Country Medical Director - South Africa

GlaxoSmithKline; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 500 000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Country Medical Director to provide strong medical leadership and ensure high standards of governance across its Pharma and Vaccines portfolio in South Africa. In this pivotal role, you will lead the Medical Department, ensuring the delivery of quality medical and scientific insights while overseeing critical clinical studies and pharmacovigilance activities. Your expertise will guide local HTA submissions and foster educational programs for healthcare professionals. This is a unique opportunity to influence medical practices and contribute to the health sector in a meaningful way, all within a dynamic and collaborative environment.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in medical functions with leadership experience.
• Strong knowledge in clinical, medical, and pharmaceutical sciences.

Responsibilities

• Lead medical governance and ensure compliance with standards.
• Provide strategic medical insights to Pharma and Vaccines business.

Skills

Medical Degree

Medical Affairs Experience

Clinical Operations

Pharmacovigilance

Medical Governance

Project Management

Knowledge of South African Legislation

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Medicine

Post Graduate Qualification in Management or Pharmaceutical Medicine

Job description

Job title: Country Medical Director - South Africa

Job Location: Gauteng, Johannesburg

Deadline: May 08, 2025

Key Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Demonstrate strong medical leadership and accountability for overall Medical governance within South Africa across GSK Pharma and Vaccines portfolio, and the management of all the Medical functions.
• Lead the Medical Department in the provision of high quality Medical and Scientific strategic input and insights to the Pharma and Vaccines business and ensure successful execution of the Medical Plans to the desired outcomes and timelines.
• Ensure HCPs (and patients where appropriate) have the correct information to allow evidence-based use of GSK products, through educational programs and scientific/external engagement activities, ensuring alignment with GSK standards and values.
• Embed the principles of the GSK code of practice within the organization and facilitate the transition to values and principles-based decision making.
• Lead the local Medical Governance Committee (or equivalent), contributing to the local RMCB and local crisis management committee, ensuring the highest standards of Medical Governance are practiced within the LOC across all its functions and businesses.
• Governance of specific functions to ensure that appropriate processes meet required standards while responding to Medical Information requests from HCPs and customers.
• Ensure appropriate medical governance oversight and risk management for all Clinical studies conducted in the country, ensuring subjects and patients are not placed at unnecessary risk.
• Provide medical leadership, input, and guidance into local HTA submissions and publications.
• Overall accountability for pharmacovigilance, materiovigilance and human safety related activities for all marketed products and products in clinical trials, including all Pharma products and Vaccines.

Basic Qualifications:

We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• Medical Degree
• Minimum 5 years’ industry experience in medical functions. This is a senior leadership role requiring sufficient experience in driving medical affairs, clinical operations, pharmacovigilance and medical governance.
• Specific therapy area knowledge in current or future GSK therapy area.
• Solid grounding in clinical, medical and pharmaceutical science with the ability to rapidly assimilate specific and detailed knowledge in these areas.
• Project management certification and/or experience to manage complex projects and teams, with the ability to work under pressure in a cross-project environment.
• Good knowledge of South Africa legislation on advertisement of medical products, registration, renewal of registration, import, storage, and sale of drugs/vaccines.

Preferred Qualifications:

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:

• Experience working in a multicultural and a matrix organization.
• Post Graduate qualification in management, or pharmaceutical medicine.
• Clinical practice in assigned therapy area.
• Experience in clinical research.
• Strong academic background having participated in or led research projects and authored publications.