Health Strategy Lead, Healthcare, Ruder Finn

Ruder Finn•New York, NY

1d•$160,000 - $240,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Ruder Finn is seeking a Health Strategy Lead to drive strategic thinking across a portfolio of healthcare and life sciences clients. This role is responsible for uncovering the human, cultural, market, and business insights that inspire breakthrough communications, brand, and engagement strategies for healthcare clients. They will translate complex challenges into clear strategic direction, ensuring creative ideas are grounded in evidence, differentiated in the marketplace, and capable of driving measurable business and reputational impact. The Health Strategy lead will transform research and insights into compelling strategies for clients and new business prospects in the health care space. This includes identifying unmet audience needs, analyzing market dynamics, competitive landscapes, and cultural trends, and synthesizing data into compelling creative briefs that inspire breakthrough ideas. Strategists partner closely with creative teams, client leaders, digital specialists, and healthcare experts to develop communications strategies that solve complex business challenges, inspire innovative campaigns, and create meaningful connections between healthcare brands and their audiences. The ideal candidate is an intellectually curious strategist with deep healthcare expertise, exceptional storytelling skills, and the ability to connect business objectives with insightful solutions. They thrive in collaborative environments, inspire teams with innovative thinking, and are passionate about elevating strategic excellence across client work and new business.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in strategic planning at an agency with an expertise in healthcare
Bachelor's degree in Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, Business, Life Sciences, Public Health, or a related field
Deep understanding of the healthcare ecosystem, including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical technology, payer, provider, and patient advocacy landscapes
Proven experience as an inspirational leader, mentor, and strategist
Demonstrated experience developing integrated communications strategies for healthcare brands across multiple stages of the product lifecycle
Strong understanding of healthcare audiences, including healthcare professionals, patients, caregivers, advocacy organizations, policymakers, investors, and employees
Experience leveraging audience research, data, analytics, cultural insights, and market intelligence to shape communications strategy
Outstanding presentation, facilitation, and storytelling skills with the ability to influence senior client stakeholders
Experience leading strategic planning for new business opportunities and agency pitches
Strong collaborator with the ability to work across multidisciplinary teams and inspire strategic thinking at every level
Curiosity about emerging technologies, including AI, and enthusiasm for applying new tools to strategic planning and communications
Excellent organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced agency environment

Responsibilities

Lead strategic planning across a portfolio of healthcare clients, serving as a senior advisor on creating insights and strategies that lead to creative concepting, ideation and integrated solutions
Utilize our agency’s planning framework across all clients and new business opportunities to drive the development of strategic brand communications plans.
Develop insight-driven communications strategies that align with client business priorities and lead to the development of innovative, culturally and audience-grounded creative programs
Translate market dynamics, stakeholder research, cultural trends, competitive intelligence, and audience insights into actionable communications recommendations
Partner closely with account, creative, digital, and analytics teams to ensure strategic consistency across all client deliverables
Drive research briefs with analytics team and develop creative briefs for creative teams
Lead strategic workshops, messaging sessions, positioning exercises, and brand narrative development with clients and cross-functional teams
Develop messaging architectures, audience segmentation strategies, communications platforms, campaign frameworks, and measurement approaches
Identify emerging trends across healthcare, AI, technology, media, and culture that can inform innovative client strategies
Provide strategic counsel during product launches, data milestones, regulatory events, issues management, and corporate reputation initiatives
Elevate strategic thinking and creativity across the healthcare practice by mentoring teams on planning methodologies, storytelling, and insight development
Play a leadership role in business development by developing strategic approaches, leading discovery sessions, contributing to pitch narratives, and presenting to prospective clients
Collaborate with senior leadership to identify opportunities for client growth, new service offerings, and innovation across the healthcare portfolio
Champion the use of AI, analytics, research, and emerging technologies to strengthen strategic planning and improve client outcomes