Director, Medical Consulting (12-month FTC)
Who We Are:
VML Health is a global healthcare agency with a vision to make the world of health human-centric with connected brands. VML Health has offices across the world & global healthcare hubs across North America and Europe. VML Health is a WPP company.
The Global Strategy Team
Within VML Health, the Global Strategy Team is home to a diverse collective of bold, curious strategic thinkers. Operating within an agile model, we partner seamlessly with clients or collaborate as part of integrated agency teams - all with a shared mission to unlock transformative impact in healthcare.
What unites us is Radical Empathy - our core strategic philosophy and methodology. It’s how we immerse ourselves deeply in the lives, needs, motivations, and challenges of the people we serve. Our proprietary approach means getting close enough to truly feel their beliefs, not just study them. It’s how we uncover the unspoken tensions that data alone can’t reveal and where the most powerful insights are born.
Our people and work thrive on integration and collaboration across the strategy team, but we also believe in deeply distinctive areas of expertise: Medical Strategy, Engagement Strategy, Brand Strategy, and Medical Consulting. Together, these disciplines shape a connected approach that elevates every challenge we take on. This role sits within our Medical Consulting team, based within the VML Health EU Hub.
Our Medical Consulting team solves complex healthcare challenges through multistakeholder insights and partnerships to shape healthcare landscapes. We support clients through strategic consultancy projects and programs with a particular focus on early commercialization, disease leadership and patient advocacy and engagement. With a focus on early cross-functional working, integration of the patient voice, and expert partnership, the team works with a variety of global clients involving close collaboration with our creative, digital, medical education and marketing teams to bring creative solutions to clients.
Our culture and values
The global strategy team brings a unique approach in setting the standard for strategy teams globally; built on three cultural pillars that define how we work together. Supportive: we build strategy together with diversity of thought across geographies, cultures, and expertise, employing radical empathy and making space for each voice. Entrepreneurial: we act with urgency and agency, challenging the status quo to evolve ahead of the healthcare environment. We bring this forward within our practice to explore new ways of thinking and doing, ensuring our capabilities are always future ready.
Lean In: we are driven by growth, thinking proactively for our clients and are not afraid to fail forward. We believe in open feedback, clear career development pathways, and realizing potential for everyone who joins our team.
About the position
Title: Director, Medical Consulting
Reports to: SVP, Global Medical Consulting Lead
We are looking for an established director-level candidate with excellent client engagement and people management skills to provide strategic leadership for key large accounts and drive growth of our early commercialization consulting offering. Seeking a candidate who understands the healthcare, pharmaceutical client and consulting environment, who can lead cross-functional teams to deliver against a range of commercialization needs for our clients. This candidate must have a solid understanding of the complexities of the healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape and experience working with the variety of stakeholders involved.
The candidate should be experienced in shaping, selling and delivering a range of commercialization programs from pre-clinical phase through to indication expansion, across projects such as; leadership strategy & market development activities, clinical to commercial strategy, competitive differentiation, evidence generation strategy and early narrative development. Experience should be underpinned by rigorous research experience across both primary and secondary research to shape insight led, evidence-based strategies, coupled with familiarity partnering with experts such as KOLs, HCPs, patient advocates and policymakers to shape programs and initiatives. The candidate should also have experience working across a range of industry disciplines including commercial, medical affairs, corporate/public affairs, and patient advocacy/engagement.
This role will be responsible for both expansion and growth of the consulting capability alongside leading client facing teams through program delivery. Working with cross-functional teams across strategy, creative, digital & consulting, you will manage both internal & client teams to sell, develop and deliver effective and high-quality deliverables that meet client objectives, budgets, and timelines. In addition, you will contribute to the talent development of the consulting team through mentoring, coaching and line management of team members.
This role is based in our London office with close collaboration across our core hubs and strategic disciplines.
Requirements
Director should have extensive (10+ years) of consulting experience, including all aspects of asset commercialization across a wide range of disease areas, as well as:
* Proven track record of owning & leading client teams & programs of work to a high standard with a multistakeholder team and audience
* Solid experience of delivering against client commercialization needs from insight generation/research, development of strategic recommendations, building strategic programs through to management of tactical execution
* Global and Regional client experience is required across a broad range of disease areas
* Strong evidence of leadership and ability to network, within a company, clients and healthcare systems, including experience engaging with and developing content for senior leadership
* Growth driven mindset with proven experience in identifying new client opportunities and converting opportunities into largescale programs of commercialization activities
* Relevant experience across early commercialization deliverables across a range of pharmaceutical clients and disciplines
* In-depth knowledge of the healthcare environment and healthcare systems, with understanding of a broad range of stakeholders including clinicians, patients, advocates, and policymakers
* In-depth knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry, and demonstrated ability to understand client’s strategic needs and work with senior-level clients, including conflict resolution
* Proven ability to work and lead teams effectively in a busy, deadline-driven environment
* Commercial acumen to ensure business goals are met
* Can-do attitude, leadership and management agility, and ability to deliver and manage issues and deadlines with teams
* Outstanding leadership and role model behaviours and ability to motivate and lead teams
Experience
* Extensive business development experience and proven success rate
* Leadership of large, multi-faceted projects, programs and teams, providing both strategic direction & leading teams to successful execution
* Building and maintaining relationships with a variety of healthcare stakeholders (HCPs, patients, advocates, policy makers/payers)
* Running and managing client/ customer meetings and deputising for exec management
* Extensive facilitation experience and ability to moderate senior stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds (commercial teams, KOLs, patient experts, etc.)
* Communications experience and thought leadership track record
* Negotiation skills
* Market insight and research skills
* Strong line management and coaching experience
* Talent magnet for recruitment and retention – experience of identifying and attracting top talent
Knowledge and skills
* Ability to think outside the box and solve problems
* Understanding of consulting frameworks and approaches and ability to apply these to overcome client challenges
* Microsoft Office skills
* Excellent written and verbal communication including presentations, pitch decks, budgets and report writing
* Interpretation of information and data to create meaningful solutions for clients
* Facilitation skills to support advisory board and workshop activities
* Excellent knowledge and understanding of Pharmaceutical Industry
* Excellent knowledge and understanding of the health and social care systems across major global markets
Personal characteristics
* Planning resources and time efficiently to keep to timelines
* Client image and style awareness
* Ability to work on own initiative
* Excellent attention to detail
* Enthusiastic and motivated
* Travel to pharmaceutical industry clients and health service providers in and around the UK, EU and USA
Qualifications
* Qualified to Degree level (Medicine, Pharmacy, Life Sciences
This is a 12-month fixed term contract position with the potential to become a permanent role.
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