Executive Director, Specialty Commercial Strategy

athenahealth; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 185,000 - 315,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Commuter support

Tuition assistance

Employee resource groups

Job summary

athenahealth seeks an Executive Director of Specialty Commercial Strategy in Boston. You will lead the commercial strategy, market entry, and partnerships for our specialty growth initiative, coordinating across clinical, product, sales, marketing, and operations.

This role reports to the Chief Medical Officer and operates in a hybrid work model. You will guide roadmap priorities, manage specialty business segments, and drive scalable revenue growth while applying data-driven and AI-enabled

Qualifications

• 12+ years of progressive experience in business development, general management, growth strategy, or related leadership roles.
• Experience driving new customer acquisition and scaling go-to-market operations in B2B SaaS; healthcare technology experience preferred.
• Experience building and leading commercial teams and coordinating work across multiple functions and organizational levels.
• Ability to communicate complex business strategies clearly, influence senior stakeholders, and align teams.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the commercial strategy for the specialty initiative, including go-to-market plans and bookings growth objectives.
• Shape the product vision for specialty solutions by translating market intelligence into product requirements.
• Lead specialty business segment leaders to expand provider participation and performance across markets.
• Align Product, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Onboarding, Finance, Analytics, and Operations around growth priorities.
• Drive new customer acquisition and recurring revenue growth with scalable, data-informed strategies.
• Define performance measures and strengthen reporting to monitor profitability and opportunities.
• Lead market expansion planning, including market sizing, competitive analysis, and financial modeling.
• Direct go-to-market and launch strategies for new specialty solutions with customer success alignment.
• Apply AI-enabled insights to strengthen market analysis and commercial decisions.

Skills

Business development

Growth strategy

Commercial strategy

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Healthcare technology

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

MBA/MS or equivalent

Job description

Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.

The Executive Director, Specialty Commercial Strategy will lead the commercial strategy and business performance of athenahealth's specialty growth initiative. This leader will shape market strategy, go-to-market execution, product direction, partnerships, and growth plans while working across clinical, product, sales, marketing, customer success, onboarding, finance, and operations teams. This position is based in Boston, MA and operates in a Hybrid work model. This role reports to the Chief Medical Officer.

About The Team

The Specialty team sits within the CMO Organization - athenahealth's cross-functional hub connecting sales, marketing, customer success, onboarding, operations, and product. The Executive Director, specialty Commercial Strategy will partner directly with the Chief Medical Officer to develop and execute strategies to expand athenahealth's solutions across priority medical specialties and care delivery models. The team brings together clinical, commercial, product, and operational perspectives to identify market opportunities, develop specialty solutions, and support sustainable customer and revenue growth. Team members partner closely with Product, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Onboarding, Finance, Analytics, Operations, and Corporate Development and use customer, market, competitive, and financial data to identify market opportunities, develop specialty solutions, and support sustainable customer and revenue growth.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Develop and lead the commercial strategy for the specialty initiative, including go-to-market plans, market-entry sequencing, partnerships, and bookings growth objectives.
• Shape the product vision for specialty solutions by translating market intelligence and customer feedback into product requirements and partnering with Product leaders on roadmap priorities and investment decisions.
• Lead and develop specialty business segment leaders responsible for expanding provider participation and business performance across priority specialty markets.
• Align Product, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Onboarding, Finance, Analytics, and Operations teams around specialty growth priorities, execution plans, and measurable outcomes.
• Drive new customer acquisition and recurring revenue growth by developing scalable, data-informed sales, demand generation, pricing, and market development strategies.
• Define specialty business performance measures and partner with Finance and Analytics to strengthen reporting, evaluate profitability, monitor results, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Lead market expansion planning, including market sizing, competitive analysis, financial modeling, due diligence, and recommendations on whether to build, buy, or partner to address new opportunities.
• Direct go-to-market and launch strategies for new specialty solutions while partnering with Customer Success and Onboarding leaders to strengthen the customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle.
• Apply AI-enabled tools and approaches to strengthen market analysis, scenario planning, customer and competitive insights, and commercial decision-making; evaluate the business implications of emerging AI capabilities and promote responsible AI adoption across specialty strategy workflows.
• Travel 10-25% annually within the United States to support customer, market, and business needs.

