Sr. Director, TA Head North America Rare Disease

Kyowa Kirin is a fast-growing global specialty pharmaceutical company that applies state-of-the-art biotechnologies to discover and deliver novel medicines in four disease areas: bone and mineral; intractable hematologic; hematology oncology; and rare disease.  A Japan-based company, our goal is to translate science into smiles by delivering therapies where no adequate treatments currently exist, working from drug discovery to product development and commercialization. In North America, we are headquartered in Princeton, NJ, with offices in California, North Carolina, and Mississauga, Ontario.

Job Summary:

The Sr. Director, TA Head North America Rare Disease leadership is accountable for the end-to-end regional medical and scientific leadership of a therapeutic area franchise. The role owns the regional therapeutic area vision, strategy, and priorities across multiple assets spanning early development, pre-launch, launch, and lifecycle management, while addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders.

As a senior medical leader, this position provides enterprise-level leadership across the region and directly leads a team of Asset Medical Leads. The role is responsible for ensuring scientific excellence, strategic alignment, and high-impact execution across the portfolio. While not directly managing Field Medical teams, the TA Head drives strategic direction and priorities for MSL leadership, ensuring aligned execution and the availability of high-quality scientific communication materials.

The role partners closely with Medical Affairs Operations & Excellence, MSL leadership, and Global Medical Affairs to ensure regional strategies are aligned with global direction, appropriately resourced, and effectively executed across the product lifecycle.

Essential Functions:

Therapeutic Area Franchise Leadership

• Own the regional therapeutic area medical vision and long-term strategy, aligned with global medical strategy and regional priorities.
• Provide strategic oversight across all assets within the therapeutic area, ensuring coherence across development stages and target audiences.
• Serve as the primary regional medical authority and advisor for the therapeutic area to senior Medical Affairs and enterprise leadership.
• Accountable for scientific quality, strategic consistency, and medical impact across the therapeutic area portfolio.

 

Asset & Portfolio Oversight

• Provide direct leadership and direction to Asset Medical Leads and/or scientific communication leads.
• Set strategic priorities, success metrics, and performance expectations across assets.
• Drive balanced portfolio decision making across assets with differing maturity, risk, and stakeholder needs.
• Ensure effective integration of insights, evidence generation, and medical activities across the therapeutic area.
• Guide Scientific Communications Lead to ensure alignment of scientific narratives, publications, congress strategy, and medical content.

Early Development, Pre-Launch & Launch Accountability

• Shape and approve regional medical strategy for pipeline and early-stage assets, including scientific positioning, evidence needs, and external engagement approaches.
• Provide strategic medical input into clinical development activities, including study design and protocol development, to ensure regional relevance and support FDA regulatory expectations and submission strategies.
• Partner with Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs, Global Medical Affairs, and Global HEOR to incorporate regional scientific, clinical practice, and regulatory considerations into development plans.
• Own regional medical pre-launch and launch readiness for assets within the therapeutic area, ensuring timely development of disease education, data dissemination, and stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Partner with Global Medical Affairs and Clinical Development to ensure regional needs inform global development and launch plans.
• Serve as the regional medical escalation point for launch critical scientific, strategic, or reputational risks.

Future Pipeline Expansion & Therapeutic Area Growth

This role is accountable for preparing the therapeutic area to successfully support future pipeline expansion, including new assets, indications, modalities, and evolving stakeholder landscapes.

• Anticipate future scientific, organizational, and capability needs associated with pipeline growth within the therapeutic area.
• Inform regional resourcing, capability building, and operating model evolution in partnership with Medical Affairs Operations & Excellence.
• Ens