Associate Director, Sales Excellence
United States, Walkersville (Maryland)

Associate Director, Sales Excellence – Advanced Synthesis (ADS)

Location: Remote – East Coast USA (Strong preference for candidates based in the Northeast)

Travel: Approximately 15% travel expected (including Lonza site visits, internal sales meetings, and industry conferences).

We are seeking a strategic, self-directed commercial professional to join our organization as the Associate Director, Sales Excellence. Reporting directly to the Global Head of ADS Sales, this role acts as the central driver for commercial effectiveness, process rigor, and operational governance across our global Advanced Synthesis (ADS) sales organization.

Historically spread across multiple team contributors, this newly consolidated position brings unified ownership to our global sales processes. As a member of the ADS Global Sales Leadership Team, you will serve as a strategic partner to sales leaders, develop and manage sales performance frameworks, maximizing adoption of modern digital tools (including Salesforce/SFDC, AI/Copilot, and digital enablement platforms), and providing data-driven analytics to optimize pipeline quality, forecast accuracy, and overall sales force productivity.

What will you get:

The full-time base annual salary for this position is expected to range between $150,000 to $200,000. In addition, below you will find a comprehensive summary of the benefits package we offer:

  • An agile career and dynamic working culture.

  • An inclusive and ethical workplace.

  • Consolidated Strategic Impact: Own and unify the sales excellence roadmap from scratch, freeing up commercial bandwidth while directly shaping how our global sales team operates.

  • Executive Visibility: Act as an independent advisor and key member of the ADS Global Sales Leadership Team, partnering directly with the Head of Sales and Senior Leadership Team (SLT).

  • 401(k) matching plan.

  • Life insurance, as well as short-term and long-term disability insurance.

  • Compensation programs that recognize high performance, plus comprehensive health, dental, vision, and generous PTO packages.

What you’ll do:

  • Sales Excellence & Governance Consolidation: Own the implementation, standardization, and continuous improvement of sales operating procedures, pipeline governance, and CRM discipline across all global ADS regions.

  • Commercial Systems & AI Enablement: Lead the adoption and optimization of commercial platforms (SFDC, Omni, BigTinCan, Copilot/AI, LMS) to streamline sales workflows and drive process automation.

  • Performance Analytics & Insights: Establish performance management frameworks, executive dashboards, win/loss analyses, and incentive tracking (SIP/SPIFF) to convert commercial data into actionable strategic insights.

  • Leadership Partnering & Rhythms: Partner directly with the Head of Sales to coordinate leadership operating rhythms, strategic business reviews, cross-functional initiatives, and organizational accountability.

  • Cross-Functional Alignment: Serve as the core bridge between Sales and enabling functions—including Commercial Excellence, Marketing, Commercial Development, Finance, and Legal—to ensure rapid, aligned commercial execution.

  • Capability & Training Development: Identify commercial capability gaps and roll out targeted enablement programs, tools, and training solutions to maximize team readiness.

What we’re looking for:

  • Experience: 5–10 years of advanced experience in Sales Excellence, Commercial Excellence, Sales Operations, or Commercial Analytics within a complex, global matrixed organization.

  • Commercial Systems Expertise: 5–10 years of deep hands-on expertise with Salesforce (SFDC) and modern sales enablement, analytics, or AI-assisted commercial platforms.

  • Inherent Curiosity & Initiative: A self-starter and "trailblazer" mindset—someone who instinctively follows the thread, identifies process gaps, and independently builds solutions without needing step-by-step direction.

  • Executive Presence: Proven track record of working comfortably alongside Senior Leadership Teams (SLT), influencing senior stakeholders, and driving alignment without direct line authority.

  • Industry Agnostic: Prior life sciences or CDMO experience is not strictly required; we welcome strong commercial excellence professionals from diverse global industries.

  • Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Systems, Business Administration, Life Sciences, or a related discipline is required. An advanced degree (MBA, Master's) is preferred.

About Lonza

At Lonza, our people are our greatest strength. With 30+ sites across five continents, our globally connected teams work together every day to manufacture the medicines of tomorrow. Our core values of Collaboration, Accountability, Excellence, Passion and Integrity reflect who we are and how we work together. Everyone’s ideas, big or small, have the potential to improve millions of lives, and that’s the kind of work we want you to be part of.

Innovation thrives when people from all backgrounds bring their unique perspectives to the table. At Lonza, we offer equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. If you’re ready to help turn our customers’ breakthrough ideas into viable therapies, we look forward to welcoming you on board.

Ready to shape the future of life sciences? Apply now.

Reference: R78121