Head of European Market Access – Oncology (Solid Tumors)

This role can be based in:  Zug, Switzerland / Dublin, Ireland / Oxford, UK 
 

Overview of Role: 

We are seeking a highly accomplished and strategic European Market Access Leader to drive pricing, reimbursement, health technology assessment, and patient access strategies for our oncology portfolio across Europe. 

The successful candidate will bring deep expertise in European oncology market access, with particular experience in solid tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), colorectal cancer (CRC), and bladder/urothelial cancer. 

This individual will play a critical leadership role in shaping European commercialization strategies, ensuring optimal market access, reimbursement, and sustainable pricing for innovative oncology therapies. 

The ideal candidate will possess strong knowledge of the evolving European payer landscape, national and regional reimbursement systems, oncology treatment pathways, competitive dynamics, and the clinical and economic evidence required to secure successful reimbursement outcomes. 

The position requires a combination of strategic leadership, hands-on execution, strong analytical capabilities, and established relationships with European payers, HTA bodies, and oncology stakeholders. 

 

Role and Responsibilities: 

• European Market Access Strategy & Leadership 
  • Develop and execute an integrated European market access strategy for oncology products across key European markets. 
  • Lead access planning across the EU5 (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom), with an understanding of additional strategically important markets including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Nordics. 
  • Translate global pricing and access objectives into country-specific strategies reflecting differences in reimbursement systems, payer expectations, clinical practice, and healthcare budgets. 
  • Identify market access opportunities, barriers, and risks early in clinical development and commercialization planning. 
  • Serve as the European market access subject matter expert to senior leadership, supporting portfolio strategy, business development, and investment decisions. 

• Oncology & Solid Tumor Expertise 
  • Demonstrate deep understanding of the European oncology treatment landscape, with particular focus on: 
    • NSCLC: Biomarker-driven treatment, immunotherapy, targeted therapies, bispecific antibodies, first-line and later-line treatment settings. 
    • Colorectal Cancer: Metastatic CRC, molecular segmentation, biomarker-driven therapies, immuno-oncology, and evolving treatment algorithms. 
    • Bladder/Urothelial Cancer: Locally advanced and metastatic disease, perioperative treatment, antibody-drug conjugates, immunotherapy, and emerging combination regimens. 
  • Understand differences in European treatment guidelines, standard of care, and real-world clinical practice across countries. 
  • Evaluate competitive clinical profiles, survival benefits, safety, quality of life, and treatment sequencing to develop compelling payer value propositions. 
  • Understand the implications of biomarker testing, companion diagnostics, and precision medicine on patient access. 
  • Identify opportunities to differentiate innovative oncology therapies based on clinical outcomes, unmet medical need, and health economic value. 

• Pricing, Reimbursement & HTA 
  • Lead development of pricing and reimbursement strategies, including launch sequencing, price corridors, international reference pricing considerations, and lifecycle management. 
  • Develop country-specific HTA strategies and reimbursement submissions in collaboration with local affiliates, medical affairs, HEOR, and regulatory teams. 
  • Demonstrate strong working knowledge of major European HTA and reimbursement frameworks, including:
    • Germany: AMNOG, G-BA, IQWiG, and GKV-Spitzenverband negotiations. 
    • France: HAS, Transparency Committee, SMR/ASMR assessments, and CEPS pricing negotiations. 
    • United Kingdom: NICE, NHS England, SMC, cost-effectiveness assessments, and relevant commercial access arrangements. 
    • Italy: AIFA pricing and reimbursement negotiations, regional access considerations, and managed entry agreements. 
    • Spain: National pricing and reimbursement processes, therapeutic positioning, and autonomous community implementation. 
  • Understand the evolving EU HTA Regulation, including joint clinical assessments and their implications for oncology product development and national HTA submissions. 
  • Develop strategies for innovative reimbursement approaches, including managed entry agreements, outcomes-based contracts, and confidential discounts where appropriate. 
  • Evaluate the impact of external reference pricing, parallel trade, and cross-market pricing interdependencies. 

