Job description
More than one million people in the United States today are fighting blood cancer. While a traditional allogeneic stem cell transplant has been the best hope for many, the transplant itself can prove fatal or lead to serious conditions, such as graft vs. host disease. Orca Bio is a late-stage biotechnology company redefining the transplant process by developing next-generation cell therapies with the goal of providing significantly better survival rates with dramatically fewer risks. With our purified, high-precision investigational cell therapies we hope to not only replace patients’ blood and immune systems with healthy ones, but also restore their lives.
We are seeking a strategic and hands-on Head, Market Access to lead the development and execution of the U.S. market access strategy for Orca-T and future pipeline products. This individual will be a key member of the Commercial Leadership Team and will play a mission-critical role in shaping how patients, providers, and payers access and afford our therapies. This Leader will lead a high-impact team responsible for Field Market Access and U.S. Value, Access & Pricing Strategy.
Responsibilities
- Develop and own the U.S. market access strategy for Orca-T, ensuring alignment across pricing, reimbursement, distribution, and health economics.
- Serve as a core partner to Clinical, Medical Affairs, HEOR, and Regulatory in shaping data generation to support access and value propositions.
- Define and drive payer evidence needs, value messages, and economic models tailored to transplant centers, integrated delivery networks, and commercial & government payers.
- Lead launch readiness planning for Orca-T with cross-functional alignment on access priorities.
- Directly lead and develop a team of leaders.
- Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and accountability within the Market Access function.
- Oversee access tactics including payer engagement, pathway positioning, buy-and-bill and HUB support models, benefit verification, and prior authorization strategies.
- Partner with trade and distribution to optimize site-of-care strategy and provider logistics for cell therapy delivery.
- Collaborate with Legal and Compliance to ensure all market access activities adhere to regulatory standards and company policies.
Qualifications
- 15+ years of U.S. market access, pricing, or payer strategy experience in biopharma.
- Deep expertise in oncology, hematology, or cell therapy (CAR-T, T-cell therapies, or stem cell transplantation strongly preferred).
- Extensive understanding of the transplant clinical landscape and the business of cell therapy.
- Proven leadership in launching complex therapies in rare or specialized treatment settings (e.g., hospital-administered, specialty distribution, or provider buy-and-bill models).
- Experience building and leading field market access teams and managing pricing and access strategy functions.
- Demonstrated success navigating payer coverage for high-cost, curative therapies.
- Strong grasp of HEOR, real-world evidence, and cost-effectiveness frameworks relevant to transplant and oncology decision-makers.
- Knowledge of U.S. reimbursement landscape, including CMS, Medicare Part B/D, Medicaid, and commercial payers.
- Excellent strategic thinker, with the ability to formulate, develop and execute strategy based on applied analytical skills.
- Proven track record in developing market access strategy/materials & marketing initiatives for oncology products by leveraging market research, data, and analytics in highly complex and competitive markets.
- Demonstrates confidence and ability to effectively influence senior business leaders.
- Demonstrated ability to recognize and interpret business issues/opportunities and make sound business judgments regarding solutions.
- Advanced PowerPoint and Excel skills.
- Excellent verbal / written communication skills.
- Bachelor’s degree required.
- Advanced degree (MBA, MPH, PharmD, or similar) strongly preferred.
Who we are
We are driven by a passion for science and compassion for patients. We act with urgency to ensure our treatments are one day accessible to all who need them.
We live by our core values of passion, courage, and integrity. Excellence in our work means the chance to unlock a better quality of life for our patients, and with that comes tremendous responsibility.
We innovate on a path that hasn’t been paved. We embrace an entrepreneurial spirit and take calculated risks to achieve our mission. We aren’t afraid to ask “why not” and challenge the status quo.
We maintain a start-up culture of camaraderie and leadership by example, regardless of title.
We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and recognize that celebrating our differences creates stronger, lasting solutions that better serve our team, our patients and their healthcare providers.
Notice to staffing firms
Orca Bio does not accept resumes from staffing agencies with which we do not have a written agreement and specific engagement for a particular opening. Our employment activities, inquiries and offers are managed through our HR/Talent team, and all candidates are presented through this channel only. We do not accept unsolicited resumes, and we rarely outsource recruitment.
