Product Manager, Patient Engagement (East Coast)

PATIENT Engagement

Position Summary: 

The Patient Engagement is accountable for introducing the company to the rare disease community and building trust in the company, its science, and the product. 

They represent Apellis within the communities, providing information and support for patients and caregivers. They are accountable for addressing corporate, unbranded, and branded topics. 

They will build strong connections with key stakeholders in their area, both external and internal. In addition to establishing relationships with local patients and caregivers, they will interact with local patient influencers, advocacy representatives, and HCPs in support of PNH and C3G/IC-MPGN patient/caregiver communities. They will work synergistically with the sales and patient services teams aligned to their region. And they will ensure full alignment with the Patient Advocacy team on all advocacy-related topics. 

This is also a role that will also be responsible for building and nurturing strategy with and gaining feedback from US Patient KOLs. This role will be critical in helping us understand the dynamics of the rare disease community, obtaining insights that help advance educational offerings by Apellis, and will ultimately help build advocacy among the patient communities – as well as galvanizing focus and collaboration internally on Patient KOL engagement and our contracted patient groups. It is an outstanding opportunity to make a significant impact for patients and the company. They will report to the Head of Field Engagement 

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. This role requires cross functional leadership across multiple internal functional areas to develop and execute the operational plan and tactics related to patient engagement.  They will recruit, contract, and manage relationships and content creation with internal patient groups such as the Community Insights Group (CIG) and the EMPAVELI Engagement Bureau (EEB) for both Hematology and Nephrology.  They will also be responsible for developing and executing branded and unbranded programming for patient communities. 

Key Responsibilities Include: 

• Build and execute a community engagement and program plan for the local territory (US)
• Represent Apellis at community events
• Plan and execute programming for the patient communities on topics related to the company, unbranded, and branded, leveraging tactics from marketing
• Engage 1:1 with the local community on topics related to the company, unbranded, and branded
• Post-approval, provide local support to patient services team as needed during the patient on-boarding process
• Build and maintain proficiency in the disease state, patient experience, and product (post approval) to support the needs of the community
• Work collaboratively with Director of Patient Advocacy, Hematology Marketing, and Nephrology Marketing functions, and local sales leaders and colleagues
• Be a voice for the community within the organization
• Efficiently and effectively manage programming budget
• Establish and nurture relationships with US Patient KOLs nationally. Support Patient KOL engagements with the US Patient Services and Marketing Teams, Senior Leadership and Executive Committee throughout the year and at congresses
• Partner closely with Patient KOLs 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 and nurture 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 Patient KOLs and communities
• Helping define and execute the vision and plan for US marketing by providing insights from CIG/EEB and patient influencers and 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
• Working 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
• 5+ 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
• Ability to navigate and be successful in a fast-paced, results-driven environment, managing through ambiguity
• 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. Be the first person to make a business plan for 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 lead a cross-functional team, gain alignment across functions with different objectives and priorities, and manage cross-functional execution of engagement plans
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across functions and varying levels of the organization 
• Ability to responsibly manage budgets for their individual projects
• Navigate and be successful in a fast-paced, data- and results-driven environment
• Ability to travel 50-75% - to include cross-country
• Passion for understanding and championing the needs of people treating, and living with, rare diseases, translating them into market-moving insights
• Proficiency or comfort with high science data and demonstrated ability to convert into patient friendly content 
• Ability to navigate and be successful in a fast-paced, results-driven environment, managing through ambiguity 
• Commitment to collaboration and engagement
• An entrepreneurial spirit coupled with the drive to embrace innovation and develop creative but well-reasoned solutions to business challenges
• Motivation to be a part of envisioning and building the infrastructure, systems, and tactics to ensure launch success
• Demonstrated integrity on the job, including an understanding of relevant rules and regulations 
• Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across functions and varying levels of the organization 

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