Senior Director, Launch Lead Neuroscience EMEA

About Ultragenyx and Role Overview

Ultragenyx is dedicated to advancing therapies for rare diseases by challenging conventional pharmaceutical models. The company emphasizes impactful patient care, innovative rapid development, and collaborative ecosystems to expand treatment access. With a culture centered on inclusion, support, and growth, Ultragenyx aims to be a workplace people can be proud of.

The Senior Director, Commercial Lead for Neuroscience in EMEA will spearhead the launch strategy and commercialization roadmap for a pioneering therapy in a new therapeutic area for Ultragenyx. This senior leadership role involves shaping market development, ensuring organizational readiness, and driving commercial success across the EMEA region. The position demands the creation of scalable launch frameworks, influencing senior leadership decisions, and fostering alignment across multiple functions in complex environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the vision, strategy, and roadmap for the EMEA launch from pre-launch through commercialization, ensuring alignment with both regional and global goals.
• Act as the senior launch leader and strategic consultant for Global and EMEA leadership on launch preparedness, commercialization strategy, and market development.
• Drive critical regional launch projects and influence leaders across Commercial, Medical, Market Access, Regulatory, Supply Chain, Quality, and Patient Advocacy to guarantee launch success.
• Develop and govern launch operating models, decision forums, readiness standards, and risk management across EMEA markets.
• Manage the commercial strategy, launch outcomes, investment priorities, and overall business results for the product in EMEA.
• Collaborate with Market Access and country leaders to define pricing, reimbursement, sequencing, evidence generation, and patient access strategies for sustained value.
• Lead market development efforts such as patient identification, referral pathways, treatment center readiness, stakeholder engagement, and capacity planning.
• Identify and mitigate strategic risks, organizational barriers, and market challenges affecting launch success and patient access.
• Oversee regional resource allocation and investments to align with corporate and EMEA priorities.
• Enhance organizational capabilities through coaching, best practice sharing, and scalable launch framework development for future product launches.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Life Sciences, or a related discipline.
• Advanced degree required: PhD, MBA, or MSc.
• Over 15 years of experience in biotech, pharmaceutical, or healthcare sectors with demonstrated senior product launch leadership.
• Significant EMEA launch expertise in rare or ultra-rare diseases; experience with ASO or pediatric neurology is highly preferred.
• Proven leadership of senior cross-functional teams within matrixed, resource-constrained, and ambiguous settings.
• Experience engaging pediatric neurology specialists and center networks across EMEA is advantageous.
• Background in developing operational frameworks for therapies involving procedural capacity and multidisciplinary care is desirable.

Skills and Competencies

• Ability to develop strategic commercialization and market access plans for novel product categories.
• Exceptional matrix leadership skills enabling influence without direct authority, fostering alignment, and driving initiatives in ambiguous environments.
• Comfort with high-pace challenges, decisive trade-offs, and forward momentum without complete information.
• Entrepreneurial spirit paired with resilience, effective problem-solving, and disciplined project execution.
• Strong financial literacy, communication prowess, and executive stakeholder engagement capabilities.

Additional Information

• Travel as necessary to maximize launch success across countries and facilitate best practice dissemination.
• Strict adherence to company policies, industry regulations, and legal requirements.

Employee Benefits

• Generous vacation allowances and company-observed public holidays.
• Volunteer days for community engagement.
• Long-term incentive plans and employee stock purchase or equivalent programs.
• Employee wellness initiatives and fitness reimbursements.
• Support for tuition and professional development plans.
• Benefits may vary depending on region and country.

Diversity and Inclusion

Ultragenyx is an equal opportunity employer committed to prohibiting discrimination based on numerous protected categories including race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. Reasonable accommodations are provided for all eligible applicants and employees in compliance with applicable laws.

Recruiter Notice

All candidate sourcing and recruitment activities are managed exclusively by the Human Resources Department. External recruiters are requested to communicate only through official HR channels to avoid conflicts and ensure professional cooperation.