Additional Job Responsibilities

• Represent the specialty initiative with prospects, customers, and executive stakeholders through presentations, workshops, and industry forums.
• Analyze win/loss findings, competitive positioning, customer feedback, and internal performance data to refine specialty strategy and execution.
• Partner with Corporate Development to identify, evaluate, and prioritize potential specialty markets, partnerships, and inorganic growth opportunities.
• Develop the Specialty Long-Range Plan in partnership with clinical and Corporate Development leadership, incorporating market, competitive, and financial analysis.
• Prepare and deliver monthly steering committee discussions and quarterly specialty performance updates for executive leadership.
• Coach specialty business segment leaders in business planning, performance management, executive communication, and cross-functional execution.

Expected Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant professional experience; MBA, MS, or other relevant advanced degree preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in business development, general management, growth strategy, commercial strategy, or related leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience driving new customer acquisition and scaling go-to-market operations in B2B software-as-a-service environments; healthcare technology experience preferred.
• Experience building and leading commercial teams and coordinating work across multiple functions and organizational levels.
• Experience with inorganic growth activities, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, or channel strategies, and the ability to conduct and interpret market and financial due diligence.
• Strong financial and business analysis skills, including experience developing business cases and connecting bookings, revenue, win rates, customer acquisition measures, and profitability to broader business performance.
• Ability to communicate complex business strategies clearly, influence senior stakeholders, align teams with differing priorities, and represent an organization effectively with external audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver business outcomes through cross-functional collaboration in a matrixed organization.
• Ability to establish structure, priorities, processes, and measurable objectives when working with evolving business opportunities or incomplete information.
• Experience with healthcare technology, physician practice markets, ambulatory care, or related healthcare settings preferred

Expected Compensation

$185,000 - $315,000

The base salary range shown reflects the full range for this role from minimum to maximum. At athenahealth, base pay depends on multiple factors, including job-related experience, relevant knowledge and skills, how your qualifications compare to others in similar roles, and geographical market rates. Base pay is only one part of our competitive Total Rewards package - depending on role eligibility, we offer both short and long-term incentives by way of an annual discretionary bonus plan, variable compensation plan, and equity plans.

About Athenahealth

Our vision: In an industry that becomes more complex by the day, we stand for simplicity. We offer IT solutions and expert services that eliminate the daily hurdles preventing healthcare providers from focusing entirely on their patients - powered by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.

Our company culture:

Our talented employees — or athenistas, as we call ourselves — spark the innovation and passion needed to accomplish our vision. We are a diverse group of dreamers and do-ers with unique knowledge, expertise, backgrounds, and perspectives. We unite as mission-driven problem-solvers with a deep desire to achieve our vision and make our time here count. Our award-winning culture is built around shared values of inclusiveness, accountability, and support.

Our DEI commitment:

Our vision of accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all requires addressing the inequities that stand in the way. That's one reason we prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of our business, from attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce to maintaining an inclusive environment for athenistas, our partners, customers and the communities where we work and serve.

What We Can Do For You

Along with health and financial benefits, athenistas enjoy perks specific to each location, including commuter support, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, employee resource groups, and collaborative workspaces - some offices even welcome dogs.

We also encourage a better work-life balance for athenistas with our flexibility. While we know in-office collaboration is critical to our vision, we recognize that not all work needs to be done within an office environment, full-time. With consistent communication and digital collaboration tools, athenahealth enables employees to find a balance that feels fulfilling and productive for each individual situation.

In addition to our traditional benefits and perks, we sponsor events throughout the year, including book clubs, external speakers, and hackathons. We provide athenistas with a company culture based on learning, the support of an engaged team, and an inclusive environment where all employees are valued.

Learn more about our culture and benefits here: athenahealth.com/careers

https://www.athenahealth.com/careers/equal-opportunity