Senior Vice President, Healthcare Public Affairs

Overview

FleishmanHillard’s Washington office is seeking an experienced and versatile communications professional to join the firm’s Health & Life Sciences practice as a Senior Vice President. This position provides a fantastic opportunity to work at the intersection of healthcare and public affairs in service to pharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as third party organizations to include associations and other non-profits.

 The ideal candidate will bring experience in an agency environment across multiple disciplines including issues management, media and social media, content creation, policy and regulations, and business development.  Additional desired areas of expertise include issues advocacy and public affairs campaigns, strong writing skills, and stakeholder engagement with policy and other influencers that help clients win in the court of public opinion.

In this role, you will work directly with healthcare clients, helping to devise and execute large-scale integrated communications campaigns that directly impact their bottom line. Our clients will depend on you to be responsive, thoughtful with ideas, and execute approved campaign plans in ways that deliver measurable results. You will also lead public affairs efforts on behalf of these clients with campaigns that integrate media relations (top-tier business, policy and trade outlets) along with a combination of owned, paid and partner-led activation tactics. The ideal candidate is extremely organized, a strong project driver, and demonstrates an ability to find synergies between multiple workstreams.

At FleishmanHillard, we embrace challenges, think boldly, trust each other, and harness our talented worldwide network to provide the best in-class counsel to our roster of remarkable global clients. Are you ready to join the team? 

FleishmanHillard values the importance of impact and inclusion to strengthen the bonds between us, grow our people and create spaces for everyone to thrive. We stay true to our commitment to our people and the communities in which we live and work. As part of our ongoing effort to be the world’s most inclusive agency, we are committed to seeking candidates who possess and demonstrate a profound interest in furthering our impact and inclusion goals.

Responsibilities

• Help build and execute smart, detailed, integrated strategies for our clients in the healthcare space.
• Support and manage work streams and teams on program execution, including material development and oversight as well as project and account management.
• Share actively in recommendations, ideas, and strategic responses to client situations with internal account teams.

• Monitor and assess emerging U.S. policy developments, regulatory risks, and political trends to inform strategic counsel and proactively flag opportunities or challenges for clients.
• Develop and maintain strong media relationships with healthcare policy (top-tier and trade) reporters and pitch ideas. Help shape client stories and messages with partners across media and platforms, with the goal of integrating clients into the broader news cycle.

• Lead and motivate teams to successfully manage relationships and correspondence with external audiences: top-tier reporters, client partners, SMEs, etc.

• Develop high-quality, client-ready written materials, including press releases, background materials, planning documents, and policy briefs that capture relevant audiences and reflect an understanding of our clients’ businesses.
• Play a pivotal role in overseeing and finding synergies between several client workstreams and account teams, including managing budgets and forecasts, overseeing projects and clients, and pursuing new business by leading and contributing to proposals and opportunities.
• Manage multiple client contact relationships and deliver according to individual contact needs.
• Actively contribute to the growth of the H&LS team by building relationships and cultivating new clients while identifying opportunities to expand current clients.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 15+ years of public relations agency experience, with an emphasis on healthcare policy issues and advocacy, crisis and issues management, executive positioning and message development.

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in public relations, communications, journalism, or related field.

• Strong strategic planning and demonstrated client counsel capabilities.
• Analytical thinking and an ability to understand complex industries (within the healthcare sector) and business concepts quickly.
• Ability to deliver insights to assist clients in driving alignment and execution of initiatives.
• High attention to detail, with the ability to manage multiple ongoing activities for large projects.
• Excellent writing and editing abilities.
• Knowledge of media trends and issues and strong understanding of media environment.

• Strong media relationships with tier 1 healthcare policy reporters.

• Firm understanding of multichannel editorial content creation, development and distribution in order to manage editorial content and campaigns for client teams.
• An ability to work well within a team environment, complementing senior leads and managing junior staff.
• Energetic, self-starter and resourceful problem solver – gets things moving and keeps them on track.
• Creative thinker with excellent written and oral communications skills.

About FleishmanHillard  

FleishmanHillard specializes in public relations, reputation management, public affairs, brand marketing, digital strategy, social engagement and content strategy. FleishmanHillard was named 2020, 2021 and 2022 Campaign Global PR Agency of the Year; 2023 ICCO Large Agency of the Year – The Americas; 2022 and 2023 PRWeek U.S. Agency of the Year; 2022 and 2023 PRWeek U.S. Outstanding Extra-Large Agency of the Year; 2023 Campaign US PR Agency of the Year; 2021 PRovoke APAC Consultancy of the Year; and 2021 PRWeek UK Large Consultancy of the Year. FleishmanHillard is part of Omnicom PR Group and has nearly 80 offices in more than 30 countries, plus affiliates in 45 countries. 

FleishmanHillard offers a hybrid work model, and seeks employees who are comfortable working in the office for a portion of their workweek. We value the collaboration and camaraderie that in-person interactions provide, but also understand the importance of flexibility and balance in our employees' lives. As such, we are open to discuss various work arrangements that accommodate individual needs and circumstances, including flexible scheduling and alternative work arrangements. Our goal is to foster a productive and inclusive work environment where all employees can thrive, both in and out of the office. 

FleishmanHillard is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (which includes pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), gender, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, mental or physical disability, ancestry, medical condition, marital status, military or veteran status, alienage, citizenship status, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other protected class under federal, state or local laws. Please do not contact the office directly to apply – only resumes submitted through this website will be considered. If you need assistance reviewing career opportunities or completing an application, please email our careers team or call 314-982-1700 and ask to be connected to Talent Development. 

The anticipated salary range for this position is $110,000 - $231,000 per year.

Salary is based on a range of factors that include relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications and geography. A range of medical, dental, vision, 401(k) matching, paid time off and/or other benefits also are available.