Full Job Description
The Director, Field Patient Access & Experience will lead Denali’s field-based patient support organization, ensuring a consistent, high-quality experience for patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, and office staff throughout the treatment journey.
Serving as the bridge between patient support strategy and execution, this role translates Patient Services programs into meaningful engagement and support outcomes. The Director will lead the Patient Access & Experience team, drive execution excellence, establish field engagement standards, and build capabilities to support future growth.
As a leader in a lean and evolving organization, this individual will balance strategic leadership with hands-on involvement, supporting complex patient and provider situations, managing escalations, and addressing operational challenges. The role is ultimately accountable for delivering Patient Access & Experience services effectively, consistently, and in alignment with Denali’s patient-centered values.
Key Responsibilities
Field Patient Access & Experience Leadership
• Lead, develop, and coach a high-performing team of Patient Access & Experience field members and reimbursement specialists.
• Foster a culture of patient-centricity, accountability, collaboration, and service excellence.
• Support workforce planning, territory alignment, resource deployment, and workload management strategies.
• Build and evolve Patient Access & Experience capabilities to support current needs, future portfolio growth, and evolving patient support models.
Patient & Provider Experience
• Own the delivery of Denali's Patient Access & Experience model across patient-facing support resources.
• Serve as a visible leader in the field, partnering alongside team and field partners to support patients, families, providers, key business initiatives, and support complex patient and provider situations and escalations..
• Establish standards and best practices for field-based patient access support across patients, caregivers, providers, and office staff.
• Develop field engagement approaches, tools, and resources in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders.
• Monitor experience trends and identify opportunities to improve service quality, consistency, and engagement.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Partner closely with Market Access, Sales, Marketing, Medical Affairs, Patient Advocacy, Legal, Compliance, and Commercial Operations.
• Represent field execution and patient experience perspectives in cross-functional planning and governance discussions.
• Support commercialization planning and future portfolio readiness through development of field execution strategies and capabilities.
Qualifications
Education & Experience
• BS/BA required; advanced degree preferred.
• Typically 8 plus years of experience in pharmaceutical/biotech patient support, patient access, field education, reimbursement, specialty pharmacy, patient & customer experience, or related healthcare functions.
• Minimum 5 years of leadership experience managing field-based, patient-facing, or patient support teams.
• Experience in rare disease, pediatrics and complex therapies preferred; with a demonstrated passion for patient-centricity and customer-experience
• Proven track record building, leading, and developing high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated experience supporting patient access, reimbursement, patient services, specialty pharmacy, or related functions.
• Product launch experience and experience supporting specialty, rare disease, and/or complex therapies preferred.
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
• Strong leadership, coaching, and talent development capabilities.
• Deep understanding of patient support programs and patient experience principles.
• Strong understanding of U.S. payer systems, including Commercial, Medicaid, and Medicare (Part B and Part D), and medical vs. pharmacy benefit design
• Ability to identify and navigate patient access challenges through effective collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and collaboration skills.
• Ability to leverage customer insights to drive strategic and operational improvements.
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic leadership with hands-on execution in a dynamic launch environment.
• Willing & able to travel 25-30%
Salary Range: $204,000.00 to $265,000.00 . Compensation for the role will depend on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and experience. Denali offers a competitive total rewards package, which includes a 401k, healthcare coverage, ESPP and a broad range of other benefits. Learn more at https://www.denalitherapeutics.com/careers
This compensation and benefits information is based on Denali’s good faith estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.