Principal Medical Writer

Ogilvy UK; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare communication agency in the UK seeks a Principal Medical Writer to lead scientific content development for a high-profile, strategic account. The role requires a deep understanding of medical communications, collaboration with global specialists, and the ability to craft high-quality scientific narratives for impactful health outcomes. This position offers hybrid working flexibility and numerous employee benefits.

Benefits

25 days holiday plus birthday off

Enhanced parental leave

Generous pension scheme

Private medical cover or dental cover

Employee Assistance Programme

Free online coaching

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in a medical communications agency setting.
• In-depth understanding of various therapy areas.
• Ability to engage in high-level scientific discussions.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the drug development process.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of scientifically accurate medical materials.
• Craft high science content for presentations at scientific congresses.
• Collaborate with client Medical Directors and healthcare professionals.

Skills

Experience in medical communications agency

High-level scientific discussion ability

Knowledge of pharmaceutical industry

Expertise in Immunology and Dermatology

Job description

Ogilvy was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy. David created a culture that deeply respects and cares about its people and clients. Our mission is to inspire people and brands to make an impact and we are committed to attracting, growing, and retaining the best talent in the industry.

Ogilvy Health UK is made up of healthcare communication specialists across the disciplines of medical education and communications; brain sciences; brand promotion; digital and social; strategic planning; public relations and creative/design. We believe we are like no other: we blaze new trails; we encourage a culture of creativity and innovation; we challenge, and we change; and we recognise and reward our team.

In medical education, our approach is founded on expertise that combines biomedical science, learning theory and behaviour change to create impactful medical and professional education.

We’re‘Scientifically Grounded, Creatively Driven’

Principal Medical Writer, Ogilvy Health UK

Ogilvy Health is seeking an exceptional Principal Medical Writer to join our dynamic team in the UK. This is a unique opportunity to lead on a high-profile, strategic account that spans comprehensive medical education and brand marketing communications. At Ogilvy Health, we combine scientific depth with creative communications to make a real impact on health outcomes. You'll join a collaborative environment where innovation thrives, and your expertise will be valued in shaping compelling scientific narratives for leading pharmaceutical brands.

The Opportunity

As a Principal Medical Writer, you will play a pivotal role in driving the scientific narrative and content strategy for a key, fast-growing account. This account represents a significant investment and covers a diverse and extensive range of project types, delivered by an integrated medical education and brand marketing communications team. You will be instrumental in developing high value scientific content across various platforms, working closely with clients and top-tier global specialists.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Leading the development of scientifically accurate, strategically effective, and highly engaging medical education and brand marketing communication materials.
• Crafting high science content, including disease state overviews, unmet needs, and complex clinical data, often for presentation by Key Opinion Leaders at major scientific congresses.
• Collaborating effectively with client Medical Directors and global specialist healthcare professionals to discuss and shape scientific content.
• Ensuring all content adheres to relevant industry guidelines, including ABPI and Sunshine Act requirements.
• Working seamlessly within an integrated MedEd and wider Health Advertising team to deliver cohesive solutions.

What You'll Bring

• Demonstrable experience in a medical communications agency setting.
• Indepth understanding of a broad range of therapy areas, including disease specifics, treatment options, patient pathways, mechanisms of action of drug options, and complex scientific data.
• Ability to engage in high-level scientific discussions with Medical Directors (client-side) and global specialist healthcare professionals.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and the drug development process, spanning pre and post-launch environments.
• Extensive experience in delivering scientifically robust and strategically impactful content for pharmaceutical clients.
• Expertise in writing high-science content on disease state, unmet need, and clinical data on behalf of top-tier Key Opinion Leaders, often for presentation at scientific congresses.
• Experience in liaising with global clinicians and other healthcare professionals within permitted guidelines.
• Thorough knowledge of and compliance with key industry guidelines (e.g., Sunshine Act) and a working knowledge of ABPI guidelines.
• An understanding of statistical analyses.
• Specific expertise in Immunology and Dermatology would be desirable

Join a friendly, non-hierarchical, and eclectic team united by a shared commitment to doing the best work of our lives (it's one of our values!). Beyond client work, you'll have opportunities to engage with our vibrant culture and social teams, and contribute to our fantastic DEI initiatives, championing diversity across our agency and industry.

We offer a flexible working hybrid model: 2 days in the office (all-agency anchor days for collaboration and socialising) and 3 days working remotely from wherever you work best.

• 25 days holiday + your birthday off and a paid volunteering day - after 2 years service you can purchase up to an additional 5 days per year
• Enhanced parental leave
• A generous pension scheme - you pay in 4% we pay 6%, following probation contributions are matched up to 10.5% (17.5% in total)
• Choose from either Private Medical Cover (Bupa from day one) OR Dental cover OR a monthly leisure allowance of £45 to spend on your health & wellbeing
• A fantastic Employee Assistance Programme provided by Telus which offers brilliant support, expert advice and specialist counselling
• Help at Hand - quick free access to a remote GP, mental health support, physio or a medical 2nd opinion
• Free 1-2-1 Coaching - online coaching for your professional or personal growth provided by Thrive Partners

Our ambition is to attract the very best diverse talent to Ogilvy, and to be the employer of choice in the UK. We want everyone to feel welcome when they join us, and once they’re here, for them to want to stay with us, grow their career, and to feel they belong with us.

We are an equal opportunity employer and we’re committed to creating an inclusive, welcoming environment for everyone who wants to work at Ogilvy. For us, diversity, equity and inclusion is integrated into everything that we do. We believe that for creativity to flourish, everything about how we work must have diversity at its core. Your race, colour, ethnic, religion, gender, gender identity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, have no bearing on our hiring decisions, but we encourage everyone to feel free to express their true selves in an environment we are consistently striving to make as inclusive as possible.

We aim to facilitate an accessible and positive application experience for all candidates. If you require any adjustments from us to support you through the process or expect to require any adjustments to working conditions to be able to best perform in the role, please let us know. We are happy to consider all reasonable adjustments.

If you live with a disability and you would like to take advantage of our offer of a guaranteed interview under the Disability Confident Scheme, please ensure you fill out our voluntary Equal Opportunities Questionnaire when applying.

At Ogilvy we pride ourselves in our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We strive to recruit from a diverse range of candidates and create an environment which provides the right conditions for belonging. We welcome all applications regardless of race, colour, religion or belief, gender, gender identity, age, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation and physical or mental disability etc. (please note this is not an exhaustive list). We are also actively focused on encouraging greater representation by bringing more under-represented talent into our organisation. This is hugely important to us and Ogilvy has a thriving network of employee communities that exist to help everyone, no matter their background, succeed here.

In order to help us achieve this and hold ourselves accountable for progress and monitor our efforts, we invite you to answer the following questions. You are not required to answer any of them, as they are entirely voluntary. They will also not be viewable to those interviewing you as part of your application or candidate profile. If you choose to answer, please know that all data is stored separately, used in aggregate for reporting purposes and handled as per GDPR regulations.