Senior Director, General Manager

Position Summary:

In the buildup to the upcoming launch of its groundbreaking treatment for a debilitating retinal disease, Apellis Germany is seeking a visionary General Manager to spearhead this pivotal moment. This is an exceptional opportunity to establish and grow Apellis’ presence in Germany by driving the launch of our first product in the German market, making a profound impact on patients’ lives.

As General Manager, you will build and lead a high-performing team across commercial, medical, market access, and support functions. You will shape the local strategy, refine the commercial approach, and execute a robust country launch plan.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Develop and manage the country organization, including functional leads and sales field force.
• With your team, develop strategy for market access, pricing, and reimbursement for German markets in preparation for product launches.
• Lead and build strong relationships with customers across the region.
• Drive and oversee the affiliate build-out.
• Define long-term cross functional tactical plans as well as annual operating plans for the German business in alignment with global organizational and regional strategies and vision.
• Ensure Apellis is operating in strict compliance with all local legislation.
• Delivery results against agreed targets.
• Ownership of P & L.

Education, Registration & Certification:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent, MBA preferred.

Experience:

• Strong understanding of how the biopharma industry operates across the German region:
• Knowledge of and expertise with European and German regulatory frameworks and processes (regional and local).
• In-depth knowledge of German market access environment.
• Knowledge of pharma-specific regional and local compliance codes.
• Previous General Management responsibility within Pharma and/or Biotechnology. Experience in the ophthalmology sector is desired.
• A scientific orientation from experience across multiple therapeutic areas within industry.
• Proven track record of successful product launch(es) in Germany and willing to put in effort that is beyond normal expectations.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

• Leadership & People Management: lead teamwork proactively across a variety of situations. Understand implicitly how to manage and work with different people and various working styles. Cultivate a climate in direct and adjacent areas/units of shared decision-making and shared risk/reward. Build a culture that highlights joint accomplishments, learns from failure and rewards initiative. Provide a sense of direction and purpose. 
• Driving results: translate business goals into well-defined performance plans for the organization. Develop and oversee performance management processes that deliver results far exceeding expectations. Align individual performance goals and measure systematically and consistently and use them to drive performance.
• Stakeholder Management: develop and lead, on a consistent basis, well-aligned strategies that win commitment for key initiatives, inside and outside the company.
• Customer Orientation: cultivate a deep, proactive understanding of customers’ requirements and goals across customers’ entire extended value chain. Showcase a customer/ client-centric mentality and a passion for excellence. Tenacity in achieving objectives and deadlines.
• Best Practice Thinking: scan the business world constantly for technical and business process innovations that may be relevant to the business. Build regional teams that effectively adapt and develop world-class practices from inside or outside the industry to create powerful competitive advantage.

This position will suit an individual who is a low-ego executive driven by a purpose aligned with patient-centric values. They lead through influence rather than authority, effectively leveraging the matrix to achieve results. Highly adaptable and resilient, they can distill complex issues to their essence and present ideas with clarity and conviction. Comfortable navigating ambiguity and complexity, they remain focused on delivering an exceptional customer experience.

Other requirements:

• Ability to travel up to 40% of the time (within Germany and international).
• German speaker with fluent English.

Benefits and Perks:

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, and more!
Company Background:

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company driven by courageous science and compassion to develop life-changing therapies for some of the most challenging diseases patients face. We pioneered the first new class of complement medicine in 15 years and now have two approved medicines targeting C3 in the US.

In Germany, Apellis is building a strong presence to bring innovative treatments to patients and collaborate with healthcare partners to transform care. Our mission is to combine scientific excellence with a deep commitment to improving lives, ensuring that patients have access to therapies that make a meaningful difference.

For more information, please visit http://apellis.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn

EEO Statement:

Apellis is an equal opportunity employer. Apellis strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy), gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability.

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. 

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