Program Director, Health

Thrive is a leading behavior change technology company founded by Arianna Huffington in 2016 with the mission to end the stress and burnout epidemic. Thrive helps individuals and organizations improve well-being, performance and mental resilience with its AI-powered behavior change technology platform. Thrive’s Microsteps – small, science-backed steps to improve health and productivity – have been adopted by employees at more than 125 organizations in over 140 countries, from frontline and call center workers to executives at multinational companies. If you’re not sure that you’re 100% qualified, but this sounds like a role you would Thrive in – we want you to apply! We believe skills are transferable and passion for our mission goes a long way. Advisory Services has rapidly become the defining growth engine for Thrive for Health. This role sits at the center of Thrive for Health’s most critical and highest-revenue work. Our portfolio now includes large pharma accounts spanning communications, media and PR, social, convenings, events, activations, and content licensing — and it continues to expand. The Program Director, Health Advisory Services serves as the operational and strategic backbone of this growing business. This is a highly execution-oriented role — you’ll draft client-facing communications work products, own operational trackers, brief cross-functional teams, and build the systems and processes that make this business scalable and repeatable. You are the primary author of the comms plans, tentpole strategies, executive briefing materials, and activation documents that clients see, orchestrating internal inputs from Communications and Content teams to ensure successful delivery. You bring deep pharma fluency, thrive in complexity, and are energized by the opportunity to help build and shape a rapidly growing function. How You’ll Contribute Own the master tracker and governance cadence across every advisory services account and pipeline. Ensure every deliverable lands on time, on spec, and on budget. Drive execution of pharma tentpole activations. Manage vendors, budgets, invoicing, MLRO submissions, and client review workflows. Draft client-ready communications work product as the primary author — annual comms plans, tentpole comms strategies, executive briefing materials, media narratives, status decks, governance review documents, and activation plans. First drafts come out of your hands at 80% complete; leadership refines rather than rebuilds. Translate strategic direction into executable briefs for the Communications and Content tactical teams supporting social, content, event planning, production, and PR — with clear context, deadlines, and success criteria so execution lands on strategy. Collaborate with the Global Head of Strategic Health Partnerships to scope new advisory services opportunities. Support the closing of new partnerships and onboard pipeline accounts. Your program management discipline, MLRO fluency, and governance ownership are the primary factors determining whether we deliver on our commitments — and whether clients renew.You own day-to-day execution and escalate only what genuinely requires their input. That shift has compounding value for the entire organization. Qualifications & Skills 8+ years of experience in healthcare communications, corporate affairs, pharma advisory services, or account management Direct experience drafting client-ready strategic comms documents, particularly in pharma or a highly regulated industry Exceptional written communication skills, including client-ready strategic documents and concise executive briefing materials AI-forward working style with active use of tools like Claude and ChatGPT to accelerate execution and improve output quality Senior account leadership experience at a leading healthcare communications agency such as MSL, M Booth Health, VML Health, Real Chemistry, Edelman Health, Weber Shandwick Health, FleishmanHillard Health, or equivalent Direc