Senior Scientific Services Team Leader

Springer Healthcare

Job Title: Senior Scientific Team Leader

Location: Chester, London or Manchester

Full time, Permanent, Hybrid Working

Closing Date: 5th June 2023

About Us

inScience Communications is a full service medical communications agency forming part of Springer Healthcare, a leading publisher of medical educational products for the healthcare community.

Purpose of the Role  

As a Senior Scientific Team Leader, reporting to a Scientific Services Director, you’ll manage and develop a team of medical writers.

You’ll act as lead writer on ≥1 account to drive revenue and provide scientific leadership within accounts, ensuring strategic advice and tactical delivery of medical communications that satisfy client needs in terms of quality, commercial focus, timing and cost.

You’ll also provide editorial advice to the wider editorial group, the client services team and the management team, and input into business development initiatives.

There will also be interaction with stakeholders at all levels of the inScience Communications organisation as part of an established team who actively share ideas and works in partnership with our clients.

Senior Scientific Team Leaders also form part of the UK inScience Communications Leadership Team to make operational decisions and recommendations in relation to the running of the UK agency.

Responsibilities

Leadership of editorial team members

• Line management:
  • Implement inScience Communications performance management systems for team
    • Develop writers’ objectives and personal development plans
    • Conduct learning & development analysis and formal and informal performance reviews (in consultation with a Scientific Services Director)
  • Monitor progress of objectives and personal development plans
• Development of Associate Medical Writers (AMWs):
  • Provide 1-2-1 on-the-job training
  • Ensure that Associate Medical Writers are exposed to the necessary variety of project work to enable their promotion to Medical Writer after around 1 year
  • Ensure that the modular training programme is delivered in a timely fashion
  • Identify and put in place a mentor, if appropriate
  • Monitor personal development of Associate Medical Writers
• Develop medical writers within the team to their full potential and to meet customer and inScience Communications business needs:
  • Identify and fill skill gaps, especially in strategic communications, new communications media and specific writing skills
  • Provide coaching, mentoring and training, where required
  • Encourage and provide constructive feedback
  • Develop writing skills by identifying projects that match learning and development requirements of new and existing writers
  • Develop business planning and commercial skills of new and existing writers, including proposal writing, pitching and recommendations for growth within organic accounts
  • Identify barriers to effective staff development and provide recommendations to overcome these
  • Provide daily supervision to ensure individual/team output is maintained

Project delivery

• Provide strategic direction and lead all aspects of tactical delivery of scientific content for a range of medical communications that meet client needs, internal quality standards and timelines:
  • Act as lead writer (if required) for one account and provide the main point of contact on matters of scientific content for the client and external experts
  • Provide strategic and editorial advice across other accounts when required
  • Provide editorial quotes for costing purposes
  • Advise Scientific Services Director about editorial requirements, as part of resource planning that takes into account the development needs of individuals, wider group and business
  • Ensure that new products and services are offered to clients, as appropriate
• Review scientific content for a range of medical communications according to client needs, internal quality standards and agreed specifications, budgets and timeframes:
  • Monitor quality, style and accuracy and provide timely, consistent and constructive feedback when reviewing
  • Take remedial action, in consultation with the Scientific Services Director, when required
  • Ensure that projects reflect a thorough understanding of clients’ medical/marketing objectives and that scientific messages are supported appropriately
  • In lead writer role, liaise with clients and Client Services Team to agree specifications and check that client expectations are being met

Business planning/commercial

• Apply an advanced level of knowledge of the therapeutic use and strategic marketing of pharmaceuticals to account plans, strategic publication plans and strategic communication programmes
  • Participate fully in account review and brainstorming meetings
• Provide an advanced level of scientific advice to relevant account teams:
  • Strategy and tactics (e.g. program development for meetings, new ideas for publications including congress presentations, papers, new analyses, and reviews)
  • New opportunities
  • New developments (e.g. impact of guidelines’ revisions and new data/analyses from landmark trials/registries)
  • Competitor monitoring (e.g. publications, meetings, online/interactive activities and message extraction)
• Provide support to the Business Development team:
  • Opportunity identification (e.g. monitoring likely looking products in early development)
  • Proposal development (input of therapeutic/editorial expertise and checking sense and editorial quality of proposals before submission to clients)
  • Pitch development and attendance (e.g. therapeutic area review/overview, slide preparation and pitch team preparation)
• Provide editorial advice to the management team (e.g. quality standards, training needs and resourcing)
• Maintain broad awareness of developments in relevant therapeutic areas and discipline, editorial issues and technological developments within publishing and communications, and the wider company’s product portfolio

Financial

• Monitor own adherence to budget and utilisation rate
• Record and monitor actual time spent on a project against budgeted time, and complete timesheets in an accurate and timely manner
• Monitor writers’ adherence to budget and utilization rates and take remedial action, if required
• Contribute to revenue targets:
  • Ensure that projects are progressed according to schedules
  • Optimise editorial resource to minimize delay in revenue uptake

Organisational and teamwork

• Assist the Scientific Services Director in preparing and updating SOPs/training modules
• Assist the Scientific Services Director in review of test projects and/or recruitment by interviewing candidates, if required
• Support team working principles and collaboration within the account team(s) and wider inScience Communications group, as well as other departments and business units within the company
  • Attend and contribute to team and account meetings
• Line management of up to 4 direct reports (Scientific Team Leaders, Senior Medical Writers, Medical Writers and/or Associate Medical Writers)
  • Contribute to annual and mid-year performance reviews
• Provide recommendations to the Scientific Services Director for promotions

Experience, Skills & Qualifications

Experience

Essential:

• Proven medical writing experience (>5 years) in a medical communications agency, with >2 years of reviewing/coaching/mentoring experience.
• Demonstrable experience of client liaison and interaction for >5 years or equivalent, including client visits and on-site experience.
• Proven ability in all aspects of medical communication deliverables.
• Management or supervisory experience.

Skills

Essential:

• Proven medical writing skills and able to demonstrate a high level of accuracy and attention to detail
• Proven line management and team leadership skills
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Demonstrable ability to coach/mentor writers
• Proven experience and confident in interacting with clients and medical experts
• A proactive and flexible team player with a collaborative approach
• Proven organisation/time management and leadership skills, with the ability to be proactive and use your initiative to get results
• Highly computer literate with good working knowledge of common software (e.g. Microsoft Office suite) and gains new software skills quickly

Qualifications

Essential:

• Life Science degree or equivalent

Desirable:

• Higher degree (MSc or PhD)
• CMPP accreditation

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