Market Development Leader - Cellulosics

Ashland Specialty Ingredients, GP

Are you the kind of person that is always thinking, sketching, seeking, and adjusting? Who needs to understand how things work and then figure out how they can work better? Are you a passionate, tenacious, solver who loves to work with others who share your drive? Are you positive, constructive, and ingenious?

Are you always solving?

Then we’d like to meet you and bet you’d like to meet us.

Ashland has an exciting opportunity for a Market Development Leader to join the Life Sciences business. This is a very visible, significant role within the Company and the Life Sciences division. This position will report to the Director of Strategy & Business Development – Life Sciences. This is a fully remote position, allowing you to work from anywhere in the world. Preference will be given to those located near an Ashland office in the US, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany or Brazil.

The responsibilities of the position include, but are not limited to, the following:

Strategic planning and positioning

• Contribute to and execute a global strategic marketing plan for a broad and complex portfolio of cellulosic polymers, aligned with business objectives
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to identify trends, opportunities and threats in the pharma excipients sector
• Define value propositions and differentiation strategies to position our products effectively, working with regional marketing and marketing communications

Innovation & new product launches

• Develop business cases for new product development in collaboration with R&D, operations, regulatory and finance.
• Drive customer engagement and VOC for new products from concept through launch.
• Orchestrate global product launches and kick-start pipeline growth

Strategy development

• Support annual corporate strategy refresh and business plan, coordinating with other team members and recommending best practices
• Pressure test the long-term financial plan based on changing macro-drivers and global trends
• Support monthly reporting requirements on market & competitive intelligence

Business development & growth

• Drive market research, business cases and new initiatives to expand our business reach and growth outlook. This can include exploration of novel/adjacent markets, establishment and management of joint ventures, joint development agreements, strategic alliances and the exploration of M&A.  
• Collaborate with business leadership, legal, finance and product management to (re-)negotiate strategic alliances, new business development agreements, multi-year contracts, etc. to secure the long-term success of novel strategic initiatives.
• Be a positive representative at customer and market events, identifying new growth opportunities for the business.

Drive team & business performance

• Actively contribute to the organizational goals by taking initiative, executing on goals and focusing on performance and safety.
• Improve the organization capacity and capabilities through building collaborative relationships, optimizing diverse talent and utilizing positive communications and influence with others.

In order to be qualified for this role, you must possess the following:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant scientific field (e.g., engineering, chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical), business or finance.
• 8+ years of relevant experience in strategy, business development, strategic marketing or product management in pharma excipients, specialty chemicals or pharmaceutical industry.
• Strong understanding of the pharmaceutical industry including customer landscape, trends, regulatory and development timelines.
• Demonstrated business and financial acumen, with proven record of developing and presenting business cases.
• Strong analytical skills with proven expertise in market analysis, segmentation and competitive intelligence.
• You are a self-starter who enjoys working cross-functionally, in particular with R&D, regional marketing, sales and finance. You demonstrate the ability to lead “by influence” and are a strong communicator and project manager.
• Ability to travel globally up to 20% of time to engage with customers and local teams.

The following skill sets are preferred by the business unit:

• Master’s degree or MBA in relevant field preferred.
• Familiarity with cellulose chemistries and its applications, in particular in the pharmaceutical excipients and bioprocessing fields.
• Previous exposure to corporate finance, business finance or M&A.
• Experience