Principal Medical Writer

Ogilvy Health; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare communications network is looking for a Principal Medical Writer to oversee the development of scientific content and lead a high-performing team. You will be responsible for designing educational programmes, ensuring high-quality content delivery, and managing client interactions. Candidates must have extensive agency experience and strong leadership skills. This role offers a supportive environment with excellent benefits, including enhanced parental leave and a generous pension scheme.

Benefits

25 days holiday + birthday off

Enhanced parental leave

Generous pension scheme

Private Medical or Dental Cover

Employee Assistance Programme

Free 1-2-1 Coaching

Qualifications

• Extensive agency experience, with time served as a Senior Medical Writer.
• A track record of scientific and editorial leadership for large/complex accounts.
• Strong leadership skills and high emotional intelligence.

Responsibilities

• Designing and creating medical education/communication programmes.
• Directing delivery of high‑quality scientific content.
• Leading scientific discussions with clients and external experts.

Skills

Leadership and communication skills

Scientific and editorial leadership

Ability to deliver events

Understanding of pharmaceutical regulations

Job description

About Ogilvy

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 was recognised as the most creative and most effective agency network in the world, ranking #1 on WARC’s Creative 100 and Effective 100 lists. The WARC 100 lists act as an industry benchmark for success based on results from the most prestigious global and regional industry competitions.

Ogilvy Health is one of the largest global networks in healthcare communications and provides strategic, integrated communication solutions for our clients, including many of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry. 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’.

About the Role

We’re looking for a seasoned Principal Medical Writer to join us to oversee the development of robust scientific content and the onsite delivery of an innovative and award‑winning standalone event. This is a pivotal role which will lead on the development and delivery of the scientific programme, whilst overseeing a 5‑person high‑performing scientific services team.

What You’ll Do

• Designing and creating the full range of medical education/communication programmes for implementation under their guidance
• Directing delivery of high‑quality scientific content and providing internal leadership of editorial teams across several accounts
• Leading scientific discussions with clients and external experts, face to face and on calls
• Developing scientific strategy to inform tactical planning of accounts, both internally and with clients
• Managing editorial resource
• Driving organic growth opportunities on accounts
• Acting as scientific lead for proposals and pitches
• Line management, mentoring, coaching, and training

What You’ll Need

• Extensive agency experience, with time served as a Senior Medical Writer
• A track record of scientific and editorial leadership for large/complex accounts
• Strong leadership and communication skills, high emotional intelligence, the ability to adapt your approach according to the needs of clients and teams, and the ability to respond rapidly to situations and manage internal/external issues
• A track record of identifying organic growth and contributing scientific insight to proposals and pitches
• Ability to deliver events, and experience of digital projects
• Excellent understanding of pharmaceutical regulations, e.g. ABPI, GPP3, ICMJE

How We’ll Support You

Ogilvy celebrates its people. Fully. Enthusiastically. Unhesitatingly. We’ll empower you with the tools you’ll need to succeed. We’ll give you the autonomy to seek out new paths and better ways of doing things. We’ll support you with colleagues who are experts in their disciplines, drawn from across the Ogilvy network. And we’ll provide opportunities for you to do work of which you’ll be proud, with people you’ll be proud to call your teammates.

Benefits

• 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) 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 by Unum – 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
• A comprehensive Learning & Development programme