Executive Director, Health Affairs Publishing

Scion Executive Search; Washington, Baltimore (District of Columbia, MD); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Scion Executive Search, in partnership with Project HOPE and Health Affairs, announces the search for its Executive Director of Health Affairs Publishing, a pivotal leadership opportunity to guide a premier health policy publication through a new era of growth, innovation, and financial sustainability.

The Executive Director will provide enterprise-wide leadership, shape strategy, oversee financial sustainability, and ensure editorial independence while expanding revenue, audiences, platforms,

Qualifications

• Significant progressive executive leadership experience guiding a complex organization or publication.
• Proven ability to develop and execute enterprise-level strategy with prioritized initiatives and measurable results.
• Strong financial management experience, including budgeting, forecasting, and revenue diversification.

Responsibilities

• Set and execute enterprise strategy for Health Affairs Publishing in collaboration with senior leadership.
• Develop a diversified revenue model and strengthen financial resilience.
• Lead and develop a senior leadership team while protecting editorial independence.

Skills

Executive leadership

Strategic planning

Financial acumen

Communication

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

Scion Executive Search is honored to partner with Project HOPE and Health Affairs in the search for its next Executive Director of Health Affairs Publishing, a pivotal leadership opportunity to guide one of the nation’s most influential and trusted health policy publications through its next era of growth, innovation, and financial sustainability. The Executive Director will provide enterprise-wide business and organizational leadership for Health Affairs, working in close partnership with the Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs Management Board, and leadership of Project HOPE. This leader will be charged with developing and executing a forward-looking strategy that strengthens Health Affairs’ financial position, modernizes its business model and operations, expands and diversifies revenue, and positions its highly respected content for new audiences, products, partnerships, and platforms. This is an exceptional opportunity for an entrepreneurial and commercially minded executive who understands how to transform a respected, mission-driven organization without compromising the quality, credibility, independence, and trust that define its brand. This is a full-time hybrid opportunity for candidates in the Washington, DC area.

ABOUT HEALTH AFFAIRS

Health Affairs is the nation’s leading journal of health policy thought and research, providing a nonpartisan forum to promote analysis and discussion on improving health and health care and to address such issues as cost, quality, and access. For decades, Health Affairs has served as a trusted resource for policymakers, health care leaders, researchers, academics, journalists, advocates, funders, and other stakeholders seeking rigorous, evidence-based insight into the forces shaping health and health care. Health Affairs Publishing operates at the intersection of health policy, research, journalism, publishing, and public discourse. Its portfolio extends beyond the flagship journal to digital content, events, podcasts, newsletters, policy briefs, and other channels that bring important health policy research and analysis to broader audiences.

Health Affairs Publishing is a wholly owned subsidiary of Project HOPE, an international health and humanitarian organization, while operating with its own leadership and governance structure. The next Executive Director will have an important role in navigating this relationship while advancing the distinct strategy, brand, and long-term sustainability of Health Affairs. At a moment of significant change across publishing, media, research dissemination, technology, and health policy, Health Affairs has an opportunity to build upon the extraordinary strength of its reputation while reimagining how its content, expertise, and platform can create even greater impact.

POSITION OVERVIEW

Reporting to the CEO of Project HOPE, the Executive Director will serve as the senior business and organizational leader of Health Affairs Publishing. This executive will guide the organization’s strategy, financial sustainability, operations, revenue growth, and organizational effectiveness while protecting the editorial independence and credibility that define the Health Affairs brand.

The next Executive Director will lead Health Affairs through an important period of evolution, developing a more sustainable and diversified business model while identifying new opportunities to expand its reach, audiences, partnerships, products, and impact. This leader will bring the strategic vision to see what is possible, paired with the operational discipline to prioritize opportunities, align resources, and turn ideas into measurable results.