• Early Asset Development & Evidence Generation 
  • Partner with Global Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, and HEOR teams to ensure European payer requirements are integrated into clinical development plans. 
  • Provide strategic input into trial design, including comparator selection, endpoints, patient populations, subgroup analyses, and evidence requirements. 
  • Evaluate payer acceptance of overall survival, progression-free survival, response rates, patient-reported outcomes, and quality-of-life measures. 
  • Identify evidence gaps that could negatively affect reimbursement outcomes and develop mitigation plans. 
  • Support indirect treatment comparisons, network meta-analyses, health economic models, budget impact models, and real-world evidence strategies. 
  • Guide European evidence generation to strengthen the value proposition of new oncology therapies, particularly in competitive or rapidly evolving treatment landscapes. 

• European Launch Readiness & Commercialization 
  • Lead market access launch readiness activities from late-stage clinical development through approval, reimbursement, and commercial uptake. 
  • Develop integrated market access launch plans, including country prioritization, pricing assumptions, reimbursement timelines, and access milestones. 
  • Partner with European commercial leadership to support launch forecasts, patient access assumptions, and revenue projections. 
  • Assess country-level patient populations, eligible treatment segments, reimbursement restrictions, and anticipated time to access. 
  • Support development of pricing and access scenarios to inform European business cases, licensing opportunities, and strategic partnerships. 
  • Monitor reimbursement decisions, competitor launches, pricing developments, and emerging payer restrictions. 

• Payer Engagement & External Stakeholder Management 
  • Establish and maintain productive relationships with national and regional payers, HTA experts, reimbursement authorities, and healthcare policy stakeholders. 
  • Lead or support early scientific advice and payer engagement activities in compliance with applicable regulations and company policies. 
  • Represent the organization in relevant European market access forums, industry associations, and strategic external discussions. 
  • Collaborate with clinical experts, patient advocacy organizations, and other stakeholders to understand barriers to access and unmet patient needs. 
  • Build a strong external network to anticipate changes in oncology reimbursement policies and payer expectations. 

• Cross-Functional Leadership & Business Development 
  • Act as the primary European market access partner to Global Commercial, Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Finance, and Business Development teams. 
  • Provide European pricing, reimbursement, and access assessments for potential in-licensing opportunities, acquisitions, and strategic collaborations. 
  • Develop risk-adjusted access assumptions for financial forecasts, including expected net pricing, reimbursement timing, market penetration, and access restrictions. 
  • Lead cross-functional initiatives to optimize European commercialization opportunities. 
  • Influence senior executives through clear, evidence-based recommendations on pricing, launch sequencing, and portfolio investment decisions. 
  • Build and manage external consultants, HTA agencies, and market access partners, and develop internal capabilities as the organization grows. 

• Global Pricing, MFN Exposure & Gross-to-Net Optimization 
  • Partner closely with Global Pricing, US Market Access, Finance, Government Pricing, and Commercial Leadership to evaluate the impact of European pricing and reimbursement decisions on global net revenue and profitability. 
  • Develop and implement an integrated European pricing strategy that considers US Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) policies, international reference pricing, and potential implications for US Medicare reimbursement and manufacturer gross-to-net. 
  • Work with global teams to assess how European list prices, confidential rebates, statutory discounts, managed entry agreements, and net pricing arrangements may influence US reimbursement benchmarks and global pricing corridors. 
  • Work with Global market access and finance teams to build country-specific and global pricing scenarios to quantify potential MFN exposure, US GTN implications, and worldwide net revenue impact across the oncology portfolio. 
  • Evaluate European launch sequencing and pricing negotiations to minimize adverse cross-market pricing consequences while maintaining timely and sustainable patient access. 
  • Partner with US Government Pricing and Finance teams to assess implications for Medicare Part B oncology products, including applicable MFN models, ASP-based reimbursement, manufacturer obligations, and regulatory requirements. 
  • Understand the differences between publicly reported prices, confidential net prices, and prices recognized under applicable international referencing or MFN methodologies. 
  • Evaluate the impact of indication expansion, combination regimens, treatment duration, and evolving competitive dynamics on global pricing sustainability across NSCLC, CRC, and bladder cancer. 
  • Establish governance and decision-making processes for material European pricing actions, including cross-functional review of potential US and global GTN implications before final country-level negotiations. 
  • Support global revenue forecasting, asset valuation, business development, and licensing decisions through risk-adjusted pricing and market access scenarios. 
  • Monitor changes in US MFN policies, European HTA requirements, international reference pricing regulations, and pharmaceutical pricing reforms, proactively recommending mitigation strategies. 
  • Provide executive leadership with clear recommendations that balance European patient access, local reimbursement success, US pricing exposure, and long-term global portfolio value. Ability to optimize European reimbursement outcomes without creating avoidable adverse global pricing consequences. 
  • All other duties as assigned 

