Medical Editor (Pharma Agency)

Clutch; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 69,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Clutch is seeking a Medical Editor to join our fast-paced team in a hybrid San Diego setting. You will be the final reviewer for medical content, ensuring AMA style, accuracy, and client-brand alignment before delivery.

Collaboration with medical writers, creative and account teams ensures high-quality manuscripts, abstracts, posters, and digital content. This role requires 3+ years in medical editing within an agency, a life sciences degree, and proficiency with references and industry tools.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, English, journalism, communications, or a related field (advanced degree in a life science a plus).
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in medical or scientific editing within a medical communications agency, healthcare advertising, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical publishing setting.
• Demonstrated copy editing and proofreading expertise, with a strong command of grammar, punctuation, and usage.
• Expert working knowledge of the AMA Manual of Style, and familiarity with ICMJE recommendations and FDA requirements for promotional content.
• Experience fact-checking and annotating references against primary literature, and comfort reading clinical trial data, tables, and figures.
• Proficiency in scientific literature databases and reference management tools (e.g., PubMed, EndNote).
• Experience with review platforms (e.g., Veeva PromoMats) and ophthalmology or eye care content is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Perform substantive medical and scientific editing on a wide range of materials, including manuscripts, abstracts, posters, slide decks, white papers, education materials, promotional pieces, and digital content.
• Copy edit and proofread content for grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, tone, and readability at every stage, from first draft to final proof.
• Fact-check and reference-verify content, ensuring claims are supported by cited sources and references are correctly formatted.
• Apply AMA style and client brand guidelines consistently and maintain project style sheets.
• Annotate references and prepare materials for MLR review, incorporating feedback on time.
• Review layouts and PDF proofs to catch errors before release.
• Collaborate with medical writers to sharpen clarity while preserving scientific accuracy.
• Track edits and version history to document changes and approvals.
• Manage multiple projects and review rounds with clear timelines and risk communication.
• Stay current on AMA updates and ophthalmology trends to improve editorial checklists.

Skills

Medical editing

Copy editing

AMA style

References verification

Ophthalmology knowledge

Education

Bachelor's degree in life sciences

Advanced life science degree a plus

Tools

Veeva PromoMats

PubMed

EndNote

Adobe Acrobat

MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)

Job description

Location: Hybrid position based in San Diego, CA, requiring 8 days per month in the office. Employees are expected to be on-site for key reviews, team meetings, and collaborative working sessions. The team moves fast. You’ll be expected to keep up, stay organized, and bring energy and ideas to every project you touch.

Salary: up to $115k

*must have pharma agency experience

About The Role

We are seeking a Medical Editor to join our client's vibrant team. In this role, you are the last set of eyes on everything we send to clients, physicians, and patients. You will bring a medical editor’s scientific judgment and a copy editor’s precision to every project, checking content against its references, tightening language, and making sure each piece follows AMA style and client brand standards before it goes out the door. You will partner closely with our medical writers, creative team, and account teams so that our work is accurate, clear, compliant, and ready for review.

Our business operates in a fast-paced, client-driven environment where responsiveness and timely service are critical. Client needs and project demands can arise with little notice, and the medical editor is expected to be flexible and responsive when those needs occur. This role may require occasional overtime based on client deadlines, project demands, and business needs. Overtime will be compensated in accordance with applicable law and company policy.

What You Will Do

• Perform substantive medical and scientific editing on a wide range of materials, including but not limited to scientific manuscripts, abstracts, posters, slide decks, white papers, medical education materials, promotional pieces, and digital content.
• Copy edit and proofread content for grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax, tone, and readability at every stage, from first draft through final proof.
• Fact-check and reference-verify content, confirming that every claim, statistic, and data point is accurately supported by its cited source and that references are complete and correctly formatted.
• Apply AMA style, client brand guidelines, and i2Vision style standards consistently across all deliverables, and build and maintain project-specific style sheets.
• Annotate references and prepare supporting materials for medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR) review, and incorporate MLR feedback accurately and on time.
• Review designed layouts and PDF proofs to catch errors in text, figures, tables, callouts, footnotes, and safety information before anything is released.
• Partner with medical writers to sharpen clarity and flow while protecting scientific accuracy and the author’s intent.
• Track edits and version history carefully so the team always knows what changed, why, and who approved it.
• Manage multiple projects and review rounds at once, communicating early and clearly about timelines, risks, and open questions.
• Stay current on AMA style updates, regulatory guidance for medical communications, and developments in ophthalmology, and help shape the editorial checklists and best practices that raise the quality bar across the agency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, English, journalism, communications, or a related field (advanced degree in a life science a plus).
• A minimum of 3 years of experience in medical or scientific editing within a medical communications agency, healthcare advertising, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical publishing setting.
• Demonstrated copy editing and proofreading expertise, with a strong command of grammar, punctuation, and usage.
• Expert working knowledge of the AMA Manual of Style, and familiarity with ICMJE recommendations and FDA requirements for promotional content.
• Experience fact-checking and annotating references against primary literature, and comfort reading clinical trial data, tables, and figures.
• Proficiency in scientific literature databases and reference management tools (e.g., PubMed, EndNote).
• Proficiency with standard proofreading marks and PDF markup tools (e.g., Adobe Acrobat), and with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Excel), including Track Changes.
• Experience with review and approval platforms (e.g., Veeva PromoMats) and ophthalmology or eye care content is a plus.
• Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines.
• Experience collaborating effectively within cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment.

Who You Are

• Thrive in a Fast-Paced Environment: You’ll be energized by our startup-like atmosphere, where the pace is rapid and the work can be rigorous. We see challenges as opportunities and are looking for someone who thrives in this energetic setting.
• Resilient and Optimistic: Your positive attitude and resilience will be crucial as you navigate tight turnarounds, shifting priorities, and complex review cycles.
• Independent and Team-Player: You can work effectively both independently and as part of a team. You deliver edits with respect, and your feedback makes the work (and the writer) better.
• Precise and Curious: You notice the missing superscript and the percentage that doesn’t match the source, and you genuinely enjoy tracking down the right answer.
• Demonstrate Communication Excellence: You can explain the why behind an edit clearly and diplomatically