EVP – Strategy and Portfolio — Specialty-Medicines Portfolio

The mandate

A privately held pharmaceutical enterprise is creating a new EVP – Strategy and Portfolio role to translate evolving scientific and competitive intelligence into capital-allocation decisions for its late-stage specialty assets, ensuring the portfolio strategy reflects current data before annual planning locks in resource commitments.

Approximately 725 employees and material partners span research, development, medical, regulatory, technical operations, market access and commercial planning from Basel. The EVP owns portfolio strategy, valuation, external innovation, scenario planning and enterprise resource recommendations, reporting to the Group Chief Executive or nominated sponsor. Scientific, clinical and safety judgements remain with authorised leaders; strategy must represent them accurately.

The opening work is to rebuild each asset thesis from patient need outward. Disease burden, current standard, responder population, effect, safety, administration and evidence requirements should determine differentiation. Forecast confidence cannot compensate for a weak clinical proposition, and a statistically positive result may still support only a narrow commercial opportunity.

Development scenarios need explicit branches. An additional trial, biomarker strategy, indication sequence or regional filing changes time, cost and probability. The EVP will state which evidence resolves the uncertainty and when management must commit. Risk-adjusted net present value is useful, but it cannot hide liquidity constraints or irreversible lead times.

Competitive intelligence will be treated as uncertain evidence. Public trials, regulatory actions, physician research and access signals should be sourced, challenged and time-stamped. The portfolio will not assume competitor failure or static standard of care merely because that supports continued investment.

The leader will force cross-asset choices. Scarce clinical operations, biostatistics, regulatory, manufacturing and launch capabilities cannot support every accelerated plan. Portfolio reviews will show marginal return and strategic option for the next unit of capital or expertise. Assets that fail agreed evidence gates will slow, partner or stop.

Market access belongs early in development. Comparative evidence, endpoint relevance, population definition and budget impact affect payer acceptance. The EVP will ensure access teams influence study and evidence strategy without improperly directing clinical conclusions. Price assumptions must reflect real comparators and uncertainty.

Technical readiness may change asset order. Formulation, device, yield, stability or scale-up can make a seemingly later programme more capital-intensive. The portfolio case will include manufacturing probability, supply lead time and cost of goods. A clinical milestone without a feasible supply route is not decision-ready.

External innovation will complement internal assets. The EVP will identify mechanisms, technologies or commercial rights that fill explicit gaps, then govern diligence across science, data, safety, intellectual property and manufacturability. Business-development excitement will not create a strategic fit after a target appears.

Partnering is a portfolio tool, not evidence of failure. A regional licence or co-development structure may preserve capital and secure capability. The EVP will compare control, economics, speed and future options, ensuring retained obligations are understood. Partner milestones should align with meaningful evidence rather than activity.

The strategy function will maintain a single assumption register. When a probability, date, price, cost or competitor view changes, downstream valuation and capacity plans should update. Manual versions prepared for different audiences will be reconciled. The board should see which conclusion depends most on fragile assumptions.

Communication matters because reprioritisation affects scientific teams. Decisions will explain evidence, not demean prior work. The EVP will support leaders in closing programmes responsibly, preserving data, patient commitments and transferable knowledge. A stopped asset can still generate valuable insight if disposition is disciplined.

Success will be a smaller number of funded, executable theses and clear options around the remainder. Strategy is not rewarded for keeping every possibility alive. The role exists to make decisions while uncertainty remains and to revisit them when stated triggers occur.

What you will own

• Specialty-medicines portfolio thesis and prioritisation.
• Asset scenarios, valuation and assumption integrity.
• Enterprise capital and scarce-capability choices.
• Competitive, access and technical strategy integration.
• External innovation, partnering and option structures.
• Board portfolio decisions and review triggers.
• Programme stop, transfer and knowledge disposition.
• Strategy team and succession.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, reconstruct late-stage asset theses, challenge comparative and competitor assumptions and identify commitments proceeding ahead of evidence. Give the executive committee decision alternatives.

By month six, agree the funded portfolio, additional-evidence plans and partnership priorities. Reassign capital and specialist capacity from assets below threshold.

At twelve months, move at least 25% of discretionary portfolio capital towards higher-conviction programmes, complete all priority decisions within 30 days of trigger data and secure two external options that close defined gaps. Every late-stage asset should have a board-approved evidence gate, downside route and executable technical plan.

What the sponsor will examine

• Asset theses beginning with clinical differentiation.
• Additional studies linked to a resolvable uncertainty.
• Competitor assumptions sourced and challengeable.
• Scarce capability allocated across the portfolio.
• Technical and payer constraints reflected before filing.
• Stopped programmes closed responsibly.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in pharmaceutical strategy, development, business development or portfolio leadership, with deep specialty-medicines experience. You have led late-stage reprioritisation after data changed and presented material capital choices to executive committees or boards.

Candidates should demonstrate an asset they stopped, partnered or narrowed despite internal sponsorship. Basel is the permanent onsite base, with international portfolio and diligence work. Scientific credibility and financial fluency are equally important.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is CHF 340,000–470,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to portfolio value, decision quality, capital reallocation, external options and leadership. The permanent onsite Basel role reports to the Group Chief Executive or nominated executive-committee sponsor. Planned hiring precedes the next portfolio cycle.

Confidentiality

The enterprise, assets, clinical data, patients, investigators, partners, valuations and portfolio choices remain confidential. Further detail follows conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not approach pharmaceutical companies or investigators to identify the client.