Chief Operating Officer (COO)

A leading organization in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector is looking for an experienced Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead its Sales Operations and Marketing Operations.

The COO will play a key role in translating corporate strategy and growth objectives into disciplined commercial execution, with accountability for revenue growth, profitability, market and portfolio expansion, customer impact, and brand performance.

This role will lead and align Sales and Marketing leaders, establish clear performance priorities and operating rhythms, and ensure strong execution across the commercial organization.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Sales & Marketing Leadership

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for Sales Operations and Marketing Operations.
• Translate corporate growth objectives into integrated Sales and Marketing operating plans.
• Align Sales and Marketing priorities across customers, brands, field execution, campaigns, product launches, and resource allocation.
• Establish regular business reviews, performance tracking, action plans, and accountability mechanisms.

Sales Operations

• Drive sales revenue, profitability, market growth, and execution objectives.
• Monitor sales performance, territory productivity, customer coverage, and account development.
• Strengthen sales planning, forecasting, pipeline visibility, and field execution.
• Hold Sales leaders accountable for targets, productivity, coaching, and execution quality.

Marketing Operations

• Drive effective execution of marketing and brand strategies.
• Monitor brand performance, portfolio growth, campaign execution, product launches, and marketing ROI.
• Strengthen coordination between Marketing and Sales to improve customer engagement, demand generation, prescription generation, and brand conversion.
• Ensure marketing investments are aligned with business priorities and expected returns.

Commercial Performance

• Establish Sales and Marketing KPIs, scorecards, and performance indicators.
• Use business, customer, brand, and execution data to identify performance gaps and opportunities.
• Drive initiatives that improve sales productivity, marketing effectiveness, customer experience, execution quality, and profitability.
• Promote data-driven decision-making and strong accountability for business outcomes.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Commercial Excellence on CRM, sales analytics, salesforce effectiveness, capability building, segmentation, and territory-related initiatives.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain and Fulfillment on demand inputs, product availability, launches, inventory priorities, and service requirements.
• Work closely with Medical Affairs and Regulatory Affairs to ensure compliant commercial execution.
• Partner with Finance on forecasting, budgeting, profitability, investments, and performance analysis.

Financial & Resource Management

• Manage Sales and Marketing operating budgets and resource allocation.
• Drive productivity and cost effectiveness while maintaining execution quality and compliance.
• Review commercial investments and marketing spend based on expected business impact and return.
• Support annual planning, budgeting, forecasting, and resource allocation.

Leadership & Organizational Development

• Lead, coach, and develop Sales and Marketing leaders.
• Strengthen leadership capability, strategic thinking, accountability, and execution discipline.
• Build leadership and succession pipelines for critical commercial positions.
• Foster a culture of collaboration, customer focus, performance ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, Pharmacy, or a related field.
• MBA, postgraduate degree, or relevant executive education is an advantage.
• 10-15+ years of progressive commercial experience with significant leadership responsibility in Sales, Marketing, Business Unit Leadership, or Commercial Operations.
• Proven experience leading both Sales and Marketing teams or managing integrated commercial execution.
• Strong experience in Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, FMCG, Consumer Products, or another customer- and market-driven environment.
• Pharmaceutical experience is highly preferred.
• Demonstrated track record in delivering revenue growth, profitability, market expansion, brand performance, and sales execution.
• Strong knowledge of sales management, brand and portfolio management, customer engagement, CRM, commercial analytics, forecasting, and performance management.
• Experience leading transformation, process improvement, productivity, organizational change, and cross-functional initiatives.
• Working knowledge of pharmaceutical promotional, regulatory, quality, and compliance requirements.

IDEAL PROFILE

We are looking for a senior commercial leader who can effectively bridge Sales and Marketing and translate business strategy into measurable commercial results.

The ideal candidate has:

• Strong executive presence and business leadership capability
• Experience managing and developing senior Sales and Marketing leaders
• A strategic yet execution-oriented approach
• Strong commercial and financial acumen
• Data-driven and performance-focused leadership
• Experience operating in a complex, fast-moving customer and market-driven environment
• The ability to drive cross-functional alignment while maintaining clear functional accountabilities