Senior Director of Healthcare Programs and Strategy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Society of Family Planning seeks a service-oriented, adaptive leader to advance our organizational capacity to lead and successfully implement strategies that ensure clinical care is evidence-informed and person-centered while developing and supporting leaders in abortion and contraception to transform healthcare systems. The Senior Director of Healthcare Programs and Strategy role requires a thoughtful leader who can effectively engage and support employees across multiple levels of the organization. As part of a membership organization, this person must be adept at stepping forward to represent and guide members when needed and stepping back to empower members to lead initiatives when appropriate, ensuring strategic goals translate into meaningful action.

This role is ideal for a leader with deep expertise in reproductive healthcare, medical education, or clinical research, who thrives in navigating change and building collaborative initiatives. As a fully remote role with approximately 25% travel, this is a unique opportunity to contribute to the future of abortion and contraception care.

ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF FAMILY PLANNING

The Society of Family Planning advances a vision of just and equitable abortion and contraception, informed by science. By leveraging the powerful tools of science and medicine, we aim to ensure that abortion and contraception practices and policies are grounded in science and center people whose access to care is constrained by systems of oppression, and that all people have access to evidence-informed and person-centered abortion and contraception.

Our 2023-2028 Strategic Plan focuses on the following strategies:

• Convening a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and multidisciplinary community of all engaged in the science and medicine of abortion and contraception;
• Supporting the production and resourcing of research primed for impact;
• Organizing and leveraging research primed for impact;
• Ensuring clinical care is evidence-informed and person-centered through guidance, medical education, and other activities;
• Developing and supporting leaders in abortion and contraception to transform healthcare systems; and
• Aligning the organization’s governance, operations, and overall resources to be in service of the strategies designed to bring our collective vision to life.

ABOUT THE ROLE

The Senior Director of Healthcare Programs and Strategy reports to the Executive Director, and is a leadership position responsible for guiding and successfully executing the organization's healthcare-related programming and ensuring clinical care is evidence-informed and person-centered through medical education, clinical guidance, and other activities while also developing and supporting leaders in abortion and contraception to transform healthcare systems. This position has evolved in response to the Society’s growth and strategic direction, incorporating insights from staff, board members, and key partners.

Ideal candidates will bring deep expertise in reproductive healthcare, medical education, or clinical research, along with proven leadership experience in a growing and evolving organization. The Society seeks an adaptive and collaborative leader who can effectively navigate complex change, drive strategic implementation, and ensure that the Society continues to advance its vision and strategic plan.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Activities include, but are not limited to, those described below.

Guide the Direction of Healthcare-Related Programming (40%)

• Provide strategic oversight of the Society's healthcare and subspeciality-related programming, ensuring alignment with the Society’s strategic plan and short-, mid-, and long-term goals.
• Continually assess, maintain, and communicate an acute understanding of healthcare challenges and opportunities that a scientific society and subspeciality are well poised to address, ensuring alignment with our vision and mission.
• Lead the development, oversight, refinement, and the successful execution of multi-year program plans and budgets that tightly align with the Society’s strategic plan and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion vision.
• Drive the integration of programs across strategy four and five in the strategic plan aligning disparate staffing, structures, and budgets while advancing coherence and synergy across these distinct program areas.
• Champion Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practices, ensuring continuous improvement in programmatic activities.
• Spearhead new initiatives focused on enhancing clinician wellbeing and resilience, supporting the career development of clinicians, and supporting the economic and administrative aspects of healthcare delivery.
• Oversee and mentor high-performing teams working on clinical guidance, continuing education, and leadership in medical spaces.
• Lead and collaborate with multiple committees, including those that work in partnership with board members and other senior leadership; refining as needed the purpose and function of committees.
• Cultivate relationships with members and partners to ensure the Society is agile and responsive to emerging needs in the dynamic healthcare landscape.
• Direct and coordinate fundraising efforts, partnering with the Executive Director and Senior Leadership to secure resources that support strategic goals.
• Act as a senior ambassador for and trusted voice of the Society at meetings and conferences.
• Remain on the cutting edge of trends in academic medicine, subspecialty, clinical guidance, and education, ensuring the Society’s work evolves to remain relevant and impactful.
• Collaborate closely with the evaluation team to interpret and apply actionable insights that drive continuous learning and improvement.

