Director Business Development

Position Summary

The Director of Business Development provides strategic leadership for enterprise growth, market development, health-system and payer partnerships, referral development, and access strategy across Community Hospice & Palliative Care.

The Director is responsible for identifying market opportunities, developing, and executing growth strategies, strengthening strategic and referral-source relationships, and leading the organization's business development and community outreach functions. The position works collaboratively across Access/Admissions, clinical operations, medical services, marketing and communications, finance, compliance, and executive leadership to ensure growth strategies are operationally achievable, financially responsible, compliant, and aligned with organizational priorities.

The Director develops and maintains strategic relationships with hospitals and health systems, physician practices, skilled nursing and long-term care organizations, managed care and other payer organizations, Accountable Care Organizations, community partners, and other entities that support expanded access to hospice and palliative care services.

Success is measured through sustainable growth, market performance, referral development and retention, strategic partnership development, achievement of established business development goals, and timely and appropriate access to care.

Essential Functions

• Enterprise Growth & Market Strategy
• Leads the development and execution of business development and growth strategies aligned with the organization's mission, strategic plan, financial objectives, and community needs.
• Conducts ongoing market analysis to identify growth opportunities, competitive trends, referral patterns, market share, service gaps, payer dynamics, and other factors affecting organizational growth and market position.
• Develops and recommends market priorities, territories, resource allocation, growth initiatives, and business development strategies based on data, organizational capacity, and identified opportunities.
• Health-System & Strategic Partnerships
• Develops and maintains strategic relationships with hospitals, health systems, physician practices, skilled nursing and long-term care organizations, community partners, and other healthcare organizations.
• Identifies and develops new strategic partnerships and business opportunities that support organizational growth, service expansion, and integration across the healthcare continuum.
• Serves as a senior organizational representative with key referral sources and strategic partners and provides leadership intervention when relationship, service, or access concerns arise.
• Payer & Value-Based Strategy
• Collaborates with executive leadership to identify and develop opportunities involving commercial and government payers, managed care organizations, Accountable Care Organizations, value-based care arrangements, and other emerging healthcare delivery and reimbursement models.
• Participates in evaluating new business opportunities and strategic arrangements based on market opportunity, operational feasibility, financial impact, organizational readiness, and strategic alignment.
• Referral & Access Strategy
• Provides strategic leadership for referral development and collaborates with Access/Admissions, clinical operations, medical services, and other leaders to strengthen the referral-to-admission continuum and improve timely and appropriate access to care.
• Analyzes referral volume, referral sources, conversion trends, barriers to admission, speed-to-care, market performance, and other relevant indicators to identify growth and performance-improvement opportunities.
• Partners with operational leadership to identify and address systemic barriers that may negatively affect referral relationships, patient access, partner experience, admissions performance, or organizational growth.
• Business Development Performance & Leadership
• Leads the Business Development and Community Outreach functions by establishing clear goals, territories, performance expectations, accountability measures, and professional development plans.
• Establishes and monitors key performance indicators, including referral growth, referral-source development and retention, market performance, strategic account development, territory performance, and achievement of established growth goals.
• Uses CRM systems, market intelligence, referral data, financial information, and other analytics to evaluate performance, establish priorities, identify opportunities, and guide business development activities.
• Develops, coaches, and holds accountable leaders and team members to create a high-performing, collaborative, and mission-driven business development culture.
• Organizational Alignment
• Collaborates with Marketing and Communications to develop targeted strategies, materials, educational initiatives, campaigns, and community engagement activities that support organizational growth and market awareness.
• Collaborates across executive leadership, clinical operations, medical services, finance, compliance, Access/Admissions, and other departments to ensure growth initiatives are operationally achievable and aligned with organizational priorities.
• Participates as a member of the organizational leadership team and contributes to strategic planning, budgeting, forecasting, organizational development, and other enterprise initiatives.
• Compliance & Ethical Growth
• Ensures business development, referral-source engagement, marketing, community outreach, and partnership activities are conducted in accordance with organizational policies, applicable regulatory requirements, contractual obligations, and ethical standards.
• Partners with Compliance, Legal, Finance, and operational leadership, as appropriate, when evaluating business arrangements, referral-source activities, marketing practices, contracts, and other growth initiatives.
• Performance & Accountability
• Develops annual business development goals and action plans and regularly reports performance, market trends, strategic opportunities, barriers, and recommended actions to executive leadership.
• Demonstrates accountability for sustainable organizational growth while maintaining the organization's commitment to clinical appropriateness, patient choice, equitable access, regulatory compliance, and mission.
• Performs other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

Knowledge and Critical Skills

• Strong knowledge of business development, enterprise growth strategy, strategic planning, market development, and competitive positioning.
• Knowledge of healthcare market dynamics, referral patterns, competitive intelligence, and emerging trends affecting hospice, palliative care, and post-acute healthcare.
• Demonstrated ability to develop executive-level relationships with hospitals, health systems, physician organizations, post-acute providers, payers, and other strategic partners.
• Working knowledge of Medicare, Medicaid, managed care, Accountable Care Organizations, value-based care, and alternative healthcare delivery and reimbursement models.
• Ability to evaluate new business opportunities considering strategic alignment, market potential, financial impact, operational feasibility, and organizational capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to use market intelligence, referral data, CRM information, financial information, and operational performance measures to guide strategy and decision-making.
• Ability to establish and monitor meaningful key performance indicators and translate performance data into actionable strategies.
• Strong financial acumen, including budgeting, forecasting, resource allocation, and outcome measurement.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, develop, coach, and hold accountable high-performing teams.
• Ability to influence organizational outcomes through collaboration, including in areas where direct reporting authority does not exist.
• Strong critical-thinking, problem-solving, negotiation, relationship-management, and decision-making skills.
• Working knowledge of healthcare regulatory and compliance considerations related to business development, marketing, referral-source relationships, contracting, and community outreach.
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, presentation, facilitation, and executive communication skills.
• Ability to communicate effectively with executive leadership, governing bodies, healthcare professionals, employees, referral sources, and external partners.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and the ability to effectively utilize CRM, business intelligence, market analytics, and other business development technologies.

Experience

• Seven (7) to ten (10) years of progressive experience in business development, healthcare strategy, sales, market development, strategic partnerships, healthcare operations, or a related field.
• Minimum of five (5) years of progressive leadership experience, including responsibility for developing teams, managing performance, and achieving measurable organizational outcomes.
• Healthcare experience strongly preferred, particularly within hospice, palliative care, post-acute care, health systems, managed care, physician networks, or related healthcare environments.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing growth strategies, building strategic relationships, and using market and performance data to drive business decisions.

License / Certification

• Valid driver's license and ability to travel throughout the organization's service area, as applicable.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Marketing, Finance, or a related field preferred; master's degree preferred.

Other Requirements

The knowledge, skills and abilities listed above are typically acquired through the levels of education and experience listed. However, any equivalent combination of education and/or experience, which provide an applicant with the listed knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the essential duties and responsibilities of the job, is acceptable.

This description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this role. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications, or working conditions required of employees in this position. The organization reserves the right to modify or amend the duties of the position or to require that additional tasks be performed as organizational needs change. This description does not constitute a contract of employment, and employment with the organization is at-will, meaning either the employee or the organization may terminate the relationship at any time, with or without cause or notice.