Senior Strategy Director

The Senior Strategy Director, EU Client Strategy is responsible for leading the brand and creative strategy thinking on selected key agency accounts, major new business pitches and, on occasion, speculative new business outreach, reporting to the Head of Client Strategy, EU.

The key responsibilities of the role:

• To be accountable for ensuring that the strategy work delivered on these allocated tasks is original, of high quality, motivating and actionable, and in line with client needs and new business pitch requirements, all the while making best use of all internal resources irrespective of the primary discipline of the originating agency (i.e. covering Advertising, Public/Professional Relations, Digital Communications, Medical Communications and Clinical Trial Recruitment offers)
• Strategy work may span areas such as insight development, brand strategy, positioning, messaging, and concept testing, depending on project needs
• Ability both to prepare with originality and facilitate with energy both internal and external workshops, in new business as well as existing business contexts
• Collaborate with, and contribute to, a productive team of Strategists, based both in London and Germany
• Provide this strategic support, as directed, to all EU regional in-market Syneos Health Communications offices and offers, and across the broader affiliate network (including US) to support larger global opportunities
• To work in sync with the Creative Department to ensure all deliverables are on strategy before broader internal presentation, and contributing where appropriate to concept generation and approval
• Ensure that, on their allocated accounts, all major agency deliverables are ‘on brief’ prior to internal management, and then client, presentation
• Collaborate closely with Medical Strategy on allocated accounts to ensure that brand strategy recommendations are based always on sound science
• Build strong and influential client relationships on allocated accounts, negotiating as necessary regarding the amendment of strategy in line with client wishes, while explaining what is and is not possible
• Consult, when appropriate, across our broad, integrated team to draw on wider expertise
• Lead allocated strategy projects through to delivery in accordance with timelines outlined by Project Management
• Be an advocate and thought leader on strategy, researching new ways of thinking and evaluating them for inclusion among our agency deliverables
• Collaborate when appropriate with our agency Head of Insight to assist in the development of new research tools that might add value to the agency’s overall strategy offering
• Flex as needed to support evolving business and client needs. 

Experience and Skills:

• A proven track record as a strategist within an Omnichannel environment including, but not limited to, Advertising, Public/Professional Relations, Digital, Medical Communications and Clinical Trial Recruitment, in a healthcare focused environment

Specific experience to include:

• Developing and completing launch strategy frameworks and activity plans
• Supporting clients in structuring and writing launch, or annual, brand plans
• Leading the strategic thinking on significant global as well as regional launches
• Comfort and proficiency in planning, structuring and running both internal and external workshops
• A pro-active and conscientious manner with an outstanding aptitude for clear and direct strategic thinking, and bringing an abundance of original and inspiring ideas
• Ability to create stories for others to work on, having a keen awareness of current trends in healthcare communications and society at large
• Strong interpersonal skills are a must, balancing possessing a crystal-clear strategic vision while remaining open to the ideas of others
• The ability to communicate and present both persuasively and engagingly, in order both to effectively pitch strategies to clients and explain them to members of creative and account teams
• Fluency with applying AI tools to support both project productivity and output quality
• Strong time and self-management skills, with ability to work and advise seamlessly across multiple projects and issues
• A people person who understands how to contribute to the building of strong, engaged, productive and happy teams, both within specific account groups and the Client Strategy team
• A willingness to constructively challenge colleagues, other agencies and clients alike
• Comfort in advising and collaborating with other extended team members
• The ability and generosity to inspire, influence and share knowledge with others who are less experienced in brand and creative strategy
• Appreciation of financial management and budgets for projects
• Strong attention to detail, excellent organisational and administrative skills

At Syneos Health, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace. If your past experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. At times, we will consider transferable skills from previous roles. We also encourage you to join our Talent Network to stay connected to additional career opportunities.

Syneos Health Communications is powered by Syneos Health, a global professional services organisation designed to help the biopharmaceutical industry shorten the distance from lab to life®. We have a proven pedigree in health, with industry titans in every facet of healthcare. This eliminates guesswork and fuels our passion for total, life-changing solutions. At the heart of health, we’re uniquely poised to predict what’s next and respond to the market’s demand for smarter and faster answers. We are able to help our customers make important decisions within their business due to our unique understanding of the complexities that come along with working in the healthcare industry. Syneos Health Communications is able to make the complex, simple.

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Syneos Health companies are affirmative action/equal opportunity employers (Minorities/Females/Veterans/Disabled)