The Area Director, Key Accounts will lead, inspire, coach, hire, and retain a team of Key Account Managers to ensure market penetration.  The AD, Key Accounts will develop their team to be industry leading experts.  The ideal candidate is an energetic, driven sales leader with a history of success; achieving result by working collaboratively with the commercial team and their AD, Key Accounts peers to help Akebia achieve/exceed their goals. They will be well versed in clinical and business dynamics within value-based care and organized customers groups.

Essential Functions and Duties:

• Lead a team of tenured Key Account Managers (KAMs), ensuring they are clinically strong, have excellent selling skills, and can be successful in an account based selling environment
• Analyze market dynamics to build strategic business plan, set goals and ensure sales plans are achieved in line with corporate goals
• Communicate product value propositions to organized customers and develop their team to deliver these messages based on account plans
• Partner with National Accounts, commercial leadership, marketing, training, commercial operations to elevate commercial effectiveness
• Ensure all team members are fully informed of, and in compliance with Akebia Therapeutics commercial compliance policies.   
• Develop relationships with key business and physician executives that are connected to top accounts

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’ of Science/ Bachelor of Arts
• 10+ years commercial experience in the pharmaceutical or healthcare industry
• 3+ years of pharmaceutical sales management experience

Preferred Qualifications:

• Renal and/or Specialty sales experience 
• Account based sales experience
• Work experience in start-up company or small biopharma, reflecting innovation and agility
• Headquarters experiences (or in-house rotations) in sales operations, marketing, training, or market access