Principal Medical Writer - Publications

Reports to Scientific Team Lead or Scientific Director MSS

Job summary

As a Principal Medical Writer, you will take leadership of large projects/specific workstreams across a range of medical communications deliverables and will be responsible for the quality and scientific integrity of all outputs delivered by the team. You will also be pivotal in coaching and mentoring of MSS team members to foster therapy area, content delivery and medical communications environment expertise.

Essential duties and responsibilities

• Ensuring that your work, and that of your team, is of high quality, scientifically accurate, appropriate to the target audience, across multiple different project types, and meets the client’s needs and conforms to any industry guidelines
• Serving as the lead scientific contact for your clients and experts, building key relationships with existing clients and stakeholders, and contributing to new business opportunities
• Providing scientific support and guidance along with strategic input into accounts, actively seeking to add value and working closely with the account team to ensure projects are completed on time and within budget
• Providing effective and proactive communication with team members within and across functions, clients, authors, faculty, and vendors
• Providing content support and leading new business opportunities, such as proposals and presentations
• Identifying and anticipating any problems or resource limitations that could jeopardise the delivery of projects on-time, on-budget or with sufficient quality
• Provision of accurate estimates of budgeted hours, and proactive informing of Client Services colleagues when projects are at risk of going over budget or out of scope
• Maintaining knowledge in relevant therapy areas, industry guidelines and best practices
• Managing, motivating and inspiring the medical writing team to excel and to actively promote their individual growth and development
• Coaching and mentoring of junior colleagues, proactive provision of feedback to relevant Line Managers
• Contribution to the establishment of best practices across relevant accounts, to ensure the highest possible standards in content and client service, levels of consistency, efficiencies and cost-effectiveness
• Submission of accurate and timely timesheet records

For line managers

• Provision of effective line management, supporting the career and personal development of assigned line reports
• Ensuring all line reports undergo performance review and have appropriate objectives and development plans in place
• Rapid addressing of under-performance and initiation of active management plans to support individuals as required

Experience, skills and qualifications

• Experience as a Senior Medical Writer in a medcomms, healthcare agency or pharma environment 
• Excellent writing and reviewing skills; strong coaching and mentoring skills; outstanding attention-to-detail; strong project, time and client management skills; excellent interpersonal and communication skills; proactivity; solutions focus
• Demonstrated ability to forge strong stakeholder relationships, take leadership of large, complex projects, ensure the quality of outputs developed by other team members
• Previous line management and/or mentoring experience essential
• Experience across a broad range of medical communication activities
• Ability to work independently, with minimal supervision
• Ability to pick up on new therapy areas quickly and to work across multiple accounts
• A flexible, proactive approach with the ability to multi-task and adapt quickly to change, work under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Able to produce documents in Word, PowerPoint and Excel to an advanced standard, and in compliance with the appropriate style guide (e.g. OPEN Health Medical Communications, client or external publisher)
• Advanced understanding of the ABPI Code of Practice and thorough familiarity with AMA editorial style and medical terminology
• Graduate in life sciences (ideally biomedical or related degree eg. Pharmacy, Medicine), higher degree preferred
• Previous medical writing experience in a medical communications agency essential

Travel Requirements

• As required by business needs

About OPEN Health

OPEN Health unites deep scientific knowledge with wide-ranging specialist expertise to unlock possibilities that improve health outcomes and patient wellbeing. Working in partnership with our clients, we embrace our different perspectives and strengths to deliver fresh thinking and solutions that make a difference. 

OPEN Health is a flexible global organization that solves complex healthcare challenges across HEOR and market access, medical communications and creative omnichannel campaigns. 

What we offer:

As a global organization, OPEN Health is committed to supporting our employees and their families through a comprehensive benefits program

• Competitive pay, generous paid vacation and holidays, and health insurance programs across all our locations
• Ongoing training and development opportunities which foster and shape your individual career path
• An active and growing commitment to bettering the communities our employees call home through our Corporate Social Responsibility program
• The opportunity to thrive in a global, collaborative environment while working every day to improve health outcomes and patient wellbeing
• Diverse, inclusive culture that encourages you to bring your whole self to work

If we sound like the sort of business environment in which you would thrive, then we would love to hear from you.

OPEN Health does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, colour, religion, age, national origin, marital status, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other reason prohibited by law in provision of employment opportunities and benefits.