Scientific Director, Medical Communications

Overview

Lead the strategic direction and execution of scientific content across client engagements at a medical communications team, serving leading pharmaceutical and biotech clients, and lead and mentor scientific teams.

What you'll do

• Set the strategic direction for scientific content across accounts, ensuring alignment with client objectives, brand strategy, and medical priorities.
• Provide senior-level oversight and final accountability for the quality, accuracy, and consistency of all deliverables.
• Maintain oversight of content development processes and training.
• Guide teams in interpreting complex clinical data and translating insights into differentiated scientific communications.
• Identify opportunities to elevate content through strategic storytelling and market insights.
• Maintain deep therapeutic area expertise.
• Serve as a senior scientific partner to clients and provide strategic recommendations and solutions.
• Lead or oversee scientific discussions with clients and key opinion leaders.
• Direct cross-functional teams toward strong execution and build collaborative stakeholder relationships.
• Contribute to proposal and pitch development.
• Oversee large accounts or groups of smaller accounts, reviewing timelines, budgets, and resource requirements.
• Drive operational consistency and best practices, ensure regulatory and compliance standards are met, and identify and mitigate risks proactively.
• Support resource planning and account health, and apply financial understanding including utilization, burn, and scope management.
• Lead and inspire scientific teams, establish standards of excellence, and support team engagement and change initiatives.
• Address team dynamics, provide direct feedback, and contribute to department standards, processes, and training.
• Identify capability gaps and partner with leadership on solutions.
• Demonstrate leadership presence and sound judgment, manage multiple priorities, and delegate while maintaining accountability.
• Promote collaboration and continuous improvement, communicate confidently with senior stakeholders, and adapt to evolving client and business needs.
• Directly manage, coach, and develop assigned team members, set performance expectations, and support career development.
• Ensure appropriate workload distribution and utilization.
• Lead performance reviews and career development discussions, and support hiring, interviewing, candidate assessment, and onboarding.

What you'll need

• Doctoral-level degree in life sciences (PhD, PharmD, MD, or equivalent).
• Extensive medical writing/reviewing and scientific content development experience.
• Medical communications agency experience (5-7+ years).
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe Acrobat, and reference management tools (e.g., EndNote).

Details

• Location: Remote, United States.
• Reasonable estimate of the current range: $125,000 — $155,000 USD.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the country of employment without employer sponsorship.