Patient Connections Manager - Future of Cancer Care Today (FCCT)

Overview

About Future of Cancer Care Today

Future of Cancer Care Today (FCCT) helps cancer patients and families navigate the rapidly expanding landscape of cutting-edge treatment — genomic sequencing, combination therapies, personalised medicines. We provide concierge-style navigation, supplier intelligence, and treatment-ladder guidance to a small number of patients and families at a time. We are not a medical provider; care decisions stay between patients and their doctors. The premise is that helping patients access the best of what's possible today generates the learning that benefits every patient who comes after.

FCCT is incubated by the Sijbrandij Foundation, founded by Sid Sijbrandij (founder of GitLab). The Foundation backs a small portfolio of mission-driven initiatives in healthcare and beyond, with a focus on building durable infrastructure rather than one-off philanthropy.

About this role

The Patient Connections Manager will be FCCT's most senior in-person leader on Grand Bahama. This is a working leadership role — you'll lead the Patient Connections Associates team while carrying your own patient caseload, translating clinical and research material for families, and setting the operational standard for how FCCT engages with the people it serves.

Before anything else: your first responsibility is to become proficient in the caseload work itself. Leading this team means being able to do the work at the standard the team is held to — the FCCT three-pillar framework of creative physician, comprehensive diagnostics, and therapeutics in parallel, the 24-hour follow-up SLA, the case documentation discipline, the honest scientific translation to families. You will complete the same foundational curriculum the Associates go through, and you will build your caseload proficiency alongside them.

Formal leadership responsibility ramps up as your caseload proficiency is established. This is not a role where leadership sits above the substantive patient work; it grows out of it. Expect your first three months to be predominantly focused on becoming fluent in FCCT's science, operational rhythm, and emotional register — the same journey the Associates make.

You will report to Bayli DiVita Dean, FCCT's Director of Patient Navigation, who oversees the broader patient-connections function. Bayli will remain the escalation point for complex clinical questions and will work closely with you on team development, hiring, performance, and how the function evolves. Your role is to hold day-to-day leadership on the ground in Freeport — the person who sets the tone, coordinates the team, coaches the Associates as they build their own caseloads, and represents FCCT locally.

What you will do

During your first three months

• Complete the FCCT foundational curriculum — targeted video content, playbook reading, case-study review, and case-work observation.
• Shadow Bayli, Poornima, and senior team members on intake calls, family briefings, and case reviews.
• Learn the case-management workflow using Airtable, the FCCT supplier reference, and the standardised documentation practices the team uses.
• Take live calls with Bayli or Poornima observing, followed by structured post-call review.
• Build early relationships with the Associates as their colleague first, and observe how the team is functioning — what's working, where the gaps are, what needs building.

Once running your own caseload and leading the team

• Own a caseload of families at various stages of their cancer journeys — the same substantive work the Associates do. Serve as their primary point of contact for research syntheses, options-surfacing, and coordination. Honour the 24-hour follow-up SLA and the case documentation discipline the team is held to.
• Lead the Patient Connections Associates in Freeport day-to-day. Run team rhythms — case reviews, learning sessions, one-to-ones — that keep quality high and support each Associate's development.
• Coach Associates through the training programme, and continue their development beyond it. You'll be the person they turn to for the day-to-day operational and developmental questions.
• Hold the team to FCCT's operational standards: 24-hour response to families, 24-hour case documentation, monthly contribution to the FCCT playbook library and supplier reference (at least one playbook and five suppliers per Associate per month).
• Escalate complex clinical questions to Bayli and Poornima using the FCCT escalation protocol — you are not the final clinical decision point. Handle in-team operational escalations directly.
• Work closely with Bayli on team development, hiring for the second cohort when the time comes, performance conversations, and how the FCCT patient-connections function evolves.
• Anchor FCCT's physical presence in Freeport. The office should feel like a place where serious work happens and where families feel appropriately held.
• Represent FCCT locally — with clinicians, referral partners, visiting doctors, and the wider Freeport community.

Who you are

• An experienced formal manager. You have direct people-management experience — hiring, performance conversations, coaching, accountability for team development. Former nursing managers, clinical team leads, research group heads, or programme managers with formal direct-reports experience would all fit. This is not a first-time manager role, and mentoring or informal team leadership is not the same as formal management responsibility.
• Scientifically literate. You have a background in life sciences, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, bioinformatics, or a related field. You are comfortable reading a molecular tumour report, a trial protocol, or a scientific paper — or you are ready to become comfortable quickly.
• Emotionally steady. You can hold hard conversations without deflecting into false reassurance. You can sit with silence when a family is composing themselves. You can absorb difficult news and still be present in the next call — and you can hold your team members through the same.
• A strong writer. Much of FCCT's value is delivered in writing — follow-up emails, case summaries, research notes, question banks. Clear, warm, precise prose is a core skill of this role, both in your own work and in what you'll expect from the team.
• Curious and calibrated. The oncology field is moving fast. You keep learning because the field asks you to — and you know how to bring your team along with you.
• Comfortable working within limits. You understand that FCCT is not a medical provider and never crosses that line, even when families are pushing for answers only a clinician can give. You hold that boundary warmly, and you help your team hold it too.
• A builder's instinct. FCCT is small and much of what makes the work good hasn't been fully codified yet. You will help build the way of working, not just deliver it — and help the team contribute to FCCT's playbooks and supplier reference as they encounter cases that surface gaps.
• Rooted in Freeport. This role is in-person in Freeport. Bahamian nationals are preferred, particularly those already resident on Grand Bahama or committed to being so from day one. For exceptional candidates from elsewhere, work permit sponsorship and relocation support are available — but the role, more than the Associate roles, needs someone whose presence in Freeport is durable, not provisional.

