Practice Marketing Director - Healthcare

McMillan Pazdan Smith; Raleigh (NC); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

McMillan Pazdan Smith is seeking a Practice Marketing Director, Health to lead marketing strategy for the Healthcare practice across locations, shaping win narratives for priority opportunities and directing pursuit teams.

You will ensure QA/QC, collaborate with communications and design teams, mentor staff, and translate healthcare trends into compelling proposals that differentiate the firm in a competitive market.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, journalism, English, or related field required.
• 12+ years in professional services marketing with substantial Healthcare design or construction pursuit experience.
• Proven ability to lead winning pursuits for major health capital projects.
• Experience managing and developing marketing staff.
• Strong strategic, collaborative, and analytical skills.
• Exceptional writing and editing; able to construct a compelling argument.

Responsibilities

• Lead pursuit strategy and execution across locations for the Healthcare practice.
• Drive narrative and win strategy for priority opportunities; oversee marketers producing healthcare proposals.
• Ensure QA/QC for healthcare pursuit deliverables and brand conformance.
• Develop and maintain pursuit standards, playbooks, and templates; drive continuous improvement.
• Coach and mentor staff; foster collaboration with marketing communications and design teams.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Collaborative mindset

Analytical thinking

Exceptional writing and editing

CRM proficiency

InDesign proficiency

Education

Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, journalism, English, or related field

Tools

InDesign

CRM systems

Job description

Description

Practice Marketing Director, Health

Marketing leadership role driving growth in the fast-growing Healthcare Practice of one of the nation's largest architecture firms.

Leads pursuit strategy and pursuit execution across all locations for McMillan Pazdan Smith's Healthcare practice. Personally drives the narrative and win strategy on the practice's highest-priority opportunities and leads the marketers who produce healthcare proposals. Accountable for the quality of what goes out the door. Serves as an expert on healthcare trends, client procurement behavior, and competitor positioning. Partners with - but does not direct - the firm's marketing communications and creative teams. Reports to the Director of Marketing Operations.

Pursuit strategy - Priority Opportunities

• Analyzes each priority pursuit from the client's perspective: stated and unstated priorities, procurement structure, evaluation criteria and weighting, selection committee dynamics, and the firm's position relative to likely competitors.
• Develops and documents the win strategy for each priority pursuit, defining win themes, message hierarchy, differentiators, proof points, and the overall compelling narrative arc across the RFQ, RFP, and interview.
• Assembles and directs the Healthcare pursuit team; runs strategy sessions, sets the schedule, assigns ownership, and drives to decisions rather than consensus. Collaborates with marketers leading other Practice pursuit teams.
• Makes the calls on pursuit content, structure, and emphasis; resolves competing input from practice and design leadership.
• Directs graphic approach for priority pursuits - determines what needs to be shown and how the argument reads visually and directs designers accordingly.
• Working alongside Healthcare BD leader, leads interview preparation: compelling presentation, message discipline, team composition, coaching, rehearsal, and Q&A anticipation.
• Runs debriefs on wins and losses and feeds findings back into practice strategy and future positioning.

Team leadership and quality

• Leads healthcare marketers producing all practice pursuits; sets priorities, balances workload across concurrent deadlines, and mentors staff.
• Owns QA/QC for all healthcare pursuit deliverables - accuracy, compliance with client instructions, brand conformance, message consistency, and readiness for submission.
• Establishes and maintains pursuit standards, playbooks, and templates for the Healthcare practice; drives continuous improvement based on debrief findings.
• Develops team capability in strategic writing and narrative construction, not just production.
• Fosters a culture of excellence, collaboration and innovation.

Performance and pipeline

• Tracks and reports practice pursuit metrics, including shortlist rate, interview-to-win conversion, and win rate by client type, project type, and delivery method.
• Partners with practice and BD leadership on go/no-go discipline and applies bid criteria consistently.
• Identifies patterns in losses and translates them into changes to positioning, teaming, or pursuit process.

Market and competitive intelligence

• Assists Practice leader with long-term strategic planning and market analysis to identify growth opportunities for the healthcare sector.
• Drives MPS Healthcare brand strategy across sectors and markets, ensuring cohesive and compelling storytelling across all channels.
• Maintains working knowledge of healthcare market trends - capital planning cycles, delivery models, service line shifts, reimbursement pressure, and how these shape client priorities.
• Ensures team builds and maintains competitor profiles: who wins what, with whom, and on what basis.
• Briefs practice leadership on market conditions, competition, and positioning implications.
• Supports client feedback initiatives, including surveys and debriefs, to refine and improve marketing efforts.

Content assets

• Ensures Healthcare project profiles, staff resumes, and reference data compiled by team are current, accurate, and pursuit ready.
• Develops case studies that make an argument rather than describe a building - outcomes, metrics, and client-relevant proof.
• Identifies gaps in the practice's proof library and drives their closure.

Collaboration

• Provides Healthcare market input and outlines needed materials to the marketing communications team on PR, social, thought leadership, and collateral; does not own or direct those channels but has strong influence.
• Collaborates with project teams and communications team on photography priorities, project storytelling, and award submissions.
• Partners with business development on client capture planning and prepositioning.

Additional Responsibilities

• Perform other related duties as assigned to support the broader mission of the Firm.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, journalism, English, or related field.
• 12+ years in professional services marketing, with substantial experience in Healthcare design or construction pursuits.
• Demonstrated record leading winning pursuits for major health capital projects.
• Experience managing and developing marketing staff.
• Strategic thinker with a collaborative, results-oriented mindset.
• Strong business acumen and analytical thinking.
• High attention to detail, accuracy and follow through.
• Exceptional writing and editing; ability to construct an argument, not just assemble content.
• Fluency in InDesign and the ability to direct designers; CRM proficiency.