Regional Director, Grassroots Advocacy

How many people can answer the question, "What do you do for a living?" with the answer, "I help find cures for cancer." At LLS, employees take our mission seriously. Whether you work in one of our regions, are an accountant at the national office or a specialist in our Information Resource Center, you work each day on making our mission a reality: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Join us and give new meaning to the word, "job."
Summary: The Regional Director works throughout a multi-state territory to develop and lead a robust network of advocates and organizational partners in collaborative efforts to advance the public policies that can help eliminate barriers to care and deliver cures. The Regional Director is responsible for identifying, recruiting, and training individuals and organizational partners to serve within that network, and for identifying, building, and actively managing the appropriate structure to guide the activities of those individuals and partners (e.g., advocacy committee, multi-organization coalition).

The Regional Director works in very close partnership with a counterpart on OPP’s government affairs field team to design and execute policy campaigns that integrate strategies and tactics from both the advocacy and government affairs arenas.

While employees may be permitted to work remotely, travel to the assigned office, HUB or Satellite Offices may be required as determined by the employee’s manager and the employee’s People Organization Generalist.
Duties and Responsibilities:
• Oversee recruitment, training/development, engagement, and retention of advocacy volunteers in the region
• Design and mobilize networks of advocates and partners throughout the region, using a variety of advocacy tactics, including digital advocacy
• Work in partnership with the region’s government affairs lead to develop the strategic and tactical plans that will be critical to successful policy campaigns
• Oversee all aspects of the patient story development process in the region and manage a database of advocates willing to share their stories with policymakers and other key audiences
• Build strong partnerships with patient advocacy organizations, professional healthcare associations, and industry partners to identify potential partners and areas for collaboration
• Partner with LLS patient community outreach staff to ensure that local health care professionals and relevant community-based organizations are presented opportunities to engage in advocacy
• Collaborate with LLS field, campaign, and donor development staff to ensure integration and efficiency of lead-sharing and opportunity cultivation
• Lead and participate in coalitions whose goals are in alignment with OPP’s policy priorities
• Work with LLS regional fundraising staff to appropriately infuse advocacy into LLS fundraising events, including pre-event communications
• Work closely with the Executive Director, Advocacy to develop new materials and strategies for use by OPP’s advocacy field team
• Represent the team on multi-disciplinary working groups within LLS and support the Executive Director, Advocacy on special initiatives as requested
• Develop an understanding of core LLS offerings, disease incidence and research accomplishments

#LI-Hybrid

Education & Experience Requirements:
• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in a field related to patient advocacy or healthcare policy Advanced degree a plus (e.g., MSW, MPA, MPH, MPP)
• Minimum of seven years of related work experience
• Background in community organizing and/or electoral campaigns, with experience designing and executing both off- and on-line advocate mobilization strategies
• Experience managing volunteers
• Strong knowledge of state and federal legislative processes
• Experience working across multiple functions within an organization to achieve goals with enterprise-level impact

Position Requirements:
• Strong knowledge of healthcare policy issues
• Ability to conceptualize and articulate policy goals and advocacy opportunities
• Strong communication skills, both verbal and written, with a variety of audiences
• Ability to work independently in a home office, thrive under pressure, and simultaneously advance multiple high-level tasks
• Ability to travel within multi-state territory and work flexible hours

Physical Demands & Work Environment:
• Approximately 35% travel, with significant time spent in key state capitols and at least semi-annual visits to the LLS Office of Public Policy in Washington, D.C.
• Physical demands are minimal and typical of similar jobs in comparable organizations
• Work environment is representative and typical of similar