Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals Inc. Posted July 20, 2026

Strategic Account Director, Payer Team, Midwest

Illinois, United States Full time
Sales Director

Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals Inc. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Title:

Strategic Account Director, Payer Team, Midwest

Company:

Ipsen Biopharmaceuticals Inc.

About Ipsen:

Ipsen is a mid-sized global biopharmaceutical company with a focus on transformative medicines in three therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience. Supported by nearly 100 years of development experience, with global hubs in the U.S., France and the U.K, we tackle areas of high unmet medical need through research and innovation.

Our passionate teams in more than 40 countries are focused on what matters and endeavor every day to bring medicines to patients in 88 countries. We build a workplace that champions human-centric leadership and fosters a culture of collaboration, excellence and impact. At Ipsen, every individual is empowered to be their true selves, grow and thrive alongside the company’s success. Join us on our journey towards sustainable growth, creating real impact on patients and society!

For more information, visit us at https://www.ipsen.com/   and follow our latest news on LinkedIn and Instagram .

Job Description:

The Strategic Account Director is responsible for developing and executing regional payer and PBM strategies to secure optimal access and reimbursement for Ipsen’s portfolio. This role is critical in driving regional market access success by cultivating relationships with key decision-makers, negotiating or pulling through contracts, and aligning Ipsen’s value proposition with payer priorities.

Operating within a dynamic and evolving healthcare landscape, the Strategic Account Director serves as the primary point of contact for assigned regional accounts and sales support across all Business Units, ensuring strategic alignment, operational excellence, and measurable impact on patient access and brand performance.

This role will have responsibility for the Midwest region.

WHAT - Main Responsibilities

Develop and implement strategic account plans for assigned regional payers and PBMs.

Lead contract negotiations and manage ongoing payer relationships within assigned accounts to mitigate barriers, ensure favorable formulary positioning and access, and establish Ipsen as a partner of choice across the organization’s therapeutic areas.

Build and maintain deep, trusted relationships with key payer decision-makers and leadership (e.g. CEO, CFO, Industry Relations, Medical Directors, etc)

Monitor and analyze regional market trends, coverage and policy changes, and competitive dynamics to inform internal stakeholders, product strategy, and anticipate shifts.

Collaborate cross-functionally with Sales, Medical Affairs, HEOR, and Brand Teams to ensure alignment and execution.

Serve as the single accountable point of contact for assigned accounts, ensuring timely resolution of issues and proactive communication.

Leverage data and insights to support value-based discussions and demonstrate product differentiation.

Maintain deep knowledge of regional healthcare systems, reimbursement models, and payer operations.

Work collaboratively across the Payer Account and Sales teams on education and pull-through execution.

HOW - Knowledge & Experience

Knowledge & Experience (essential):

Minimum 10 years of industry experience with at least 5 years in payer account management.

Proven experience in payer account management within the pharmaceutical or biotech industry.

Strong understanding of U.S. payer landscape, including commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, and integrated delivery networks.

Demonstrated success in contract negotiation, formulary access, contract performance analysis, and strategic account planning.

Exceptional business and clinical acumen.

Strong presentation skills: ability to clearly convey his/her ideas to key internal organizational stakeholders as well as specific decision makers in assigned accounts.

Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and managing complex stakeholder relationships.

Ability to interpret healthcare data and apply insights to inform strategy.

Ability to travel up to 60%, including conference attendance and overnights when necessary

Knowledge & Experience (preferred):

Experience in rare disease, oncology, or specialty pharmaceuticals.

Familiarity with value-based contracting and innovative access models

Established relationships with payer accounts within defined geography.

Education / Certifications (essential):

BA/BS in business, Life Sciences, Health Economics, or related field.

Education / Certifications (preferred):

Advanced degree (MBA, MPH, PharmD) is a plus.

Language(s) (essential):

English (fluent)

The annual base salary range for this position is $188,100 to $230,000

This job is eligible to participate in our short-term incentives program. The pay range displayed above is the range of base pay compensation within which Ipsen expects to pay for this role at the time of this posting. Individual compensation within this range depends on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, prior education and experience, job-related knowledge and demonstrated skills.

At Ipsen we are proud to offer a comprehensive employee benefits package, including 401(k) with company contributions, group medical, dental and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, as well as flexible spending accounts. Ipsen also provides parental leave, paid time off, a discretionary winter shutdown, well-being allowance, commuter benefits, and much more.

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels heard, valued, and supported; where we embrace “The Real Us”. The value we place on different perspectives and experiences drives our commitment to inclusion and equal opportunities. When we include diverse ways of thinking, we make more thoughtful decisions and discover more innovative solutions. Together we strive to better understand the communities we serve. This means we also want to help you perform at your best when applying for a role with us. If you require any adjustments or support during the application process, please let the recruitment team know. This information will be handled with care and will not affect the outcome of your application. Ipsen is an equal opportunity employer that strictly prohibits unlawful discrimination. We recruit, employ, train, compensate, and promote without regard to an individual’s race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin/ancestry, age, mental/physical disability, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Job details

Seniority
Director
Function
Sales
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Illinois, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Sales role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 71 comparable Director Sales roles across 20 biopharma companies.

71Comparable roles tracked
67Currently active
20Companies hiring similar roles
5Countries represented

Salary context

21 of 71 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject $188,100/yr – $230,000/yr
Peer group range $178,750 – $352,100 (median $249,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 71 comparable roles

United States67
Japan1
Taiwan1
France1
Germany1

Seniority mix

71 of 71 peers have a known seniority level

Director69
Senior Director2

Therapeutic area mix

22 of 71 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology11
Neuroscience5
Rare Disease2
Cardiovascular / CVRM1
Ophthalmology1
Respiratory1
Immunology1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

60%similar
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Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

60%
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Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
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Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.