Senior Manager, Medical Writing Services

When our values align, there's no limit to what we can achieve.
 

Job Purpose:
The Senior Manager, Medical Writing, is responsible for line management of assigned staff, including development and retention, either at the local site or remotely. The Senior Manager may research, create, and edit aggregate and other allied safety reports or Clinical Study Report (CSR) narratives for regulatory submissions and/or client requirements. The Senior Manager provides project management of the aggregate and other allied safety report writing or CSR narratives aspect for their projects and those of their line reports. The Senior Manager may also have responsibilities as a client liaison or partnership lead and may support Safety Services management during the business development process by leading client interactions, proposals input, and contract review. As such, the Senior Manager utilizes industry experience to support clients and new business for the organization.

Key Accountabilities :
Accountability
Line Management and General Management
Supervise and mentor line reports as applicable, including all aspects of SS personnel management: hiring, training, professional development, periodic/annual performance evaluations, compensation recommendations, promotions, teambuilding, morale motivation, and supervision of adherence to departmental
procedures and health authority guidance and regulations.

o Validate quality and training compliance.
o Ensure appropriate billable time for line reports.
Undertake the full range of duties relevant to performance management of line reports, when applicable:
o Situational leadership, including delegation, empowerment, and accountability.
o Influence and guidance to ensure their performance meets or exceeds both the business and their own personal goals/objectives.
o Retain good employees; identify talent and nurture employees to ensure the organization has strong bench strength to compete at the highest levels. Manage low performance through coaching and training; execute performance improvement plans or termination, as required.
Attend manager meetings, and chair as invited.
Sign off expenses/invoices/purchase orders for expenses, as
authorized by SS management
Client Liaison/Service

Be aware of client expectations for self and team members/line reports.
o Build and maintain collaborative client relationships, to cultivate efficient, productive, and professional working relationships that promote satisfaction and confidence.
o Implement measures of performance (key performance indicators) into feedback, metrics, and continuous improvement activities to optimize performance.
o Respond appropriately to incidents of dissatisfaction and provide feedback to SS management.
 In the proposal generation process, provide strategic and project planning intelligence to SS management.
o Provide an assessment of scope of services for clients with respect to aggregate and other allied safety report writing tasks, including a description of the aggregate reports writing services to be performed and estimated hours for each task. When required, liaise with the proposal team and/or client to ensure that the proposal covers all services required.
o If called upon, attend business development and proposal meetings to prepare and present to clients.
Provide support as appropriate to Business Development/Client Solutions in their efforts to win new business. Identify and solicit new business leads for SS.
Apply industry experience:
o Understand the challenges clients face and propose solutions on how to overcome such challenges.
o Use awareness of opportunities in the industry to present new possibilities to customers, when appropriate.
Project Management

As applicable, manage individual, partner, stakeholder, and customer relationships and their performance; manage partnership operations, relationships, and personnel.
Set clear objectives for assigned safety services team members/line reports and continuously monitor performance against these objectives.
o Maintain awareness on progress of ongoing reports.
o Monitor project timelines on an ongoing basis.
o Provide leadership and strategic planning/adjustments, delegation of responsibilities, and tasks. Monitor progress of each individual project task and assess the overall project performance.
Provide project updates to SS management and assess forecasting and resourcing. Propose creative solutions for shifting timelines and staffing requirements to SS management.
Contribute to process development/improvement:
o Oversee efficient budgeting and support financial monitoring to maximize profitability of assigned projects. Ensure appropriate changes in scope are escalated.
o Be familiar with all Client and SS department standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines, and provide input into regular review of these documents, as applicable. Also be familiar with non- SS SOPs that impact work.
o Analyze efficiency of work: collect and evaluate metrics to identify need for improvement efforts in processes, staff educational activities, or to better meet client needs. Discuss improvement ideas with colleagues within and outside of SS.
o Provide guidance to other members of the department on current aggregate and other allied safety report writing guidelines and procedures.
o Attend internal/external audits as required; respond to audit reports and follow-up on any issues highlighted.
Author aggregate and other allied safety Documents or Clinical Study Report Narratives

Documents/Consultancy
In line with client requirements, gather, review, analyze, and evaluate pertinent resources to prepare, develop, and finalize any type of aggregate and other allied safety report writing deliverable, or any CSR narratives deliverable with/without the need for any supervision or formal training.
Author aggregate and other allied safety report writing, or CSR narratives as required.
Advise on aggregate and other allied safety report writing, and CSR narratives regulatory issues and submissions, as detailed in current ICH, GVP, FDA, EMA, and other applicable guidelines.

