Is taking a sales manager position a career killer?
Or is there a path from a sales manager role to a role as a VP of sales or a similar ranked position in strategy? Is there ultimately a route to senior leadership at a Pharma / med tech / device company

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My understanding is sales is pivotal for future growth. “Field experience” is often a check box requirement

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A common path is from Sales to Sales leadership or Marketing. As others have said having field experience is looked on very favorably and is a soft prerequisite for leadership in commercial.

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Sales at a pharma is very common route to commercial leadership. Just make sure you don't get pigeon holes into sales and you transition to marketing/ commercial eventually

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Sorry typo - "any sales leadership ABOVE regional level.."

Yes, you can move into sales leadership but it’ll be tough because there aren’t as many positions and lots of competition.

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