people, process, data, technology, analytics, and governance to drive scalable commercial performance. This role owns the operating model and enabling functions across Commercial Operations, Field Effectiveness, Marketing Operations, Medical Affairs Operations, Market Access Operations, Trade and Channel Operations, and Patient Operations, ensuring measurable growth, execution excellence, and a high-quality customer and patient experience in a compliant manner. The role will also function as Chief of Staff to the CCO, supporting executive leadership cadence, strategic initiatives, and cross-functional alignment.

Responsibilities

Commercial Operations:

CEE Operating Model, Governance, and Commercial Transformation Office

• Design and continuously optimize the CEE operating model linking strategy to execution across Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Medical, Patient Operations, IT/Data, Finance, Legal/Compliance, and Supply/Operations.
• Establish governance, decision rights, and operating rhythms (weekly/monthly/quarterly) to drive alignment, accountability, and speed.
• Lead an enterprise Commercial PMO / Transformation Office to manage the portfolio of initiatives, including technology roadmap, data/MDM, omnichannel, HUB operations, training, vendor transitions, process redesign, business cases, prioritization, dependency management, change control, and value realization.
  
  

QBR Ownership and Enterprise Performance Management

• Own and chair QBRs across commercial performance, including Sales, Market Access, Patient Operations/HUB, Marketing Operations, Medical Affairs Operations, Trade/Channel, and key vendor partners.
• Operate a “single source of truth” performance system with standard definitions, dashboards, KPI hierarchy, variance analysis, root-cause diagnostics, corrective actions, and executive-ready narratives.
• Ensure QBR outputs feed annual and quarterly planning, investment governance, and roadmap prioritization.
  
  

Advanced Commercial Analytics, Forecasting, Scenario Planning

• Own commercial forecasting and scenario planning in partnership with Finance and cross-functional leaders, connecting forecasts to capacity planning and execution.
• Build analytics across performance, leakage, funnel conversion, and operational drivers, including access, HUB, specialty pharmacy, and channel signals.
• Institutionalize an insights-to-action cadence so analytics consistently translate into execution changes and investment decisions.
  
  

Enterprise Data, Identity, MDM, and the Commercial Data Warehouse/Lakehouse

• Own the commercial data strategy, including data domains, definitions, stewardship, quality, lineage, and governance.
• Build and operate the commercial data warehouse/lakehouse powering dashboards, segmentation, forecasting, and operational monitoring.
• Serve as the enterprise data integrator across CRM, digital marketing, payer/access, specialty pharmacy, HUB/call center operations, and customer master data.
• Own HCP/HCO identity resolution and hierarchy management.
  
  

Commercial Technology Strategy and Product Ownership

• Own the commercial technology roadmap spanning CRM, field enablement, content platforms, omnichannel/orchestration, consent/privacy tooling, analytics/BI, integration layer, and vendor platforms supporting the CEE, MLR, Speakers programs, and event management.
• Serve as business product owner for requirements, prioritization, release cycles, adoption plans, and value realization.
• Ensure integration architecture and data flows (CRM ↔ warehouse↔ omnichannel ↔ HUB/SP ↔ reporting) are accurate, timely, and usable.
• Establish technology governance, including access controls, audit trails, documentation, incident/escalation processes, vendor risk controls, and SOPs.
  
  

Incentive Compensation And Governance

• Lead incentive compensation strategy and administration, including plan design support, quota methodology, modeling/scenario testing, payout governance, audit controls, and communications.
• Operate a scalable incentive compensation ecosystem, including systems, vendor management, dispute handling, documentation, and compliance reviews.
  
  

Training, Enablement, and Commercial Capability Academy

• Own commercial training strategy across onboarding, disease/product, account/customer strategy, omnichannel execution, systems/tools, and operational policies.
• Build role-based curricula and certification pathways, track completion, competency, and performance lift.
• Establish ongoing reinforcement cadences through manager toolkits, coaching guides, micro-learning, and “learning in the flow of work” assets.
• Ensure training content and documentation are compliant, version-controlled, and audit-ready in partnership with Compliance/Legal/Medical.
  
  

AI Strategy, Enablement, and Governance (AI CoE)

• Own an AI roadmap that improves speed, quality, and outcomes across Commercial, Field, Marketing Operations, Medical Affairs Operations, and Patient Operations.
• Stand up an AI Center of Excellence, identifying, piloting, scaling, and retiring AI use cases while measuring adoption and ROI.
• Deploy AI where appropriate for omnichannel optimization, insights automation, forecasting enhancement, workflow automation (MLR, Medical Info, HUB), field enablement, and proactive performance monitoring, within privacy and compliance guardrails.
  
  

Compliance, Privacy, Quality, Vendor Ecosystem, and Budget Ownership

• Establish an “inspection-ready” operating posture, including SOPs, documentation, training records, vendor oversight, access controls, and audit trails.
• Own privacy-by-design and security-by-design operational controls for commercial and patient-related data in partnership with Legal/Compliance/Privacy and IT/Security.
• Own the strategic vendor ecosystem across data/tech stack, analytics, incentive compensation, training, omnichannel tools, HUB/call center, speakers/events, and channel partners.
• Own Commercial Ops budget planning, ROI-based spend governance, and multi-year capability build plans.
  
  

Field Effectiveness

Sales Operations and Field Effectiveness

• Own Sales Operations, including call planning, territory alignment, targeting, routing standards, field reporting, tools/processes, and operational policy.
• Lead Field Effectiveness/Commercial Excellence, including coverage models, productivity improvements, performance insights, coaching enablement, best-practice playbooks, and continuous improvement.
  
