Manager – Patient Engagement

Opportunity awaits those up to the challenge of developing transformative therapies across a broad range of debilitating diseases. 

Summary:

Ideal candidates will be located in Los Angeles, Dallas, or Atlanta.

Community Building and Education: The Patient Engagement team is accountable for introducing Biogen to the rare disease community and building trust in the company, its science, and the product.
They represent Biogen within the communities, providing education and support for patients and caregivers.
They build strong connections with key stakeholders in their area, both external and internal. In addition to establishing relationships with local patients and caregivers, they interact with local advocacy representatives and HCPs in support of PNH and C3G/IC-MPGN patient/caregiver communities. They work synergistically with the sales and patient services teams aligned to their region and ensure full alignment with the Patient Advocacy team on all advocacy-related topics.

Building key relationships: This is also a role that is responsible for building relationships with and gaining feedback from contracted patients. They are responsible for recruiting, contracting, and managing relationships as well as facilitating content creation with internal patient groups such as the Community Insights Group (CIG) and Patient Ambassadors for Hematology and/or Nephrology. They work with contracted patients to help them share their story and create content that supports the educational needs of the patient communities. They also coordinate and support contracted patients to share their story at both HCP and patient programs, including at HCP congresses, both virtual and live.

Marketing partnership: This role will also be responsible for executing key marketing initiatives relative to the patient experience and will work closely with the US Marketing team to ensure initiatives are closely tied to the brand strategy by supporting brand planning and Patient Advisory Boards. This role requires cross functional collaboration across multiple internal functional areas to develop and execute the operational plan and tactics related to patient engagement. They partner with the Marketing teams to develop, promote, and present both branded and unbranded programming for patient communities and to share patient stories and content that is created though partnership with our contracted patients.

This role is critical in helping us understand the dynamics of the rare disease community, obtaining insights that help advance educational offerings from Biogen, and will ultimately help build advocacy among the patient communities. It is an outstanding opportunity to make a significant impact for patients and the company.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Build and execute a community engagement and patient education program plan for the local territory (US)
• Represent Biogen at conferences, walks, and other community events.
• Provide outreach to patients to let them know of upcoming events, resources, and other information that is helpful and supportive for their journey.
• Plan and execute programming for the patient communities, leveraging tactics from marketing and content provided from partnerships with contracted patients.
• Build and maintain proficiency in the disease state, patient experience, and product to support the needs of the community
• Work collaboratively with Patient Advocacy, Hematology Marketing, and/or Nephrology Marketing functions, Patient Services, and local field teams.
• Be a voice for the patient community and patient experience within the organization
• Establish and nurture relationships with contracted patients. Support Patient Ambassador engagements with the Patient Services and Marketing Teams, Senior Leadership and Executive Committee throughout the year and at congresses.
• Partner closely with contracted patients and community members, and local Advocacy Organizations to identify and refine program offerings to ensure they are resonant with the patient communities
• Maintain the unbranded (CIG) and branded (EEB) patient speaker bureau – identify and recruit potential speakers, train speakers on approved promotional slide decks, partner with the marketing team on planning the patient summit speaker training events, and assist speakers with completion of annual compliance training
• Partner with Patient marketing teams on the execution of commercial Patient advisory boards: help identify appropriate advisors based on objectives and agenda and provide input into meeting objectives and content
• Partner with Patient marketing team on content development for patient programs and resources by providing input based on patient and community insights and feedback
• Build strong, positive relationships with key cross-functional partners, including patient advocacy and field teams.
• Support the development of personal and non-personal tactics, including but not limited to patient programs, advisory boards, co-development of content with patient ambassadors, live events on social media, social media content.
• Support US Brand Planning by providing insights from Ambassadors and communities
• Help to define and execute the vision and plan for US marketing by providing insights from Community Insights Group and Patient Ambassadors, executing programming and community engagement consistent with US Brand Planning and Strategy
• Developing field execution strategy for patient-facing initiatives in partnership with training and sales leadership and patient services leadership
• Work closely with regulatory, legal, and compliance to build policies and procedures related to marketing, including speaker bureaus and advisory boards

