Vice President, US Market Access

Vice President, US Market Access

The VP, US Market Access will lead Skyhawk’s payer strategy and market access execution for SKY-0515 and future pipeline assets, with direct accountability for payer engagement, formulary access, contracting strategy — including value-based and other innovative agreements — and government program strategy across Medicare and Medicaid. This is a hands-on, builder role: the successful candidate will have led access strategy for at least one orphan/rare disease launch and be comfortable operating with the resourcing and pace of a small biopharma company, not just directing work built by larger teams.

This role sits at the center of Skyhawk’s commercial organization and requires close, day-to-day collaboration with Distribution/Trade, Patient Services, Marketing, HEOR, Commercial Operations and Sales teams to ensure payer strategy, patient access, and commercial execution move in lockstep — particularly given the complexity of a rare disease launch where every patient's access journey matters.

Responsibilities:

US Payer Strategy & Engagement

• Develop and execute Skyhawk’s national US payer strategy across Commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid channels, including payer segmentation, tiering, and call-prioritization frameworks that reflect coverage policy, formulary timing, and covered-lives concentration.
• Build and personally lead relationships with national and regional MCOs, PBMs, IDN’s and specialty pharmacy/hub partners — this role is expected to be in the room for the organization’s highest-value payer conversations, not solely directing others.
• Design and lead the account-planning and workload model for the payer-facing field team as it's built out, including geographic/territory design and prioritization logic.
• Own the strategy and execution for pre-approval payer engagement (e.g., health care economic information exchange), in close coordination with Legal/Compliance, ensuring all activity stays within applicable regulatory guardrails.

Value-Based & Innovative Contracting

• Lead the evaluation, design, and negotiation of value-based agreements and other innovative contracting models with payers, where appropriate for SKY-0515 and future assets.
• Partner with HEOR, Pricing, Medical Affairs, Finance, Marketing and Legal to structure outcomes-based terms, rebate architecture, and risk-sharing mechanisms that are operationally feasible to track and administer.
• Evaluate managed access and alternative reimbursement pathways (e.g., ex-US precedents such as outcomes-based pilots) for applicability to the US market where relevant.

Government Programs — Medicare & Medicaid

• Own Skyhawk’s Medicare (PDP and MA) and Medicaid (state and managed) access strategy, including formulary review timing, prior authorization/step-therapy criteria, and rebate/pricing program compliance (e.g., 340B, Medicaid Drug Rebate Program).
• Monitor and plan for the practical impact of evolving CMS policy — including Inflation Reduction Act provisions, Medicare drug price negotiation, and related rulemaking — on launch and lifecycle strategy.

Launch Readiness & Commercial Execution

• Serve as the market access lead on the cross-functional launch team, ensuring payer, distribution, and patient-access workstreams are sequenced and resourced correctly ahead of approval.
• Partner with Distribution/Trade and 3PL partners on channel strategy, contracting, and operational readiness (order-to-cash, chargebacks, data flows) as they affect payer access.
• Work with Patient Services to design hub and patient-support program eligibility criteria, ensuring alignment between payer coverage realities and the support patients receive.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Marketing to ensure payer and patient messaging are aligned and mutually reinforcing across the launch narrative.
• Partner with HEOR to translate clinical and real-world evidence into payer-relevant value communications, dossiers, and pre-approval information exchange materials.
• Partner with Commercial Operations on data, reporting, and CRM/account-management infrastructure needed to run a payer-facing team effectively.
• Represent market access considerations in pricing, forecasting, and portfolio discussions with Finance and executive leadership, including board- and investor-facing materials.

Policy & Environmental Monitoring

• Maintain a current, working understanding of the US health policy environment — CMS rulemaking, state legislative activity, PBM and 340B reform efforts, and payer/PBM consolidation trends — and translate implications into actionable strategy shifts.
• Represent Skyhawk, as appropriate, with trade associations and policy-adjacent industry forums relevant to rare disease and orphan drug access.

Requirements, Education, Experience & Skills:

• 15+ years of progressive experience in US market access, payer strategy, or managed markets within biopharmaceuticals, including direct payer-facing account experience (not solely strategy/analytics).
• Demonstrated experience structuring or negotiating value-based agreements or other innovative payer contracts.
• Strong working knowledge of Medicare (Part D and/or Part B) and Medicaid (state and managed) coverage, reimbursement, and rebate/pricing program mechanics.
• Experience working within a small or emerging biopharma company, where the role requires building infrastructure and process rather than operating within an established one.
• Solid understanding of the US health policy landscape and its practical commercial implications.
• Bachelor's degree required.

Desired

• Direct experience leading US market access and payer strategy through an orphan or rare disease drug launch — this is the single most important differentiator for this role.
• Experience in neurology, CNS, or another high-touch specialty therapeutic area.
• Advanced degree (MBA, PharmD, or similar).

About Skyhawk

Skyhawk is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing small molecule therapeutics that modify RNA expression. We use our novel SkySTAR® platform (Skyhawk Small molecule Therapeutics for Alternative splicing of RNA) to develop drug candidates directed toward targets for some of the world’s most intractable diseases including neurological conditions, cancer, and traditionally “undruggable” targets.