Vice President – Public Health

Position Summary

MG is searching for a person with deep experience in leadership, partnership building, and strategic communication with a passion for health equity. We seek a curious, innovative contributor to solutions such as narrative shifts—in language and stories, policy and practices, and culture and behaviors—that support equitable health and opportunity and culturally aligned and community-driven initiatives and other strategies, and that establish equitable health and well-being as priorities and basic rights. 

The vice president will specialize in a growing portfolio of work to create innovative public-private partnerships, advance organizational strategy and innovation in government and other sectors, and support community groups’ individual and collective capacity to improve public health. A central part of the vice president’s role will be to lead a large MG team that supports access to Medicaid (Oregon Health Plan) in the state of Oregon, in collaboration with community organizations. 

The candidate for this position willingly shares their experiences and tools to grow the people around them and is highly strategic, relationship-focused, excited about public health, and passionate about the role of communities in leading change. Prior agency experience—or commensurate communication campaign experience in a foundation or nonprofit environment—highly desired. 

The vice president is a full-time exempt position based in Portland, Oregon. The base starting salary for this position is between $110,000 and $130,000 per year, plus potential profit share and incentives, and is negotiable depending on experience and commensurate with MG compensation structure.

General Responsibilities

Leadership

• In partnership with others, build high-performing teams and supervise, mentor, and grow employees and flexible staff in ways that deepen the bench strength for the public health focus area and help teams achieve their goals for impact and advancement.
• Lead team-based, new business development efforts focused on taking early-stage work with a wide array of new public health clients to scale, and cultivating and recruiting strategic additions to the public health client portfolio.

Community-Driven Strategy and Collaboration 

• Develop, strengthen, and guide partnerships (with community-based organizations, in public-private models, etc.) by surfacing shared interests, distilling concrete opportunities to pursue together, and developing and advancing agreements with clear expectations.
• Build high-performing teams between our clients and their partners who communicate and learn well together, share leadership, and solve problems.
• Create multi-stakeholder coalitions that leverage the power of collective action and diversity to pursue solutions to public health challenges.

Communication and Capacity-Building

• Lead development of compelling multimedia communication campaigns that convey the importance of public health priorities to a wide variety of underserved communities and spark desired action.
• Build the capacity of organizations to communicate strategically, including training and coaching teams, affiliates, grantees, and others in how to communicate public health changes for different audiences—community leaders, elected officials, and the general public.
• Advance intercultural communication, including helping government agencies share power and work more authentically with communities and changemakers on the ground.

Strategic, Program, and Work Planning

• Advance strategic communication planning and program planning for clients, including setting goals and objectives, strategy, tactics, budget, measurement, and evaluation.
• Oversee teams charged with development and implementation of detailed work plans that result in quality work delivered on time and on budget.

Requirements

• At least 10 years of experience working on public health and health equity issues (and/or related issues such as housing, family supports, educational equity, etc.) in the public health sector, either in government, NGO, philanthropy, or corporate sector, with strong understanding of public health priorities, systems, and opportunities.
• Collaborative leader who brings a team’s experiences, perspectives, and insights to the forefront, creating greater impact for our staff and clients.
• Analytical, facilitation, and engagement skills.
• Proficiency in working with government agencies at the state and/or federal level, foundations, health care systems and organizations, and/or others across the public health system.
• Proven ability to develop campaigns and initiatives, including visioning, strategic planning, and program development.
• Skilled at building relationships (internal and client), teams, partnerships, and coalitions, with the capacity to unearth shared interests, build consensus, etc.
• Excellent communication skills, including strong persuasive writing, ability to translate science for varied audiences, basic understanding of visual communication, campaigns, etc.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
• Availability to travel domestically and internationally.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher or commensurate lived experience preferred.
• Bilingual or fluency in other language(s) is preferred but not required.
• Must be authorized to accept employment in the United States.

Expectations

• Provide high-quality, professional consulting services and expertise to clients while leveraging the talents of the team.
• Be a team player and excel at team-oriented problem-solving.
• Demonstrate an excellent work ethic.
• Contribute positively to the psychological safety of an intercultural environment.
• Support and embody the organization’s values, goals, and operating principles.
• Have an upbeat, creative, and professional demeanor.
• Bring curiosity and commitment to public health and health equity.

Benefits

• All employees are eligible for bonuses/incentives/profit sharing based on individual and company performance.
• Hybrid workplace.
• Employer-paid medical/vision insurance on first of the month following employment start date. Depending on plan choice, plans that include dependents are covered at 47% and up.
• Dental insurance paid at 50% by employer on first of the month following employment start date.
• Employer-paid life, short-term, and long-term disability insurance plans available on the first of the month following employment start date.
• Flexible spending account (medical/dependent care/transportation/parking).
• Monthly cell phone allowance.
• Charitable contribution match of up to $100 per year.
• Professional development program up to $1,500 annually.
• Fifteen paid vacation days per year after first 90 days of employment, plus one additional day accrued for each year of employment (up to a total of 20 days total vacation days).
• Ten days of wellness leave available per year, accruable up to 20 days.
• One month (30 days) paid sabbatical eligibility after each seven years of continuous employment.
• MG paid holidays off: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Indigenous People’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and one personal holiday of choice (11 days annually).
• MG to reimburse for work-related expenses (e.g., mileage at IRS rate).
• 401(k) retirement plan: You are eligible to participate in this program on the first of the month following three months of full-time employment. As a participant, you may make tax-deferred contributions up to the maximum allowable amount into the plan. MG will make an annual contribution equal to 3% of your compensation the following year. Roth option available.

Equal Opportunity Employer

At Metropolitan Group, we know that diverse backgrounds, experiences, and cultures strengthen our work and our workplace. We strive to create an intercultural workplace through greater recognition, understanding, and appreciation of a broad range of differences among individuals and groups within society, and to incorporate an intercultural perspective in our work. 

We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, genders, races, religions, ages, sexual orientations or gender identities, abilities, or other identities. We encourage all candidates to apply—even if you don’t believe you meet every requirement outlined above. If you have any questions, please reach out to JoinTheTeam@metgroup.com.

How to Apply

Send a cover letter and resume to JoinTheTeam@metgroup.com. Please include in your cover letter how you heard about us and what skills and experiences you have that are relevant to this position. Anticipated hire date will be in May 2023.

Download complete job description here.