Senior Director, Patient Advocacy
Centessa Pharmaceuticals
August 18, 2026
Remote friendly (Boston, MA)
United States
Patient Advocacy
Responsibilities:
- Lead the development and execution of the patient advocacy and engagement strategy; build the advocacy function, strategy, operating model, governance, and external engagement frameworks.
- Cultivate relationships with patient advocacy organizations, professional societies, caregivers, patient leaders, and rare disease communities.
- Develop processes to capture, analyze, and integrate patient insights across research, clinical development, regulatory activities, communications, and future commercialization planning.
- Create and execute disease awareness, patient education, and community engagement initiatives to support diagnosis, education, and patient outcomes.
- Integrate the patient voice into enterprise decision-making (clinical development, regulatory, medical, market access, and commercial strategies), including clinical trial design, recruitment, retention, and participant experience.
- Drive cross-functional collaboration across Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Communications, Commercial, Market Access, and parent company stakeholders to advance a patient-centric culture.
- Identify advocacy, policy, and market-shaping opportunities aligned to patient and organizational objectives.
- Establish metrics, KPIs, and reporting to measure advocacy impact.
- Manage advocacy-related budgets, grants, and external partnerships in compliance with industry standards and company policies.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred (MPH, MHA, PharmD, PhD).
- Minimum 10 years’ experience (with advanced degree) in patient advocacy/patient engagement or related biotech/pharma functions.
- Proven experience building and expanding patient advocacy capabilities and programs.
- Ability to influence executives and align cross-functional teams in ambiguous environments.
- Experience creating patient education/disease awareness and patient-facing communications.
- Experience establishing governance, operating frameworks, and performance metrics with measurable outcomes.
- Knowledge of compliance requirements for advocacy engagement, grants, and patient-facing activities.
- Preferred: rare diseases, neurology/CNS, and experience in pre-commercial organizations.
Benefits:
- Discretionary annual bonus; 401(k); company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance; generous paid time off; health and wellness program.
- Lead the development and execution of the patient advocacy and engagement strategy; build the advocacy function, strategy, operating model, governance, and external engagement frameworks.
- Cultivate relationships with patient advocacy organizations, professional societies, caregivers, patient leaders, and rare disease communities.
- Develop processes to capture, analyze, and integrate patient insights across research, clinical development, regulatory activities, communications, and future commercialization planning.
- Create and execute disease awareness, patient education, and community engagement initiatives to support diagnosis, education, and patient outcomes.
- Integrate the patient voice into enterprise decision-making (clinical development, regulatory, medical, market access, and commercial strategies), including clinical trial design, recruitment, retention, and participant experience.
- Drive cross-functional collaboration across Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Communications, Commercial, Market Access, and parent company stakeholders to advance a patient-centric culture.
- Identify advocacy, policy, and market-shaping opportunities aligned to patient and organizational objectives.
- Establish metrics, KPIs, and reporting to measure advocacy impact.
- Manage advocacy-related budgets, grants, and external partnerships in compliance with industry standards and company policies.
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred (MPH, MHA, PharmD, PhD).
- Minimum 10 years’ experience (with advanced degree) in patient advocacy/patient engagement or related biotech/pharma functions.
- Proven experience building and expanding patient advocacy capabilities and programs.
- Ability to influence executives and align cross-functional teams in ambiguous environments.
- Experience creating patient education/disease awareness and patient-facing communications.
- Experience establishing governance, operating frameworks, and performance metrics with measurable outcomes.
- Knowledge of compliance requirements for advocacy engagement, grants, and patient-facing activities.
- Preferred: rare diseases, neurology/CNS, and experience in pre-commercial organizations.
Benefits:
- Discretionary annual bonus; 401(k); company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance; generous paid time off; health and wellness program.