The Senior Director Global Patient Engagement & Excellence is accountable for expanding and elevating the company’s patient-centric culture worldwide. This role supports best-in-class processes across all geographies, implements tools, and metrics that ensure excellence in execution, and embeds patient insights into strategic decision making across the organization. Reporting to the VP Head of Global Medical Affairs or the ED International Markets, this role will partner closely with U.S. Patient Engagement & Advocacy, other Medical Affairs roles, Commercial, Market Access, Clinical Development, Legal/Compliance, and regional teams to ensure patients’ voices meaningfully shape our science, strategy, and solutions.
Your Contribution:
Strategic Patient Engagement & Partnership Development
* Build and execute a global patient engagement roadmap that aligns with corporate goals and complements.
* Identify, prioritize, and cultivate relationships with international patient organizations, advocacy groups, and key opinion leaders; serve as the primary point of contact for ex-U.S. partners or key international organisations.
* Co-create patient-focused initiatives (e.g. education and research collaborations) that drive mutual value and improve patient outcomes.
* Ensure worldwide consistency in messaging, positioning, and ethical standards.
Facilitating patient-relevant input into drug development
* Identifies gaps and initiates projects to develop meaningful patient experience data (PED), including Patient Preference Studies as needed.
* Partner with global functions such as Medical, Clinical, Commercial, Market Access and HEOR teams to integrate patient perspectives into study design, evidence generation, health-technology assessment dossiers, and launch plans.
Patient Insights & Engagement Excellence
* Establish a harmonized framework for stakeholder mapping, collecting, documenting, and disseminating patient insights across the product lifecycle—from pre-clinical through launch.
* Work with compliance teams to establish guidance documents for global/country engagement with patient community and transparency reporting
* Lead the development of dashboards and analytics that translate qualitative and quantitative patient insights into actionable recommendations for senior leadership.
* Champion a culture of continuous listening, ensuring insights result in tangible changes and clearly defined feedback loops to patient communities.
Capability Building & Governance
* Design and deliver global training curricula covering patient-focused drug development, advocacy/engagement, compliance, and cultural competency for cross-functional teams.
* Develop, update and maintain SOPs, guidance, processes and toolkits (e.g., contracting, grant management, materials review) to standardize patient engagement practices worldwide.
* Define KPIs and metrics to measure impact, quality, and compliance of patient engagement activities; report progress to governance bodies.
* Serve as a business owner for any patient engagement platforms, databases, or portals, overseeing configuration, maintenance, and user adoption.
Team Leadership
* In time, build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing global patient engagement team; provide clear objectives, professional development, and regular feedback.
* Foster an inclusive culture of innovation, accountability, and shared purpose across all Patient Engagement & Advocacy teams.
* Manage external agencies and consultants to supplement capabilities as needed.
A Good Match:
Education
* Advanced degree in life sciences, medicine, pharmacy, public health or related field (e.g. MD, PharmD, PhD, MSc) required; MBA or additional degree in health policy, bioethics, or social sciences is a plus.
Experience
* Minimum of 10 years of experience in patient engagement, patient advocacy, or closely related roles within the biotech/pharmaceutical industry.
* Demonstrated success in establishing and/or scaling global (ex-U.S.) patient engagement or advocacy programs and systematically integrating patient insights into clinical development and related decision making.
* Proven track record of developing and implementing processes, training, and metrics that drive excellence, transparency, and compliance.
* People leadership experience (direct and/or matrix) with a strong track record of coaching and developing talent.
* Experience collaborating with oncology-focused patient organizations and/or advocacy groups.
Preferred Requirements
* Prior work navigating resource-constrained environments.
* Familiarity with digital engagement platforms, social listening tools, and data analytics.
Skills & Competencies
* Strategic Thinking – Ability to craft long-term patient engagement roadmaps that align with science and business objectives.
* Relationship Building – Exceptional interpersonal skills; trusted partner to patient communities and internal stakeholders.
* Communication – Clear, empathetic, and persuasive communicator across diverse audiences and cultures.
* Project Management – Highly organized; able to manage multiple projects, vendors, and budgets simultaneously.
* Compliance Savvy – Deep understanding of global regulations governing interactions with patients and advocacy groups.
* Analytical Mindset – Skilled in translating qualitative feedback and quantitative data into actionable insights.
* Leadership – Inspires and motivates cross-functional teams; fosters a culture of patient-centric excellence.
* Problem-Solving – Anticipates challenges and delivers pragmatic, patient-focused solutions.
Travel
* Up to 40% global travel, including international and regional meetings, congresses and patient organization events.
This role is pivotal to embedding the patient voice throughout our organization, ensuring we deliver therapies and support that truly meet the needs of patients worldwide.
This is your opportunity to shape how BioNTech listens to patients worldwide—ensuring their voices guide our journey from lab discoveries to life-changing therapies. If you’re passionate about driving meaningful change for patients globally while fostering innovation within a collaborative environment, we’d love to hear from you!
Your Benefits:
BioNTech is committed to the wellbeing of our team members and offers a variety of benefits in support of our diverse employee base. We offer competitive remuneration packages which is determined by the specific role, location of employment and also the selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.
Note: The availability, eligibility and design of the listed benefits may vary depending on the location. The final requirements for the individual use of our benefits are based on the company's internal policies and applicable law.
How to apply:
Apply now by sending us your application documents including Curriculum Vitae, copy of ID, copies of degree certificates and professional certificates, motivation letter as well as your contact details via our online form.
Please note:
Only applications sent via our online form shall be considered. By submitting your application, you acknowledge that a background check will be conducted as part of the recruitment process in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. If you are considered for the position, BioNTech will conduct the background check through our service provider ‘HireRight’. You will be informed accordingly by your BioNTech-Recruiter.
We are looking forward receiving your application.