Director, Specialty Marketing

Overview

The Director, Specialty Marketing leads Dental Care Alliance (DCA)'s comprehensive marketing strategy for its specialty dental practices. Reporting to the VP, Marketing Operations & Local Growth, this Director is accountable for developing locally relevant growth plans that integrate referring-provider relationships with direct-to-patient acquisition, digital and local marketing, reputation, and other appropriate growth opportunities. The role is responsible for Marketing's measurable contribution to specialty patient volume and production or revenue, while recognizing that completed care also depends on practice operations and clinical capacity. The Director directly leads a geographically dispersed field team of Referral Marketing Managers and Field Marketers focused on referral network development and provider engagement. This leader must be able to build an effective relationship-driven referral program while also guiding the broader marketing mix for specialty practices.

Responsibilities

Own and lead integrated marketing planning for assigned specialty practices and service lines; develop differentiated strategies based on referral dynamics, patient demand, specialty mix, competitive position, access, provider capacity, and local economics. 2. Balance provider-referral marketing with appropriate direct-to-patient programs, including digital acquisition, local search, practice reputation, patient education, community outreach, and specialty-specific campaigns. 3. Evaluate practice-level performance and growth opportunities; turn referral, scheduling, new-patient, and financial data into prioritized marketing recommendations and market-specific action plans, rather than simply responding to practice requests. 4. Design and direct referral growth strategies that strengthen relationships with referring general dentists and other appropriate sources; segment, prioritize, develop, and reactivate referring-provider relationships by market and specialty. 5. Guide the field team in executing disciplined referral outreach, provider education, relationship-building visits, professional events, and approved communications that emphasize clinical collaboration and ease of referral. 6. Partner with specialty providers and Operations to improve referral experience and continuity, including referral intake, appointment access, communication with referring offices, and follow-up processes; escalate operational barriers to the accountable teams. 7. Lead, coach, and hold accountable the Referral Marketing Managers (full-time) and Field Marketers (part-time), with team size and assignments based on DCA's approved staffing plan and market needs. 8. Establish expectations for territory planning, referral-source prioritization, outreach quality, relationship management, activity documentation, business reviews, and measurable results; develop staff marketing judgment and consultative influence

Build strong working partnerships with Practice Managers, Field Operations Leaders, Regional Clinical Leaders, and specialty providers; ensure the team gives knowledgeable, practical marketing guidance and delivers on commitments. 10. Partner with the VP, Patient Acquisition and channel specialists on specialty marketing mix, target audiences, campaign priorities, investment recommendations, and performance; centralized Patient Acquisition retains ownership of paid-media channel strategy and execution. 11. Coordinate specialty-specific creative, web content, reputation, lifecycle engagement, local activation, and field communications with the appropriate central Marketing teams; maintain consistent brand, clinical, and service-line accuracy. 12. Align plans with operational realities such as lead handling, referral intake, provider availability, scheduling lead times, patient affordability, and treatment readiness; distinguish marketing demand shortfalls from access or capacity constraints. 13. Manage specialty marketing investments within budgets and financial guardrails approved by the CMO; make or recommend spending decisions according to delegated authority and company policy, with transparent tracking of commitments and budget-to-actual performance. 14. Use referral and direct-to-patient performance data to recommend market- and specialty-specific resource allocation; collaborate with Patient Acquisition on proposed channel and marketing-mix changes. 15. Establish recurring performance reviews, field reporting, clear action owners and follow-through; reconcile material growth and financial measures with Analytics, Finance, and Operations where available.

01 Specialty Growth Strategy Builds growth plans that blend referral development with direct-to-patient marketing.

02 Referral Relationship Building Develops lasting relationships with referring providers and specialty practice leaders.

03 Field Team Leadership Leads and coaches a geographically dispersed referral and field marketing team.

04 Commercial Judgment Uses referral trends, capacity, and revenue data to prioritize specialty marketing investments.

05 Collaborative Influence Partners with providers, Operations, and Clinical Leadership to turn opportunities into results.

Qualifications

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS • Education: Bachelor's degree in Marketing, Business, Communications, or a related discipline required; an equivalent combination of education and directly relevant experience may be considered. Master's degree a plus. • Experience: 8+ years of progressive experience in marketing or business development, including substantial responsibility for provider referral development, specialty healthcare marketing, regional or multi-location marketing, or another relationship-driven growth model. • 3+ years of direct people-management experience, ideally leading geographically dispersed field marketing, referral development, or provider relations teams. • Demonstrated ability to develop a comprehensive growth strategy that blends referral-based and direct-to-consumer marketing, not just referral representative activity or event execution. • Strong analytical and commercial judgment: able to interpret referral-source trends, patient acquisition performance, practice capacity, campaign economics, and associated revenue data, and translate findings into actionable priorities. • Proven effectiveness advising clinical and operational stakeholders, influencing without direct authority, coaching teams, managing budgets, and building productive provider relationships. • Preferred: Experience in dental specialties such as oral and maxillofacial surgery, endodontics, periodontics, orthodontics, or implant-focused care, or in another provider-referral-dependent healthcare service. • Preferred: Experience with multi-site healthcare organizations, specialty practice integration's, local digital patient acquisition, CRM/referral tracking, and provider relationship management tools.