Compensation Overview

As the VP, Director of Medical Strategy, you will lead medical strategy development for multiple major client accounts. You will build strong and productive relationships with clients, ensuring that we not only meet but exceed their expectations. As VP, Director you will also lead and support new business initiatives, help lead agency-wide initiatives. You will work closely with key cross-functional leads (account, creative, engagement and brand strategy, and medical affairs) to ensure a holistic approach across strategy, creative development and key tactics that drive the client’s business objectives and growth.

You have an insatiable curiosity, are an innate problem-solver, welcome multiple perspectives, and have a passion for driving growth. You are team-oriented and lead by example, bringing energy, initiative, and a collaborative mindset not only to delivering for clients but in becoming a thought leader within the agency and a mentor to your team.

What you’ll do:

• Serves as the lead on scientific/medical strategy for a brand through collaboration with medical and commercial clients to support development of scientific/medical strategy.
• Oversees all deliverables from a medical strategy perspective to ensure alignment with medical and commercial goals
• Crafts the overarching narrative and key message pillars in partnership with brand strategy and creative, guides junior strategists in developing supporting message points with required evidence, and ensures clarity on messages and medical strategy for the project with medical and regulatory accuracy of content/copy.
• Collaborates closely with brand strategy to develop the strategy and the creative briefing documents for pitches and project briefs.
• Directs and supervises junior strategists on development of the medical (pitch) briefing, ensuring alignment with the ask, brand & category, supervises their work and ensures that it serves the brief, brand and category.
• Creates content guided by desk research and IDIs with KOLs and HCPs, presents at pitch meetings and answers medical questions.
• Defines the competitive set with key areas of interest, conducts/supervises research of junior strategists, and develops a strategic framework to present the comparative analysis with a POV to internal teams and clients. Includes primary interviews as needed
• Establishes relationships with top KOLs beyond projects, following KOL/DOL activity through social media, publications, congress activity.
• Trains junior level strategist to develop research stimuli, including TPPs and product summaries, attends research and develops POV on key findings and impact on brand (e.g., messaging strategy, creative concepts, positioning)
• Provides input to workshop content in discussion with clients, and collaborates with other strategists and creative in the development, execution and follow-up related to the workshop
• Supports development of patient and HCP journeys via primary and secondary research and helps define key medical needs at each milestone as well as functional and emotional experiences across touchpoints

Who you are:

• Analytical Thinking: Recognizes when and what analytical work is needed to inform and guide the client’s project. Guides junior strategists in creating a clear and compelling analysis.
• Communication: Responsible for content and impact of client presentations. Drives emphasis and differentiation to shift minds and behaviors. Identifies when and what communication is needed to client or internal partners. Guides junior strategists in learning effective presentation skills.
• Collaboration: Ensures effective collaboration by setting a positive tone, assigning roles as needed and ensuring accountability. Learns to recognize how to motivate junior strategists - what they need to learn and where they can contribute. Resolves conflict and overcomes roadblocks.
• Leadership: Leads client work with supervision from SVP. Participates in a thoughtful conversation with a senior client about their business needs. Mentors junior strategists.
• Managing Self: Responsible to drive own personal growth by articulating career goals to supervisors; Manages at least one client team and 1-2 direct reports. Accountable to clients for timely delivery on agency work product. Responsible for reports’ development.
• Creative Thinking: Challenges self and team’s current thinking and processes to find new inspiration and approaches to deliver client work. Inspires team to take risks and challenge convention with bold ideas to drive differentiation of the brand.
• Innovation: Ensures innovation and innovative ideas are being delivered in client work and new business projects.
• Growth Mindset: Ensures environmental monitoring insights are effectively communicated/delivered to clients where relevant.

What you’ll need:

Minimum work experience and/or equivalent education to meet requirements of position.

• Sc., PharmD, MD, or PhD
• ~5 years of healthcare communication experience
• Experience using Excel, Word, PowerPoint, MIRO

What we offer: 

• Passionate, driven people | We champion a culture of people that do extraordinary work.
• Consciously cultivated culture | We aim to embody the behaviors to build an inclusive community that is in it together, bringing both positivity and active listening into the workplace as we simultaneously strive to empower creative bravery.
• Competitive benefits | What we offer full time hires ranges from the full spectrum of group health coverage options (medical, dental, vision) to a generous 401k match (100% dollar-for-dollar match, up to 5% of salary contribution), and a variety of paid time off offerings that reflect our investment in all aspects of your overall life balance and wellness.
• Growth-minded opportunities | We aim to nurture a culture of real-time feedback, growth-oriented mindset, and plenty of training opportunities through VML and WPP, so you can continue to grow personally and professionally.

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VML is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion or belief, sex, age, national origin, citizenship status, marital status, military/veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or other protected group status. We believe in creating a dynamic work environment that values diversity and inclusion and strives to recruit a diverse slate of candidates to help us achieve that goal.