Associate Director , Commercial Strategy - Health

About the position

Title: Associate Director, Commercial Strategy

Reports to: Group Director, Commercial Strategy

We are looking for an established Associate Director with strong client engagement and delivery leadership skills to help lead Commercial Strategy engagements and support growth across key accounts. The ideal candidate understands the healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape, and can lead cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality, insight-led strategy, that meets client objectives, budgets and timelines.

This role plays a key part in delivery excellence – setting clear project structure and ways of working, managing dependencies and risks, and guiding teams to produce consistent, client-ready outputs. The Associate Director will also contribute to organic growth and net new business activity by supporting proactive account planning and helping translate opportunities into well-scoped programs of work. In addition, the role supports talent development through mentoring, coaching and supervision/line management of team members as required.

The candidate should have experience shaping and delivering commercialization strategy work from early pipeline through launch and/or indication expansion, across projects such as; category leadership & ecosystem shaping activities, clinical to commercial strategy, competitive differentiation, evidence generation strategy and early strategic scientific narrative & value architecture development. They should demonstrate commercial acumen and strategic context, connecting asset-level strategy to a broader franchise/portfolio/category story and anticipating relevant ecosystem and macro-environment considerations. Experience should be underpinned by strong primary and secondary research capability, and comfort working with external experts (e.g., KOLs, HCPs, patient advocates, policymakers) to generate insight and drive alignment.

This role is based in our London office with close collaboration across our core hubs and strategic disciplines.

Requirements

Associate Director should have strong healthcare strategy or consulting experience, with demonstrated leadership across complex commercialization engagements across a wide range of disease areas, as well as:

• Ability to lead delivery across workstreams, with strong governance (scope, resourcing, risk) and day-to-day financial stewardship
• Consultative client partnership: able to clarify objectives and translate them into a practical engagement roadmap/ways of working
• Strong team leadership: supervises and develops junior strategists through coaching, feedback, and (where applicable) line management
• Growth mindset: proactively identifies opportunities to deepen work and supports proposals/pitches in partnership with senior leads
• Comfortable leading integrated teams in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment; confident managing stakeholder issues and escalating appropriately

Experience

• 7+ years' experience in healthcare strategy/consulting or closely related pharma/biotech roles
• Global and/or regional client experience across multiple therapy areas
• Track record delivering commercialization strategy work, owning defined workstreams and/or smaller engagements
• Experience directing primary research components (e.g., objectives, discussion guides, stimuli) and leading facilitation/expert engagement (e.g., workshops, advisory boards)
• Experience engaging with external stakeholders (e.g., HCPs/KOLs, payers, patient advocates, policymakers), and translating their input into actionable strategic direction
• Demonstrated contribution to business development (supporting and shaping proposals/pitches; progressing organic growth opportunities into scoped follow-on work)

Knowledge and skills

• Commercial acumen and strategic context: ability to link asset-level strategy to broader franchise/portfolio/category narratives and ecosystem/macro dynamics to shape adoption and long-term value
• Strong research craft across secondary and primary methods; rigorous synthesis into decision-driving insights and implications
• Excellent strategic storytelling and slide craft (storylining, executive-ready decks, clear recommendations, substantiation)
• Strong program leadership (workplans, dependencies, documentation quality); high proficiency in PowerPoint, Excel and Word
• Comfortable leveraging technology (including AI) to improve efficiency and rigor, with appropriate validation and governance

We believe the best work happens when we're together, fostering creativity, collaboration, and connection. That's why we’ve adopted a hybrid approach, with teams in the office an average of four days a week. If you require accommodations or flexibility, please discuss this with the hiring team during the interview process.

WPP (VML) is an equal opportunity employer and considers applicants for all positions without discrimination or regard to characteristics. We are committed to fostering a culture of respect in which everyone feels they belong and has the same opportunities to progress in their careers.

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