Director/Sr. Director/Vice President - RWD Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Compensation: 200.000 - 250.000
Overview
Director/Sr. Director/Vice President - RWD Subject Matter Expert (SME)
Company: Norstella
Location: Remote, United States
Date Posted: Apr 8, 2026
Employment Type: Full Time
Job ID: R-1872
Description
About Norstella
Norstella is a premier and critical global life sciences data and AI solutions provider dedicated to improving patient access to life-saving therapies. Norstella supports pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the full drug development lifecycle — from pipeline to patient. Our mission is simple: to help our clients bring therapies to market faster and more efficiently, ultimately impacting patient lives.
Norstella unites market-leading brands — Citeline, Evaluate, MMIT, Panalgo, Skipta, and The Dedham Group — and delivers must-have answers and insights, leveraging AI, for critical strategic, clinical, and commercial decision-making. We help our clients:
- Accelerate the drug development cycle
- Assess competition and bring the right drugs to market
- Make data-driven commercial and financial decisions
- Match and recruit patients for clinical trials
- Identify and address barriers to therapies
Norstella serves most pharmaceutical and biotech companies around the world, along with regulators like the FDA and payers. By providing critical proprietary data supporting AI-driven workflows, Norstella helps clients make decisions faster and with greater confidence.
The RWD Subject Matter Expert (SME) is a senior commercial and strategic leader within the RWD Strategy & Innovation team. This role owns overall opportunity strategy and commercial approach for aligned accounts in close partnership with the RWD Sales and is responsible for ensuring RWD is embedded into Norstella’s core offerings through clear positioning, use-case prioritization, and alignment across Product, Strategy, Sales, and Delivery.
The RWD SME operates at the highest level of the pre-sales cycle: setting the strategic vision for how we pursue and win deals, defining account-level growth roadmaps, and maintaining accountability for commercial outcomes from first engagement through close, renewal, and expansion. This role is a senior decision-making and strategic leadership layer that ensures every deal we pursue is well-positioned, rigorously scoped, competitively differentiated, and set up for successful delivery.
Why This Role Matters
The RWD SME is the senior commercial anchor for the RWD practice. By owning account and opportunity strategy, deal economics, and final sign-off prior to SOW execution, this role directly determines the quality, velocity, and long-term growth of Norstella's RWD business. The SME is the connective force between what clients need, what we can credibly deliver, and how we price and position our solutions to win.
Core Responsibilities
Serve as the strategic lead for RWD across key accounts, shaping opportunity strategy, value positioning, and long-term growth in partnership with sales
Lead client-facing engagements with senior stakeholders across Medical Affairs, HEOR, Clinical, and Commercial functions, translating data and analytics into clear, actionable value
Define and guide fit-for-purpose RWD solutions, ensuring alignment between client needs, data assets, and analytic approach
Provide strategic oversight throughout the deal lifecycle, ensuring feasibility, analytical rigor, and strong positioning from initial discovery through execution
Own or influence deal strategy and economics, including scope, pricing, and overall commercial approach
Ensure alignment across cross-functional teams (Sales, Strategy, Product, Delivery) to drive cohesive and executable solutions
Act as a senior decision-maker and escalation point to resolve complexity, manage risk, and maintain momentum across opportunities
Support broader business unit strategy by embedding RWD into core offerings and driving consistent, differentiated market positioning
What Success Looks Like
Consistent recognition by clients as a trusted senior strategic partner — not just a vendor
RWD is embedded, differentiated, and commercially visible across assigned Business Units
A growing, well-managed portfolio of accounts with clear growth roadmaps
Deals that close with strong scope clarity, appropriate pricing, and a credible handoff to Delivery
Internal teams (Strategy, Delivery, Analytics, Product) rely on the SME for authoritative deal guidance and clear strategic direction
Measurable contribution to bookings growth, deal expansion, and renewal rates
Qualifications
7–12+ years of experience in life sciences industry, healthcare strategy consulting, RWD strategy, HEOR, solutions consulting, or a related field
Deep expertise in real-world data modalities — open and closed claims, structured and unstructured EMR, lab data, linked datasets, SDOH, and trigger-based data assets
Demonstrated experience owning commercial strategy and deal economics, including pricing, scope, and contract terms, in a pre-sales or solutions environment
Track record of building and managing senior-level client relationships across Medical Affairs, HEOR, Clinical, and Commercial functions at pharmaceutical or biotech companies
Strong analytical foundation with the ability to oversee and assess data feasibility, identify scope risks, and translate data complexity into clear client-facing narratives with the ability to provide high-level guidance to more junior team members
Executive-level communication skills, including written, verbal, and visual, with experience developing and delivering strategic presentations to senior stakeholders
Experience operating across a matrixed organization and driving alignment without direct authority
Comfort with ambiguity, competing priorities, and fast-moving commercial cycles
Location: Remote, United States
Benefits
Medical and Prescription Drug Benefits
Health Savings Accounts (HSA) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
Dental & Vision Benefits
Basic Life and AD&D Benefits
401k Retirement Plan with Company Match
Company Paid Short & Long-Term Disability
Paid Parental Leave
Open Vacation Policy & Company Holidays
Please Note — All candidates must be authorized to work in the United States. We do not provide visa sponsorship or transfers. We are not currently accepting candidates who are on an OPT visa.
The expected base salary for this position ranges from $175,000 to $250,000, with an additional 20–25% of base salary in team-based commission, paid monthly and calculated annually. It is not typical for offers to be made at or near the top of the range. The final level, title, and compensation are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, licensure or certifications obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered.
Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.
Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.
All legitimate roles with Norstella will be posted on Norstella’s job board. If a role is not posted on this job board, a candidate should assume the role is not a legitimate role with Norstella. Norstella will never ask for anything of value or any type of payment during or as part of any recruitment, interview, or pre-hire onboarding process. If you are aware of or have reason to believe a job posting purportedly for a role with Norstella is fraudulent or otherwise not authorized by Norstella, please contact the Company using the following email address: (email protected)
Norstella is an equal opportunity employer. All job applicants will receive equal treatment regardless of race, creed, color, religion, alienage or national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, age, physical or mental disability or handicap, medical condition, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), marital or domestic partner status, military or veteran status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, reproductive health decision making, or any other protected characteristic as established by federal, state, or local law.
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