Making an impact

Anna Race, Sales Director, Human Pharma, UK & Ireland, tells us how a career in our Commercial Division helps her to make a difference.

Our organization innovates amazing medicines – my background is heavily science based, so working with products that can truly impact the lives of patients and their families is important to me. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and feel like I am making a difference.

Customer-facing, people-powered

I am responsible for creating the best environment a customer facing team can have to really thrive and be successful. More specifically, I am accountable for the development and performance of the General Medicine Sales teams, including Key Account Managers and System Engagement Leads. We’re responsible for delivering an outstanding customer experience, be that in accelerating the uptake of our medicines through promotional interactions or building collaborative working partnerships in our priority accounts. My role can be both strategic and operational. The strategic elements cover how we plan to operate in a future health system, keeping us ahead of customer-facing trends like hybrid working and flexible resourcing models. The operational levels include workforce planning and management, targeting and segmentation, reward and recognition. But none of this can be achieved without people; building a team that is empowered, challenging and passionate, with a desire to succeed, is at the heart of my role.

A culture that cares

We really do care about each other and the patients and customers we serve. We care enough to give tough feedback when it’s needed, to be empathetic when someone needs a shoulder to cry on, and to celebrate together when something really great happens.

A passion for change

I have a passion for working in a changing environment, pushing boundaries, and thinking to disrupt the status quo. As the customer base evolves in the UK and Ireland, so does the way we need to work. Being able to provide value to customers and patients in new and innovative ways, to make a real difference to health outcomes of populations, really excites me.

Looking ahead

Truthfully, I’m not sure what my next step might be. I absolutely love my job. It’s the one I have wanted to do for a long time and there is still a lot to achieve so my team are stuck with me for a while yet! I am really attracted to roles which enable to me to find innovative solutions and problem solve, be that people or project related. I want to make a difference and have a positive impact.