Senior Director, Health Access Partnerships

American Diabetes Association; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous Paid Time Off

Comprehensive benefits package (health

Retirement savings

Remote-friendly culture

Mental health programs

Job summary

The American Diabetes Association seeks a Senior Director, Health Access Strategic Alliances to lead development and management of strategic relationships advancing the organization’s mission, visibility, and growth. The role oversees partnerships with national and regional bodies, civic and community institutions, professional associations, corporations, funders, and other key stakeholders.

As a senior ambassador, you will collaborate with the Managing Director to develop mutually beneficial

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Communications/Public Relations, Nonprofit Management/Public Administration, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience in strategic partnerships, external affairs, business development, community engagement, healthcare, nonprofit leadership, or a related field.
• Demonstrated success recruiting, cultivating, and managing complex external relationships and multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Exceptional relationship management, communication, negotiation, and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong project management, organizational, and prioritization skills, with the ability to manage a large portfolio of relationships, events, agreements, and deadlines.
• Experience developing and managing MOUs, partnership agreements, deliverables, and project timelines.
• Proficiency with dashboards, CRM systems, project management tools, calendars, and other tracking systems to manage relationship activity and accountability.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to establish systems that ensure commitments are documented, tracked, and completed.
• Experience planning and managing strategic events and external engagements.
• Executive presence, sound judgment, diplomacy, and ability to influence across organizational boundaries.
• Experience with healthcare, advocacy, public health, nonprofit, or mission-driven organizations preferred.
• Familiarity with ADA Standards of Care, advocacy priorities, and/or funder preferred requirements.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a strategic partnership plan aligned with organizational priorities and growth objectives.
• Identify, recruit, cultivate, and steward national, regional, civic, social, professional, corporate, community, and philanthropic partners.
• Build and manage a portfolio of high-value relationships, strengthening engagement, retention, and opportunities for expanded collaboration.
• Represent the organization with senior leaders, community stakeholders, professional organizations, funders, and other external partners.
• Identify cross-sector opportunities that expand reach, resources, influence, and mission impact.
• Lead the development, negotiation, execution, and management of MOUs and partnership agreements.
• Establish clear goals, deliverables, timelines, milestones, and accountability measures for partnerships and initiatives.
• Manage multiple concurrent relationships, projects, events, and deliverables with strong organization and attention to detail.
• Develop and maintain dashboards, tracking tools, calendars, and reporting systems to monitor partner activity, commitments, deadlines, outcomes, and follow-up.
• Coordinate across internal teams to ensure timely completion of partnership and funder commitments.
• Evaluate partnership performance and recommend opportunities for renewal, expansion, or improvement.
• Develop and manage partner events, convenings, forums, educational programs, and stakeholder engagements.
• Align events and external engagement with funder deliverables, organizational initiatives, ADA Standards of Care, and advocacy priorities.
• Manage event timelines, logistics, partner responsibilities, deliverables, and follow-up.
• Use post-event evaluation and reporting to measure outcomes and strengthen ongoing relationships.
• Collaborate with executive leadership and teams across development, programs, advocacy, communications, and operations to maximize partnership impact.
• Provide leadership with dashboards, updates, and recommendations regarding partnership activity, performance, opportunities, and risks.
• Establish efficient processes for partnership intake, activation, tracking, communication, and evaluation.
• Knowledge of and exposure to initiatives focused on raising awareness and increasing understanding of clinical trials, particularly among patients, caregivers, community stakeholders, and underrepresented groups.
• Experience supporting or contributing to educational programs, workshops, forums, and stakeholder engagements designed to strengthen clinical-trial literacy and understanding.
• Familiarity with partnering across clinical, community, advocacy, and professional organizations to educate stakeholders and promote awareness of clinical-trial opportunities and the importance of representation in clinical research.

Skills

Executive presence

Relationship management

Communication

Negotiation

Stakeholder engagement

Project management

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration/Communications/Public Relations/Nonprofit Management

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

CRM systems

Dashboards

Project management tools

Calendars/tracking systems

Job description

The American Diabetes Association seeks a Senior Director, Health Access Strategic Alliances to lead development and management of strategic relationships advancing the organization’s mission, visibility, and growth. The role oversees partnerships with national and regional bodies, civic and community institutions, professional associations, corporations, funders, and other key stakeholders.

As a senior ambassador, you will collaborate with the Managing Director to develop mutually beneficial