Director, Distribution Operations

The Director Distribution Operations is a pivotal leadership role in the Market Access department responsible for overseeing the day-to-day distribution of rare disease specialty therapies across the United States Puerto Rico and Canada. The role requires strategic foresight and tactical management to ensure reliable operations while anticipating and mitigating challenges affecting product availability. 

Key responsibilities:

National and International Logistics:

• Lead commercial distribution operations for the United States and Puerto Rico while supporting the Canadian market as required.
• Oversee 3PL vendor performance ensuring optimal service levels effective processes KPI attainment and alignment with distribution goals. 
• Provide leadership managing issues related to international distribution of product including import/export common carrier requirements and licensing/registration. Make process improvements as required in a matrixed environment.

Strategic Foresight & Risk Management:

• Lead planning and execution efforts to ensure seamless product distribution maintaining close communication with internal teams and external partners to foresee and navigate obstacles.
• Proactively identify and address potential disruptions to product availability impacting the commercial forecast such as packaging or artwork changes expiry dating manufacturing lead times production delays shipping delays and import/export regulations.
• Anticipate and manage risks related to operations including weather delays temperature excursions shipping concerns and other critical factors affecting product distribution.  Report proactively to executive management as necessary.

Compliance & Regulatory Management:

• Manage and ensure compliance with GXP DSCSA state licensing state price transparency reporting drug takeback programs and other regulatory requirements.  This will require both vendor and Sobi employee oversight.
• Ensure vendors meet all contractual requirements in a compliant fashion.  This may sometimes require adeptly collaborating across various teams both nationally and globally.
• Collaborate closely with the Quality Assurance department and supervise teams efforts to manage temperature excursions deviation reports CAPAs SOPs and work instructions ensuring swift resolution and continuous improvement.

Collaboration & Cross-functional Leadership:

• Work closely with Quality Technical Operations Finance Legal and Regulatory teams to drive distribution performance and align with company goals.
• Collaborate with the Technical Operations team to synchronize supply chain operations with demand planning and commercialization strategies.
• Play a key role in Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) meetings briefing the executive team on product launch scenarios risk items and opportunities.
• Partner with Trade Relations account managers to address issues impacting Specialty Pharmacy and Specialty Distributor partners.  Examples would include order management inventory management and product returns.
• Collaborate with other colleagues in the Market Access department including Payer Accounts GPO Patient Services and Field Reimbursement.
• Support the activity of the franchise organizations and provide senior level distribution insight as needed.

Data Management and Oversight:

• Lead teams efforts to provide data reporting analysis and insight regarding sales inventory and patient journey across 3PL Specialty Pharmacies and Specialty Distributors.
• Lead efforts with outsourced partner in Compendia data management and reporting.
• Manage data using 3PL portals EDI data sets and data aggregators to ensure accurate reporting leveraging visualization tools such as Tableau.
• Build strong relationships with vendors and external partners to support business continuity and growth.

Team Leadership & Stakeholder Communication:

• Provide leadership and oversight to a small high-performing operations team.  Recruit retain and develop highly qualified talent.
• Lead high-level presentations to executive management and collaborate across multinational and culturally diverse groups.
• Design and create impactful data visualizations and reports to communicate insights to stakeholders tailored to both executives and channel partner managers.

Qualifications :

Required: 

• Bachelors degree in Supply Chain Logistics Business or a related field. Advanced degree (MBA or equivalent) preferred.
• 10-15 years of experience in distribution operations with at least 3-5 years of that experience in a leadership role within the biotech or pharmaceutical industry.
• Proven experience with U.S. Puerto Rico and Canadian distribution models particularly for specialty medicines.
• Proven ability to lead and manage 3PL and logistics vendor partnerships.
• Experienced in all phases of the product management lifecycle as it pertains to distribution including development commercialization LOE and product removal activities.
• Strong understanding of regulatory environment and requirements including GXP 340B DSCSA state licensing state price transparency reporting and drug takeback programs.
• Experience writing deviation reports CAPAs SOPs and other quality-related documents in collaboration with Quality Assurance.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with experience presenting to executive leadership.
• Ability to work confidently within a matrixed multinational organization.
• Strong leadership and team management experience.
• Expertise in time management project management and the ability to balance multiple priorities in a small company with a fast-paced environment.

Additional Information :

The base salary pay range for this role is $175000-$240000 annually. Actual pay for this position will take into account factors such as experience and location. In addition to a base salary this position is also eligible for a competitive 401k match short and long-term incentives medical dental vision STD/LTD and life insurance benefits in addition to other health and wellness programs and offerings.

All Sobi employees need to demonstrate behaviors in line with Sobis core values: Care Ambition Urgency Ownership and Partnership. Are you ready to be on the Sobi team Come join a culture that empowers every person to be the person that makes a difference for rare disease.

Why Join Us

We are a global company with over 1700 employees in more than 30 countries and are committed to the societies where we operate. With a deeply skilled management team directing our day-to-day wins and a Board with a stellar track record were ready to take on the worlds diseases ailments and adversity. Our people believe they have the power to make a positive impact in others lives because thats exactly what we do here. If youre seeking a career that taps into your talents in a way that makes the world a better healthier place we just may have a job for you.

We know our employees are our most valuable asset and our culture conveys that. We offer a competitive benefits package to support the health and happiness of our staff.

Sobi Culture

At Sobi we refuse to accept the status quo. This is because we have witnessed first-hand the challenges facing those affected by rare diseases and have used this knowledge to shape our business to find new ways of helping them.

As a specialized biopharmaceutical company we are dedicated to rare diseases. And we see this focus as a strength. By effectively turning our research into ground-breaking treatments we help make medicine more accessible and open up more possibilities for patients and more opportunities for those caring for them. This has been our approach since day one but we know we cant change the world of rare diseases on our own. Accomplishing this requires strong partnerships with patients partners and stakeholders across the entire value chain. Together we define how our business can create solutions that serve the needs of those affected by rare diseases while facilitating sustainable growth.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

Sobi is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions at Sobi are based on business needs job requirements and individual qualifications without regard to race color religion or belief national social or ethnic origin sex (including pregnancy) age physical mental or sensory disability HIV Status sexual orientation gender identity protected veterans and/or expression marital civil union or domestic partnership status past or present military service family medical history or genetic information family or parental status or any other status or protected groups by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

Sobi is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. Disabled/Veterans. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran you may request a reasonable accommodation if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access this website to apply for a vacancy as a result of your disability. You can request reasonable accommodations by sending an email to

COVID-19 Policy

For the safety of our employees and all individuals with whom we interact professionally Sobi North America requires all new hires in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with proof of vaccination status. We will consider requests for reasonable medical or religious accommodations as well as any state-specific exemptions as required by applicable law.