Senior Manager, Patient Advocacy

COMPANY BACKGROUND

GondolaBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing next-generation therapeutics for genetic diseases. Originally launched as BridgeBioX, a subsidiary of BridgeBio, GondolaBio secured $300M in private financing from external investors in 2024 and became an independent company within the BridgeBio ecosystem. The company aims to leverage cutting-edge biological research to create breakthrough medicines addressing high unmet needs across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, pulmonology, cardiology, nephrology, and endocrinology. Located on the Stanford Life Sciences campus, GondolaBio fosters a unique hybrid environment where top scientists from around the world collaborate with senior leadership and advisors, blending industry expertise with academic innovation. 

To learn more, visit us at gondolabio.com

Who You Are

Putting patients first is a core value of GondolaBio. We are committed to engaging patients, families, caregivers, and community advocates throughout the drug development process to understand their experiences, challenges, and priorities and incorporate their perspectives into our work.  Reporting to the Head of Patient Advocacy, the Senior Manager, Patient Advocacy will serve as a patient advocacy partner across GondolaBio's development portfolio. This individual will develop deep knowledge of assigned disease areas and patient communities, build productive and enduring relationships with patient advocacy organizations and community leaders, and work closely with development teams to ensure patient perspectives inform our work.  The Senior Manager will support multiple programs at different stages of development, including providing advocacy leadership to programs that may not have dedicated  

Responsibilities

• Champion a patient-centered culture by bringing patient and caregiver perspectives, lived experience, priorities, and unmet needs into relevant company discussions, activities, and decision-making.
• Develop deep working knowledge of assigned GondolaBio development programs, including the disease, patient and caregiver journey, unmet needs, treatment landscape, development strategy, key milestones, and emerging patient advocacy needs.
• Assess and maintain an understanding of the patient advocacy landscape within assigned disease areas, including key patient advocacy organizations and community leaders, their priorities and reach, existing relationships, and opportunities for meaningful engagement.
• Build and maintain productive, enduring relationships with patient advocacy organizations, community leaders, patients, caregivers, and other stakeholders through transparent, respectful, and mutually valuable engagement.
• Serve as the Patient Advocacy partner for assigned development programs and develop advocacy priorities and engagement plans aligned with program needs and community priorities.
• Design and lead patient and caregiver engagement activities, including listening sessions, advisory boards, educational programs, community meetings, and other initiatives.
• Gather, synthesize, and communicate patient and caregiver insights to relevant internal teams and identify opportunities to incorporate these perspectives throughout drug development.
• Partner with Corporate Communications and the broader Patient Advocacy team on patient-centered communications, educational resources, awareness initiatives, social media, and appropriate patient and community storytelling.
• Identify themes, needs, best practices, and opportunities that span GondolaBio programs and contribute to enterprise Patient Advocacy initiatives, tools, partnerships, and resources.
• Collaborate closely with Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, Business Development, Communications, Legal, Compliance, and other functions to ensure coordinated and appropriate patient and community engagement.
• Provide strategic direction for advocacy projects and external stakeholder engagements, partnering with the Patient Advocacy Manager on project management, communications coordination, logistics, budgets, vendors, contracts, and other operational requirements.
• Manage multiple programs and priorities with a high degree of independence, judgment, collaboration, confidentiality, and accountability.
   

Education, Experience & Skills Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree in public health, life sciences, social work, genetic counseling, nursing, pharmacy, communications, or a related field is valued.
• Approximately 4–7 years of relevant experience in patient advocacy, patient engagement, nonprofit advocacy, healthcare, biotechnology, or a related function.
• Demonstrated experience developing trusted relationships with patient advocacy organizations, patients, caregivers, and other community stakeholders.
• Ability to understand complex scientific and clinical information and translate it into the context of patient and community needs.
• Strong strategic thinking, project leadership, written, verbal, and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across functions and influence without direct authority.
• High degree of empathy, curiosity, judgment, discretion, and commitment to meaningful patient engagement.
• Ability to travel as needed for patient advocacy meetings, conferences, and community activities.

What We Offer

· Patient Days, where we are fortunate to hear directly from individuals living with the conditions we are seeking to impact throughout the year and learn how we can improve our efforts

· A culture inspired by our values: put patients first, think independently, be radically transparent, every minute counts, and let the science speak

· An unyielding commitment to always putting patients first. Learn more about how we do this here

· A de-centralized model that enables our program teams to focus on advancing science and helping patients. Our affiliate structure is designed to eliminate bureaucracy and put decision-making power in the hands of those closest to the science

· A place where you own the vision – both for your program and your own career path

· A collaborative, fast-paced, data-driven environment where we inspire ourselves and each other to always perform at the top of our game

· Access to learning and development resources to help you get in the best professional shape of your life

· Robust and market-competitive compensation & benefits package (Base, Performance Bonus, Equity, health, welfare & retirement programs)

· Flexible PTO

· Rapid career advancement for strong performers

· Potential ability to work on multiple GondolaBio programs across multiple therapeutic areas over time 

· Partnerships with leading institutions

· Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The base pay range for this position is $140,000 to $ 180,000 per year. The actual compensation offered will be determined based on a number of job-related factors, including experience, skills, qualifications, and location.  A bonus plan and equity will also be offered.