Signal Detection and Management
Perform signal detection review and analysis (qualitative and quantitative) from various sources e.g. regulatory authority database, client database, literatures, regulatory authority websites etc.
Responsible for the end-to-end signal management process (i.e. signal tracking, signal assessment/data analysis, leading review meetings, presenting, etc.) in collaboration with the GSO
Conduct/support signal detection and evaluation activities according to SOPs and guidelines
Quality Control

Strive to ensure client receive a quality report on time, all of the time.
Ensure projects assigned to line reports are completed with quality, according to SOPs, and on time.
Provide technical leadership to ensure the data presented in the documents are in compliance with applicable regulatory guidelines, SOPs, and goals of submission.
Training/Compliance

Keep abreast of new advances in regulatory updates and current industry trends.
Develop training materials and present to SS staff to enhance writing quality, efficiency, and project management.
Present details of technical courses attended or new knowledge acquired.
Provide training and mentoring for SS members.

General

Participate as member or leader of departmental committees (e.g., process improvement, standards, partnerships).
Maintain a positive, results-oriented work environment, building partnerships and modeling teamwork, communicating to the team in an open, balanced, and objective manner.
Provide short-term ‘basic’ coverage in the absence of other SS management.
Perform other tasks appropriate to a more senior position as required, with adequate support and under supervision. Other roles may be allocated in exceptional circumstances.
Promote the medical writing profession, internally or externally.

Skills :
Excellent interpersonal, negotiation, verbal and written communication skills.
A professional and flexible attitude with respect to work assignments and new learning.
Motivation to work independently and consistently in a fast-paced, rapidly changing environment.

Ability to manage multiple and varied tasks with enthusiasm and prioritize workload with attention to detail, e.g., organizational skills.
Competent working in a matrix environment and values the importance of teamwork.
Possesses team leadership skills and is able to identify and evaluate viable options to make decisions in a timely and effective manner.

Exhibits logical thinking and sound judgement: able to analyze complex issues using data, logic, and judgment to identify problems, determine root cause, and recommend solutions to resolve and prevent the problem.
Demonstrates a client-focused approach to work. Establishes a connection with the client, to gain repeat business and/or to widen existing scope and services.

Ability to gain trust and confidence within the company.
Ability to act with confidence during demanding situations in the face of opposition, challenge, or anxiety.

Provides departmental expertise and perspectives to promote prospective business opportunities; provides Parexel colleagues with pertinent information to formalize a sound business strategy.

Knowledge and Experience:
Related experience is desirable in Regulatory/ Pharmacovigilance or related field.
Demonstrated understanding of drug safety, the drug development process, and applicable regulatory guidelines and regulations.

Broad experience in management of aggregate and other allied safety reports writing projects

Understanding of people management: previous line management experience, or equivalent, preferably in a billable service industry.

Project management experience (e.g., planning and monitoring).
Knowledge of resource management and productivity metric management.
Business awareness/business development experience.
Advanced word processing skills, including Microsoft (MS) Office (expertise in Word and competency in Excel); software and systems knowledge or ability to learn and adapt to various IT systems: document management systems, collaborative authoring (e.g., SharePoint), and file conversion and databases (e.g., MS Access).
Ability to travel.
Fluent in written and spoken English.

Education:
Science/Medicine degree: The minimum qualification required would be a university degree in life Sciences/ Health or Biomedical Sciences (Pharmacy, microbiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Biophysics etc.)

A degree in Medicine/Dentistry/Physiotherapy/Experimental Medicine/Nursing, which involves patient exposure in hospital-based environment, would be an advantage