Contact

Scientific Project Lead

Key roles and responsibilities

Management of and accountability for assigned account(s)

  • Partner with Scientific Directors (SDs), Principal Medical Writers (PMWs), and/or other client account team members to lead individual accounts or groups of projects, ensuring that the team delivers projects in the most effective way (including within timelines and on budget), meet client briefs, and are of high quality.
  • Manage all aspects of assigned projects or accounts, anticipating and solving issues and supporting successful, high-quality outcomes; work with other team members to achieve this where appropriate.
  • Understand and have input into developing and actioning account plans (including formal Account Action Plans/Deep Dives), helping to ensure changes and opportunities in accounts are acted upon, meeting external client and internal company objectives. 
  • Maintain a high-level view of ongoing projects, understanding and communicating the potential impact of one project on another and taking appropriate action.
  • Act as an internal and external process champion; review current processes, monitor adherence and implement updates where appropriate to improve the smooth running of projects.
  • Escalate any issues and suggest improvements or new processes to Scientific Account Leads (SALs)/SDs; implement these solutions where appropriate.
  • Working with the aligned writing lead, create project timelines (or review timelines created by other team members) and draft/review project timeline templates that reflect account processes.
  • Working with a Scientific Project Manager (SPM) where aligned, track timeline adherence, troubleshooting any variations and where appropriate, escalating account issues to SALs/SDs.

Finance and resource management

  • Lead account and project finances, ensuring accuracy and anticipating/resolving issues, escalating to S/SALs where appropriate. 
  • Lead and demonstrate best practice in following company and client financial processes and ensure client finance templates are maintained.
  • Offer guidance on financial practices to the scientific team as appropriate.
  • Guide and mentor SPMs and Scientific Project Executives (SPEs) in all aspects of financial management; defining a clear role for supporting team members.
  • Act as the day-to-day team point of contact for finance and project management (or oversee the work of a SPM in this role).
  • Take an active role in aspects of pricing negotiations, including tracking, update to hourly rates and management of overall project costs.
  • Work with aligned writing lead to ensure that each assigned project is resourced effectively and contribute to discussions around account resource.
  • Track account resourcing requirements, e.g., through forecasting, tracker completion, and advance planning to anticipate busy periods.
  • Work with scientific team to plan and book freelance resource when needed.
  • Ensure timesheets are updated on an ongoing basis by all team members and time coding policy is adhered to.

Client management and project scoping

  • In partnership with the scientific team, facilitate and contribute to client discussions regarding the account overall and project requirements specifically, offering advice and counsel to the client where appropriate.
  • Develop a good understanding of objectives, strategy, and priorities for the client, account, and product, as well as how that relates to the projects being delivered.
  • Ensure a clear brief is obtained and an accurate budget is in place, proactively discussing any changes to the budget or brief with the client.
  • Working with the SD where appropriate, act as the internal client champion, ensuring the work meets the client brief, is tracking according to the agreed budget, and is to a high standard.
  • Track conversations and actions in client meetings, drafting or reviewing minutes where required.
  • Guide junior team members on appropriate detail/accuracy of minutes.
  • Encourage clients to work in the most effective way. Take responsibility for solving any challenges on assigned projects, including ensuring that conflicts with clients/other stakeholders are smoothly resolved.
  • Working with the SD where appropriate, proactively adopt any learnings from client feedback in a timely manner and ensure the team aligns accordingly.
  • When needed, take calls with, or respond to emails from, clients/other stakeholders out of usual office/working hours, empowered to manage time and promote flexibility.
  • Identify any organic growth opportunities during client discussions and work with SAL/SD/wider team to follow up as appropriate.

Mentoring, training, line management, and wider responsibilities

  • Support the development of the team (focused on but not limited to the support of SPMs and SPEs) by providing financial and project management guidance as needed.
  • Take responsibility for own development, working with line manager to set personal objectives and proactively manage growth.
  • Participate in mentorship activities and appropriate training.
  • Provide proactive, constructive feedback on the performance of colleagues.
  • Take on line-management responsibilities if desired (and if needed by the company)
  • Where line-management responsibility is taken, provide expert guidance so that line reports fulfil their roles and responsibilities for the company and are fully supported in their continuing personal development. 
  • Support senior team members with new business activities with existing clients and potential new clients. 
  • Follow company procedures with respect to administrative and project-related tasks. To include, but not limited to, daily completion of Paprika timesheets, adherence to editorial procedures, and timely and accurate Dropbox/SharePoint file housekeeping. 
  • Liaise with clients, healthcare professionals, contractors, and any other relevant third parties in a professional, courteous, and efficient manner. 
  • Keep up to date with relevant industry guidelines including, but not limited to, Good Publication Practice and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. 

Company and team vision

  • Work with consideration of how account activities align with company goals.
  • During day-to-day work and internal and external interactions, consider and promote adherence to our vision and values (see below).

Aspire Scientific: Vision and Values

Culture

  • We care for our team by fostering a people-first culture of trust, transparency, and flexibility that actively encourages a healthy and sustainable work–life balance.

Talent

  • We recruit, invest in, and retain outstanding people. We provide the resources and ongoing training and development opportunities to nurture talented, stable teams who excel at what they do.

Excellence

  • We develop successful client partnerships through excellence in medical writing and communication, underpinned by therapy area knowledge, industry expertise and a commitment to best practices.

To apply, please send us your CV and cover letter