VP of Communications

VP of Communications

Department: General and Administrative

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Washington, DC

Reporting To: Sema Sgaier


Compensation: $185,000 - $205,000 / year

Description

Surgo Health is building the Behavioral Intelligence Layer for healthcare. We reveal why people make the health decisions they do, predict what they will do next, and help organizations make the decisions that change outcomes.

A life-saving treatment does no good if people don't take it. Healthcare has built a strong layer of data that shows what happened to a patient: clinical records, prescriptions, social determinants of health. It still can't explain why people make the decisions that lead there. Surgo exists to fill that gap.

Surgo is a Public Benefit Corporation grounded in two decades of global health experience. We generate foundational behavioral data and build the AI products that put it to work at population scale. Our customers include life sciences companies, health systems and payers, public agencies, foundations, and academic researchers. Our work is backed by 40+ peer-reviewed publications and trusted by partners including the Gates Foundation, J&J, Takeda, Pivotal Ventures, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

We are a fast-growing, DC-based team with global reach, looking for people who want to help shape the future of healthcare.

The Role

Surgo is at an inflection point, with several products scaling, a growing footprint across healthcare, and a new category to lead: Behavioral Intelligence. Communications is central to our growth.

Reporting to the CEO, the VP of Communications will own the company narrative, build the CEO's thought leadership platform, and make "Behavioral Intelligence" a term that journalists, buyers, funders, and policymakers recognize and associate with Surgo.

You will work closely with the leadership team and partner with our Senior Product Marketing Manager, who leads product positioning and marketing. You own the company story, product marketing owns the product stories, and together you keep them aligned.

This is a hands-on role. You will set the strategy, and you will also write the pitch, draft the op-ed, and prep executives before interviews. You will build the communications function from the ground up and do much of the work yourself, with room to expand the team as Surgo scales.

What you will own:

• Company narrative
  • Own Surgo's company-level messaging and evolve it as the company grows.
  • Lead the effort to establish Behavioral Intelligence as a category: define the story, bring it to market, and make Surgo the reference point for it.
  • Champion a consistent company voice across every team, channel, and spokesperson, and keep teams equipped with the latest messaging and materials.
  • Partner with product marketing so product positioning ladders up to the company narrative.
• CEO and executive thought leadership
  • Build and run a thought leadership program for the CEO and senior leaders, including bylines, op-eds, keynotes, podcasts, panels, and executive social presence.
  • Develop the CEO's point of view on the big questions in health, AI, and behavior, and find the right moments and outlets for it.
  • Prepare spokespeople with key messages, talking points, briefing documents, and media training.
• Turning research and data into communications
  • Partner with program, research and behavioral science leads to find the most newsworthy findings in our studies and reports. Package them for press, social, conferences, and executive audiences, including summaries for the CEO and board.
  • Translate dense, technical, and data-heavy material into clear, compelling stories without losing accuracy.
• Earned media and stakeholder communications
  • Build and lead a proactive press strategy across three groups of outlets: healthcare trade and business press (life sciences, health systems, digital health), AI and technology reporters, and health policy and mainstream health reporters, including maternal and mental health.
  • Develop story angles, pitch journalists, draft press releases, and manage reporter relationships.
  • Watch the news cycle for opportunities to bring Surgo's data, findings, and point of view into ongoing public conversations.
  • Support leadership with communications for partners and other key stakeholders.
• Social media and digital presence
  • Set the strategy for Surgo's corporate and CEO social channels, and oversee content that builds engagement and drives traffic to our work.
  • Advise on company-level content across our website and other owned channels, in partnership with marketing.
  • Identify high-value conferences and speaking opportunities, and develop the content for them.

About you:

• 10+ years in communications, including senior leadership of earned media, executive thought leadership, and corporate narrative. Health tech, digital health, health data, or AI experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience building or repositioning a company's narrative, ideally including defining a new category.
• A track record of securing high-quality coverage across healthcare trade and business press as well as health, policy, and technology outlets. Existing reporter relationships are a strong plus.
• Experience developing a CEO's thought leadership platform and preparing executives for high-stakes media and speaking moments.
• An exceptional translator of data. You can take a regression table, a research report, or a behavioral finding and turn it into a headline, a pitch, or a post that is compelling and accurate.
• Rigorous about evidence. You instinctively check a statistic against its source, notice when a claim has drifted, and push back on anything that can't be supported.
• Experience with issues or crisis communications, ideally involving AI, data privacy, or sensitive health topics.
• Excellent writer and editor who can write in a consistent, mission-driven voice across press, executive, funder, and public-facing work.
• Comfortable working iteratively with subject-matter experts in research, product, and behavioral science.
• A genuine interest in improving health outcomes. Interest in maternal health, women's health, or youth mental health is a plus.
• Thrives in a fast-moving, mission-driven startup and is happy to be both strategist and hands-on writer.

Location: Role is based in Washington, DC.


Travel: Some travel possible

Benefits

What you'll love about Surgo:

• A collaborative, mission-driven team
• Competitive salary and equity compensation
• 100% of premiums for a Platinum healthcare plan covered, for employees and dependents
• Unlimited PTO with 11 holidays
• 401(k) employer match
• 3 months paid parental leave
• Public Benefit Corporation with an impact mission

Our hiring philosophy

We hire for passion and core competencies.


We look for problem solvers and lateral thinkers.


We love it if you have done different things with your time.


If you think you are ideal for this position, write to us even if your experience doesn't match all the requirements listed above.

Equal Opportunity and Diversity Policy

Surgo believes a diverse, inclusive staff makes a stronger team and more impactful organization and we are committed to building and developing this team and environment. Qualified people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, ages, sex, genders, sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions, languages, social class, marital status, religions, veterans status, and disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.