Education & Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree required
• 3+ years of biotech/pharma experience
• Previous work or clinical experience educating patients/caregivers strongly preferred
• Experience in rare disease preferred

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities: 

• Passion for understanding and championing the needs of people living with rare diseases, their caregivers, and their community, resulting in strong local relationships which instill trust
• Proven track record for creating and executing on territory plans, informed by local knowledge and aligned to strategy and tactics provided by marketing
• Strong communication skills with the ability to listen actively, express ideas fluently and succinctly both in person and in writing, and present effectively
• An entrepreneurial spirit coupled with the drive to embrace innovation and develop creative but well-reasoned solutions to business challenges
• Demonstrated integrity on the job, including an understanding of relevant rules and regulations within the pharma sector, including HIPAA
• Proven ability to develop productive relationships with patients, caregivers, advocacy organizations 
• Have a mindset of growth and change. Actively embrace the current environment as one that demands new approaches and ways of meeting team goals in a compliant way. Throw away the old playbooks and be willing to learn and adjust along the way
• Proactively spot issues on the team or in the business and strive to solve them rapidly. Provide suggesions on how to address issues and build a coalition around those solutions to make them happen
• Proactively think of alternative solutions to achieve the desired results when faced with roadblocks
• Effuse a strong commitment to understanding and meeting customer needs, as well as to maintaining close relationships with front-line employees
• Sees patterns or connections between situations; can envision and articulate possibilities and likelihoods.
• Consistently demonstrate integrity on the job, including an understanding of relevant rules and regulations
• Develop collegial relationships with cross-functional partners but be comfortable holding them accountable. Bring together cross-functional and field leaders to establish a shared vision for shared work
• Ability to work with cross-functional teams, gain alignment across functions with different objectives and priorities, and manage cross-functional execution of engagement plans
• Ability to responsibly manage budgets for their individual projects
• Navigate and be successful in a fast-paced, data- and results-driven environment, managing through ambiguity
• Ability to travel 50-75% - to include cross-country
• Translate the needs of people treating, and living with, rare diseases into market-moving insights
• Proficiency or comfort with high science data and demonstrated ability to convert into patient friendly content 
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across functions and varying levels of the organization 
• Strong presentation and listening skills, and the ability to connect with diverse groups from patient groups to internal leadership.

*Travel is required and can be extensive aligned to engagement meetings and conference suppor

Travel Requirements:

Ability to travel 50-75% - to include cross-country
‎

Education:

Bachelor's Degree 

Pay Information:

Base salary for this role will consider multiple factors, including but not limited to, candidate qualifications, relevant expertise, specialized skills, and industry experience in complement-targeted therapies. The targeted base salary range for this position is $117,000-$170,000. This range represents the base salary only and reflects Apellis' commitment to competitive compensation within the biopharmaceutical industry. The final salary offered may vary based on individual qualifications, business needs, and current market conditions.

Work Arrangement:

Field

Benefits and Perks:

Apellis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a 401(k) plan with company match, inclusive family building benefits, flexible time off, summer and winter shutdowns, paid family leave, disability and life insurance, and more! Visit https://apellis.com/careers/benefits/ to learn more.

SPECIAL NOTE ON BIOGEN ACQUISITION

Please note that as of May 14th, Biogen Inc. has acquired Apellis Pharmaceuticals. Click here to learn more about Benefits & Perks of working at Biogen:  Benefits | Biogen 

Company Background:

Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global biopharmaceutical company leading the way in complement science to develop life-changing therapies for some of the most challenging diseases patients face. We ushered in the first new class of complement medicine in 15 years and now have two C3-targeting medicines approved to treat four serious diseases. Breakthroughs for patients include the first-ever therapy for geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness, and the first treatment for patients 12 and older with C3G or primary IC-MPGN, two severe, rare kidney diseases. We believe we have only begun to unlock the potential of targeting C3 across many serious diseases.

For more information, please visit http://apellis.com or follow us on LinkedIn and X.

EEO Statement:

Apellis is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state and local fair employment practices laws. Apellis strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including pregnancy), gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, marital status, AIDS/HIV status, smoker/nonsmoker, and occupational pneumoconiosis or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.
For San Francisco postings: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. 

Other Duties:

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.