Director, Trade & Specialty Pricing & Contracts

Why Endo?

We want the best and brightest people at Endo to help us achieve our mission to develop and deliver life-enhancing products through focused execution. Our nearly 3,000 global team members understand the important role we play in delivering healthcare and are dedicated to supporting each other as we work to bring the best treatments forward. Our shared values of Integrity & Quality, Innovation, Drive, Collaboration and Empathy guide our team and enable us to deliver upon our vision of helping everyone we serve live their best life.

At Endo, we are building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace, and we are looking for talented individuals to join our team.

Job Description Summary

The Director, Trade & Specialty Pricing & Contracts has responsibility for the people, processes and technology related to management of the pharmaceutical customer contracts and pricing for Endo’s branded retail and specialty product portfolio within the Branded Commercial Business.

The incumbent will collaborate closely with Patient Access and Product Marketing teams in support of pricing actions, contract strategies, product discounting and contractual customer relationships, as well as with Legal, Finance, Customer Service and members of Pricing and Contracts on daily responsibilities. This position requires a motivated individual who is comfortable with change, an independent self-starter who will be immediately effective and flexible within a dynamic organization, and an individual who consistently operates with a high attention to detail, organization, and with precision for accuracy.

The incumbent must possess an in-depth understanding of the overall pharmaceutical product pricing and customer contracts lifecycle within the retail and specialty trade segments (GPO, wholesaler, specialty distributors, specialty pharmacy, physician, physician group practices, IDNs, mail order, specialty GPOs, etc.) with the ability to introduce best practices and effectively understand, communicate, lead, and implement processes and strategies timely, accurately and within governance. The individual must have the capability to independently resolve issues and identify and influence solutions while providing transparency for decision-making and stakeholder fair balance.

Scope of Authority :
 Endo branded contracted sales under P&C is ~ $1B annually for the trade and specialty segments generated by nearly 50 base customer agreements, 100s of amendments, and ~ 100 annual price changes.
 Rebate liability is a direct output of customer contracts and a critical component of gross-to-net sales on Endo’s financial statements, accurate pricing and contractual terms are necessary for the forecasting and accounting of discount liability, and can be material to Endo.
 Current span of responsibility is within the Branded Pharma business and includes the retail and specialty products portfolio across all commercial trade and specialty channels.
 Responsible for project specific budgets.

Job Description

Trade & Specialty Pricing & Contract Operations 80%

Manage all customer contracting and pricing across the Trade & Specialty channels in support of Endo’s branded retail and specialty products:

• Lead and direct the accurate implementation of pharmaceutical product pricing inclusive of both WAC/List Price and customer specific contract prices for the Branded commercial business.  Possess specific expertise and leadership necessary to independently plan and direct pricing execution in a timely, accurate, and professional manner both internally to Endo within its systems and externally with customers per pharma industry standards. 
• Lead the efficient, timely and compliant management of customer Trade and Specialty contracts to ensure contract acquisition and fulfillment are performed in accordance with business strategies, pricing authorities, Company policies, fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities and mutually beneficial for both Endo and external customers. 
• Lead and manage negotiations of contractual terms and conditions with external trade customers.  Possess expertise and leadership necessary to independently draft, edit, review, redline, and counter-negotiate contractual language both initially to begin the contracting processing and in response to customer revisions, ensuring alignment to strategic objectives, negotiated financial terms, and performance expectations. 
• Independently create new contract templates to align with strategic goals; provide area expertise for improved outcomes
• Proactively and independently identify, analyze, and resolve contractual issues both within Endo and with external customers, creating balanced contracting opportunities between Endo and its customers while mitigating company exposure. 
• Prepare analysis of intended or proposed financial discounts to customer as well as costs related to service fee arrangements.  Assess financials of each deal to ensure profitability for Endo.
• Direct the management and daily operations related to customer membership including appropriate class of trade assignments ensuring customers receive the correct and accurate discounted price for Endo’s products
• Review for and secure approval for all trade and specialty agreements and amendments. 
• Establish and adhere to internal governance, compliance, authorization levels and approval authority ensuring internal controls, SOX and audits are satisfied timely and accurately

Provide support and assistance to the Finance rebate payment team pertaining to customer agreements under the candidate’s responsibility to assist with customer relationships, compliance with contractual obligations, and reasonableness of claimed data. (5%)

Customer Account Management (5%)

•  Negotiate contractual product deals and financial terms with external customers with management oversight; assess strategic options, structure profitable product offering.
• Serve as customer internal liaison

Compliance (5%)

• Support Endo’s Pricing Policy and Pricing Governance model by reviewing the impact and operational feasibility of proposed product price changes, contract/pricing strategies, pricing discounts and other pricing decisions for its effect on Endo and its’ external customers.
• Develop, implement, and lead the necessary processes to ensure that standards for contract proposals, including contractual language and decisions regarding contract pricing are in alignment to approved company delegations of authority, Sarbanes-Oxley and audit controls, while promoting consistency, compliance and customer focus
• Maintain current SOPs and policies for all areas of functional responsibility; develop contract templates in alignment with Patient Access business strategies and legal; implement tools related to contracting and pricing processes resulting in accurate and effective management of contract terms and conditions.

Continuous Improvement (5%)

• Continually improve all aspects of Trade & Specialty customer contracting for both retail and specialty products through efforts that strive toward Operational Excellence—pro-actively identify solutions to meet increased internal and external demands and the changing marketplace; optimize operational efficiency and accuracy; streamline processes, develop standardized reporting, and automate manual activities.
• Initiate, lead, and participate in special projects as needed

Other Duties

• Represent Endo at conferences to stay abreast of external environmental and industry changes; lead and communicate impact to internal staff and colleagues; interact with external customers and industry personnel.
• Support Exec Director on ad hoc projects and additional individual or department tasks as required.

