The posting
Develop Health is on a mission to use AI to radically accelerate access to life-saving medications. By automating complex, manual healthcare processes—like benefit verification and prior authorization— we've been growing rapidly and over the past couple of years have helped over 3.6 million patients!
We’re partnering with some of the largest pharmacy benefit managers and payers in the nation, revolutionizing how healthcare interactions occur by eliminating human delays and inefficiencies. Our small, elite team of founders and engineers have previously launched and exited successful healthcare startups including Rupa Health and Canvas Medical. We are now scaling rapidly following a major funding round.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We're hiring a Pharma Sales Director to win and grow partnerships with pharmaceutical manufacturers and their brand teams. You carry a number and run your own deals, from the first conversation to a signed agreement and the expansion that follows.
Manufacturers work with us to get more patients started and kept on therapy. We automate benefit verification and prior authorization inside their HUB, specialty pharmacy, and direct-to-patient programs, which shortens time to therapy and cuts abandonment. Several manufacturer programs are already live and more are in contracting. Buyers sit across Brand, Marketing, Patient Services, Market Access, Trade, and Commercial. Every deal goes through procurement, legal, and compliance, and a typical cycle runs several months.
This is an individual contributor role. You'll report to our Head of Life Sciences & Partnerships and work closely with product, operations, data, and engineering, plus the HUBs and pharmacies we deliver through.
Three things define success in this role:
1. You build the pipeline. You open new manufacturer accounts, qualify them fast, and keep every deal current in our CRM so the forecast holds up.
2. You close. You shape the offer, write the business case, and take MSAs and work orders through procurement, legal, and compliance to signature.
3. You grow the accounts. Your pilots go live cleanly, and you expand them into new brands and therapeutic areas within the same manufacturer.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
Win new accounts
- Source and qualify manufacturer opportunities through your own network, outbound, and industry events.
- Build senior relationships across Brand, Marketing, Patient Services, Market Access, Trade/Channel, and Commercial.
- Find and coach internal champions who can carry the deal through their buying committee.
- Represent Develop Health at industry conferences to build relationships, generate leads, and keep up with competitors.
Run the deal
- Own each deal end to end: discovery, partnership design, pricing proposal, negotiation, and signature.
- Build presentations, proposals, and business cases tied to brand goals like patient acquisition, time to therapy, adherence, and HUB cost. Use our data to make the case.
- Travel regularly for onsite meetings and planning sessions with manufacturer teams.
- Keep the pipeline, stages, and forecast accurate every week.
Grow existing accounts
- Find new opportunities inside live manufacturer accounts, including additional brands, therapeutic areas, and programs.
- Hand closed deals to account management with a clean scope, success metrics, and go-live plan, and stay close to the account after launch.
Work across the company
- Bring market feedback to product and operations as clear requirements, and pull in the right people for solutioning and security reviews.
- Work with marketing on case studies, playbooks, and other sales materials built around what manufacturers need.
- Follow trends in patient support programs, pharma commercialization, and access technology, and share what you learn with the team.
WHAT YOU'LL BRING ON DAY 1
- 5+ years selling to pharma manufacturers. Partnerships, business development, account management, or enterprise sales in patient services, market access, HUB services, specialty pharmacy, or digital health.
- You've closed complex manufacturer agreements yourself. You can walk us through one from first meeting to signature, including who blocked it and how you got past them.
- You know how manufacturers buy. Who owns the budget across brand, market access, and patient services, how procurement, legal, and compliance work, and how long it really takes.
- You know the patient journey. From diagnosis and treatment start through adherence and ongoing support, and where access delays lose patients. You've sold solutions that move patient acquisition, adherence, or retention.
- Working knowledge of specialty medication access. HUB workflows, benefit verification, prior authorization, affordability, and reimbursement.
- Consultative selling with data. You turn data into a value story a brand lead can take to their leadership.
- Pipeline discipline. You forecast honestly and keep your CRM current without being asked.
- Clear writing and executive presence. Your proposals and follow-ups are short and easy to act on, and you're comfortable presenting to VPs.
- Willing to travel. About 50% for client meetings and conferences.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO LEARN QUICKLY
- Our product: how our benefit verification and prior authorization automation plugs into HUBs, pharmacies, and provider EHRs.
- Our channel: how we deliver through HUB and pharmacy partners, and where a manufacturer program fits.
- Our commercial model: setup and transaction pricing, pilots, and how programs expand.
BONUS POINTS
- Existing relationships with brand, patient services, or market access leaders at pharma.
- You've helped launch a brand's access program or HUB.
- You understand the regulatory and compliance landscape in pharma, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, HIPAA, and FDA promotional rules, and how they shape patient support programs and manufacturer partnerships.
- Early-stage startup experience.
THIS MIGHT NOT BE THE RIGHT FIT IF
- You want to manage a team. This is an individual contributor role. You run your own deals.
- You need pipeline handed to you. You'll source much of your own, especially early.
- You want short sales cycles. Manufacturer deals take months and involve many stakeholders.
- You need a set playbook. We're still building our pharma motion, and you'll help write it.
WHAT WE OFFER
- Competitive base salary, commission on closed revenue, and meaningful early-stage equity.
- A direct line to our Head of Life Sciences & Partnerships and company leadership.
- Work that directly accelerates access to medication for hundreds of thousands of patients.
