Global Medical Affairs Director Rare Diseases
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Title:
Global Medical Affairs Director Rare Diseases
Company:
Ipsen Pharma (SAS)
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:
Are you ready to lead and innovate in a dynamic, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company?
Ipsen is a growing global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical company focused on innovation and specialty care. We aim to make a sustainable difference by significantly improving patients’ health and quality of life, providing effective therapeutic solutions for unmet medical needs through differentiated and innovative medicines in Oncology, Neurosciences, and Rare Diseases.
Why Ipsen?
Patient-Focused: The patient is at the heart of everything we do, and improving their outcomes is the deliverable of every strategy.
Employee Care: We care for our employees, who are the ambassadors making a real difference.
Bold Leadership: We attract and develop bold, agile, entrepreneurial individuals who take full ownership of their decisions.
Growth Opportunities: We offer a wealth of fulfilling challenges and growth opportunities in a fast-moving, game-changing organization.
About the Role
As Medical Director in Rare Diseases, you will lead the design and execution of the global medical strategy for highly specialized assets with significant unmet medical need.
Reporting to the Medical Asset Lead, you will play a key role in
shaping the clinical and scientific narrative, enabling evidence generation, and building trusted partnerships with the rare disease community.
Your work will directly inform strategic decision-making and ensure patient-centric approaches across the product lifecycle.
Main Responsibilities
Medical Strategy and Planning
Lead the development and implementation of the Global Medical Plan for assigned rare disease assets, integrating
the evidence generation plan, thought leader (TL) engagement strategy, and medical communications roadmap.
Serve as a core member of the cross-functional asset team, aligning medical priorities with clinical development, regulatory, commercial, and market access strategies.
Contribute to indication-specific medical budget planning and ensure efficient allocation of resources in line with strategic objectives.
Evidence Generation and Scientific Leadership
Drive the design and execution of global and international clinical studies and real-world evidence (RWE) programs, tailored to the unique challenges of rare disease populations
Support affiliate-led studies by providing strategic and scientific input, reviewing protocols, and guiding execution to ensure consistency with global priorities.
Ensure full compliance with GCP, ethical standards, and internal medical governance; establish fit-for-purpose oversight mechanisms for all data-generating activities.
Thought Leader Engagement and Community Partnership
Develop and sustain collaborative relationships with global and local key opinion leaders, patient advocacy groups, and academic centers of excellence.
Represent the company at international congresses, scientific symposia, advisory boards, and high-level stakeholder engagements, contributing as a respected medical voice in rare disease discourse.
Partner with external stakeholders to identify opportunities for research collaborations, policy shaping, and medical education aligned with the Global Medical Affairs strategy.
Medical Education and Scientific Communication
Create, validate, and deliver high-impact scientific and educational materials tailored to diverse audiences, including healthcare professionals, internal stakeholders, and patient communities.
Support local and regional training programs, ensuring consistent messaging and deep scientific understanding across markets.
Curate and disseminate relevant scientific publications, insights, and competitive intelligence to internal teams in a timely and actionable manner.
Insight Generation and Strategic Input
Capture and synthesize insights from medical field interactions, advisory boards, and external engagements to inform lifecycle management, clinical trial design, and access strategy.
Identify emerging trends and data gaps in the rare disease landscape, proactively adjusting medical strategy to remain at the forefront of innovation and patient impact.
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Influence
Act as the rare disease medical expert within the organization, providing strategic and scientific input across functions and geographies.
Independently lead high-impact initiatives that address key scientific, clinical, or strategic challenges within your asset scope.
Contribute to shaping the long-term vision for rare disease assets, from early development through launch and postapproval stages.
Qualifications
MD, PhD, or PharmD (or equivalent scientific/clinical training).
Strong scientific foundation and clinical understanding of rare diseases or related therapeutic areas.
Extensive experience in medical affairs within the biopharmaceutical industry
Extensive experience in late-phase development, global medical planning, and lifecycle management.
Prior clinical or academic research experience in rare diseases or similarly complex therapeutic areas is highly desirable.
#LI-HYBRID
Nous nous engageons à créer un lieu de travail où chacun se sent écouté, valorisé et soutenu, où nous incarnons « The Real Us*». La valeur que nous accordons aux différentes perspectives et expériences motive notre engagement en faveur de l'inclusion et de l'égalité des chances. Lorsque nous intégrons des modes de pensée diversifiés, nous prenons des décisions plus réfléchies et découvrons des solutions plus innovantes. Ensemble, nous nous efforçons de mieux comprendre les communautés que nous servons. Cela signifie que nous voulons également vous aider à donner le meilleur de vous-même lorsque vous postulez à un poste chez nous. Si vous avez besoin d'aménagements ou d'aide pendant le processus de candidature, veuillez en informer l'équipe de recrutement. Ces informations seront traitées avec soin et n'auront aucune incidence sur le résultat de votre candidature. *Soyons nous-même
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 309 comparable Director Medical Affairs roles across 55 biopharma companies.
Salary context
131 of 309 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.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 309 comparable roles
+ 18 more countries
Seniority mix
309 of 309 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
134 of 309 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
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.
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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.
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.