Oversee Subspecialty Programming (40%)

• Serve as a strategic convener and promoter for the Complex Family Planning subspecialty, promoting the successful execution of its strategic integration within the broader family planning healthcare ecosystem and seeing its unique contributions.
• Guide and support key activities aimed at nourishing and expanding the Fellowship, including recruitment and support of sites and fellows, supporting fellows across the lifespan of their training (from application to certification), providing technical assistance and community supports to Fellowship Directors and Coordinators, maintaining and sharing out existing supports, and more.
• Guide and support key activities aimed at nourishing the subspeciality, including developing a plan and actionable goals for assessing the educational needs of subspecialists focused on complex family planning, creating or connecting subspecialists to that programming, and continuing to improve on that programming.
• Facilitate the advancement of centralized efforts with key programmatic partner organizations such as ACGME, ABOG, and CREOG; ensuring Society leaders in these spaces have the resources and supports needed to address emergent and ongoing issues.
• Champion participation of subspecialists in Society programming.
• Collaborate with the evaluation team to ensure that programs are informed by relevant data, driving measurable impact and improvement.
• Collaborate closely with the evaluation team to interpret and apply actionable insights that drive continuous learning and improvement.

Internal Leadership, Organizational Development, and Shaping Culture (20%)

• Foster and sustain organizational culture, emphasizing accountability, learning, transparency, engagement, and collaboration across a distributed work environment.
• Lead, mentor, and develop high-functioning teams, providing tailored guidance through one-on-one meetings, stretch assignments, and feedback loops.
• Facilitate cross-team and cross-staff collaboration within the Society.
• Support the successful execution of the Annual Meeting in collaboration with the dedicated event team.
• Bring a learner’s mindset to all work and look for opportunities to identify which activities were most impactful and most used, and what strategies would improve impact and use.

WHO YOU ARE

Highly qualified applicants will meet many of the qualifications below and will have clarity on areas where growth and support would be helpful to fulfilling the essential functions of the role.

• Significant expertise in abortion and contraception healthcare practice, medical education, or clinical research, with at least eight years of progressive leadership experience.
• Proven ability to navigate change, build structure in growing organizations, and develop programs within nonprofit or healthcare environments.
• Commitment to inspiring and motivating teams to set and be accountable to goals, with at least eight years of experience leading teams.
• Strategic thinker who can balance high-level vision with operational execution.
• Strong relationship-builder who can engage clinicians, fellows, board members, and staff with clarity and confidence.
• Adept at making and communicating difficult decisions with clarity and kindness.
• Experience with medical education, fellowship programs, or clinical guideline development.
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, inclusion, and fostering member engagement.
• Strategic thinker who can balance high-level vision with detailed execution.
• Palpable enthusiasm for leveraging the tools of science and medicine and insight into the role clinicians, subspecialties, and scientific societies play in shaping science and medicine.
• Experience in designing and leading initiatives focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within healthcare or nonprofit sectors.
• Ingrained practice of seeking and recognizing the wisdom of divergent perspectives.
• Ability to step forward to represent or guide members when needed, alongside the ability to judge when to step back for members to lead initiatives.
• Track record of taking a concept from ideation to implementation, all while anticipating likely challenges, mitigating unanticipated challenges, and building community.
• Self-aware and responsive to one’s own learning edges; able to acknowledge and learn from mistakes.
• Exemplary interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.
• High level of computer literacy, including confidence using (or learning to use) Microsoft and Google suite, Asana, Box, Slack, and other digital tools.
• Willingness to pitch in as needed. The Society is a small nonprofit and everyone contributes to necessary administrative work.