Director, Communications & Government Affairs (CGA) – 12 Month Fixed Term Contract

GlaxoSmithKline; London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

GSK is seeking a Director of Communications & Government Affairs for a 12-month contract, based in London. In this pivotal role, you will develop integrated communications strategies to support product launches and engage with stakeholders, ensuring GSK's innovations reach patients effectively. The ideal candidate will have a proven track record in healthcare communications, strong leadership skills, and the ability to navigate complex political landscapes.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in healthcare communications and policy.
• Experience in developing effective relationships in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Strong understanding of UK healthcare landscape.

Responsibilities

• Develop integrated CGA launch plans and advocacy strategies.
• Create and deliver high impact communications plans.
• Engage with policy stakeholders for meaningful outcomes.

Skills

strategic capability

leadership

excellent communication

influence and collaboration

Education

Educated to degree level or equivalent

Job description

Director, Communications & Government Affairs (CGA) – 12 Month Fixed Term Contract

Location – GSK HQ, UK

This is an exciting opportunity to join GSK as a Director, Communications & Government Affairs (CGA), UK Commercial (UKC) on a 12-month Contract.

As CGA Director, you will be responsible for developing and delivering integrated communications and government affairs strategies that support delivery of GSK’s UK commercial priorities.

This is a critical role supporting timely access to GSK’s innovation. Reporting to the UKC Head of Communications & Government Affairs (CGA), this position requires strong proven experience of preparing for pipeline launches. Bringing strategic vision, expert insight, effective cross-functional partnership, and the ability to deliver high impact, outcome focused communications and government affairs plans. In this role, you will navigate the needs of our UK Commercial organisation in the context of the UK environment to effectively leverage opportunities and mitigate against risk, all in pursuit of ensuring timely access and uptake of GSK medicines and vaccines to bring optimal benefit to UK patients, the NHS, and the UK economy.

As a CGA Director, you will be expected to proactively engage with communication and policy stakeholders, fostering meaningful relationships and advocacy.

You will be an integral part of our newly created Health, Value & Access function, working closely with colleagues across this integrated team as well as with our Global and Corporate CGA teams, to leverage collective expertise and maximise reach and impact. In this role you will be a trusted, strategic partner to one of our UK Business Units, playing a vital role on the BU Leadership Team, further expanding your ability to inform business strategy and support delivery of specific business objectives.

This is an exciting time for GSK in the UK. We recently moved to a new Global HQ in central London, we have an exciting pipeline coming through at pace, and we are pioneering new approaches in service of patients, the NHS and wider society.

What You'll Be Doing:

In this role, you will have the opportunity to help us define new industry leading strategies for launch readiness and how we build trusted relationships with external stakeholders to deliver meaningful outcomes for patients and support government ambitions to shift towards a prevention approach to delivering healthcare.

Specific core responsibilities will include:

• Product Launches and Advocacy: Bring significant experience of developing and delivering integrated CGA launch plans; targeted, creative, outcome driven approach.
• Craft and Execute High Impact Communications: Develop and implement both external and internal communication plans, seizing every opportunity to share pipeline advances, deliver thought leadership on topical issues and bolster advocacy for improved patient outcomes and creating a sustainable health system.
• Issues Management: Develop and lead strategies that enhance reputation and mitigate against risk, including hands-on issues management.
• Senior Leader Engagement: Provide support for senior leaders in their stakeholder engagements; speaker events, social media, media, government.
• Government Affairs Leadership: Create and deliver outcome driven government affairs strategies; proactively engage policy stakeholders and build trusted relationships that support positive change.
• Strategic Advisor: Provide trusted insights and strategic counsel to GSK UK Commercial Leaders, embedding CGA into commercial strategy, bringing the external view in, and providing analysis of what that means for our business.
• Insights & Analysis: Actively monitoring media and policy developments to ensure delivery of timely insights and analysis to the business. We can seize opportunities and mitigate against risk.
• Voice of GSK: Act as a spokesperson and representative for GSK in CGA relevant forums. You will be expected to be proactive and visible in person across key external stakeholders, attending topical events, initiating an active external engagement programme that supports specific areas of interest. Building meaningful relationships and representing a consistent voice of GSK UKC.

About You:

We are looking for a high energy individual who can bring their market preparation and launch excellence expertise to this pivotal role. Pioneering new approaches, creative thinking and helping us to differentiate GSK.

• Proven Track Record: Your track record shows strategic capability and delivery of specific outcome-based achievements in healthcare communications and policy within the pharmaceutical industry.
• Excellent Relationships: You have established relationships relevant to pharmaceutical industry and health policy and proven experience of developing effective relationships in a highly matrixed organisation.
• Leadership and Adaptability: You are ambitious, proactive, bring a progressive mindset and are ableto engage effectively. You are highly comfortable in a complex and fast-paced environment and can adapt and be agile to competing demands.
• Influence and Collaboration: Ability and capacity to influence at various organisational levels.
• Excellent Communication Skills: Highly skilled and experienced in communications, both in terms of written and verbal expression. You excel in connecting with others and building trusted, meaningful relationships.
• High Personal Accountability and Integrity: You hold yourself to the highest standards of accountability and integrity, ensuring trust and reliability in all that you do.
• Demonstrated Ability to Work Across Matrixes: You collaborate effectively with local, regional, and global franchise matrix.
• Experience of leading agency partnerships: You have experience of working strategically with agency partners to deliver high impact CGA programmes that deliver tangible outcomes.
• Independence and Multitasking: Excellent at developing high impact strategy andworking independently to deliver set objectives, handling multiple projects simultaneously. Able to take initiative and deliver results.
• Keen Business Acumen: You have well-developed commercial understanding that ensures you can make informed decisions and develop CGA strategies that align with our goals.
• UK Healthcare Expertise: good knowledge of the UK healthcare landscape and market access pathway, experience of working with or within Government on health priorities – understand the intricacies of the process of leading and delivering policy change.

Key Qualifications:

• Educated to degree level or with equivalent proven experience.
• Considerable and evidenced experience of Communications & Government Affairs experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with commercial and/or market access exposure.

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS – 15th June 2025 (EOD)

Please take a copy of the Job Description, as this will not be available post closure of the advert. When applying for this role, please use the ‘cover letter’ of the online application or your CV to describe how you meet the competencies for this role, as outlined in the job requirements above. The information that you have provided in your cover letter and CV will be used to assess your application.

Why GSK?

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

GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive. We prevent and treat disease with vaccines, specialty and general medicines. We focus on the science of the immune system and the use of new platform and data technologies, investing in four core therapeutic areas (infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/ immunology and oncology).

Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves – feeling welcome, valued, and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together.

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.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us on [e-mail] or 0808 234 4391. The helpline is available from 8.30am to 12.00 noon Monday to Friday, during bank holidays these times and days may vary.

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