Senior Director of Advocacy and HCP Education

About Us

Founded in 1908, Merz is a successful, family-owned specialty healthcare company with a rich history. As a leading global aesthetics business, our award-winning portfolio of injectables, devices, and skincare products empowers healthcare professionals to enhance confidence through aesthetic medicine. Our purpose is to fuel confidence by helping people look better, feel better, and live better. We believe you do not have to choose between living life and making a living. Live your best life with Merz Aesthetics.

A Brief Overview

The Senior Director of Advocacy and HCP Education is a senior commercial leader responsible for driving depth in existing markets and identifying opportunities for expansion, accelerating adoption, and creating category leadership across the Merz Aesthetics portfolio. This role leads the development and execution of integrated HCP education and advocacy strategies that fuel growth, unlock new demand, and deepen penetration across both established and emerging aesthetic segments. With a strong focus on commercial impact, the Senior Director identifies and activates new market opportunities, expands reach into underpenetrated customer segments, and elevates brand visibility through high-impact education and advocacy. A core priority of the role is building and scaling a best‑in‑class Healthcare Provider (HCP) advocacy ecosystem—developing influential KOLs, amplifying their reach, and enabling them to serve as credible, global brand ambassadors across the aesthetics landscape.

Balancing near-term execution with long-term growth strategy, this leader accelerates market uptake while building a sustainable foundation for enduring brand and category leadership. The role requires strong cross-functional leadership, deep external engagement, and the ability to influence across a highly matrixed organization. Key responsibilities include owning the HCP education strategy, advancing the capabilities of emerging and established advocates, leading VIP engagement at congresses, and ensuring tight alignment between commercial priorities, brand strategy, and professional education execution.

The Senior Director works closely across Marketing, Communications, Loyalty, and Operations to fully integrate initiatives into the broader go‑to‑market strategy. In partnership with Medical Affairs and other key stakeholders, this role designs and delivers high-impact HCP education programs that drive preference, loyalty, and advocacy. A critical focus is identifying and cultivating next‑generation US speakers and accelerating their growth within Merz Aesthetics’ global advocacy platform.

The Senior Director will oversee a team of three Area level managers. They will be responsible for ensuring this team works effectively and strategically across the organization, as integrated partners with the field, headquarters, and customers. They will also ensure educational content and programs effectively reflect and reinforce the brand’s messaging and that content is digitally optimized and aligned to digital customer experience strategies and brand priorities. The ideal candidate must be a subject matter expert on Merz products and have the ability to collaborate across functions, ensuring advocacy and education efforts are impactful, innovative, and aligned with the company's vision.

What You Will Do

• Advocacy Growth
• Builds, maintains, and expands high‑value relationships with key HCP advocates across the US and globally to drive brand preference, adoption, and influence.
• Designs and scales high‑impact educational and advocacy programs that elevate HCP expertise, accelerate market uptake, and reinforce Merz Aesthetics’ leadership across priority categories.
• Integrates and accelerates digital first mindset, ensuring accessible and high impact non-personal educational and promotional content aligned to customer experience strategy.
• Owns performance tracking and quarterly reporting for key initiatives (e.g., Centers of Excellence), translating insights into clear growth recommendations for senior marketing leadership.
• People and Matrix Leadership
• Leads, coaches, and develops direct reports, fostering high performance and talent development, building leadership capability and establishing clear accountability for regional outcomes.
• Partners cross functionally to identify advocacy, education, and engagement opportunities that support commercial priorities and evolving market needs.
• Education & Congress Excellence
• Define and lead a high‑impact, peer‑to‑peer education strategy that drives awareness, preference, and adoption across priority aesthetics categories, with clear performance metrics tied to commercial outcomes.
• Own U.S. national congress strategy and execution—from strategic planning through on‑site activation—while partnering with operations to maximize impact of HCP engagement, and advocacy impact.
• Ensure all education and congress initiatives reinforce Merz Aesthetics’ premium brand positioning, are scientifically rigorous and compliant, and are tightly aligned with brand strategy, go‑to‑market priorities, and growth objectives.
• Mutual Value & Partnership Optimization
• Ensures advocacy partnerships deliver mutual value—balancing HCP objectives with Merz Aesthetics’ commercial and brand goals.
• Proactively addresses and resolves conflicts by structuring solutions that strengthen long‑term partnerships and reinforce brand credibility.
• Data-Driven Performance & Insights
• Serves as the senior voice of advocacy and education, communicating program impact, insights, and performance outcomes to NALT and other senior stakeholders.
• Partners with Operations and Analytics leadership to develop data‑driven reporting that demonstrates program effectiveness, efficiency, and contribution to growth—informing future investment and program design.
• Brand Leadership & Executive Presence
• Represents Merz Aesthetics as a premium aesthetics leader, consistently modeling professionalism, credibility, and brand values across all external and internal engagements.
• Advocate Relationship Management
• Owns the resolution of complex or escalated advocate issues, ensuring thoughtful analysis, timely action, and clear communication to protect relationships, brand reputation, and long‑term advocacy equity.
• Travel and Event Participation
• Travels for market visits, trade shows, and events as needed to support advocacy and education initiatives.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in business, marketing, life sciences, healthcare, communications, or a related discipline
• 5 years of experience leading a team in a highly matrixed environment
• 3 years of marketing experience, including traditional brand and digital channel optimization

Preferred Qualifications

• 3 years working with HCP advocates and key opinion leaders
• 3 years working in the aesthetic space in sales, marketing, training or advocacy
• Clinical or academic experience in healthcare

Technical & Functional Skills

• Executive-level communicator and collaborator, able to communicate highly complex or sensitive matters clearly and persuasively to senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to advise, negotiate with, and influence senior executives, functional leaders, HCPs, KOLs, and external partners, incl. ability to adjust communication style to audience.
• Ability to set regional priorities, evaluate strategic trade-offs, and allocate resources across competing programs, brands, and stakeholder needs.
• Strong financial and commercial acumen, including the ability to develop business cases, establish investment priorities, manage budgets, evaluate return and impact, and recommend resource reallocation.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, organizational skills and attention to detail
• Able to work under pressure, meet deadlines
• Advanced Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.) and comfort with a large variety of digital communication tools and AV equipment
• Expert knowledge of HCP advocacy, peer-to-peer education, KOL development, congress engagement, and related commercial operating models.
• Broad understanding of related marketing, medical, communications, operations, analytics, customer-experience, digital, finance, legal, and compliance considerations.
• Ability to anticipate and interpret market, customer, competitive, and organizational developments and translate them into regional strategy.
• Ability to build broad internal and external networks and foster collaboration across functions and geographies.

Must reside in or near Raleigh, NC