Job Description:

About the Role:

The Opportunity

The VP, Market Strategy & Commercialization owns the commercial strategy and revenue performance of AI and data products within targeted vertical markets, and serves as a senior commercial presence representing the Applied Research Intelligence (ARI) business unit inexecutive customer engagements, VP+ level business discussions, and strategic partner negotiations.

The ideal candidate brings strong commercial instincts, savvy product marketing craft, a well-established corporate R&D network, and the curiosity to anticipate market direction before it is explicitly articulated by buyers. The corporate R&D AI and data landscape is fast-moving and competitive; precise positioning and specialist deal support are often decisive.

This is not a supporting role. The VP holds primary accountability for the commercial strategy of the business unit and contributes directly to ARI's broader growth strategy — operating with the autonomy, credibility, and authority that the scope demands. The VP partners closely with the corporate sales, business development, partnership management, marketing, and product teams to implement a vision for customer value creation and Wiley business growth.

The Strategic Context

This roleowns the commercial intelligence and market strategy required to win complex, high-value enterprise opportunities and to drive the business unit's growth.

The VP represents ARI's full value proposition toC-suite and VP-level buyers, capital allocation conversations, and strategic partnership reviews in our target vertical markets of life science, healthcare, engineering/chemistry/materials, and food & ag science. The VP will have particular domain expertise in Life Sciences and/or Healthcare, as these represent the largest near-term opportunities. 

The VP brings deep competitive intelligence, a market-independent perspective, and an extensive industry network to bear on ARI's most important commercial opportunities — owning the outcomes, not just providing inputs. The VP also holds primary accountability for identifying the next wave of revenue opportunities — surfacing emerging needs and translating them into investment cases before buyers formalize demand.

Key Responsibilities

Platform Commercial Strategy & Deal Acceleration (40%)

• Own the commercial strategy for the highest-value and most strategic use cases and business opportunities in target vertical markets — bringing market credibility, competitive insight, and clear positioning

• Partner with business development and sales to design and execute winning approaches for complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals — reframing buyer conversations, addressing perception and pricing objections, identify professional services or custom solution opportunities, and building momentum across the Applied Research Intelligence Platform, AI Licensing, and Database Solutions

• Bring direct expertise in how corporate R&D buyers evaluate AI and data platforms (e.g., RFPs, data quality/provenance, platform vs. point-solution tradeoffs), and translate those criteria into commercial strategy

• Direct the development and maintenance of a best-in-class sales enablement toolkit (competitive positioning, objection handling, ROI frameworks, demo narratives, and customer materials) in close partnership with Product Marketing

• Lead strategic customer meetings and executive engagements where ARI's product positioning, commercial narrative, and VP-level credibility are required — building confidence in capabilities and roadmap at the most senior buyer levels

• Monitor pipeline performance and diagnose stalls or losses tied to messaging, positioning, or competitive threats; feed insights back into enablement and roadmap discussions with the Head of Product

• Define and govern the engagement model for commercial strategy support across the commercial cycle

Strategic Prospecting & Market Intelligence (20%)

• Own and lead market intelligence for priority segments and geographies, including competitor moves, buyer technology decisions, platform evaluations, AI/data sourcing strategies, and emerging workflow requirements

• Engage the most senior prospects as a VP-level counterpart — building trust and demand signals ahead of formal procurement or sales cycles in settings that require executive-to-executive credibility

• Represent ARI in industry forums, conferences, and partner events at a level commensurate with the SVP GM — building Wiley's external profile in corporate R&D markets as a commercial and thought leader

• Lead ongoing market monitoring — tracking competitors, buyer behavior, and whitespace opportunities in AI and data intelligence

• Leverage an established corporate R&D network to identify and engage net-new prospects across the portfolio, expanding pipeline beyond existing business development and corporate sales coverage

• Establish a repeatable cadence for market briefs (monthly) and executive updates (quarterly), ensuring insights translate into sales enablement and product roadmap inputs

Product Positioning & Market Development (15%)

• Own and continuously advance the portfolio value proposition and positioning by buyer segment, enabling consistent and effective commercial execution

• Translate technical platform capabilities into concise, buyer-ready value — without overstating what the product can deliver

• "Build and maintain competitive landscape map and monitor key points of differentiation

• Curate desirable content sources to meet customer use case needs and partner with the content acquisition team to secure rights

• Ensure external claims and messaging are supported by validated evidence from data science

• Hold primary accountability for pricing and packaging recommendations to the GM and Head of Product — grounded in buyer input, competitive benchmarks, and market intelligence

Future Product Opportunity Identification & Development (25%)

• Partner closely with Product Management to translate market intelligence and customer insight into a pipeline of future product opportunities — identifying where emerging AI and data capabilities can meet unmet corporate R&D needs before demand is formally defined, and supporting the successful commercial launch of new products to market.

• Pinpoint platform capabilities that can be packaged into scalable offerings addressing unmet or emerging corporate R&D use cases

• Lead alongside the GM and Head of Product to assess opportunities using consistent criteria (buyer need, differentiation, scalability, and platform fit — and own the go/no-go recommendation

• Conduct structured discovery with prospective buyers and partners to test hypotheses, validate Wiley's right to compete, and build evidence for investment cases

• Build and maintain an internal capability map to prioritize opportunities by time-to-market and willingness to pay

• Deliver an internal capability assessment of current and near-term AI & DA strengths; map capabilities to known and emerging corporate R&D needs; produce an initial opportunity prioritization for the GM and Head of Product

Selection Criteria

Essential Experience

• 10+ years in commercial, business development, or consulting roles within the biomedical or pharmaceutical R&D, engineering / chemicals / materials science, or information services industries

• Demonstrated ability to operate as the senior commercial presence in executive-level customer engagements — including conversations at Chief Research Officer, VP+, and C-suite level — in settings where the credibility of the individual is as important as the product

• Deep familiarity with corporate R&D buyers in pharma, biotech, engineering, or adjacent sectors — including how buyers evaluate and make decisions around AI and data information solutions and platforms

• Demonstrated success owning primary accountability for a commercial function, service line, or consulting practice — including P&L ownership or equivalent commercial accountability

• Proven track record leading and closing complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise deals for technically sophisticated data or AI products, and developing and executing global market-facing commercial strategies

• Strong background in pricing, packaging, and positioning professional services or platform solutions

• Working knowledge of enterprise AI and data platform patterns to support accurate positioning, credible deal conversations, and commercially grounded assessments of future products

• Established senior network of corporate R&D decision-makers at VP+ level — including Chief Research Officers, VP R&D, Data and AI leads, and procurement leaders — in pharma, biotech, engineering, or adjacent sectors

Skills & Knowledge

• Deep, working knowledge of the research intelligence, academic data platforms, enterprise AI, and enterprise scientific content and competitive landscape

• Exceptional consultative selling and prospecting skills with the ability to navigate complex, multi-stakeholder deals and lead those conversations at VP level and above without senior backup required

• Analytical discipline to assess a potential new product or commercial opportunity rigorously

• Executive-level business acumen and financial modeling capability (revenue forecasting, pricing models, ROI analysis) — with the ability to build and defend commercial investment cases independently

• Ability to translate technically complex AI and data platform capabilities into buyer-language value propositions that are accurate, differentiated, and commercially compelling

• Influences and negotiates internally and externally with great latitude on outcomes. Authoritative and commercially influential at VP+ and C-suite level, both internally and externally

Leadership & Mindset

• Entrepreneurial — comfortable building in a