Principal Medical Writer

JR United Kingdom; Manchester; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in medical communications seeks an experienced Principal Medical Writer to lead high-quality document creation for pharmaceutical clients. This role involves building relationships with clients, managing projects, and developing junior staff, requiring strong writing and scientific skills.

Qualifications

• PhD/MD required.
• At least 5 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Fluency in English essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead medical writing projects ensuring quality content delivery.
• Review documents, providing clear feedback.
• Coach and mentor junior medical writers.

Skills

Writing Skills

Client Focus

Attention to Detail

Communication Skills

Leadership

Education

PhD/MD in medicine, life sciences, or pharmacy

Tools

Microsoft Office

SharePoint

AI-based tools

Job description

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Cactus Life Sciences (https://cactuslifesciences.com/) is a global provider of medical communications to the biopharmaceutical industry. Anchored in agility, we are focused on driving better health outcomes through timely and meaningful scientific exchange, effectively bridging the gap between data and decisions, as well as between research and real-world impact.

We are looking for experienced Principal Medical Writers who will be required to translate complex science into compelling messages to meet the needs of stakeholders using powerful evidence-based communication. You will also lead the development and implementation of original, accurate and high-quality documents, e.g. publications and clinical/regulatory documents, that meet the expectations of the client. You will be required to apply excellent writing and scientific skills and provide strategic and tactical support to continue to be a trusted advisor for clients. You are expected to use expertise, in-depth knowledge and reviewing experience to lead the continual development of medical writing colleagues.

Responsibilities:

• Build trusting, professional relationships with clients and healthcare professionals, anticipating their needs and acting independently as an agency expert
• Lead medical writing projects to deliver high-quality content on time, in scope and within budget, including budget responsibility
• Review medical writing documents, ensuring accuracy and quality of all materials produced. Give clear and constructive feedback
• Provide strategic scientific/technical input into medical writing projects as well as solutions for streamlining processes across the company
• Play an active role in the professional development, coaching and mentoring of more junior medical writers. Line management of team members
• Coordinate workload and capacity management across accounts and projects. Proactively forecast and manage medical writing capacities
• Together with colleagues from the Client Services team, grow organic business
• Support the New Business Development team with the acquisition of new business from other clients, including participation in pitch preparations and presentations
• Attend and lead client and other external meetings. Have excellent working knowledge of the product/account to enable meaningful discussions with clients and authors, including consultancy where necessary

Skills and requirement:

Business and Technical Skills

• PhD/MD in medicine, life or health sciences, or pharmacy
• At least 5 years’ relevant experience within the pharmaceutical industry, ideally within a medical communications agency
• Excellent writing and reviewing skills with the ability to interpret data quickly
• Strong client focus with excellent understanding of clients’ needs and what is required to create high-quality documents and provide outstanding solutions
• Good business sense across the whole company
• High level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Fluency in English, both written and spoken, fluency in other languages is beneficial
• Excellent user knowledge of Microsoft Office, SharePoint (or other cloud-based document management systems) and AI-based tools (especially CoPilot)

Interpersonal Skills

• Excellent communication skills to clearly express complex ideas
• Strong relationship-building and negotiation skills within a cross-company matrix structure
• Strongly developed leadership skills, capable of motivating others to create an encouraging environment and facilitating development of junior staff

Personal Skills

• Able to prioritise simultaneous tasks and take initiative and responsibility
• Positive personality and leadership behaviour, with inner drive to create exceptional work, consistently meeting client expectations
• Flexibility to balance changing priorities
• Able to work under pressure, deliver within tight timelines, and enable others to do so as well
• Able to facilitate change and initiate improvements
• Proactively takes responsibility for work assignments and personal development
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to handle multiple projects simultaneously
• Willing to travel to client meetings, congresses, standalone meetings, advisory boards, etc.

Please note:

The above job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by the individual assigned to this job. The responsibilities and tasks set out in this document are not to be construed as an exhaustive list and employees may be required to perform duties outside of the normal scope.