Director, Channel Strategy & Patient Services

Role Overview

• Drive Capricor’s U.S. distribution channel strategy, including 3PL selection and oversight, specialty distributor network design, trade agreements, and product flow from manufacturer to dispensing channel.
• Build and run Capricor’s U.S. patient services model across therapeutic areas, including referral intake, benefits investigation, prior authorization, and case management.
• Partner with internal teams to support the selection, onboarding, and ongoing management of 3PL, specialty distributor, hub, and specialty pharmacy partners, ensuring clear SLAs, KPIs, and governance frameworks.
• Map, standardize, and enhance patient journeys across programs to reduce access friction and support timely initiation of therapy.
• Develop and maintain SOPs and training materials for patient and provider facing interactions, ensuring alignment with regulatory, legal, and compliance expectations.
• Run financial assistance and affordability programs, including copay, patient assistance, and bridge/quick-start, with external vendors.
• Support site onboarding and certification processes for institutionally administered or infused therapies, working closely with treatment centers and operational partners.
• Collaborate closely with Market Access to align patient services workflows with payer requirements, reimbursement expectations, and access pathways.
• Partner with Commercial Operations and IT to ensure effective data capture, reporting, and system integration across vendor ecosystems.
• Develop dashboards, KPIs, and reporting insights to monitor program performance, patient experience, and operational effectiveness.
• Define KPIs and build the launch-readiness measurement framework for channel and patient services, covering pre-launch leading indicators and post-launch performance tracking.
• Manage relationships and budgets with channel, hub, and patient services vendors; lead RFPs and contracting in partnership with Procurement and Legal.
• Build a small team of patient services and channel operations staff over time, and advise Commercial leadership on how the team should grow.
• Run ad-hoc analyses and scenario evaluations for Commercial leadership and internal stakeholders.
• Establish processes, templates, and tools so channel and patient services execution stays consistent as the company grows.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree or clinical background (e.g., RN, PharmD) preferred.
• 10+ years of experience across pharmaceutical channel strategy, 3PL and specialty distribution management, patient services, hub operations, or specialty pharmacy oversight within biotech or pharma.
• Demonstrated success building or scaling patient support programs for rare disease or specialty therapies.
• Experience supporting product launches, ideally in rare diseases or complex infused therapies.
• Deep expertise in pharmaceutical distribution models (3PL, specialty distributor, specialty pharmacy), benefits verification, prior authorization workflows, case management, and financial assistance programs.
• Strong operational discipline, empathy, and vendor partnership experience.
• Can explain complex channel and patient services topics clearly to leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and operate effectively in a fast-paced, growth-stage environment.
• Has led or contributed to a commercial launch and built channel and patient services capabilities from scratch at a pre-commercial or early-commercial company.