Senior Economist

Who we are?

The pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) brings together provincial, territorial, and federal governments for the purpose of increasing and managing access to clinically relevant and cost-effective medicines. Through collective negotiations, the pCPA has realized overall savings (as of April 1, 2024) for governments of $3.72 billion annually for brand name drugs and $914 million annually for generic drugs totaling $4.63 billion annually. Ten years after its creation – and supported by a new strategic plan launched in April 2022 – the pCPA is now evolving into a more formal organization with a new governance model, an expanded staffing structure and improved decision-making processes.

About the role

The senior economist is accountable to the senior manager, Analytics, by providing expertise and leadership to support the pCPA's decision-making for the planning, coordination, and management of negotiations using health economic evaluation and other financial analyses to obtain the best possible value and maximize drug plans' investment in the health care system.

The person holding this position also leads and/or contributes to projects, negotiation teams, and committees involving a range of stakeholders related to planning, coordinating, and implementing negotiation strategies and processes for agreements with federal, provincial, and territorial public drug plans and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The ideal candidate has 4 to 6 years of experience in the health sector, health technology assessment agencies, and government or regulatory organizations. They are good communicators, work well with various stakeholders, and bring proven experience leading and working with multi-disciplinary senior-level professionals 

Candidates hold a bachelor's degree in economics, finance, business administration, clinical science, or a related scientific discipline (including, but not limited to, pharmacy, pharmacology, or medical sciences). They deeply understand the Canadian pharmaceutical industry and government and business processes.

Key responsibilities

The senior economist has responsibility for the core analytic activities of the Analytics and Strategic Initiatives division:

• Analytical support and leadership for the pCPA Brand Negotiations
• Broad pharmaceutical market analyses, encompassing brand, generic, and evolving pharmaceutical markets (such as biosimilars and cell and gene therapies)
• Analytic support for the pCPA's Tiered Pricing Framework for Generic Drugs and related negotiations
• The pCPA Key Performance & Risk Indicators (KPI/KRI)
• Data acquisition, extraction and management

Specific deliverables and authorities

Negotiations, projects, research, and analysis

• Assists with the collaboration of the pCPA and provincial/territorial partners to develop negotiation strategies, mandates and to support the development of provincial/territorial negotiation standards and best practices. 
• Conducts comprehensive analyses, synthesis, and reporting of research (e.g., financial systems, utilization, environmental scanning) to aid strategy-related decision-making and the negotiation process, including but not limited to developing approaches to negotiation, position alternatives, and impact analyses, and provides advice on regulatory, contract dependencies, and resulting legal implications for senior management review. 
• Analyzes internal and external issues affecting negotiations, determining the impacts of approaches and decisions, and developing options and solutions.
• Ensures effective project leadership; establishes project plans and parameters; facilitates project stages, transitions, and issues resolutions.
• Supports development of processes and structures to support negotiations; undertakes consultations and negotiations; resolves arising problems; and prepares final deliverables for senior management decision-making. 
• Supports and recommends policy and program changes for the pCPA negotiations.
• May lead or co-lead all aspects of negotiations with drug manufacturers on behalf of the pCPA. This includes developing mandates, objectives, and secure outcomes that align with the pCPA direction and strategy. 
• Conducts targeted re-analysis of cost utility, cost minimization and budget impact analyses, including modelling of current and hypothetical future confidential pharmaceutical prices, and evaluation of the plausibility and impact of differential assumptions made by manufacturers and health technology assessment agency reviewers. 
• Conducts critical appraisal of complex confidential manufacturer price proposals, including contract elements linked to patient-level, jurisdictional, indication-specific, or national drug utilization.
• Prepares the pCPA strategies for outcome-based offers, including consideration of appropriate valuation, complexity of administration, and pan-Canadian impacts.
• Conducts critical appraisal and assessment of manufacturer outcome-based proposals.
• Plans, conducts and/or supports broad quantitative analyses of the pharmaceutical marketplace, including but not limited to evaluation of the savings resulting from the pCPA agreements, potential timelines for pharmaceutical market access and market exclusivity expiry, and the financial impacts changes in the marketplace for generic pharmaceuticals.
• Assists in collecting or organizing systematic access to data for members of the Analytics and Strategic Initiatives team, the pCPA staff, or jurisdictional pCPA contacts.
• Collaborates with the senior manager, Analytics to provide oversight of work products in the area(s) of specialization for the senior economist, ensuring the timeliness, rigor and effective communication with generalist audiences.
• When working outside of the senior economist's area of specialization, collaborates with the senior manager, analytics, to ensure the appropriateness of work products, and exercises good judgment in proactively identifying complex issues for review.

Communications 

• Provides input to the development and implementation of strategies and mandates for the negotiation of agreements and contracts, in order to achieve value-based negotiation outcomes on all negotiation mandate development, agreements, and assessments between the provincial and territorial public drug programs and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
• Develops, coordinates, and evaluates in-depth and comprehensive reports and analyses; prepares policy papers and briefing materials; and presents policy options and recommendations to senior drug program management for decision making purposes.
• Assists with development of briefing materials, submissions, reports, and presentations.
• Prepares internal and public-facing assessments of the pCPA's effectiveness in achieving its mandate, including key performance indicators, key risk indicators, as well as targeted metrics assessing the volume, timeliness, and effectiveness of brand negotiations and generic drug assessments.

Stakeholder relations and partnerships

• Conducts/Completes critical consultation and liaisons with provincial stakeholders (e.g., provincial and territorial public drug programs) and other jurisdictions and experts (e.g., medical, legal and financial specialists) regarding agreements.
• Identifies legal issues and consults legal counsel with respect to contracts, contract amendments, funding agreements, memorandum of agreement, etc.
• Establishes ongoing collaboration and consultation with appropriate stakeholders, provides input on negotiation processes, and advises on strategies and best practices.
• Stays informed of industry trends.

Qualifications

Education and experience

• Degree in economics, finance, business administration, or a clinical or scientific discipline (including, but not limited to, pharmacy, pharmacology, or medical sciences), or equivalent.
• Four to six years of working experience in the health sector, health technology assessment agency, government or regulatory organization is an asset.

Skills and abilities  

• Strong understanding of the Canadian pharmaceutical industry and government processes.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated proficiency in delivering presentations to internal and external stakeholders.
• Exceptional stakeholder engagement abilities with a commitment to building an effective and dynamic organizational culture. 
• Ability to lead and build consensus in the absence of authority.
• Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships.
• Proven problem-solving abilities, adaptability, and ability to exercise astute executive judgment.
• Strong business and digital acumen.

Employment terms

• The hiring salary range for this full-time permanent position is $92,300-$108,600 . This range reflects the salary for candidates with varying experience levels, job knowledge and qualifications relevant to the position. Specific offers will be based on individual backgrounds and qualifications.
• pCPA also provides the employees with a comprehensive group benefits package from their first day of employment.
• The ideal candidate must be legally eligible to work in Canada and can work from any location within Canada.

If you are interested in this position, please submit your resume and cover letter in one PDF document, using the naming convention "Name, Last Name—Senior Economist" to the manager, HR and Office Administration, at by the end of Friday, March 28, 2025.

We thank all interested people; however, only those chosen for further consideration will be contacted.

The pCPA is an equal opportunity employer. In accordance with the Accessible Canada Act, 2019, and all applicable provincial accessibility standards, the pCPA will provide accommodation for applicants with disabilities upon request throughout the recruitment, selection, and/or assessment process.