Vice President Healthcare Law

Job ID: ​​202302-104990

Position Scope and Key Responsibilities:

Who we are:

Doing now what patients need next…

Every day, our teams work to solve some of the hardest biomedical problems in the history of mankind, always with the goal of putting patients first.

Considered the founder of the biotech industry, Genentech, now a member of the Roche Group, has been delivering on the promise of biotechnology for over 45 years. We are a leading biotech company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. It has multiple products on the market and a promising development pipeline - the Company currently has 40+ medicines on the market and 68 molecules in its pipeline.

In 2022, Fortune magazine named Genentech one of its “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the 24th consecutive year. Also in 2022, Forbes named Genentech as one of “America’s Best Employers for Diversity”, of which Genentech has been honored on the list since its inception in 2022. Specific to Genenetech’s Legal Department, the national Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) recognized the Genentech Legal Department as the 2020 “Employer of Choice”; this award annually honors a corporate legal department which has made meaningful commitments to creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.  

In 2009, Genentech became a member of the Roche Group. As part of the merger, Roche and Genentech combined their pharmaceutical operations in the United States. Genentech’s South San Francisco campus now serves as the headquarters for Roche pharmaceutical operations in the United States.   

Overview of the position:

Genentech’s Legal Department is seeking an exceptionally qualified attorney and leader to head our healthcare law practice group  (HLG), someone whose passion lies in creatively strategizing about what is possible in a highly competitive and highly regulated industry to enable Roche and Genentech to do now what patients need next.  As a senior strategist, you will be providing solutions-oriented, proactive, and enterprise-minded legal advice to business partners, while leading, empowering and developing great attorneys and staff within our dynamic and diverse organization. The successful candidate has a growth mindset, is energized by thinking outside the box, and enjoys work in a fast-paced, diverse environment. This role will report into the company’s General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, will be a member of the Legal Department’s Leadership Team, and will be located at our South San Francisco campus.

Key Responsibilities:

Managing & Leading the Healthcare Law Group:

• You will directly and indirectly manage and oversee work by approximately 30 in-house attorneys (including director-level managers), support staff, and retained outside counsel, in such areas as product labeling, advertising and promotion, product sales, pricing and reimbursement, market access, customer collaborations, pharmacovigilance, and products liability.
• You will be responsible for ensuring that HLG attorneys provide timely and well-calibrated counsel to the company’s business leaders to maintain the company’s track record of compliance with the many, and frequently changing, laws and regulations affecting the commercialization of the company’s products.  To fulfill this responsibility, an excellent current understanding of the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and related regulations, and U.S. healthcare fraud and abuse laws, including the federal False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute, is required, as well as up-to-date familiarity with guidance and enforcement priorities of government enforcement and regulatory agencies.
• It is important that you have substantial previous experience applying US Healthcare laws in the context of real-world bio/pharmaceutical business scenarios, and expertise in developing and implementing innovative solutions for complex legal matters.
• You will also develop and manage an established annual budget.

Senior Leadership & Cross Functional Collaboration

• You will be regularly providing counsel directly to the company’s senior leaders – including Genentech’s CEO, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer, and VP and SVP-level members of the company’s U.S. Commercial Leadership Team (USLT) – about U.S. statutory and regulatory legal requirements and how they apply to the company’s commercial business.
• You will be the primary senior legal advisor to the USLT and at the invitation of the CEO will serve as a regular or ad hoc member of the USLT.  You will also advise the Roche General Counsel on U.S. healthcare law issues and matters.
• You co-own business challenges, opportunities and outcomes, and will be responsible for providing creative and innovative legal solutions that will enable senior leaders to identify and implement legally sound and compliant means to achieve business objectives.
• You will work closely with the Head of Healthcare Compliance to assure that appropriate policies and training programs for employees are implemented to support and sustain the company’s strong commitment to compliance with governing laws and regulations.
• You will also provide advice and support to the company’s in-house litigation attorneys and outside counsel in cases of government investigations and enforcement actions relating to the company’s commercial business.
• Yet another responsibility will be to work closely with the company’s government affairs group to advocate on behalf of the company with respect to legislation or regulation relating to the company’s commercial activities.

Ideal Experience and Education:

• 15+ years of experience practicing law, including 10+ years of hands-on legal work and client counseling on matters relating to the sales, marketing, and commercialization of bio/pharmaceutical products;
• J.D. degree
• Admission to a State bar or the District of Columbia bar
• People management and mentoring skills demonstrated through previous leadership of teams of attorneys
• Strategic problem-solving abilities
• A track record of success and good judgment, achieving desired outcomes, and excellent written and oral communication skills

Critical Competencies:

Strategic and Adaptive Expert: In a high stakes and dynamic healthcare law environment, you will inspire confidence by:

• Providing Genentech business partners with timely, high-quality legal counsel and work product
• Anticipating changes in the law, business, and the external environment and, based on that, assessing and advising on the potential impacts those changes may have on current or future business strategies

Influential Communicator and Relationship Builder: Within a global, complex and matrixed company, you will achieve results by:

• Building relationships to ensure legal and business objectives have every opportunity of being met; engaging and influencing business leaders without direct ownership
• Simplifying the complex and adapting to audiences with varying levels of legal fluency
• Interacting with legal and business leadership, with the presumption that views will be well-formed, pragmatic and communicated in a very professional manner
• Collaborating with leaders of other Roche legal functions on matters involving shared responsibility
• Demonstrating excellent judgment, negotiation and communication (verbal and written) skills

Courageous and Effective People Leader: In a competitive external market and supportive internal environment, you will continue to attract, develop and retain top legal talent by:

• Modeling inclusive excellence and leading by example with both vision and humility
• Encouraging smart risk taking, questioning the status quo, and cultivating a diverse and inclusive culture that attracts and retains the best and brightest
• Challenging, coaching, motivating and mentoring a high performing team of attorneys,  paralegals, and other support staff to grow in their careers