About the Role
This Associate Director role is responsible for designing and launching innovative programs for Canadians to access Lilly medicines, sitting at the intersection of consumer experience, operations, and market access. It requires fluency in patient journey thinking and hands-on operation execution.
Responsibilities
- Conduct ongoing assessment and mapping of Canada's digital health ecosystem, evaluating platforms against clinical and operational fit across relevant therapeutic areas.
- Partner with Legal, Regulatory Affairs, Privacy, and Compliance to assess partner eligibility against applicable provincial regulations governing virtual care.
- Monitor the Canadian digital health and pharmacy landscape, tracking regulatory developments, platform trends, and emerging care models.
- Design and build digital-first patient programs to support access to Lilly medicines in Canada.
- Develop end-to-end operational workflows and standard operating procedures across the patient journey.
- Establish KPIs and a performance monitoring framework to continuously improve patient experience; lead vendor performance reviews against agreed service standards.
- Collaborate with existing vendor partners and digital tools to integrate program workflows into Canadian healthcare ecosystems.
- Champion a consumer-first mindset, ensuring program design decisions reflect patient experience and health equity principles.
- Partner with marketing, commercial, and patient support program teams to align patient journey design with brand strategy and go-to-market plans.
- Represent the Canadian affiliate in cross-functional governance forums and integrate best practices from other markets.
Requirements
- Strong knowledge of the Canadian healthcare landscape, including digital health platforms, pharmacy infrastructure, and provincial reimbursement environments.
- Consumer-centric mindset with genuine empathy for patient access barriers in Canada.
- Strong operational discipline, ability to build processes, vendor governance frameworks, and accountability structures in ambiguous, first-of-kind environments.
- Digital-first mindset with a proactive approach to identifying automation opportunities that improve patient experience and operational efficiency.
- Strategic thinking with ability to sequence phased program builds and make sound trade-off decisions.
- Proven ability to work across complex, matrixed organizations to align stakeholders and drive action without direct authority.
- Strong analytical and data skills, with the ability to develop KPI frameworks and translate performance data into operational improvements.
- Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills.
Skills
- Experience with Canadian digital health or telehealth platforms and virtual care operating models.
- Experience working within or alongside Patient Support Programs (PSPs) in Canada, particularly in chronic disease management.
- Familiarity with digital prior authorization platforms in the Canadian market.
- Consumer or brand marketing experience, or demonstrated ability to apply consumer-centric thinking to operational design.
- Experience with digital health platforms or omnichannel patient engagement models.
- Ability to work independently in a fast-moving, build environment.
Location
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Work Type
- Hybrid
Experience Level
- Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in pharmaceutical operations, market access, patient support programs, pharmacy operations, digital health, or a closely related field within the Canadian healthcare system.
Education Level
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Healthcare Administration, Pharmacy, or a related field. MBA or graduate-level degree preferred.
Salary/Compensations
- $124,500 - $182,600
Benefits
- Participation in the Lilly Bonus Program
- Car allowance
- Company bonus
- Pension plan
- Vacation benefits
- Healthcare benefits
- Flexible benefits
- Life insurance and death benefits
- Certain time off and leave of absence benefits
- Well-being benefits (e.g., employee assistance program, fitness benefits, and employee clubs and activities)
About the Company
- At Lilly, the work is demanding because patients are waiting. We unite caring with discovery to help make life better for people around the world, knowing that every decision, every detail, and every day matters.
- Headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, our over 50,000 employees around the globe take on complex challenges to discover and deliver life-changing medicines, strengthen how health is understood and managed, and support the communities we serve.
- This is hard, urgent, selfless work—but it’s work worth doing. If you’re driven by purpose and ready to bring your best to work that truly matters for patients, we invite you to join us.
Equal Opportunity
- Lilly is dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities to actively engage in the workforce, ensuring equal opportunities when vying for positions.
- Lilly does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability or any other legally protected status.
