Executive Director - Commercial & Medical Systems

Position Purpose:

Stoke is seeking an experienced, hands-on Executive Director, Commercial & Medical Systems to build and lead the technology foundation for Stoke’s first commercial launch.  The individual will report to the SVP & Chief Information Officer, lead the Commercial & Medical Systems IT, and be an integral part of the IT leadership team. This leader will own the commercial and medical launch stack and will be the named IT partner to Commercial, Medical Affairs, Patient Services and Market Access as the company prepares for an anticipated early-2028 launch.  

The role works hand in hand with Commercial Operations, the Medical Affairs Analytics & Systems lead, and the Patient Services team, who own business requirements, KPIs and adoption for their functions. This leader will own the technology roadmap, implementation, integration, vendor performance and controls. This is an IT role: Commercial Operations, Medical Affairs and Patient Services own their strategies, processes and priorities, and this leader brings deep commercial and medical systems expertise to help them deliver. 

Key Responsibilities:

Roadmap, Strategy and Launch Readiness 

• Deliver the technology roadmap for the commercial and medical launch stack, sequenced to the launch plan set by Commercial and Medical Affairs leadership and the build-out of the field organization through 2027, while supporting ongoing Medical Affairs operations and pipeline expansion.

• Proactively identify platform capabilities and enhancements that support stated business objectives, and partner with functional system owners to translate these opportunities into a prioritized implementation roadmap

• Support business owners’ launch readiness: test environments and test plans for user acceptance testing, system training materials and train-the-trainer, support coverage, escalation paths and contingency plans in place before each platform becomes business-critical; then run the live stack with ITIL-based incident, change and release management, partnering with vendors and Technology Services on day-to-day support.

• Partner with IT Technology Services on day-one readiness for field hires: devices, access, training and the field support model.
• Plan the post-launch Commercial & Medical Systems IT team and operating model for consideration in future budget cycles.

Platform Implementation & Integration

• Lead the implementation and integration of Salesforce as Stoke’s commercial, medical and patient services platform (Sales, Life Sciences and Marketing Cloud), and the contracting, implementation and integration of the content review (MLR) platform used by Medical, Legal and Regulatory Advertising & Promotion reviewers, medical information, field enablement, advisory board, KOL engagement and speaker program platforms, and digital engagement and web platforms, .
• Deliver the patient services hub on Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud with the Patient Services team: translate their patient journey mapping into hub configuration, case and program workflows, and integrations with specialty pharmacy, benefits verification, copay and pharmacovigilance partners; implement the contact center (CCaaS) platform for voice and text, IVR and skill-based routing, consent-managed recording and adverse event routing to Pharmacovigilance, integrated with Salesforce.

Business Partnership & Governance

• Serve as the accountable IT partner to Commercial Operations, Medical Affairs, Patient Services, Market Access and Trade & Distribution leadership, and to Regulatory Advertising & Promotion and Corporate Communications on the platforms they use; translate launch requirements into system capabilities, data flows, budgets and timelines.
• Partner with Commercial Operations, the Medical Affairs Analytics & Systems lead and the Patient Services team as business system owners: co-own the commercial and medical systems roadmap, agree priorities and sequencing, and run joint governance through the Commercial IT steering committee so that each platform has one business owner and one IT owner.

Data Foundation & Reporting

• Design the commercial and medical data foundation and integrations on which Commercial Operations, Medical Affairs and Patient Services build their reporting and analytics, feeding the enterprise data warehouse in line with Stoke’s enterprise architecture and integration standards.
• Ensure systems capture and make available the complete, standardized data required for business reporting, analytics and downstream applications, including reliable data extraction and feeds; partner with business owners to define and validate data completeness, quality and usability as part of system acceptance.

Compliance, Controls & Transparency

• Implement and maintain the system controls that Legal, Compliance and Privacy define for launch systems (including HIPAA and business associate agreements, patient consent and recording retention, TCPA for outbound patient contact, sample accountability where applicable) and SOX/ITGC controls; define and enforce role-based access across systems and reporting, including the separation of commercial and medical users and data in shared platforms; support Compliance and business owners in developing SOPs for commercial and medical systems use ahead of launch; and apply Stoke’s review process for vendor-embedded AI.
• Deliver the aggregate spend and transparency reporting capability (Open Payments and state laws) with Compliance: HCP spend capture from CRM, expense and medical/commercial activity systems, the reporting platform, and its data quality and reconciliation processes.

Investment, Budget & Vendor Management

• Manage the Commercial & Medical Systems IT investment plan with business owners: lead business cases and platform evaluations, and manage the pillar budget, vendor and implementer performance, license utilization and renewals with Finance, Procurement and Legal; deliver programs through the IT PMO and report status, risks and decisions to the CIO and launch leadership.

Required Skills & Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree a plus.

• 15+ years of IT or business systems experience in biopharma, including 8+ years leading commercial and/or medical affairs technology.

• Has led the technology build for at least one pharmaceutical or biotech product launch, ideally a first launch at a company building commercial capability from the ground up.

• Deep knowledge of life sciences commercial platforms, including Salesforce-based CRM for pharma field and medical teams, content management and MLR review, medical information and inquiry management, patient services hub programs (enrollment, benefits verification, copay, case management, specialty pharmacy coordination) and contact center platforms, field data and analytics, digital engagement and web/CMS platforms, and commercial data providers.

• Strong understanding of the regulatory and compliance environment for commercial and medical systems, including HIPAA, consent management, promotional compliance, sample accountability and aggregate spend/transparency reporting.

• Demonstrated success managing vendors, implementation partners and multi-year program budgets.

• Executive-level communication skills
• Hands-on leader comfortable operating as both strategist and doer in a small, fast-moving team.

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience implementing Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud or Health Cloud as an in-house patient services hub, and integrating a contact center platform (for example Genesys or Five9) with Salesforce.

• Experience with adverse event intake and handoff to pharmacovigilance from patient-facing systems.

• Experience with Veeva Vault PromoMats for MLR review and with medical information platforms such as MedComms or comparable tools.

• Orphan or ultra-rare disease launch experience, including claims-based patient identification platforms, rare disease registries or specialty hub and pharmacy integrations.
• Experience standing up commercial data warehousing and analytics.

Culture & Values:

At Stoke, we believe that innovation, the ability to successfully advance our ground-breaking science and having fun as a team are enhanced by being together in person, at least periodically. We allow for flexibility in work arrangements that balance individual’s needs and preferences with the needs of our business and our desire to foster a culture of collaboration and innovation.

Our values guide our work to deliver meaningful medicines for people who need them. We are committed to being true to ourselves, to our colleagues, and to the people with severe diseases who are counting on us. We embrace diversity within a unique culture that is defined by our values. Our employee-led Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB) Committee underscores the importance of DIB to who we are and what we do.  

Location(s): 

Stoke is located in Bedford, MA, and will be moving to a new location in Waltham, MA by the end of 2026. This position is open to local hybrid or remote candidates, with travel to Stoke’s headquarters as needed. Headquarters is currently based in Bedford and will later be based in Waltham. 

Compensation & Benefits:

At Stoke Therapeutics, we are committed to offering a comprehensive, competitive and thoughtfully designed total rewards program. 

The anticipated salary range for this role is $280,000 - $330,000. The final offer will be determined based on a variety of factors, including role scope, experience and qualifications, education, market benchmarks, internal equity, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, Stoke offers an annual bonus and equity participation.

Our benefits package includes medical, dental and vision insurance; life, long- and short-term disability insurance; paid parental leave; a 401K plan with company match, unlimited vacation time, tuition assistance and participation in our Employee Stock Purchase Program (ESPP).