  

Selling Model and Field Business Planning

• Define and operationalize the enterprise selling model (account-centric, site-of-care/center-of-excellence, pathway/episode-of-care, or hybrid) aligned to strategy and the customer journey.
• Translate the selling model into field execution standards, including engagement objectives, account planning requirements, collaboration norms (Sales/Market Access/Medical), and measurable behaviors.
• Own annual and quarterly field business planning, including territory plans, account plans, prioritization, resource allocation, KPI commitments, and governance cadences with Sales leadership.
• Ensure field plans align with omnichannel plans, QBR actions, and cross-functional execution.
  
  

Field Force Fulfillment and Catalog/Warehouse Operations

• Own field material logistics and fulfillment operations, including catalog governance, inventory controls, kitting, ordering workflows, shipping SLAs, vendor oversight, and field satisfaction metrics.
• Ensure compliant fulfillment processes, audit trails, and operational readiness, including digital asset availability and governance where applicable.
  
  

Marketing Operations

MLR Operations and Content Supply Chain

• Own end-to-end MLR operations, including intake, routing, cycle-time KPIs, version control, annotation workflows, 2252 approval pathway, and audit readiness.
• Standardize claims libraries, reference management, content taxonomies, tagging, reuse strategies, and retirement processes to improve speed and quality.
  
  

Omnichannel Marketing Operations

• Operationalize omnichannel planning and deployment across email, web, paid/owned, field digital, and events with consistent tagging and measurement.
• Establish operating rhythms for testing, optimization, performance reporting, and continuous improvement.
  
  

Digital and Website Operations

• Own operational management of websites and digital properties, including governance, tagging/analytics, privacy, accessibility, vendor oversight, and release cycles.
  
  

Speaker and Events Operations

• Operationalize speaker program administration, including nomination workflows, roster governance, scheduling logistics, reporting, and vendor oversight aligned to compliance policies.
• Own event operations (congress and regional programs), including budgeting, vendor coordination, lead capture governance, post-event analytics, and performance optimization.
  
  

Medical Affairs Operations

Medical Information Hub Operations

• Operationalize Medical Information systems and workflows, including intake, case management, response SLAs, quality assurance, knowledge management, and MIRF reporting.
• Establish standards for documentation, version control, and audit readiness.
  
  

Scientific Engagement Operations Enablement

• Support operational infrastructure for scientific engagement, including activity capture standards, insights reporting, dashboards, and operational governance.
• Provide trend analytics on inquiry topics, timeliness, and quality, routing insights appropriately within compliant frameworks and maintaining appropriate separation from promotional activities.
  
  

Market Access Operations

Access Operations Enablement and Gross-to-Net Support

• Enable access execution with operational infrastructure, including formulary/access tracking operations, issue escalation workflows, payer/channel performance reporting, and operational readiness for access initiatives.
• Partner with Finance on GTN inputs and profitability analytics, supporting governance and audit-ready processes as applicable.
• Build access-related analytics and leakage diagnostics tied to patient journey outcomes and commercial performance.
  
  

Trade and Channel Operations

Trade, Distribution, and Channel Operations (End-to-End)

• Own channel readiness and performance, including data feeds, inventory visibility, service levels, reconciliations, partner governance, and issue management.
• Expand to full trade operations as applicable, including chargebacks, returns, fees, dispute workflows, eligibility processes, and channel “source of truth” reconciliation.
  
  

Patient Operations

Patient Services and HUB Operations (Full Operational Ownership)

• Lead Patient Services/HUB Operations, including enrollment workflows, benefits verification support, prior authorization coordination support, affordability pathway operations, and operational case management performance.
• Drive patient journey operational excellence, including speed-to-therapy, cycle times, conversion, abandonment/leakage, service quality, satisfaction, and service recovery playbooks.
• Own HUB vendor selection/governance, QA monitoring, training/scripting support, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliant integration of patient operational data into enterprise analytics, including consent controls, role-based access, and de-identification controls as required.
  
  

Chief of Staff to the CCO

Executive Leadership Cadence, Strategic Initiatives, and Cross-Functional Alignment

• Serve as Chief of Staff to the CCO, operating as a strategic extension of the office to drive alignment, execution, and decision velocity across the commercial organization.
• Own executive cadences for the CCO, including leadership team meetings, weekly business reviews, QBR preparation, operating plan reviews, and board-ready narratives as needed.
• Drive agenda setting, pre-reads, decision logs, action tracking, and follow-through across cross-functional stakeholders to ensure commitments convert into measurable outcomes.
• Lead special strategic initiatives on behalf of the CCO, including organizational design and operating model evolution, capability builds, vendor strategy, and major cross-functional programs.
• Provide executive communications support, including drafting key updates, executive summaries, and performance narratives for internal stakeholders and external audiences as required.
• Identify operational and organizational bottlenecks, propose solutions, and ensure escalation and resolution pathways are clear and effective.
  
  

Qualifications

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree required or Advanced degree (preferred)
• 12+ years of progressive operations experience in pharma/biotech at the leadership level
• Strategic and analytical capabilities
• Strong cross-functional influence and communication skills
• Prior experience supporting executive leadership and operational governance
• Excellent leadership skills, with proven ability to develop a high-performance, customer focused and responsive commercial team.
• Ability to effectively network and collaborate with peers in other functions and with colleagues in other businesses.
• Proven track record in managing growth business in complex and competitive markets.
• Strong business acumen and use of business analytics to prioritize, lead and influence.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• The position requires frequent travel to customers within North America and to internal sites.
  
  

Working Conditions And Physical Requirements

• This position operates in a professional office environment. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand, walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms.
  
  

Dendreon is an equal employment and affirmative action employer F/M/Disability/Vet/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity. The preceding job description has been designated to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. Additional and incidental duties related to the primary duties may be required for company business needs from time to time.