 

 
Experience, Education and Specialized Knowledge and Skills: 

• Advanced degree in life sciences, pharmacy, medicine, health economics, public health, business, or a related discipline. An MBA, PharmD, PhD, or MD is preferred. 
• Minimum of 15+ years of pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry experience, with significant responsibility for European market access, pricing, reimbursement, or HTA. 
• At least 5+ years of substantial oncology market access experience, preferably across solid tumors. 
• Demonstrated experience in NSCLC, colorectal cancer, and/or bladder/urothelial cancer. 
• Proven track record of developing and executing successful European pricing and reimbursement strategies for innovative oncology products. 
• Strong knowledge of the EU5 healthcare systems, HTA processes, reimbursement pathways, and payer decision-making. 
• Understanding of the evolving US MFN and Global pricing and reimbursement along with impact of international reference pricing and sequence  
• Direct experience supporting European oncology launches, HTA submissions, and national pricing or reimbursement negotiations. 
• Ability to translate complex clinical and health economic evidence into compelling payer value propositions. 
• Strong understanding of oncology clinical trial design, endpoints, treatment guidelines, and competitive positioning. 
• Experience working in global and regional matrix organizations and influencing cross-functional stakeholders. 
• Excellent executive communication, negotiation, analytical, and strategic planning skills. 
• Fluent English required; additional European languages are an advantage. 

 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience launching novel oncology therapies, including immunotherapies, targeted therapies, or antibody-drug conjugates. 
• Experience with European reimbursement of oncology combination therapies and biomarker-selected patient populations. 
• Prior responsibility for European market access strategy across multiple oncology indications. 
• Experience with biotechnology companies transitioning from clinical development to commercialization. 
• Demonstrated ability to develop market access strategies for first-in-class andl best-in-class therapies. 
• Experience with European pricing strategy, gross-to-net forecasting, confidential rebates, and managed entry agreements. 
• Experience assessing European commercial opportunities for business development transactions or licensing partnerships. 
• Familiarity with EU joint clinical assessment requirements and evolving European pharmaceutical policy. 
• Established professional relationships within European oncology payer and HTA networks. 

Key Success Measures 

The successful candidate will be evaluated against the following objectives: 

1. Market Access Strategy: Delivery of comprehensive, actionable European pricing and reimbursement strategies for priority oncology assets. 
2. HTA & Reimbursement Outcomes: Achievement of favorable, evidence-supported reimbursement outcomes and minimization of avoidable access restrictions. 
3. Launch Readiness: Execution of country-level access plans supporting timely patient access following regulatory approval. 
4. Pricing Optimization: Development of sustainable pricing strategies balancing patient access, commercial value, and European reference pricing dynamics. 
5. Evidence Generation: Early identification and resolution of critical payer evidence gaps. 
6. Commercial Impact: Accurate access assumptions supporting European revenue forecasts, asset valuations, and portfolio decisions. 
7. Leadership: Effective cross-functional collaboration and strong strategic influence across European and global leadership teams. 

 

Ideal Candidate Profile 

We are looking for a commercially minded, scientifically credible, and highly strategic European oncology market access leader who combines a deep understanding of the European payer environment with practical experience securing reimbursement for innovative cancer therapies. 

The ideal candidate will have successfully navigated complex European oncology launches, understand how clinical differentiation translates into payer value, and possess the ability to influence development and commercialization decisions well before regulatory approval. 

This individual must be equally comfortable engaging with HTA experts, challenging clinical development assumptions, developing sophisticated pricing strategies, and presenting European commercialization recommendations to executive leadership. 

Above all, the successful candidate will be a hands-on leader capable of building and executing European market access strategies that maximize patient access and the long-term commercial value of our oncology portfolio.