Head, Field Learning and Development

Job title: Head, Field Learning and Development

Location: Bridgewater, NJ or Cambridge, MA or Morristown, NJ (Hybrid role)

Travel: Approximately 25-30% travel for offsite meetings and/or trainings.

About the job

Ready to push the limits of what’s possible? Join Sanofi in one of our corporate functions and you can play a vital part in the performance of our entire business while helping to make an impact on millions around the world.  

Strategic context:

Sanofi has currently the best and most robust pipeline of R&D and consequent new launches of our history. As new phase of Play-To-Win strategy, funding this pipeline and new launches is key to materialize the miracles of the science to improve people lives. Thus, as we enter the next phase, modernization of Sanofi is required as per the recent announcements on DRIVE, and in this respect, we are in the beginning stages of organizing the Go-to-Market Capabilities (GTMC) team at global level.

The GTMC organization will help us to drive best-in-class capabilities across the board and bring value and excellence in our commercial operations. This move is a key part of the aimed modernization of Sanofi and will allow us to focus on our priorities across our products, market and pipeline through the reallocation of resources and realizing the efficiencies of removing silos that exist between our business units, avoiding the duplication and overlapping of resources, standardizing our processes and tools, operating with a One Sanofi approach to accelerate our key capabilities development, and fostering the entrepreneurial spirit by speeding up the decision making.

Our Team:

The North America Field Learning and Development Team is a key engine to drive customer engagement, team leadership and team success.  The L&D Team’s primary purpose is to support our field teams to exceed product goals in order to expand the ability to support more patients through continuous learning excellence. 

About Sanofi

We’re an R&D-driven, AI-powered biopharma company committed to improving people’s lives and delivering compelling growth. Our deep understanding of the immune system – and innovative pipeline – enables us to invent medicines and vaccines that treat and protect millions of people around the world. Together, we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives. 

Main responsibilities:

The Senior Director of Field Learning & Development reports to the Customer Facing Operations Pillar Head and is a key member of the NA Customer Facing Leadership Team. This person will have responsibility for gap assessment, strategic planning, content development, implementation and measurement of product training, field leadership/management training, and customer-engagement skill-based training for commercial customer-facing teams (sales and sales leadership roles) of all NA  therapeutic areas.  Training will be delivered leveraging Sanofi standard platforms to include eLearning, live meetings, virtual training, all with a strong patient and science focus. 

• Develop and lead a comprehensive strategy for delivering training across field teams in all NA Business Units and therapeutic areas aligned with company, business unit and brand goals.

• Lead Team of 35 Learning & Development professionals; 5-7 direct reports

• Develop strategy for NA resources and experiences which will reinforce the competencies and enhance capabilities of the field teams including new hire curricula, new product launch planning, selling skills, and field leadership development.

• Lead proactive assessment of knowledge gaps within field teams; provide oversight and guidance to each product team to address with training initiatives and programs.

• Determine and implement innovative, efficient and effective ways of delivering training, leveraging Global GTMC and NA Learning standards

• Develop and execute learning experiences

• Ensure all training materials incorporate all appropriate regulatory and legal compliance guidance per the Sanofi Standard Operating Procedure

• Establish and implement key metrics to track and communicate level of value and impact of training and development initiatives to all stakeholders

• Ensure strong partnership within each business unit is maintained by each TA training lead

• Manage BU Head expectations of GTMC changes in ways of working and support development of BU specific needs within the GTMC vision

• Ensure tight coordination with NA Learning and Global GTMC to drive efficiencies and effectiveness.

• Help develop one Sanofi learning strategy by providing the NA perspective in Global GTMC and NA Learning decisions

• This role requires a high level of collaboration with Sales Leadership, Brand teams, Market Access, PSS, Medical, Legal and Compliance as well as offshore hub colleagues.

• Reinforce new ways of working for the Commercial Training team where field team deliverables are co-created with commercial teams, learning champions are leveraged and use of external vendors is limited

• Maintain a detailed and up-to-date knowledge of advances in adult learning education and training technology and methodologies that could be relevant to the business unit and recommend appropriate updates to strategies and tactics as needed.

