Exec Dir Assoc General Counsel, Strat Transac at Arcutis Biotherapeutics Inc – Westlake Village, California

The Executive Director, Associate General Counsel, Payer and Strategic Transactions will lead legal support for Arcutis’s payer contracting activities and strategic business development transactions, as well as general commercial contracting and other matters as business needs arise. This position will serve as the primary legal advisor for market access, including commercial and government payer contracting, corporate accounts, specialty pharmacy, and distribution arrangements, while also leading legal support for strategic partnerships, licensing transactions, and corporate development initiatives and other key agreements. The role requires an attorney who can own transactions end-to-end, from due diligence through negotiation and closing, and serve as a trusted strategic advisor to Arcutis’s commercial and business development leadership.

This is a high-visibility role working directly with Arcutis’s commercial leadership, market access, business development, and finance teams as Arcutis continues to scale the ZORYVE® (roflumilast) franchise. The position offers the opportunity to shape contracting strategy, build scalable processes, and drive strategic transactions in a fast-growing, award-winning organization.

Roles & Responsibilities

1. Serving as lead legal counsel for payer, value-based, and specialty pharmacy contracting (including commercial and government payer agreements, PBM contracts, rebate arrangements, formulary agreements, administrative fee arrangements).
2. Collaborating with business teams and drafting, negotiating, and managing contracts with corporate accounts.
3. Advising market access, trade, and distribution teams on channel strategy and 340B considerations.
4. Leading strategic business development transactions end-to-end, including licensing agreements, collaborations, manufacturing agreements, and other commercial and R&D agreements; coordinating cross-functional teams and external counsel to drive deals to completion.
5. Monitoring, anticipating, and advising on regulatory and market developments affecting commercial contracting, including federal and state PBM reform legislation, FTC enforcement trends, safe harbor changes, and pricing transparency requirements; proactively assessing legal and commercial impact to Arcutis’s payer contracting strategy.
6. Developing and maintaining contract templates, playbooks, and approval workflows to enable efficient contracting at scale.
7. Advising on healthcare fraud and abuse laws (Anti-Kickback Statute, False Claims Act) and Medicaid best price implications in the context of commercial arrangements.

Education & Licenses and Experience

• JD from an accredited law school and active bar membership in at least one US jurisdiction.
• 12 or more years of relevant legal experience required, the majority of which must include in-house experience at a pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or life sciences company.
• Deep experience drafting and negotiating managed care, PBM, and payer contracts.
• Strong knowledge of healthcare fraud and abuse laws, Medicaid best price, and government pricing programs.
• Experience leading or significantly contributing to business development transactions, including licensing agreements, strategic collaborations, and other corporate development deals.
• Familiarity with specialty pharmacy, limited distribution, 340B, and most favored nation (MFN) pricing provisions and their implications for contract negotiations and pricing strategy and experience with outcomes-based or value-based contracting arrangements preferred.
• Candidates should be prepared to discuss representative payer, PBM, and/or business development transactions in which they served as lead counsel or a significant contributor.

Competencies & Skills

• Ability to provide solution-oriented guidance with strong cross-functional collaboration skills and ability to build trusted cross-functional relationships
• Demonstrated enterprise mindset with willingness to roll up sleeves as needed on small team
• Ability to prioritize and manage multiple priorities and responsibilities simultaneously and follow-through on issues in a timely manner
• Strong business judgment and ability to translate legal risk into actionable guidance; ability to anticipate regulatory and market changes affecting payer contracting and proactively assess their legal and commercial impact
• Excellent negotiation skills with demonstrated ability to drive complex payer and business development transactions to closure under time pressure
• Clear and effective written and verbal communication, including ability to explain complex legal issues to non-lawyers
• Proven ability to handle highly confidential information with discretion, including deal terms and pricing data
• Travel may be required up to 25% of time worked

Why Join Us?
Arcutis is a pioneering medical dermatology company dedicated to revolutionizing the treatment of serious skin diseases and our pipeline is one of the more robust and exiting in the industry. Our vision is to revitalize the standard of care for dermatological diseases and conditions through novel therapies that simplify disease management for physicians and patients. We are focused on filling the innovation gap in medical dermatology drug development by applying our deep clinical, product development and commercial expertise in dermatology to develop best-in-class therapies against biologically validated targets. Arcutis is uniquely positioned to become the preeminent innovation-driven medical dermatology company, and we are looking for top talent to join our team. We are nimble, collaborative, and passionate about achieving our mission!

This job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees in this position. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to the job.

Arcutis is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.

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