Engagement Manager (Healthcare & Life Sciences)Application Deadline: 31 October 2026
Department: Client Delivery
Employment Type: Full Time
Location: Chicago
Compensation: $150,000 - $180,000 / year
DescriptionAbout This Position
We are seeking experienced healthcare and life sciences (HLS) management professionals interested in generating strategies and implementation plans that drive a greater future for our clients. As an Engagement Manager at Kenway, you will have the opportunity to manage a diverse set of stakeholders, drive critical decisions, and solve complex problems. From day one, you'll lead projects, teams, and solutions that target the latest business and technical challenges companies are facing today.
Engagement Managers at Kenway are responsible for leading end-to-end delivery of complex client initiatives and managing scope, budget, risks, and teams to ensure high-quality outcomes while applying deep industry and technical expertise. Engagement Managers are also expected to build trusted client relationships, drive account growth, mentor team members, and contribute to cross-functional initiatives that enhance Kenway's impact and capabilities.
Within Kenway's HLS vertical, Engagement Managers are expected to demonstrate, deploy, and deepen proficiency delivering across the healthcare ecosystem, inclusive of life sciences (biopharma, biotech, medtech), health-tech, provider, payer, and related industries.
Core Traits We Are Seeking
- Delivery Excellence - Engagement Managers are first and foremost consulting practitioners. Candidates must embrace and demonstrate the ability to deliver exceptional quality firsthand throughout Kenway's engagements, while leading, coaching, and enabling broader project teams to do the same.
- Accountability: Engagement Managers must demonstrate a deep sense of integrity, personal responsibility, and commitment to holding others to the same standards. Engagement Managers are the ultimate point of accountability for the health and quality of all activities within and across their projects.
- Tenacity: Under all circumstances, dynamics, and conditions, Engagement Managers are expected to think, behave, and act proactively. Doing so is crucial for preemptively identifying, mitigating, and preventing issues, while proactively driving progress and taking advantage of opportunities.
- Design Thinking: In addition to maintaining the integrity of their projects, Engagement Managers are expected to demonstrate creativity, innovation, and intellectual fluidity, flowing between strategic thought leadership, conceptual problem solving, and executional rigor. Engagement Managers must be capable of designing solutions, translating them into executable plans, and flowing between the spectrum of strategy and execution throughout engagements.
- Professionalism: Given the complexity, magnitude, visibility, and strategic importance of Kenway's projects, we consistently interface with a diversity of executive leadership. Engagement Managers are expected to demonstrate executive presence, poise, and cogency in all communications and interactions with client, prospect, and internal stakeholders.
- Aptitude: While Kenway possesses deep institutional expertise and proprietary frameworks, no two projects are the same. Engagement Managers are expected to demonstrate curiosity, climb learning curves quickly, and adapt solutions to the uniqueness of each client and project.
- Industry Acumen: Engagement Managers within the HLS vertical are expected to demonstrate proficient understanding of industry trends, regulatory landscapes, value chains, business operations, and technical nuances unique to the life sciences and healthcare sectors, while engaging in continuous learning to broaden and deepen their expertise.
- Functional Acumen: Engagement Managers must have a sound command of programmatic skills to lead projects, while demonstrating an understanding of Kenway's full suite of services to design solutions and lead engagements with technical and/or non-technical scope.
- Commitment to Kenway's Guiding Principles: As critical leaders influencing and interfacing with a breadth of internal and external stakeholders, Engagement Managers must steward Kenway's culture and demonstrate unwavering commitment to our Guiding Principles.
Responsibilities- Delivery Excellence
- Own end-to-end delivery for client engagements, managing scope, budget, timeline, risks, and quality, while taking ownership of bookings, minimizing variance between bookings and actuals, and managing discrepancies
- Lead complex business and technology initiatives across multiple industries
- Apply deep industry, business, and technical knowledge to solve client challenges and achieve project objectives
- Drive project teams to deliver high-quality outcomes, coaching, and empowering team members
- Lead working sessions, presentations, and executive discussions, communicating complex topics clearly and confidently
- Proactively manage risks, escalations, and resource needs, ensuring alignment with project and account objectives
- Client & Relationship Management
- Build trusted, long-term relationships with client stakeholders, understanding their goals and challenges
- Identify business problems and opportunities, facilitating discussions and connecting clients with Kenway expertise
- Support account-level strategy by contributing to proposals, SOWs, pitches, and revenue forecasts
- Expand and nurture client networks, driving engagement beyond immediate projects, and strategically leverage Kenway deliverables to broaden our footprint and influence
- Kenway Impact
- Develop mastery of client industries, documenting and sharing knowledge to grow Kenway's expertise
- Coach and mentor team members, preparing talent for future leadership opportunities
- Contribute to initiatives and passion projects that drive Kenway's growth, culture, and capabilities
- Leverage Challenger Sale behaviors to advance client outcomes, delivering insights, recommendations, and innovative solutions
Qualifications & Credentials- 8+ years of experience in leading complex business or technology initiatives
- Healthcare or life sciences strategy consulting experience is preferred, but a combination of strategy consulting and healthcare or life sciences industry experience will be considered
- Bachelor's degree, with advanced degrees or certifications in related health, science, or engineering fields preferred
- Proficient understanding of one or more of the unique value chains across the HLS ecosystem, including but not limited to the following:
- Life Sciences: R&D, Medical Affairs, Commercialization
- Provider: Clinical workflows, revenue cycle management, patient access
- Payer: Member experience, claims processing, care management, Value-Based Care (VBC) models
- Health-Tech/Telehealth: Product development, digital health platforms, interoperability standards
- Familiarity with industry-standard platforms (e.g., Veeva, Salesforce Health Cloud, Epic, Cerner, etc.) and an understanding of the technical nuances unique to the life sciences and healthcare sectors
- Understanding of the regulatory landscape and data integrity requirements (e.g., GxP, HIPAA) necessary for project delivery across the HLS ecosystem
- Deep knowledge of core consulting skills, including, but not limited, to strategic planning and road-mapping, program governance, risk management, stakeholder management, financial and resource allocation, and change management
- Proven experience in leading resources, preferably in a project-based model
- Demonstrated success in client business development, identifying new opportunities, and authoring impactful client proposals and SOWs
- Willingness to travel up to 50%
