Category Lead, Primary Care and Specialty Care – Middle East

ABOUT THE ROLE
The Category Lead for Primary Care and Specialty Care in the Middle East is a strategic member of the Leadership Team, responsible for overseeing the full spectrum of strategy, performance, and long-term value for the Primary Care and Specialty Care portfolio across the cluster. This position converts enterprise and regional priorities into tailored portfolio, launch, and market strategies that harmonize immediate performance with sustainable growth and patient outcomes. The Category Lead manages a diverse portfolio that includes established brands, Growth Knots, and forthcoming launches, merging the extensive reach of Primary Care with the specialized requirements of Specialty Care's customer engagement, access, and patient journeys.

This role involves setting clear priorities amongst brands, markets, customer segments, and investments; aligning marketing with customer-facing execution; and ensuring disciplined resource allocation and performance management. Collaborating with various departments such as Commercial, Medical, Access & Value, Regulatory, Policy & Public Affairs, Supply, Finance, Legal, and Compliance—and working alongside regional and global teams—this position lays the groundwork for launch excellence, enhanced patient access, and sustainable portfolio growth.

CORE ACCOUNTABILITIES
1. CATEGORY STRATEGY & PORTFOLIO LEADERSHIP

• Own and translate the Middle East Primary Care and Specialty Care category strategy into clear portfolio, brand, market, and customer priorities that align with the cluster operating plan and growth agenda.
• Lead comprehensive portfolio planning across established brands, Growth Knots, new indications, and future launches, balancing immediate delivery with long-term category value.
• Establish differentiated strategies for Primary Care and Specialty Care assets based on market maturity, customer needs, care settings, access conditions, and competitive dynamics.
• Set category governance, operating rhythms, and performance reviews that connect regional strategy with market execution.
• Leverage customer, patient, competitor, and healthcare-system insights to inform portfolio choices and investment decisions.

2. BUSINESS & P&L LEADERSHIP

• Own category business performance and provide clear direction on revenue, market share, investment, profitability, and resource-deployment priorities.
• Lead the annual operating plan and long-range planning for the portfolio, ensuring robust assumptions, scenarios, risks, and growth choices.
• Prioritize advertising and promotion, alongside commercial investments across brands, launches, and markets; reallocating resources toward the highest-impact opportunities.
• Monitor performance and intervene proactively where demand, launch, access, supply, or execution risks threaten category objectives.
• Encourage disciplined forecasting, performance management, and data-driven decision-making across the category.

3. PRIMARY CARE & SPECIALTY CARE GROWTH

• Develop differentiated growth strategies that address the broad-reach needs of Primary Care and the specialized pathways of Specialty Care.
• Fortify lifecycle management for established brands via customer segmentation, channel optimization, evidence-based engagement, and focused resource allocation.
• Identify and advocate for opportunities to expand diagnosis, treatment, access, and appropriate use among priority patient populations.
• Adapt category strategies to suit varying market archetypes, customer segments, channels, and lifecycle stages.
• Ensure commercial plans foster sustainable growth while having a meaningful patient and healthcare-system impact.

4. NEW LAUNCHES & PIPELINE READINESS

• Spearhead integrated launch strategies and readiness for new products, indications, and presentations across Middle East markets.
• Define launch ambitions, sequencing, market archetypes, customer strategy, investment requirements, and critical success factors.
• Construct comprehensive launch plans inclusive of Regulatory, Medical, Access & Value, Policy & Public Affairs, Supply, Marketing, Sales, and customer engagement.
• Monitor launch readiness and post-launch performance through well-defined milestones and governance.
• Expedite decisions and eliminate barriers affecting approval, access, supply, customer readiness, or commercial execution.

5. GO-TO-MARKET & CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

• Closely collaborate with the Sales organization to enhance modern, integrated, and data-driven customer engagement models across marketing and customer-facing teams.
• Ensure that customer strategies account for the unique journeys within Primary Care and Specialty Care—reflecting care settings, stakeholder needs, and channel preferences.
• Improve coordination among marketing, sales, account management, and other customer-facing teams to elevate execution quality and customer experience.
• Cultivate important relationships with healthcare leaders, institutions, professional organizations, and relevant stakeholders within the prescribed responsibilities.
• Confirm that marketing efforts meet the organization's standards for quality, compliance, and scientific integrity.

6. MARKET SHAPING & PATIENT ACCESS

• Collaborate with Access & Value, Medical, Policy & Public Affairs, and other functions to overcome pricing, reimbursement, patient-journey, and healthcare-system obstacles.
• Integrate access assumptions, payer insights, and market-shaping priorities into portfolio, launch, and operational plans.
• Champion initiatives that facilitate timely and sustainable patient access under approved responsibilities.
• Anticipate policy, funding, and healthcare-system modifications, translating them into portfolio risks and opportunities.
• Support integrated evidence, value, and stakeholder strategies that bolster access and portfolio performance.

7. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL & MARKET LEADERSHIP

• Partner with market, commercial, and sales leaders to transform category strategy into actionable local plans with clear ownership and performance expectations.
• Align with Medical teams to synchronize evidence generation, scientific engagement, and education priorities with portfolio and launch requirements.
• Collaborate with Access & Value and Policy & Public Affairs to enhance access pathways, value communication, and the environment supporting patient access.
• Coordinate with Regulatory and Supply teams to anticipate approvals, demand, allocation, and continuity risks, safeguarding launch and inline portfolio performance.
• Clarify cross-functional responsibilities, eliminate execution barriers, and ensure cohesive, patient-centered delivery across functions and markets.

8. ORGANIZATION & PEOPLE LEADERSHIP

• Construct a high-performing, inclusive team for Primary Care and Specialty Care that excels in portfolio strategy, launch excellence, customer insight, and matrix leadership.
• Foster talent development via meaningful experiences, coaching, feedback, succession planning, and exposure to enterprise priorities.
• Instill clarity, accountability, and collaboration across marketing, customer-facing teams, markets, and functions.
• Enhance leadership depth and bolster the pipeline of future commercial and category leaders.
• Advocate for a culture rooted in courage, excellence, equity, and joy, upholding high standards of ethics, compliance, and responsible business leadership.

DECISION RIGHTS

• Set strategic direction and portfolio priorities for the Middle East Primary Care and Specialty Care category following enterprise and cluster governance guidelines.
• Recommend category operating-plan assumptions and allocate approved marketing resources across brands, launches, and markets.
• Approve category brand plans, launch strategies, launch-readiness governance, and performance metrics.
• Prioritize lifecycle, customer engagement, patient access, and market-shaping opportunities for senior sponsorship and cross-functional investment.
• Hold the category organization and cross-functional teams responsible for execution quality, compliance, and patient-centered delivery.
• Escalate substantial portfolio, launch, access, supply, and investment decisions through appropriate governance channels.

CAPABILITIES & QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Life Sciences, Pharmacy, Medicine, Business, or a related field; advanced degrees such as an MBA or MSc are preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years in the pharmaceutical or healthcare sector, with substantial commercial leadership expertise.
• Proven people leadership experience with direct responsibility for talent development and team performance.
• Documented success in managing complex portfolios, launching new products, and overseeing cross-functional business priorities across multiple markets.
• Familiarity with Primary Care, Specialty Care, or diversified pharmaceutical portfolios.
• Strong grasp of healthcare dynamics, market access, patient pathways, and customer interactions across Middle East markets.
• Business and financial acumen regarding operational planning, investment prioritization, forecasting, and performance management.
• Robust marketing leadership, customer insight orientation, and experience in developing differentiated omnichannel strategies.
• Proven capacity to navigate established brands and launches throughout various lifecycle stages and customer channels.
• Enterprise mindset and ability to influence senior leaders and external stakeholders in a complex matrix environment.
• Excellent analytical, communication, negotiation, and executive presentation skills.
• Fluent English is required; Arabic language proficiency is advantageous.
• High ethical standards, compliance, governance, and commitment to responsible stakeholder engagement.

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP BEHAVIORS

• Enterprise Leadership: Connects portfolio, market, customer, and enterprise goals to create sustainable value for the Middle East Cluster.
• Growth & Innovation: Transforms launches, lifecycle opportunities, and go-to-market strategies into focused growth platforms with measurable outcomes.
• Strategic Judgment: Balances patient impact, market opportunity, investment, access, supply, risk, and business value across diverse markets.
• Talent Builder: Develops strong marketers and matrix leaders, fostering clarity, accountability, inclusion, and collaboration.

KEY ORGANIZATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

• ME Cluster Lead and Middle East Leadership Team.
• Market, sales, and commercial leaders across the Middle East.
• Regional and global Category and Commercial teams.
• Medical, Access & Value, Regulatory, Policy & Public Affairs, Supply, Finance, Legal, Compliance, and People Experience teams.
• Commercial Excellence, Data and Analytics, and relevant digital and customer engagement teams.
• External customers, healthcare leaders, institutions, payers, policy stakeholders, and strategic partners, within approved engagement responsibilities.

SUPERVISION & OPERATING MODEL

• Direct reports: The Middle East Primary Care and Specialty Care marketing organization, responsible for portfolio and brand strategy, launch leadership, and market execution.
• Relevant customer-facing and field leadership teams may operate through direct, indirect, or matrix reporting structures.
• Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with travel across Middle East markets as business needs dictate.