What this role is - and isn't

A few clarifications, because the shape of the role matters and past experience has shown some framings tend to attract the wrong kind of applicant:

• This is not an office manager role. You will lead people doing meaningful clinical-research-adjacent work, and you'll be doing the same work yourself. Administrative coordination is a small part of the job, not the substance of it.
• This is not a purely managerial role. You will run your own caseload alongside leading the team, and your first months are predominantly patient work as you build proficiency. If you're looking for a pure people-management role, this isn't it.
• This is not a policy or advocacy role. The team's energy is in serving individual patients well, and building the intelligence and infrastructure that lets us do that consistently. Candidates with public health, health-systems, or health-policy orientations will not find their strengths well-used here — the work is at the individual patient level, not the systems level.
• This is not a clinical practice role. FCCT is not a medical provider. You will not diagnose, prescribe, or make treatment decisions. Your work supports the family and the family's chosen doctors.
• This is not a health equity or access-focused role. FCCT does substantive individual patient work - the framing is treatment quality and rigour, not health system reform or population-level access.

Requirements

Requirements

• Formal people-management experience. A minimum of three years managing direct reports in a professional setting, including hiring, performance conversations, coaching, and accountability for team development. This is not a first-time manager role, and informal team leadership or mentoring — however substantive — is not the same as formal management responsibility.
• Substantive scientific or clinical background. A Bachelor's or Master's degree in life sciences, nursing, medicine, pharmacy, bioinformatics, or a related field — or substantive equivalent professional experience in clinical research, healthcare delivery, or patient navigation. You should be comfortable reading a clinical trial protocol, a molecular tumour report, or a scientific paper.
• Direct patient-facing or family-facing experience. You have worked directly with patients, families, or comparable groups in some substantive capacity. Roles entirely at a research bench, in policy analysis, or without human contact do not meet this bar.
• Strong written communication. A meaningful part of the FCCT role is writing — case summaries, family briefings, supplier evaluations, research syntheses. Your CV and covering note should reflect the same clarity, warmth, and precision the role calls for.
• Emotional steadiness. You can hold hard conversations without deflecting into false reassurance. You can be present with families in emotionally difficult circumstances and support your team through the same.
• Commitment to Freeport, in person. This role is based in Freeport, Grand Bahama, and cannot be done remotely or hybrid. Bahamian nationals are preferred, particularly those already resident on Grand Bahama. For candidates from elsewhere, work permit sponsorship and relocation support are available — but this role, more than the Associate roles, needs someone whose presence in Freeport is durable.
• Professional English fluency. Both written and spoken.

Additional strengths

None of the following are required, but each strengthens a candidacy where present.

• Oncology or cancer-adjacent experience. Prior work in oncology clinical practice, oncology research, cancer patient navigation, or clinical trials in oncology settings. Familiarity with modern precision-oncology concepts is a plus.
• Small-team or startup experience. Prior experience in a small mission-driven team where you helped build or shape the way of working, rather than inheriting a fully-formed operational structure. Comfort with startup pace and ambiguity matters.
• Track record as a builder. Specific examples of building something from scratch — a process, a methodology, a programme, a piece of infrastructure — rather than only operating within established systems.
• Published research or comparable output. Peer-reviewed publications, first-author work, standards-setting contributions, or comparable evidence of substantive intellectual output.
• Multilingual capability. Fluency in a second language — Spanish, French, Italian, or German particularly useful given FCCT's international patient base.

Where this role isn't a strong fit

A few honest signals worth flagging, so you can assess your own fit:

• If your background is primarily in public health, health-systems reform, or health-policy work, this role is likely not the right fit. FCCT's work is at the individual patient level, not the systems level.
• If you're looking for a pure people-management role without individual-contributor responsibilities, this isn't it. The Manager carries their own patient caseload alongside leading the team.
• If you're stepping into your first management role, this is not the right stage. FCCT needs someone with formal management experience they can bring on day one.
• If you're looking for a clinical practice role, this isn't it. FCCT is not a medical provider and doesn't diagnose, prescribe, or make treatment decisions.
• If the appeal is primarily lifestyle-driven — Bahamian climate, tropical setting — rather than the mission and the work, the role is unlikely to sustain you and will likely not be a good match.

Benefits

• Base salary is expected to fall between US$80-95k depending on experience and background. In addition, the role includes:
• Comprehensive private health insurance for you and your immediate family
• Employer contribution to a supplementary pension plan
• Annual professional development budget
• Statutory Bahamian leave entitlements, scaling with tenure
• Relocation support for candidates moving to Freeport from within the Bahamas or internationally