Director, Patient Advocacy – Immunology & Autoimmune Cell Therapy

At Bristol Myers Squibb, our employees often ask, “Who are you working for?”—a question that fuels collaboration, accountability, and urgency in our work. Our purpose-driven culture inspires us to discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to prevail over serious diseases. We offer uniquely interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for growth, and a supportive environment that values inclusion, wellbeing, flexibility, and comprehensive benefits. This is work that transforms the lives of patients, and the careers of those who do it.

Reporting to the Sr. Director, Patient Advocacy, Immunology, Cardiovascular & Autoimmune Cell Therapy, the Director, Patient Advocacy, Immunology & Autoimmune Cell Therapy will serve as a strategic and operational leader within the Global Patient Advocacy organization, with cross-therapeutic area accountability spanning immunology (lupus, Sjogren’s disease, psoriatic arthritis) and autoimmune cell therapy (rheumatology). This role will play a pivotal part in embedding the patient voice throughout the full cell therapy lifecycle — from drug development through commercialization — ensuring that patient community insights meaningfully shape BMS strategy, clinical programs, and product launches.

The Director will lead the design and execution of patient advocacy strategies across disease areas in both immunology and autoimmune cell therapy programs owning both the operational infrastructure and the strategic relationships that make those programs successful.

Additionally, the individual will lead launch readiness efforts for immunology products in lupus and Sjogren’s disease as well as autoimmune cell therapy programs in rheumatology, partnering closely with commercial, medical, policy, market access, and communications functions to position BMS as the trusted and preferred partner to the patient advocacy community.

The ideal candidate is a seasoned advocacy professional who thinks strategically, executes tactically, builds trusted relationships at all levels, and thrives in a complex, fast-paced, matrixed environment.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Launch Excellence

• Lead workstreams across immunology and autoimmune cell therapy programs to collect and synthesize patient insights and translate them into actionable, program and portfolio-level strategic plans.
• Lead patient advocacy strategy, execution and launch readiness for immunology and autoimmune cell therapy programs, ensuring the patient voice is integrated from pre-launch through post-launch phases.
• Define and execute advocacy strategies in collaboration with cross functional therapeutic area teams to support successful product launches.
• Drive the development of high-impact, insight-driven advocacy plans that reflect deep knowledge of the patient community landscapes and that shape the environment to enable greater patient access.
• Champion the integration of patient and caregiver perspectives into BMS immunology and autoimmune cell therapy programs, from mid-late clinical development through commercialization, ensuring strategies are patient-centered and aligned with the company strategy.
• Generate innovative business concepts and continuously search for novel applications of advocacy strategies to support evolving pipeline and launch priorities.

External Stakeholder Engagement & Relationship Management

• Cultivate and manage high-priority relationships with patient advocacy organizations and patient communities within relevant therapeutic areas in immunology and cell therapy, including national, regional and global organizations. Manage grants, sponsorships and memberships and represent BMS at patient advocacy organization events.
• Identify and engage patients, patient/caregiver communities and advocacy organizations to provide insights in BMS’s therapeutic areas to drive enhanced understanding about lived experience through advisory boards, 1:1 engagements and aggregate insights.
• Represent BMS externally at advocacy events, medical conferences, and global forums; serve as a credible and trusted voice for the company with advocacy stakeholders.
• Provide project management leadership across advocacy engagements at key external congresses, disease community events, medical conferences, and educational symposia spanning multiple areas of the portfolio.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Champion the patient voice with internal stakeholders, including BMS leadership, clinical development teams, and commercial organizations.
• Interact with and advise senior BMS leadership, representing the patient and caregiver community perspective and providing strategic counsel on the advocacy landscape, community needs, and emerging issues.
• Collaborate with Research & Early Drug Development advocacy team and with patients and patient advocacy organizations on clinical trials initiatives, including patient insights, trial enrollment and increasing diversity.
• Partner with cross-functional teams (e.g., Commercial, Medical, Access, Policy, Corporate Affairs, Strategy & Operations, etc.) to ensure the timely and effective integration of advocacy insights into strategies and deliverables.
• Develop strong cross-functional relationships in multiple therapeutic areas as well as other functions within the Global Purpose and Patient Experience team.
• Apply strong business acumen and subject matter expertise to drive project execution, fostering effective cross-functional collaboration to deliver impactful outcomes.

