Inside Pharma CX: Roles, Skills, and Operating Rhythm

Customer Experience now sits at the center of pharma’s commercial system - connecting marketing, medical, sales, and analytics. The question isn’t whether CX matters. It’s how to make it work inside complex, compliance-bound organizations.

That’s what we explored in a recent conversation with Sushil KATDARE (GSK) and Andrés von der Walde (Novo Nordisk) — two leaders who have built CX muscle inside very different structures. The insights that emerged went far beyond frameworks and tools; they revealed what actually makes CX real inside the business.

1. Roles: From Ambiguity to Orchestration

Across organizations, “CX” still means different things - a campaign mindset in one team, a data initiative in another. What stood out was that clarity in orchestration matters more than ownership.

Rather than asking who owns CX, the more useful question is: who ensures the pieces work together?

Andrés described the friction well:

“Marketing creates, others distribute, and suddenly no one owns the whole experience.”

Sushil reframed it entirely:

“Experience isn’t one person’s domain. Those of us with CX titles are connectors - ensuring everything aligns to patient impact.”

The takeaway: CX leaders don’t manage deliverables; they design decision paths.

2. Skills: The 2026 CX Professional

If roles are changing, so are the skills. The next generation of CX talent will be defined less by domain, more by fluency across domains.

Key capabilities are emerging:

• Interpreting data, not coding it
• Collaborating without formal authority
• Balancing empathy and evidence in the same conversation

Andrés put it crisply:

“We don’t need more coders; we need people who can interpret data and move the needle without authority.”

Sushil added the human core:

“Empathy and integrity aren’t soft skills - they are guardrails. The compliance person saying ‘don’t’ isn’t my enemy; they’re safeguarding patients.”

Together, they outlined a new archetype — analytical, cross-functional, and deeply human.

3. Overlap: From Problem to Design

Every leader we speak to mentions overlap between functions. But as Sushil reminded us, that overlap is a sign of shared intent, not dysfunction.

“Overlap is not a problem; it is a signal that two people care about the same outcome.”

He offered a simple way to manage it. The three Ds: Design, to define work at the campaign level. Discipline, to establish single-point accountability through RACI. Dialogue, to keep alignment alive across teams.

Andrés added an outside-in reminder:

“When the focus is on the patient, the org chart stops getting in the way.”

The insight: the quality of dialogue determines the quality of design.

4. Leadership Rhythm: Making Change Stick

Transformation doesn’t fail for lack of vision. It fails for lack of rhythm. Andrés shared the shift from planning to practice:

“Big transformation plans rarely work. What works are short, day-to-day iterations that teams can see and feel.”

Sushil’s KPI model complemented it — moving from operational success to behavioral change and business impact. The through-line: CX maturity is measured by cadence, not complexity.

5. AI: The Mirror, Not the Mask

AI entered the discussion not as a disruptor but as a diagnostic. Both leaders saw it as a mirror revealing where duplication already existed.

Sushil observed:

“AI hasn’t replaced much; it’s replaced manual orchestration with more contextual data.”

It is clarifying boundaries:

• CX defines the experience architecture
• BI & AI generate signals and insights
• Commercial and Medical set the guardrails

Used this way, AI sharpens design — it doesn’t replace judgment.

6. The Only KPI That Matters

We closed with a single question: “What metric finally makes CX real?”

Both leaders answered without hesitation:

“Patient impact. Period.”

It was the most concise summary of what CX in pharma ultimately stands for - aligning every role, skill, and rhythm to a shared outcome that matters.

This wasn’t a theoretical discussion; it was a reality check. CX in pharma isn’t a function. It is a system. A system built on clarity, collaboration, and cadence.

As AI and cross-functional complexity accelerate, the leaders who treat CX as orchestration — not ownership will be the ones who make impact measurable and lasting.

(Conversation hosted by LYC Partners. Panelists: Sushil Katdare – GSK | Andrés von der Walde – Novo Nordisk | Moderator: Manvi Kapoor – ThinkCraft )

Originally published on LinkedIn on November 11, 2025.