Zone Director (Gastroenterology) - Upstate NY/New England

Ardelyx is a publicly traded commercial biopharmaceutical company founded with a mission to discover, develop and commercialize innovative first-in-class medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs. Ardelyx has two commercial products approved in the United States, IBSRELA® (tenapanor) and XPHOZAH® (tenapanor). Ardelyx has agreements for the development and commercialization of tenapanor outside of the U.S. Kyowa Kirin commercializes PHOZEVEL® (tenapanor) for hyperphosphatemia in Japan. A New Drug Application for tenapanor for hyperphosphatemia has been submitted in China with Fosun Pharma. Knight Therapeutics commercializes IBSRELA in Canada.  The Zone Director will report into the National Sales Director and will be responsible for recruiting, hiring, and leading a high performing sales team within a geographically defined Zone to drive IBSRELA® (and subsequent pipeline assets) sales. The Zone Director will assist the National Sales Director in developing, along with the marketing and commercial leadership team, the sales plan to ensure that Ardelyx's sales goals are achieved. The Zone Director is responsible for understanding and leveraging the personnel and responsibilities of a cross-functional team to drive strategic imperatives, including those of Sales, Marketing, Market Access, Patient Services, and Commercial Operations. In addition to playing a key sales and company leadership role, the Zone Director will cultivate and maintain a strong direct customer facing presence with key decision makers, influencers, and stakeholders in the gastroenterology and subesquent pipeline assets spaces. Ideal candidates will have strong sales leadership experience and a proven track record in highly specialized therapeutic areas with multiple health care professional decision makers and influencers. Specific knowledge and experience of gastroenterology, gastroenterology HCPs and accounts, nephrology, and nephrology HCPs and accounts is a plus, as well as local dynamics that influence business in the geographic Zone. This position is critically important as it will help further solidify a strong sales foundation, maintain a high performing, patient-centered culture across the sales team, and continue to position Ardelyx as a company that advances patient care with first-in-class therapies that meet important clinical needs. Responsibilities 

• Hire, train, develop, lead Area Business Directors (ABDs) to serve the Zone geography, in their respective territories. 
• Organize, control, and coordinate input relating to staffing, training, and developing and retaining key talent for the sales organization. 
• Foster a culture grounded in compliance, accountability, collaboration, passion, and teamwork for delivering results to patients, healthcare stakeholders, and Ardelyx. 
• Exhibit a standard of leadership excellence for the sales organization and throughout Ardelyx. 
• Model collaboration across the Sales Leadership Team, and all key functions across Ardelyx. 
• Own the Zone's sales objectives and performance of every ABD sales territory. 
• Coordinate the development of the Zone's strategic business plans outlining the execution of sales personnel around defined strategies and tactics for achievement of sales goals and objectives - provide direction, guidance, and support to ensure optimal execution of sales and marketing plans. 
• Assist the National Sales Director in developing, implementing, and managing sales force incentive and compensation programs as well as customized sales force analyses to effectively manage optimal targeting, planning, resource allocation, and performance evaluations. 
• Assist in translating key financial drivers and business analytics/insights into specific, measurable, and executable action plans for ABDs and inside sales personnel. 
• Oversee, evaluate, and enforce compliance with Ardelyx policies, including code of conduct, operational guidelines, travel and expense policies, and promotional guidelines as it relates to the sales force. 
• Develop, assert, and continuously reinforce a culture of compliance, ensuring that all sales activities and actions by members of the sales team comply with all laws and regulations and company compliance polices and procedures. 
• Manage and monitor sales team operating budgets and assist in developing guidelines for field sales budget adherence. 
• Proactively engage with key customers, decision-influencers, decision-makers, and account groups to directly represent Ardelyx in a leadership capacity, promote Ardelyx products, and achieve company objectives. 
• Provide input on sales team alignments and expansions. Routinely evaluate workload potential, performance potential, and sales results against sales forecasts and KPIs. 
• Closely manage succession planning as well as ensuring identification and close oversight of