Director, Patient Ambassador Strategy

Ruder Finn•Washington, DC

22h•$95,000 - $115,000

About The Position

Ruder Finn is seeking a Director, Patient Engagement to join its growing rf.voices team. The role manages the day-to-day planning and delivery of patient ambassador programs for pharmaceutical and healthcare clients, translating approved strategies into authentic, compliant and measurable engagement programs. The Director works directly with clients, patients, caregivers and cross-functional agency teams. The role oversees programs across the ambassador lifecycle, including identification, assessment, onboarding, story development, training, activation and ongoing engagement. It prepares patients and caregivers to communicate confidently and authentically through videos, advertising, blogs, social media, live events, peer-to-peer programs and other approved channels. The Director executes approved program strategies; plans and tracks activations, deliverables and KPIs; recruits and supports ambassadors; conducts interviews and coaching; develops and reviews patient stories and content; and incorporates regulatory, medical, privacy and consent requirements. The position also serves as a day-to-day client contact, coordinates agency and external partners, supports budgets and account planning, and contributes patient-engagement expertise to proposals and new-business pitches.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in communications, marketing, public health, health sciences, behavioral science, social work, business or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
At least 6 years of experience, including hands-on execution of pharmaceutical patient ambassador, patient-speaker, peer-support or comparable patient engagement programs from onboarding through activation.
Demonstrated experience conducting sensitive interviews and delivering patient training.
Experience managing program timelines, documentation, budgets and medical, legal and regulatory (MLR) workflows.
Experience training and coaching patients or caregivers for live, recorded, digital and written communications.
Strong interviewing and story-development skills, including the ability to work with sensitive and emotionally complex health experiences.
Working knowledge of pharmaceutical regulatory and compliance requirements affecting patient-facing communications.
Experience managing client relationships, cross-functional teams, budgets, timelines and program deliverables.
Ability to balance empathy for ambassadors with accountability to client, program and regulatory requirements.
Strong presentation, facilitation, coaching and interpersonal communication skills.
Sound judgment and ability to identify when an issue should be escalated.
Ability to use AI and emerging technologies responsibly and in accordance with client, privacy and regulatory requirements.

Nice To Haves

Understanding of health literacy, patient journeys and disease-specific communities.
Experience supporting patient contracting, consent, content-rights, payment and documentation processes within healthcare or pharmaceutical programs.

Responsibilities

Execute approved patient ambassador program strategies and translate them into workplans, timelines and deliverables.
Document program audiences, ambassador eligibility criteria, participant roles, engagement channels and activation models.
Contribute recommendations on branded, unbranded or blended approaches based on program objectives, patient needs and regulatory considerations.
Build and maintain activation plans across live, virtual, digital, social and peer-to-peer channels.
Incorporate approved disease-state information, patient-journey insights, health literacy principles and audience considerations into materials and activities.
Manage timelines, deliverables and status reports; track KPIs and compile information for program reporting.
Monitor program execution, ambassador feedback and audience response; flag concerns and propose tactical adjustments for leadership review.
Support ambassador identification, recruitment, screening, onboarding and readiness assessments using established criteria.
Conduct patient and caregiver interviews to understand lived experiences, motivations, communication abilities, boundaries and support needs.
Maintain ambassador profiles, participation records, consent documentation and engagement preferences.
Serve as an ongoing contact for assigned ambassadors, coordinate communications and address routine questions or concerns.
Escalate changes in an ambassador’s health, comfort, availability or readiness that may affect participation.
Deliver individual and group training to prepare patients and caregivers to share their experiences confidently, authentically and within approved program parameters.
Help ambassadors develop stories around meaningful experiences, decisions and insights.
Coach ambassadors on presentation skills, message delivery, interviews, media readiness, approved messaging, audience engagement and responding to difficult or unexpected questions.
Prepare ambassadors for videos, advertising, blogs, social media, live events, internal meetings and peer-to-peer programs.
Help ambassadors distinguish their individual experiences from general medical or product claims.
Observe selected live or virtual engagements and provide constructive feedback and follow-up coaching.
Conduct interviews and story-mining sessions with patients and caregivers; draft or coordinate scripts, narratives and interview guides with editorial and creative teams.
Review materials for health literacy, sensitivity, accessibility and accuracy, preserving each ambassador’s authentic voice while aligning content with approved information.
Apply working knowledge of promotional and non-promotional communications, FDA requirements, FTC disclosure expectations, privacy and consent, adverse-event and product-complaint reporting, and fair-market-value considerations.
Incorporate medical, legal and regulatory requirements into program plans, training materials and ambassador activities; participate in client review processes and coordinate revisions.
Brief ambassadors on their responsibilities before engagements and promptly identify and escalate compliance or reputational concerns.
Serve as a primary day-to-day client contact; participate in meetings, status updates, planning discussions and program reviews.
Build relationships across client communications, marketing, patient advocacy, medical and regulatory teams.
Help manage client expectations, identify potential issues and work with senior leadership to resolve challenges.
Collaborate with agency teams and external partners to deliver work on time, within scope and at the expected quality level.
Support scope development, staffing plans, budgets, forecasts and financial reconciliation; identify potential opportunities to expand existing programs.
Help drive consistent patient-centered practices across accounts and project teams.
Contribute subject-matter expertise, program ideas and case examples to proposals and new-business pitches.