Director Outreach & Engagement

Ardent Health is a leading provider of healthcare in growing mid-sized urban communities across the U.S. With a focus on people and investments in innovative services and technologies, Ardent is passionate about making healthcare better and easier to access. Through its subsidiaries, Ardent delivers care through a system of 30 acute care hospitals, 24,000+ team members and more than 280 sites of care with over 1,800 affiliated providers across six states.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Director of Outreach & Engagement is a growth-oriented healthcare leader responsible for driving market expansion, provider engagement, consumer growth, and strategic business development throughout the UT Health East Texas market . This role leads outreach and physician/provider relations initiatives that support referral growth, physician alignment, service line performance, surgical growth, and overall market share expansion .

The Director serves as a strategic partner to market executives, physicians, operational leaders, and enterprise stakeholders to identify growth opportunities, improve market performance, and strengthen provider and consumer engagement strategies. This position requires a leader with strong sales and business acumen, executive presence, and a proven ability to translate strategy into measurable growth outcomes through effective team leadership, relationship development, and data-driven decision making.

Outreach & Provider Relations Leadership

• Lead market physician relations and outreach strategies to drive referral growth, physician alignment, physician retention, service line expansion, and surgical/OR performance.
• Develop and execute strategic outreach plans that support market growth objectives and organizational priorities.
• Coach, develop, and hold outreach and provider relations teams accountable for consultative sales activities, strategic targeting, relationship development, and measurable performance outcomes.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with physicians, providers, medical groups, community stakeholders, and executive leadership.
• Partner with operational leaders to identify opportunities that improve provider experience, patient access, referral pathways, and overall growth performance.
• Manages local outreach and consumer engagement staff, ensuring performance and alignment with regional goals.

Strategic Growth & Market Development

• Utilize referral, market share, CRM, surgical/OR, consumer, and competitive data to identify growth opportunities and establish market priorities.
• Analyze market intelligence, physician referral patterns, service line performance, consumer trends, and operational metrics to drive strategic decision making.
• Collaborate with enterprise and market leadership teams to execute initiatives that increase volume, strengthen market position, and improve patient acquisition.
• Support strategic planning efforts and business development initiatives through market analysis and performance evaluation.
• Identify and implement best practices in provider relations, outreach strategy, market development, and consumer engagement.

Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness

• Lead and develop high-performing outreach and engagement teams through coaching, mentoring, and performance management.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Effectively prioritize resources and initiatives to focus efforts on the highest-impact opportunities.
• Use market intelligence and stakeholder feedback to influence operational improvements and remove barriers impacting provider and consumer experience.
• Present growth strategies, performance outcomes, and recommendations to executive leadership and key stakeholders

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Healthcare Administration, Communications, Public Health, or a related field required.
• Minimum of five (5) years of progressive leadership experience in healthcare sales, provider relations, outreach, physician engagement, market development, or business development.
• Demonstrated success leading teams and achieving measurable volume growth, referral growth, and strategic business objectives.
• Experience within a healthcare delivery system strongly preferred.
• Experience working with physicians, providers, physician practices, referral development programs, or payer relations preferred.
• Experience utilizing CRM and Provider Relationship Management (PRM) platforms preferred.
• Experience analyzing referral, market share, competitive, consumer, and operational data to support strategic planning and growth initiatives preferred.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Strong sales leadership and business acumen with a demonstrated ability to drive growth and organizational performance.
• Executive presence with the ability to effectively influence physicians, executives, operational leaders, and enterprise stakeholders.
• Proven provider relations and outreach leadership experience.
• Strategic and analytical mindset with the ability to leverage referral, market share, CRM, surgical/OR, consumer, and competitive data to guide decision making.
• Strong understanding of healthcare business drivers, including referral patterns, patient access, capacity management, service line performance, and physician engagement.
• Knowledge of consumer marketing, brand positioning, community outreach, demand generation, and digital engagement strategies.
• Excellent communication, presentation, negotiation, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to translate market intelligence into actionable growth strategies and operational improvements.
• Strong prioritization and execution skills with the ability to balance competing priorities and drive measurable results.
• Proven ability to build, lead, and develop high-performing teams in a complex healthcare environment.
• Familiarity with CRM and PRM platforms utilized for provider and consumer engagement initiatives. #LI-AG1