Job Summary
The Director/Senior Director, Field Patient Access is a strategic and field-facing leader responsible for building, leading, and optimizing a national team of Patient Access Managers (PAMs) supporting patient access to MOLBREEVI. This team will serve as the bridge between the exclusive specialty pharmacy with integrated patient services and Savara’s field sales and Market Access teams to remove barriers to therapy and improve patient outcomes.
This role ensures patients/caregivers and providers receive timely and compliant support navigating benefit verification, prior authorization, appeals, and therapy initiation while driving operational excellence and pull-through across the patient journey.
Core Responsibilities
Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Develop and lead a national team of 9 Patient Access Managers, providing clear direction, accountability, and performance expectations
- Establish a high-performing, patient-centric culture focused on access, urgency, and compliant execution
- Recruit, onboard, and continuously develop talent aligned with evolving access needs
- Conduct regular field engagement (ride-alongs, case reviews, team meetings) to ensure consistency and best practice sharing
Access Strategy & Execution
- Develop and execute national field access strategy aligned to brand and patient services objectives
- Define PAM engagement model (HCP vs patient, SP integration, escalation pathways)
- Ensure consistent execution across territories to support therapy initiation and adherence
- Translate payer policy changes and access trends into actionable field strategies
Field Execution & Barrier Resolution
- Prior authorization education and pull-through
- Appeals support and escalation pathways
- Specialty pharmacy coordination
- Affordability and patient assistance navigation
- Patient education for adherence support/device troubleshooting
- aPAP ClearPath Testing Program
- Develop training for launch engagement and ongoing support
- Engage with field sales to support PAM alignment across geographies
- Ensure proactive identification and resolution of access barriers (denials, delays, affordability challenges)
- Maintain visibility into high-priority or at-risk patient cases
Cross-Functional Leadership & Alignment
- Partner with:
Serve as the primary voice of the field, bringing forward actionable insights on payer trends, access challenges, and patient needs
Performance Management & Analytics
- Define and track KPIs, such as:
- Time to therapy initiation
- PA approval rates
- Case resolution timelines
- Patient access conversion rates
- HCP satisfaction
- Build reporting infrastructure and dashboards to monitor team performance and identify trends
- Use field insights to continuously improve access strategy and operational effectiveness
Compliance and Operational Governance
- Ensure all PAM activities adhere to:
- HIPAA, FDA, and compliance requirements
- Non-promotional, patient support guidelines
- Establish compliant rules of engagement for field interactions with patients, providers, and specialty pharmacies
- Partner with Legal/Compliance to maintain appropriate documentation, training, and oversight
Other projects and duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (MBA, PharmD, RN, etc.) preferred
- 10+ years of experience in pharmaceutical/biotech market access, patient services, or reimbursement
- 5+ years leading field-based teams (Patient Access, FRM, or equivalent)
- Deep expertise in:
- Pharmacy benefit reimbursement (specialty pharmacy model)
- Prior authorization and appeals processes
- Patient support programs
- Patient adherence support
- Rare Disease
- Proven ability to build and scale field teams during launch or high-growth periods
Work Schedule and Location
- This role is remote within the US and requires availability to work US Eastern Time Zone.
- This role requires significant travel (up to approximately 50% of time) including travel to Savara headquarters outside of Philadelphia. Candidates must be located within 60 minutes of a major commercial airport.
Savara provides comprehensive benefits including:
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Flexible Spending Account for health care and dependent care expenses and Health Savings Account
- Paid time off and paid holidays, including Dec 24-Jan 1
- Paid parental leave
- 401(k) with highly competitive match
- Life, AD&D, STD and LTD insurance coverage
- Other supplemental insurance programs
Savara’s compensation for this role will include a base salary, bonus, and equity. This role will be filled at the Director or Senior Director level. The base salary range for this role is $215,000 to $245,000.
About Savara
Savara is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on rare respiratory diseases. The company's lead program, molgramostim nebulizer solution, is in Phase 3 development for autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (aPAP). Savara's management team has extensive experience in rare respiratory diseases and pulmonary medicine, advancing product candidates to approval and commercialization.
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