• Ensure budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements. Work with global teams such as the Learning Council to ensure plans and initiatives are reviewed and assessed to see if there are efficiencies that be achieved

• Drive universal Customer Facing Capabilities strategy consistent across NA BUs and all markets, standardizing approaches, methodologies, solutions, and tools and ensuring prioritization consistent with the strategic prioritization of assets and geographies. 

• Have One Sanofi approach, fostering the delivery of global and standard solutions and guidelines, avoiding exceptions, but making sure that the specific and relevant needs of all NA BUs are attended. 

• Make agile decisions, ensuring customer centric approach and external perspective and taking the necessary thoughtful risks to balance the maximum satisfaction of our customers with the value added to Sanofi. 

• Maintain a close contact with the business leaders of all geographies, being in the field when required. 

• Deliver financial budget. 

About you

Experience:

• 10+ years in Commercial Operations environment, especially in supporting field force learning and development. 

• Bachelor’s Degree required

• 15 plus years of relevant pharmaceutical/biotech/vaccine industry experience

• 8 plus years of experience in Learning and Development and Adult Education Methods

• 8 plus years of demonstrated success leading large teams

• Proven communication skills with a well-developed ability to efficiently and productively communicate both verbally and in writing.

• Advanced skills in Microsoft Applications for use in Training Development, Facilitation, and Effectiveness Reviews including but not limited to TEAMs and PowerPoint

• Training / Workshop facilitation skills and background

• Demonstrated excellence in project management and effectively managing multiple projects/priorities including budgeting and actual spend against budget is required

• Outstanding organizational skills, time management and dealing with conflicting priorities

• Strong interpersonal skills (with demonstrated stakeholder management, conflict management / resolution in group dynamic)

• Certified in Instructional Design preferred

• Experienced in leading by influence and driving in matrix project teams and organizational set-ups. 

• Project management: ensure the correct pace of the acceleration. 

• Experience leading diverse teams.

• Proven delivery of outstanding results. 

• Ability to leverage networks, to develop people, coach and give feedback, empower people. 

• Ability to lead change while achieving business goals and objectives, act for change, challenging continuously the status quo.  

• High persistency and resilience. 

Knowledge:

• Field force support background: robust acumen in training, learning and development subjects, knowledge about customer facing capabilities, including but not limited to SFE subjects, incentives schemes, target, segmentation, and tools of managing operations. 

• Experience in having deployed innovative learning solutions for big audiences. 

• Strategic analysis and planning, project management, excellent English language knowledge and skills (written and oral), IT knowledge and skills, proven impactful communication, presentation, persuasion, skills ability to work cross-functionally.  

Skills and Competencies:

• Business: Ability to prioritize; Financial and Development acumen; Over achievement against set objectives; Ability to work on their own initiative and make quality decisions; Excellent interpersonal skills to communicate, present, persuade and argument among all GBUs teams and partners. 

• Leadership: Leads by example and walks the talk; Role models the principles and behaviors of Play-To-Win and Thoughtful Risk Taking. Engages others through active and impactful communication; Demonstrates a high-level drive, passion and ambition for high performance; Challenges continuously the status quo; Develops fresh approaches in order to deliver results; Has well-developed time management skills, mastering in prioritizing tasks and planning own workloads to ensure deadlines and desired results are met. 

• Networking: Is a strong relationship builder; Seeks out new opportunities; Demonstrates teamworking and shares best practices always; Has experience of successfully leading projects in multicultural environments and in a matrix organization. 

• Personal Characteristics: Hands-on, accountability, creativity, initiative, high persistence and resilience, stress management, learning agility, result orientation, ability to work on one’s own, continuous improvement, listening skills, empathy to understand the needs of the different businesses within distinct geographies.  

Why Choose Us?  

• Bring the miracles of science to life alongside a supportive, future-focused team. 

• Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether it’s through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally. 

• Enjoy a thoughtful, well-crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact. 

• Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high-quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs and at least 14 weeks’ gender-neutral parental leave. 

Sanofi US Services and its U.S. affiliates are Equal Opportunity employers committed to a culturally inclusive workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; nationality; marital, domestic partnership or civil union status; sex, gender, gender identity or expression; affectional or sexual orientation; disability; veteran or military status or liability for military status; domestic violence victim status; atypical cellular or blood trait; genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing) or any other characteristic protected by law.

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All compensation will be determined commensurate with demonstrated experience. Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs, and additional benefits information can be found here.