Sr. Director, Pharma Industry Advisor

Own Company

Own Company

Chicago, IL, USA

Posted on May 6, 2026

Description

About the Role

We are seeking a visionary and experienced Industry Advisor to the Pharma+ accounts. This individual will have a beginner's mindset to approach growth in Pharma for Salesforce, deeply understand Pharma and adjacent industries like distributors, animal health, CROs, and other Pharma adjacent business models in life sciences. This person would be responsible for partnering with sales, product, professional services, partners, etc. to drive growth strategies around key Pharma+ accounts in both the Enterprise and Commercial space. The primary responsibility is driving cross-functional growth strategies aligned with Sales leaders, deal acceleration with customer-facing engagements, and supporting thought leadership and industry events along with global counterparts in the LS COE.

The ideal candidate will work collaboratively, build trust quickly and demonstrate executive presence. This person must be senior enough to present to any level within Salesforce or a customer organization but must be resilient and willing to get the work done with a start-up mentality.

Key Responsibilities

Customer & Event Engagements:

  • Work directly with key clients across biopharma and life sciences, bringing strong industry understanding, structured problem solving, strategic clarity, executive presence (verbal and written) and create pathways forward to deliver growth

  • Represent Salesforce at key industry events, identifying new growth opportunities and building relationships with key industry stakeholders

Direction for Industry Solutions & Growth Strategy:

  • Steward key strategic efforts such as Industry Councils, executing key deliverables, inclusive of our Operating Plan, Industry North Star, and Market Imperatives, designed to align our cross functional partners in the business to meet our business objectives.

  • Influence industry solutions creation to help educate and enable sales, pre-sales, and customer success teams so they can speak the customer's language.

Credible, Inspiring, & Relevant Industry Thought Leadership:

  • Analyze internal and external data, analysts' reports and more to create points of view on market trends, performance, risks and opportunities. This work informs how Salesforce will navigate headwinds, prioritize solutions in the market, and position capabilities with clients. It is also the fuel for thought leadership externally to build market credibility.

Key Activities

  • Co-lead industry long-term strategy and drive cross-functional growth outcomes

  • Prioritize key accounts and customer relationships to remove friction from deal cycles and drive trust, relevance, and credibility with customers at the VP+/C-Suite level

  • Partner cross-functionally on relevant content for events, marketing materials, and partner GTM activities

  • Support partner & sales enablement content creation & activities

  • Support market-ready solution direction & growth strategy execution

  • Represent Salesforce at industry events, building relationships and growing the brand

  • Develop go-to-market strategies specifically designed to compete with dominant players in the retail technology market

Experience/Skills Required:

  • 10+ years of Pharma industry specific experience - Preferred expertise in pharma clinical operations, medical and/or commercial.

  • 10 years of high tech company experience and/or large system integrators supporting the above industries

  • Undergraduate degree, advanced degree preferred

  • Hands-on leader, "get it done" operating style, and participant in industry associations

  • Experience with deploying or using innovative technology solutions with a hardworking vision for how we can change the industry in the age of AI

  • Outstanding written, verbal communication, presentation skills in front of audiences ranging from small executive meetings to very large keynote presentations

  • Self-starter with ability to multitask in the fast-paced and high-pressure work environment of a start-up paced software company

  • Strong customer orientation and results-driven leader

  • Strong understanding of Salesforce products and their industry fit

  • Outstanding problem solving and analytical skills; demonstrated ability to structure complex. problems, develop hypotheses, and present well-supported solutions

Preferred Skills:

  • Validated ability in leading digital transformation and large-scale change management efforts

  • Strong understanding of AI and the potential to transform the pharma industry

  • Ability to influence across a broad spectrum of individuals and functions

  • Demonstrated ability to analyze and interpret data for value based discussions

  • Action-oriented, entrepreneurial, flexible and innovative approach to operational management

  • Ability to engage and motivate teams

  • Ability to lead through organizational change in a virtual environment

For roles in San Francisco and Los Angeles: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.