Market Research & Insights Manager Cambridge, MA

Nearly 37 million Americans are currently affected by Chronic Kidney Disease. 37 million.

At Akebia we take that number very seriously and every day we come to work, with the purpose of bettering the lives of each person impacted by kidney disease and the renal community that serves them. Our tenacious, passionate employees’ challenge the status quo and work to develop unique therapeutics that have the potential to set new standards of care for people living with kidney disease.

This is life‑changing work, and we are all in, are you?

The responsibilities of this role will be divided between Market Research (25%) and Commercial Insights (75%). From a Market Research perspective, this role is responsible for designing, executing, and synthesizing primary and secondary research to support brand strategy, pipeline planning, customer understanding, and overall commercial performance. From an insight’s perspective, this role will lead the generation of actionable insights and creating reports and outputs that guide strategic decision‑making across the commercial organization.

The ideal candidate blends strong analytical capability with storytelling skills and knowledge of the Healthcare ecosystem.

• Design and manage qualitative and quantitative primary research studies (HCPs, patients, payers).
• Lead vendor selection, study scoping, fieldwork oversight, analysis, and results synthesis.
• Leverage secondary data sources (IQVIA, claims data, epidemiology reports) to inform market landscapes and opportunity assessments.
• Conduct competitive intelligence and track competitor activities, product performance, and market dynamics.

• Translate data into clear, actionable insights for commercial leadership and cross‑functional partners.
• Extract insights and reporting through reporting platform.
• The ability to synthesize / analyze large data sets and translate into meaningful insights for both Field Based and Home Office‑based commercial colleagues.
• Provide research‑backed recommendations and insights for brand planning, product positioning, customer segmentation and promotional effectiveness.
• Provide analytics and operational readiness for targeting, segmentation, and promotional effectiveness.
• Identify unmet needs and monitor evolving customer preferences to shape strategic decisions.

• Partner closely with Marketing, Market Access, Commercial Operations and Medical Affairs to align research priorities with business objectives.
• Provide insights to support Marketing, promotional development, patient journey mapping, and value proposition refinement.

• Manage research agencies, negotiate proposals, and ensure high‑quality deliverables.
• Oversee research budgets and timelines across multiple ongoing projects.
• Maintain documentation and ensure all research meets compliance and regulatory standards.

• Bachelor’s Degree required.
• 5 years’ experience in Life Sciences Industry, Dialysis knowledge preferred.
• Experience working directly with Field Sales teams.

• Strong presentation abilities to bring insights to senior leadership in an informative way.
• Deep understanding of pharma specific commercial and patient level data sets (e.g., sales and claims data).
• Experience with reporting platform, preferably Tableau or similar BI tools.
• Strategic thinker with strong business acumen.
• Strong project and vendor management.
• Highly collaborative and able to influence cross‑functionally.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment.

Targeted Base: $143,908 - $177,769*

* Base Compensation for this role will depend on a number of factors including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience, and may fall outside of the range shown. Base pay is only one component of the company’s total rewards package, a all regular employees are also eligible for the corporate bonus program or the incentive compensation program (if applicable), as well as equity.

Additional benefits include health care, vision, dental, retirement, PTO,…