Principal Medical Writer

GSK; Mississauga; Hybrid; CAD 118,000 - 168,000; Full time

Job summary

GSK is seeking a Principal Medical Writer to own complex safety writing deliverables end-to-end, translating safety data into clear outputs for regulatory use. You will lead cross-functional teams, manage timelines, and mentor writers in a global matrix, contributing to process improvements and tool adoption.

The role is hybrid, on-site in Canada part of the week and remote for the remainder, with a competitive CAD salary range and a focus on patient impact and continuous learning.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences or related field required.
• Advanced communication of complex safety data to regulatory authorities.
• Experience writing regulatory safety documents with strong attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Lead preparation of complex clinical and post-market safety documents (DSURs, PSURs/PBRERs, RMPs, etc.).
• Manage timelines, stakeholders, and ensure high-quality safety deliverables.
• Mentor/co-authors and drive continuous improvement in medical writing processes.

Skills

Safety writing

Regulatory writing

Stakeholder management

Clinical safety data interpretation

English communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in life sciences / related field

Advanced degree (PhD / PharmD / MSc / MPH)

Tools

Authoring tools

Regulatory submission tools

Job description

At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success. We’re uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.

Find out more:

Position Summary

The Principal Medical Writer is a seasoned expert who owns complex safety writing deliverables end-to-end. In this role, they independently lead the authoring of high-impact safety documents—such as aggregate reports and Risk Management Plans (RMPs)—translating complex safety data and analyses into clear, compelling outputs. They are accountable for driving timelines, managing stakeholders, and ensuring the quality of safety deliverables that address important safety issues. Beyond day-to-day delivery, this role is a key champion for continuous improvement, best practices, and the smart adoption of new tools and technologies in the safety writing space.

Responsibilities

This role will provide YOU the opportunity to lead key activities to progress YOUR career. These responsibilities include some of the following:

• Independently lead preparation of complex clinical and post-market safety documents (e.g., DSURs, PSURs/PBRERs, ACOs, PADERs/PAERs, RMPs, and responses to regulatory authority questions), with strong hands-on experience across all key aggregate safety documents.
• Operate effectively within a global, complex matrix organization, working autonomously and confidently influencing stakeholders on process discipline, quality standards, and "how" work should be done.
• Lead cross-functional teams to develop content strategy, coordinate contributions, manage review schedules and timelines, and ensure high-quality, fit-for-purpose documents that accurately reflect safety, clinical, and statistical data and meet GSK and global/regional/local regulatory requirements.
• Provide oversight to co-authors, vendor writers, and teams of writers—serving as a mentor/buddy, ensuring the quality of contributions, and leading initiatives to improve medical writing processes, including effective use of authoring/review tools and other automation/AI-enabled technology platforms.

Why You?

This role is hybrid. You will work on-site in Canada part of the week and remotely the remainder. Exact on-site days will be agreed with your manager.

Basic Qualifications

We are seeking professionals with the following required skills and qualifications to help us achieve our goals

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, health sciences, pharmacy, nursing or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of advanced medical/regulatory safety writing experience in pharmaceutical, biotech or clinical research settings, including summarization and interpretation of complex data and independent preparation of complex clinical and safety documents for regulatory use.
• Advanced understanding of, and ability to apply, statistical, regulatory and medical communication concepts needed to independently write complex safety documents.
• In-depth working knowledge of relevant regulatory guidance (e.g., ICH, GVP, FDA, EMA) pertaining to clinical trial conduct, pharmacovigilance, and document-specific requirements, as well as Good Clinical Practice (GCP).
• Strong understanding of core cross-functional clinical research roles and procedures (e.g., safety, regulatory, clinical, epidemiology, statistics and programming) and how they relate to document strategy and operational preparation.
• Experience across multiple therapeutic areas, with confidence to quickly dive into new areas without extensive lead time.
• Proven ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines in a fast-paced, global/matrix environment, working autonomously while effectively influencing stakeholders.
• Strong written and verbal English communication skills and excellent attention to detail.

Preferred Qualifications

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus

• Advanced degree (PhD, PharmD, MSc, MPH) or equivalent scientific training.
• Advanced safety writing skills with expertise across most key safety document types and experience leading regulatory submission projects or preparing dossier modules.
• Comfort interpreting statistical outputs and collaborating with statisticians on tables and data displays.
• Highly collaborative and capable of leading cross-functional, multicultural, and hybrid/distributed teams across regions—negotiating solutions, advising on document structure and content, and working effectively with diverse stakeholders (e.g., health authorities, external partners, contractors/CROs, and patients).
• Experience working with external partners, contractors or clinical research organizations, including vendor oversight and coordination.
• Prior mentoring, training or people development experience, supporting the growth of less experienced writers and team members.
• Able to independently lead multiple projects simultaneously and deliver multiple high-quality documents on schedule.
• Advanced computer skills and general computer literacy, including comfort with collaboration tools and remote-working technologies.
• Excellent English language proficiency, both verbal and written.

What You Will Gain

You will join a team focused on patient impact and continuous learning. You will develop technical and strategic skills in regulatory writing, submission planning and cross-functional collaboration. Your work will shape development programs and contribute to better outcomes for patients.

Skills

Clinical Development, Clinical Trial Designs, Communication, Customer Service, Decision Making, Emotional Intelligence, Influencing Without Authority, Learning Agility, Literature Reviews, Medical Writing, Pharmaceutical Industry, Presentation Techniques, Regulatory Submissions, Scientific Writing, Strategic Thinking

In compliance with Ontario's provincial pay transparency legislation, this job posting includes a salary range to support equitable and informed hiring practices. The annual compensation for this role is CAD118,000 to CAD168,000 , determined based on experience, qualifications, and internal equity. GSK is dedicated to promoting transparency and fairness throughout our recruitment process. Salary ranges for other locations are shown because some markets have pay transparency laws that require salary information on job postings, and those locations are potential job sites for this role. If salary ranges are not displayed in the job posting for a specific location or country, the relevant compensation will be discussed during the recruitment process.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law. GSK is committed to accommodating persons with disabilities. If you need accommodation at any stage of the application process or want more information on our accommodation policies, please contact us at [e-mail]. Please do not send resumes to this e-mail and instead apply through the online application process of this posting.