Senior Director, Patient Advocacy

At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters. Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve. This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us. Centessa Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, is a clinical-stage company developing orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists as a new class of medicines for the treatment of narcolepsy and potentially other sleep-wake disorders. Centessa’s lead investigational candidate – cleminorexton (formerly ORX750) – is being developed for narcolepsy type 1, narcolepsy type 2, and idiopathic hypersomnia. Centessa's OX2R agonist portfolio includes additional clinical and preclinical-stage assets with potential utility across a broader range of neurological, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Centessa was recognized as a Great Place to Work ® in 2026. Description of Role The Senior Director of Patient Advocacy will lead the development and execution of the company's patient advocacy and engagement strategy, ensuring the patient voice is embedded across clinical development, corporate strategy, disease awareness, and future commercialization efforts. Partnering closely with executive leadership, cross-functional teams, and colleagues within our parent organization, this individual will help develop and implement a strategic framework for incorporating patient perspectives into key business, development, and commercialization decisions. The role will build advocacy partnerships, drive patient-centered initiatives, influence decision-making, and advance measurable improvements in patient outcomes, disease awareness, clinical trial engagement, and access. Key Responsibilities Build and lead the company's patient advocacy and engagement function, including strategy, operating model, governance, and external engagement frameworks. Establish and cultivate relationships with patient advocacy organizations, professional societies, caregivers, patient leaders, and rare disease communities. Develop processes to capture, analyze, and integrate patient insights across research, clinical development, regulatory activities, communications, and future commercialization planning. Create and execute disease awareness, patient education, and community engagement initiatives that support diagnosis, education, and patient outcomes. Develop and drive a strategic approach for integrating the patient voice into enterprise decision-making across Centessa and its parent organization, ensuring patient insights meaningfully inform clinical development, regulatory, medical, market access, and future commercial strategies, including clinical trial design, recruitment, retention, and participant experience. Drive cross-functional collaboration across Medical Affairs, Clinical Development, Regulatory, Communications, Commercial, Market Access, and parent company stakeholders to advance a patient-centric culture and ensure patient perspectives are incorporated into strategic decision-making. Identify advocacy, policy, and market-shaping opportunities that support both patient and organizational objectives . Establish metrics, KPIs, and reporting processes to measure advocacy impact and organizational effectiveness. Manage advocacy-related budgets, grants, and external partnerships while ensuring compliance with industry standards and company policies. Qualifications Bachelor's degree required ; advanced degree preferred (e.g., MPH, MHA, PharmD, PhD, or MD). Minimum 10 years of experience (combined with advanced degree ) in patient advocacy, patient engagement or related biotechnology or pharmaceutical functions. Demonstrated success building, launching, or significantly expanding patient advocacy capabilities, programs, or functions. Proven ability to influence executive leadership and drive alignment across cross-functional teams in evolving and ambiguous environments. Experience developing patient education programs, disease awareness initiatives, and patient-facing communications. Experience establishing governance processes, operating frameworks, and performance metrics with measurable outcomes. Knowledge of compliance requirements related to advocacy engagement, grants, and patient-facing activities. Preferred experience in rare diseases, neurology , CNS in pre-commercial organizations. Work Location The Senior Director, Patient Advocacy role is based in the US, with occasional travel . Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions. If you require accommodation to submit a resume for a position at Lilly, please complete the accommodation request form ( https://careers.lilly.com/us/en/workplace-accommodation ) for further assistance. Please note this is for individuals to request an accommodation as part of the application process and any other correspondence will not receive a response. Lilly is proud to be an EEO Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender identity, sex, gender expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any othe