Head of Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations

We are looking for a seasoned public and government affairs/advocacy/stakeholder engagement expert to lead the EIT Health Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations (PASR) function. PASR is responsible for Public Affairs, the EIT Health Think Tank, Strategic Alliance Development (ie, collaboration with 3rd party organisations), and the identification of complementary funding instruments. Together, these activities aim to shape the external environment so that it is conducive to health innovation which will improve people’s lives, while supporting Europe to flourish economically and grow sustainably. Ultimately, relevant stakeholder engagement at both the EU, regional and national level will position EIT Health as a vital instrument to support the transformation of health. The identification of activities prone to contribute to the organisation’s future sustainability is also key.

The Head of PASR will drive and be part of a pan-European Public Affairs and Stakeholder Relations (PASR) Team at EIT Health, composed of PASR professionals at all EIT Health Co-Location Centres (eight in total) and the central office in Munich, Germany. The Central Office and Regional team share the accountability for devising the broader EIT Health PASR Strategy against the organisational goals: the central office team drives the corporate pan-EU EIT Health PASR strategy and tactical plan and the Regional PASR Leads have responsibility for the strategy and tactical plan at local and regional levels.

The Head of PASR will provide specialist public and government affairs advice, expertise and guidance to the organisation’s leadership and wider PASR function at both a strategic and operational level. They will collaborate and align across the organisation by identifying synergies and interdependencies across related disciplines (e.g., Communications), with EIT and other Knowledge Innovation Communities (KICs) and as relevant, with EIT Health partner organisations.

**CORE RESPONSIBILITIES**:
The EIT Health Head of PASR will be responsible for developing and implementing - together with and via the PASR Team - an effective, strategically driven, proactive and reactive stakeholder engagement plan targeting diverse stakeholders to position EIT Health as a leading instrument - leveraging the network’s assets - to tackle society’s biggest healthcare challenges within the health innovation landscape.

The main responsibilities of the PASR function at EIT Health are:
PUBLIC AFFAIRS - Build upon the growing recognition of EIT Health amongst relevant actors as a key instrument to meet healthcare policy priorities and driver of societal impact, and increase advocacy for the organisation amongst key decision makers;
THINK TANK - Generate ‘added-value’ to the broader healthcare innovation landscape by enhancing contributions to healthcare policy development, engaging in relevant thought leadership/knowledge and insight generation through the activities of the EIT Health Think Tank

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES - Identify cooperation and collaboration opportunities with other relevant third-party organisations with a common shared agenda to improve patient outcomes, drive healthcare system efficiency and resilience;
FUNDING - Identify relevant synergies and complementarities with national and EU instruments; position EIT Health as key contributor to meet shared and strategically relevant ambitions; Identify potential private and public funding opportunities and sources to drive organisational growth and effectiveness in line with the overarching sustainability strategy;
Core responsibilities for the Head of PASR thus include to:
Lead, develop and implement a strategic stakeholder engagement plan targeting key external actors at the pan-European/EU level e.g., European Commission, healthcare/innovation stakeholders and instruments, key opinion leaders and relevant organisations (e.g., patient advocacy groups, etc.) to drive increased recognition, advocacy and positioning within the research and innovation landscape.

Lead, develop and implement an engagement strategy focused on key strategically relevant funding bodies/actors at EU level to support the EIT Health sustainability strategy; include other funding and investment/sponsorship opportunities within the private and public sector

Oversee the meetings programme - 1:1 or in a group setting, with relevant EU level actors to raise awareness, inform, exchange ideas and initiate/continue dialogue on relevant topics

Steer the EIT Health pan-EU PASR Team and other relevant committees e.g., the EIT XKIC EU Affairs Public Engagement Group, projects and initiatives including by contributing to the definition of structures, objectives and action plans

Oversee strategic relevance/content/programme development for policy focused events for engagement/contribution/participation opportunities

Define and oversee the development of strategically and topically relevant collateral for external outreac