Qualifications  

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business or related field. Advanced degree a plus.
• 15+ years’ professional experience in the pharmaceutical or related healthcare industry.
• 10+ years’ experience in customer contracting and pricing required; with rebate management, contract analytics, chargebacks or a related pharmaceutical pricing and contracting role desired; 5+ years’ experience specifically related to the retail and specialty trade channels.
• 5+ years’ management experience of pharmaceutical contracting and pricing required with demonstrated ability to draft contract language and redline contracts for negotiations.
• Staff management and project management skills and experience required.
• Broad experience in pharmaceutical pricing and contracting methods, processes, and industry best practices required
• Experience and/or managerial knowledge of ModelN Revenue Management systems for operationalizing pricing and contracts with experience or knowledge of SAP desired.

Knowledge Proficiency in a body of information required for the job    

• In-depth understanding of pharmaceutical pricing and customer contracts with the ability to effectively understand, communicate, lead, implement and operationalize processes and strategies.
• In depth knowledge of the retail and specialty trade channels:  Retail, Wholesalers, GPOs, Specialty Distributors, Specialty Pharmacy, physician programs, IDNs, specialty GPOs, etc.
• Knowledgeable of branded pharmaceutical retail products and specialty products.
• Working knowledge of EDI data flows and wholesaler EDI data sets.
• Working knowledge of financial practices such as average selling price, gross-to-net sales components, forecasting, budgeting and appropriateness of rebate liability estimates.
• Knowledgeable of the effect of commercial pricing decisions on Government programs.
• Knowledgeable of other market segments with ability to leverage best practices and inter-dependencies across the pricing and contracting function.
• Working knowledge and experience with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) requirements and its’ application across business functions with ability to establish and manage appropriate processes and controls; independently satisfy routine internal and external audits; knowledgeable of compliance requirements.

Skills & Abilities

• Expertise in Microsoft Word; proficient in Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook. Track changes/redlining abilities required.
• Ability to interpret general financial and forecasting methodologies and analysis; prepare and review contract performance outcomes.
• Proficient in assessing and interpreting operational and process-oriented requirements and impacts of various pricing and/or contract strategies.
• Expertise in customer contract negotiations; demonstrated leadership to effectively negotiate and interpret complex contractual terms; act as a liaison between internal and external customers; and balance customer expectations while ensuring the best interests of Endo are represented.
• Demonstrated expertise of the Retail and Specialty Trade channels and best practices related to contract management, pharmaceutical pricing, contract analytics, performance reporting, contract price/chargebacks, membership, rebate management, etc.
• Ability to comprehend business and customer situations and provide strategic guidance to internal stakeholders, Endo field teams, and/or external customers.
• Demonstrated ability to understand, execute, and articulate contract/price and segment strategies.
• Ability to lead with an unbiased approach; assess situations independently and demonstrate an understanding of when to elevate and/or seek management guidance  
• Proficient in Financial/accounting practices such as average selling price, gross-to-net sales, forecasting, budgeting, and appropriateness of rebate liability estimates to support accruals.
• Ability to independently assemble information to resolve and articulate problems; evaluate results and elevate as appropriate.
• Demonstrated ability to identify, lead, establish and manage projects and teams; ability to automate manual processes; inspire staff.
• Exercise ability to make strategic and tactical decisions; apply sound business rationale to achieve desired outcome; identify and influence solutions both internally and externally to fairly balance customer requests and corporate policy.
• Must be action and result-oriented with the ability to deal with ambiguity; must possess strong attention to detail and a consistent level of accuracy.
• Must demonstrate self-initiative with ability to plan for new capabilities.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively in a team with individual and/or shared responsibility for outcomes and decision-making.
• Must possess strong professional and interpersonal skills and the ability to interact comfortably at all levels of the organization; ability to communicate effectively individually and in groups, with internal and external customers.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, guide and influence business partners at various levels; ability to lead without authority; take ownership and accountability.
• Able to establish new processes, introduce best practices and identify streamlining opportunities while leading efforts to ensure compliance with fiscal and fiduciary responsibilities.
• Ability to multi-task and manage conflicting priorities on a routine basis; reprioritizing as needed to meet commitments and manage expectations.
• Ability to create positive, collaborative working relationships with internal and external customers and cross-functional partners to effectively lead and manage daily responsibilities.
• Maintain and improve appropriate records retention management for the trade area in accordance with Company and Regulatory requirements.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:  

At Endo, our diversity unites and empowers us as One Team, and we are committed to cultivating, and valuing, each person’s unique perspective. We actively promote a culture of inclusion that draws strength from our broad spectrums of diversity, including race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or expression, national origin, color, sexual orientation, disability status, age, and all our other unique characteristics, qualifications, demonstrated skills, achievements, and contributions, backgrounds, experiences, cultures, styles, and talents.

EEO Statement:

At Endo, we firmly believe in the principles of equal employment opportunity and strive to create an atmosphere where all employees, regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability (including pregnancy), age, or military or veteran status, feel valued, respected, and empowered. Our commitment to EEO extends to every aspect of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, promotions, compensation, benefits, transfers, terminations, and all other employment practices. We are dedicated to ensuring that all employment decisions are based on qualifications, skills, and merit.