Equally important, the Executive Director will be a thoughtful and transparent people leader who builds trust, creates clarity and accountability, and brings employees along through change. The ideal candidate will combine business acumen, entrepreneurial thinking, collaborative leadership, and deep respect for Health Affairs’ mission and reputation.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Set and execute Health Affairs’ enterprise strategy, partnering with the Management Board, Editor-in-Chief, senior leadership team, and Project HOPE to establish a compelling vision for the organization’s next chapter and translate that vision into measurable priorities, investments, and results.
• Develop a sustainable, diversified business model that reduces dependence on any single source of revenue and strengthens Health Affairs’ long-term financial resilience, evaluating both existing revenue streams and new opportunities for earned and contributed income.
• Lead growth and innovation across the Health Affairs portfolio, identifying opportunities to extend the organization’s trusted brand, content, expertise, and convening power through new products, services, partnerships, audiences, platforms, and experiences.
• Bring a market- and audience-oriented approach to organizational strategy, using data, research, customer and stakeholder insights, and performance metrics to better understand who Health Affairs serves today, who it could serve in the future, and where the greatest opportunities for impact and growth exist.
• Protect and strengthen the Health Affairs brand, ensuring that growth and innovation reinforce rather than compromise the credibility, rigor, nonpartisanship, editorial independence, and trust that distinguish the organization.
• Build a highly effective partnership with the Editor-in-Chief, establishing clear and mutually reinforcing roles between the editorial and business functions and creating the conditions for both editorial excellence and organizational sustainability.
• Provide strong financial leadership and stewardship, including oversight of budgeting, forecasting, revenue performance, resource allocation, investment decisions, and long-range financial planning. Develop greater visibility into organizational performance and ensure resources are aligned with strategic priorities.
• Strengthen the organization’s fundraising and external partnership strategy, cultivating relationships with foundations, corporations, government entities, institutional partners, sponsors, and other funders while ensuring appropriate safeguards around editorial independence and organizational integrity.
• Evaluate and strengthen Health Affairs’ operational infrastructure, technology, systems, and processes, identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, scalability, data use, collaboration, and organizational effectiveness.
• Lead and develop a talented senior leadership team, creating greater clarity around accountability, decision-making, performance expectations, and cross-functional collaboration while empowering leaders to own and advance their respective areas of responsibility.
• Foster an organizational culture characterized by trust, transparency, curiosity, accountability, collaboration, and respect, bringing employees into the change process while maintaining the decisiveness necessary to move the organization forward.
• Serve as a visible and credible external ambassador for Health Affairs, building relationships across health care, policy, research, philanthropy, publishing, media, and other relevant sectors and representing the organization with funders, partners, policymakers, industry leaders, and other key stakeholders.
• Partner effectively with the Health Affairs Management Board and Project HOPE, providing transparent communication, strategic insight, and appropriate reporting while successfully navigating Health Affairs’ unique governance and organizational structure.
• Anticipate changes affecting Health Affairs and its audiences—including developments in digital publishing, artificial intelligence, research dissemination, audience behavior, and the broader health policy ecosystem—and position the organization to respond thoughtfully and proactively.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Significant progressive executive leadership experience, including success leading a complex organization, business unit, publication, media organization, association, research enterprise, health-related organization, or other mission-driven enterprise through growth and/or transformation.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute an enterprise-level strategy, moving from vision and opportunity identification to prioritization, implementation, accountability, and measurable results.
• Strong business and financial acumen, with experience overseeing multimillion-dollar budgets, evaluating business models, allocating resources, assessing financial performance, and building strategies for sustainable growth.
• Demonstrated success developing, growing, or diversifying revenue streams, with experience that may include subscriptions, sponsorships, partnerships, events, licensing, products and services, philanthropy, institutional funding, or other earned and contributed revenue models.
• An entrepreneurial and innovative orientation, paired with the judgment to distinguish promising opportunities from distractions and the discipline to focus organizational resources where they can generate the greatest impact.
• Experience leading organizational change with the emotional intelligence to listen, build trust, communicate clearly, navigate resistance and ambiguity, and bring people along while still making timely and difficult decisions.
• Proven success leading and developing senior-level teams, including establishing accountability, empowering leaders, navigating differing perspectives, and building collaboration across functions and areas of expertise.
• Strong executive presence and exceptional communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with employees, board members, funders, partners, senior executives, policymakers, researchers, and other sophisticated stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to operate successfully within a complex governance and stakeholder environment, balancing competing priorities while maintaining clarity around mission, strategy, roles, and decision-making.
• A strong appreciation for the role of credible, evidence-based, nonpartisan information in shaping health policy and improving health and health care. Direct health policy expertise is welcome but not required; the successful candidate must demonstrate intellectual curiosity and the ability to quickly develop fluency in Health Affairs’ field and stakeholder ecosystem.
• Experience in publishing, media, health care, health policy, research, information services, professional associations, or another content- or knowledge-driven sector is highly desirable.
• Bachelor’s degree required; an advanced degree in business or a related discipline is preferred.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

This position offers a competitive compensation package with an anticipated salary range of $220,000–$250,000, commensurate with experience and qualifications. The comprehensive benefits package includes health, dental, vision, and life insurance; a 403(b) retirement plan; paid leave; and additional benefits. This is a national search with a preference for hybrid candidates in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Given the executive and externally facing nature of the position, some national and occasional international travel should be expected.

APPLICATIONS AND NOMINATIONS:

Scion Executive Search is an equal opportunity employer and service provider and does not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, sexual orientation, disability, political affiliation, or any other protected class. We are committed to the principles of Equal Opportunity Employment and are dedicated to making employment decisions based on merit and value, for ourselves, our client companies, and the candidates we represent.

For opportunities located in a region that has enacted fair chance, arrest, or conviction-based employment ordinances, Scion Executive Search proactively follows the enacted guidance and considers for employment all qualified applications with arrest and conviction records. We engage in socially conscious business practices and believe that diverse, equitable, inclusive, and non-biased talent and recruitment processes are foundational to the success of Scion as well as every client organization with whom we partner.