Director, Grants Medical Education

📋 Description

• • As the Director, Grants & Medical Education at Eyes On Eyecare, you will be the strategic architect and driving force behind our independent medical education (IME) ecosystem. This pivotal role is responsible for the entire lifecycle of grant-funded programming, from identifying critical clinical practice gaps to building robust relationships with Medical Affairs teams, securing essential funding, and rigorously proving the educational impact of our initiatives.
• • You will operate at the crucial intersection of clinical strategy, industry partnerships, and unwavering compliance, ensuring that our educational offerings meet the highest scientific and ethical standards. Your primary mission is to secure funding for high-quality educational programs that directly address the needs and knowledge gaps within the ophthalmic community, aligning these with the strategic interests of potential supporters.
• • A core tenet of this role is maintaining a strict firewall between promotional activities and accredited education. You will ensure that every program funded adheres to the highest standards of scientific integrity and independence, free from commercial influence.
• • This is not merely a grant writing position; it is about translating complex therapeutic-area intelligence into sophisticated, impactful educational curricula designed to enhance clinician performance and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
• • If you are a strategic thinker energized by the challenge of building and scaling a compliant grant engine within a modern, data-driven healthcare technology company, this role offers a unique and rewarding career opportunity.
• • Key Responsibilities:
• • Grant Strategy, Prospecting, and Relationship Leadership:
• • Own and execute the overarching grant funding strategy across diverse therapeutic categories, including anterior segment, retina, glaucoma, dry eye, and refractive surgery.
• • Cultivate and nurture strong, lasting relationships with medical education professionals, Independent Medical Education (IME) contacts, and industry grant reviewers.
• • Proactively monitor the landscape to stay informed about supporter priorities, RFP cycles, shifts in therapeutic focus, and the competitive environment.
• • Translate market intelligence and audience insights into proactive, innovative educational concepts before formal RFP releases.
• • Collaborate closely with executive leadership to forecast educational capacity and ensure program sustainability, aligning with grant funding cycles and therapeutic-area priorities.
• • Act as the primary guardian of educational independence, ensuring all grant-funded initiatives are developed autonomously, separate from the organization's commercial sales and marketing efforts, in strict adherence to ACCME Standards for Integrity and Independence.
• • Grant Development, Writing, and Submission Excellence:
• • Lead the comprehensive development of high-quality, compliant, and strategically differentiated grant proposals.
• • Synthesize proprietary audience insights, current clinical literature, and real-world evidence to draft compelling, high-science Needs Assessments that clearly define urgent clinical practice gaps for both Optometrists (ODs) and Medical Doctors (MDs).
• • Ensure seamless alignment between the proposal narrative, the educational design of the program, and the strategy for measuring its outcomes.
• • Work cross-functionally with various teams to gather accurate program data, establish realistic timelines, plan faculty engagement, and define robust measurement frameworks.
• • Establish and refine repeatable internal systems and processes to enable the scaling of operations, aiming for the submission of approximately 10 high-quality proposals per quarter.
• • Continuously refine proposal templates, messaging frameworks, and strategic positioning to enhance win rates and overall success.
• • Educational Strategy and Program Design Input:
• • Conduct proactive gap analyses utilizing survey data, publication insights, and therapeutic intelligence to identify unmet educational needs.
• • Partner effectively with content, events, and clinical teams to shape fundable programming concepts that align with identified gaps and supporter interests.
• • Build and maintain strong relationships with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) within the optometry and ophthalmology communities.
• • Ensure that learning objectives and chosen delivery formats are strategically aligned with both sound educational science and the priorities of potential grant supporters.
• • Uphold educational independence while simultaneously ensuring the commercial viability of proposed programs.
• • Provide critical strategic input on curriculum structure, optimal delivery formats, and the selection of expert faculty.
• • Outcomes Measurement and Reporting Leadership:
• • Design, elevate, and implement a comprehensive outcomes measurement strategy, incorporating Level 5 outcomes where appropriate.
• • Ensure that polling, pre/post testing, and post-event evaluations are meticulously designed for meaningful data collection.
• • Collaborate on data analysis to produce high-impact outcomes reports that deliver actionable insights.
• • Review and refine reports to guarantee clarity, compliance, and alignment with supporter expectations.
• • Continuously improve reporting templates and the narrative storytelling around educational impact to effectively communicate value.
• • Compliance and Industry Standards Oversight:
• • Ensure all grant activities strictly comply with ACCME, COPE, and other relevant industry standards.
• • Maintain a thorough working knowledge of transparency guidelines and the critical separation of education and promotion.
• • Serve as the internal subject matter expert and advisor on grant compliance best practices.
• • Assist in building robust documentation systems designed to minimize institutional risk.
• • Systems, Forecasting, and Cross-Functional Leadership:
• • Develop and implement scalable grant tracking systems, providing clear visibility into the pipeline, submission timelines, and renewal cycles.
• • Foster strong collaboration with Content, Events, Clinical Review, Client Services, and Executive Leadership teams.
• • Create accurate quarterly grant forecasts and conduct retrospective win/loss analyses to inform future strategy.
• • Establish clear internal workflows and rhythms for concept ideation, proposal development, submission, award management, reporting, and renewal processes.
• • Who This Role Is Not For:
• • This role is not a good fit for individuals who:
• • Dislike travel, attending in-person meetings, and actively developing professional relationships.
• • Seek a primarily administrative grant writing role without strategic ownership and impact.
• • Avoid funding conversations or feel uncomfortable being directly accountable for securing funding outcomes.
• • Struggle to effectively balance commercial awareness with the strict requirements of educational compliance.
• • Require highly structured instructions rather than embracing the challenge of building and refining systems from scratch.
• • Prefer siloed work over proactive partnership and collaboration across diverse teams (content, clinical, events, leadership).
• • Dislike negotiation, navigating nuance, or engaging in healthy debate in high-stakes funding discussions.
• • Desire predictable, repetitive work rather than an evolving strategy that adapts to shifting industry priorities.