VP, Strategic Commercial Operations

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human-centred creativity, and AI-driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact-obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities.

Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem.

Real Chemistry is looking for a VP, Strategic Commercial Operations to join our growing team!

At Real Chemistry, our goal is to create business arrangements that foster and support long-lasting strong and fruitful relationships.  Creating value that is mutually beneficial to Real Chemistry and our clients -- while ensuring compliance with legal requirement, industry best practice and relevant global regulatory frameworks -- is a key element to realizing that goal.  As the VP, Strategic Commercial Operations you will play a pivotal role in shaping and defining our overall purchasing and procurement engagement strategy and establishing our overall commercial proposal (including value modelling and terms) -- in partnership with our Chief Financial Officer, Growth Leaders as well internal client leaders and procurement relationship owners.  As part of this, you will own the creation of the overall strategy and framework for our company’s commercial vision that align with our company's strategic objectives. This role requires the ability to create a strategic framework for client procurement and optimization as well as execute without an existing model to leverage.

Real Chemistry is seeking a candidate who can create holistic value proposals for our clients, in collaboration with client leads where relationships exist, to enhance and support the existing work while creating a runway for growth. 

This is a hybrid role, based in any of our US offices—including New York City, Boston, Chicago, Carmel, or San Francisco—or remotely within the US, depending on team and business needs.

What you’ll do: 

• Collaborate with key internal teams to create an overall Real Chemistry value framework for engaging client strategic sourcing and procurement teams aimed at developing new, as well as improving and expanding existing engagements. 
• In partnership with the designated client lead, build and maintain positive and strong relationships with key procurement clients to understand their needs and ensure our commercial and contractual strategies meet their requirements. 
• Lead the optimization of client procurement processes through the implementation of best practices, technology solutions, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Drive the creation of customized value offerings that promote client purchasing across Real Chemistry’s capabilities.  
• Drive cost savings and efficiency improvements by partnering with our Client Finance Leader and leveraging data analytics and innovative procurement methods.
• Develop KPI’s, Monitor and evaluate performance metrics.
• Stay abreast of industry trends, legal and regulatory changes, and best practices in commercial selling and procurement contracting to inform the overall RC value strategy and operations.
• Serve as lead negotiator for MSAs and related contracts.  

This position is a perfect fit for you if: 

• ​Our Company values – Best Together, Impact-Obsessed, Excellence Expected, Evolve Always and Accountability with an “I” – really speak to you. 
• You are adaptable, resilient, and OK with adjusting your scope, responsibilities, and focus as we grow. When things change, so do we. We’re always evolving. 
• You are proactive, driven, and resourceful with strong prioritization skills and a desire to dive into the data. 
• You are highly organized self-starter, able to work independently and under tight deadlines. 

What you should have:  

• Bachelor's degree in business, Law, Finance, or a related field. An MBA or equivalent advanced degree is preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in a commercialization growth role, strategic sourcing, procurement or a similar role, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership position.
• Strong experience with Pharma companies (life sciences companies or agency partners) with a high understanding of RC core competencies, i.e. advertising, communications, medical affairs.
• Understand and navigate complex legal frameworks, such as indemnification, to manage risks effectively and protect the company's interests.  
• Deep understanding of the procurement landscape, including market trends, best practices, and regulatory requirements across the healthcare eco-system – including the global procurement landscape and experience of working in ex-US markets.
• Proven track record of negotiating complex contracts within the pharma/life-science industry.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate a highly matrixed team.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with a proven ability to build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders and communicate the Real Chemistry value proposition effectively. 
• Strategic thinker with an analytical mind, capable of making data-driven decisions and solving complex problems and driving ambiguity.
• Proven track record to create outcomes through strong collaboration and ability to ideate and create new organizations.  
• Highly motivated self-starter capable of identifying issues, prioritizing efforts, and ensuring completion of projects.
• Preferred experience(not required): Experience working in in a leadership role at agencies with life science exposure.

Pay Range: $215,000 - $280,000 

This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting.  Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors including but not limited to work experience, skills, certifications, and geographical location. The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. 

Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace on our Great Places to Work Profile here.

We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vison plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning.  Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at: www.realchemistrybenefits.com.

Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us. For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in-office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on-site learning, and connecting with client partners is a critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be. Outside of these offices, we have regions, where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people.

Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to make our team the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know.

*Notice: Real Chemistry and its affiliates' names are being misused by scammers through messaging services, fake websites, and apps. Do not share personal or financial information or make payments to any unverified sources claiming to be connected to Real Chemistry. We are working to stop these unauthorized activities and protect our community. Read more here.