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.

We innovate ground-breaking medicines – my background is heavily science-based, so working with products that can truly make the lives of patients and their families better is important to me. I need to be able to look at myself in the mirror and feel like I’m making a difference.

Customer-facing, people-powered 

My job is to create the best environment a customer facing team can have to really thrive and be successful. Specifically, I’m responsible for the General Medicine Sales teams. We’re tasked with delivering an outstanding customer experience, be that in accelerating the uptake of our medicines through promotional interactions or building collaborative working partnerships. 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 side includes workforce planning and management, targeting and segmentation, and reward and recognition. We can’t do any of this without people; building an empowered and passionate team, with a desire to succeed, is at the heart of my role.

A culture that cares 

We 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 when something great happens. 

A passion for change 

I have a passion for working in a changing environment, pushing boundaries, and breaking new ground 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, the possibility to make a real difference to health outcomes across whole 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’s still a lot to achieve. So my team are stuck with me for a while yet! I’m really attracted to roles which enable me to find innovative solutions, be that people- or project-related. I want to make a difference and have a positive impact.

The best thing about working at Boehringer Ingelheim is… 

…that your differences are seen as strengths: something to be celebrated, not to hold you back.