Qualifications & Experience

• Education: Bachelor's degree (BA/BS) required; advanced degree (e.g., Master's, MBA, PharmD or other scientific graduate degree) strongly preferred.
• Experience: 10+ years of experience in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry, with a focus on patient advocacy and commercial/launch strategy.
• Demonstrated success leading patient advocacy strategies in autoimmune/immunology and/or cell therapy experience strongly preferred.
• Proven track record of leading patient advocacy responsibilities related to product launches and driving cross-functional alignment in a complex, matrixed organization.
• Strong record of superior decision-making and performance in developing and executing strategic projects, including budget management.
• Extensive experience engaging with patient advocacy groups and translating patient insights into actionable strategies within drug development and/or commercialization.
• Demonstrated ability to foster collaboration, build strong internal and external partnerships, and influence stakeholders at all levels including senior and executive leadership.
• Skilled communicator with strong facilitation, synthesis, and presentation abilities; capable of transforming complex input into clear, impactful deliverables.
• Experience developing and tracking KPIs to measure advocacy program impact and drive continuous improvement.
• Outstanding organizational skills; ability to manage concurrent projects within tight deadlines while maintaining excellent service to internal and external customers.
• Strong acumen with digital engagement tools and platforms.
• High ethical standards; exhibits self-awareness, adaptability, empathy, active listening, and cultural sensitivity, particularly in working with patient and caregiver communities.
• Passion for patients with a demonstrated ability to build collaborative relationships and a strong track record of thinking creatively and strategically while executing tactically.
• Experience working in a global matrixed environment required.
• Travel: Domestic and international travel up to 40%, including bimonthly visits to BMS headquarters in Princeton, NJ. 

We hire for skills and capabilities, not just credentials – if this role excites you, but doesn’t perfectly match your resume, we encourage you to apply anyway.

The starting pay range(s) listed above is for full-time employees (FTE). You may also be eligible for additional discretionary incentive cash and stock opportunities. We determine starting pay thoughtfully – carefully considering the nature of the role, required skills, work location, schedule and the knowledge and experience you bring. Final compensation is guided by pay equity principles and applicable employment laws. Compensation programs are reviewed on an ongoing basis and may be adjusted over time to reflect evolving market factors, and individual, team or Company performance.

Benefits:

Subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans then in effect, you may be eligible to participate in our comprehensive benefit plans – including wellbeing support, retirement and financial protection benefits, and insurance offerings (medical, dental, vision, life and disability).

U.S.-based exempt employees are eligible for Flexible Time Off (FTO), which provides paid time off without a set accrual limit, subject to manager approval, along with 11 paid company holidays each year.

Non-exempt employees, RayzeBio employees, and employees located in Puerto Rico receive 160 hours of paid vacation annually for new hires (subject to manager approval), 11 paid company holidays, and 3 optional holidays.

Depending on eligibility, employees may also have access to additional time-off benefits, including paid sick leave, up to two paid volunteer days per year, summer hours flexibility, and leaves of absence for medical, personal, parental, caregiver, bereavement, or military needs. Eligible employees also enjoy an annual Global Shutdown between Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

U.S.-based job seekers can explore full benefit offerings at https://careers.bms.com/benefits

How We Work

Where you work matters – because collaboration, innovation and patient impact happen in many settings. Our roles are structured across four work models: site-essential, site-by-design, field-based and remote-by-design. The model assigned to this role is based on its core responsibilities. Learn more at https://careers.bms.com/ways-of-working.

Supporting People with Disabilities

BMS is dedicated to ensuring that people with disabilities can excel through a transparent recruitment process, reasonable workplace accommodations/adjustments and ongoing support in their roles. Applicants can request a reasonable workplace accommodation/adjustment prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodations/adjustments in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, direct your inquiries to adastaffingsupport@bms.com. Visit careers.bms.com/eeo-accessibility to access our complete Equal Employment Opportunity statement.

Candidate Rights

BMS will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, pursuant to applicable laws in your area.

For roles based in Los Angeles County only:  If you live in or expect to work from Los Angeles County if hired for this position, please visit this page for important additional information: https://careers.bms.com/california-residents/

Data Protection

We will never request payments, financial information, or social security numbers during our application or recruitment process. Learn more about protecting yourself at https://careers.bms.com/fraud-protection.

Any data processed in connection with role applications will be treated in accordance with applicable data privacy policies and regulations.

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