Havas Life London is not just evolving; we’re reimagining what a health and wellness agency can be. We’re building a destination for the brightest minds, the boldest ideas, and the kind of creativity that reshapes industries.
We’re a collective of curious thinkers, courageous makers, and kind collaborators. The culture we’re building is fast, fearless, and future-facing - driven by a belief that creativity is the most powerful force for growth.
We are vibrant collaborators, smart decision-makers, and believers in a win-or-learn mindset. Our emerging creative culture is built on curiosity, courage, and kindness. We expect more from ourselves and those who join our high-performance team.
As part of the Havas Health network, we’re pushing boundaries, embracing AI and emerging tech, and reimagining how strategic creativity can unlock new value for clients across the globe. We’re here to make London the beating heart of global health communications. Be the go-to creative strategic partner for our network colleagues and client partners alike.
The role
The Medical Team exists to provide medical oversight and foster a ‘patient-first’ mentality within Havas Life London. The Medical Team works at all stages of project development (heavy involvement at project conception with touch points through lifecycle to ensure medical strategy is reviewed and aligned) to deliver high-quality medical writing, ensure clinical relevance, and regulatory compliance.
The role of the Scientific Director is to provide strategic, commercial, and clinical guidance to support both the agency and the clients with whom we partner with. The Scientific Director is responsible for oversight of the medical content team as well as considering the longer-term business needs of the agency to support both new and organic growth. The Scientific Director must be capable of working alongside all Medical, Strategy, and Client Services team members, to ensure that projects meet key medical, strategic, and ethical standards in their delivery to clients, healthcare professionals, and patients. The ability to assimilate knowledge quickly (e.g. on a disease area) and then to interpret and apply the clinical and patient perspective is critical to this role.
Key Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the Scientific Director include providing strategic insight for client projects and programmes, understanding the medical and commercial ramifications of client actions and offering perceptive solutions, providing guidance surrounding the longer-term business needs of Havas Life London, thought leadership, managing medical writing accountabilities, meeting facilitation, client liaison and communication, project management (as required), keeping up to date with therapy area knowledge, ensuring the wider teams are kept up to date on medical and scientific developments, providing clinical insight, and ensuring clinical relevance and compliance in all projects that they are involved in.
The Scientific Director will work in partnership with client leadership teams by providing strategic support and reflecting on longer-term commercial and/or medical ramifications, assisting with meeting facilitation (e.g. advisory boards, steering committee meetings, question/discussion moderation at key events, interviews, etc.), and maintaining enduring relationships with external experts.
The role will provide support across all business units within the agency, including and not limited to new business development, as well as existing client projects. There will also be scope to provide support to the wider Havas Health network and engage with the network of strategists and medical leads globally.
* Provide input and strategic solutions to briefs and client asks. Work in conjunction with the Client Services and Strategy teams to formulate the optimal client solution and consider the longer-term commercial and/or medical ramifications
* Rapidly demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of new therapeutic areas
* Have a deep scientific understanding of client products, therapy areas, portfolio, and clinical and commercial strategies
* Facilitate external meetings and briefings (client and/or HCP)
* Attend and support at international congresses to gather scientific and medical intelligence, as required
* Provide meaningful and strategic clinical and healthcare environment insights
* Offer perceptive solutions to the medical and commercial issues faced by our clients
* Ensure best practice and up-to-date medical knowledge within accounts/therapy areas
* Champion the importance of considering the needs of patients, HCPs, and other relevant decision makers at all stages of project delivery, and work pragmatically with clients/colleagues to find solutions to these needs
* Work with the wider team to engender a culture of ‘patient-first’ thinking
* Manage and oversee medical writing responsibilities across key accounts
* Provide high-quality medical writing review and guidance across a variety of formats and deliverables, as required
* Briefing, reviewing, and providing appropriate feedback on the work of others
* Ensure the accuracy of all information, data, and referencing for the projects produced
* Address internal and external comments on your work intelligently and question any that are inappropriate, inaccurate, or unclear
* Work with other members of the Medical, Strategy, Creative, and Client Services teams, as well as independently, to ensure that departmental objectives are met
* Maintain excellent relationships with our clients and their medical teams
* Strong ability to foster relationships with external experts to ensure Havas Life London has a practical network of active healthcare professionals
* Provide insight and advice on the longer-term business needs of Havas Life London and support new and organic business growth
* Identify and act on opportunities to maximise potential in existing client accounts
* Assist or lead with the development of proposals and pitches, as required
* Possess a sound understanding of the business structure of the Havas Health network
* Maintain an excellent understanding of Havas Life London’s breadth of capabilities to ensure the appropriate strategy/solution is delivered
About you
* Experience across several products and therapy areas within medical communications, with the ability to research medical literature effectively
* Ability to produce high-quality written material that is scientifically accurate, with good attention to detail
* Able to effectively manage and motivate teams