Medical Affairs Jobs

We work on a range of Medical Affairs roles for global pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and consultancy companies across the UK and Europe. Covering a range of positions, including Pharmacists, MSLs, and Medical Advisors, our specialist recruitment consultants can help place you into your next happy job!

Find out more about a career in Medical Affairs below or speak with our specialist consultant, Kerry for an informal chat: +44 (0)2392 316 039 / kerry@carrotpharma.co.uk

What are the typical roles we recruit for within Medical Affairs?

• Medical Affairs Officer
• Medical Affairs Manager
• Medical Director
• Head of Medical Affairs
• Associate Director, Medical Affairs
• Medical Manager
• Medical Writer
• Pharmacist
• Senior/Medical Advisor
• Medical Science Liaison (MSL)
• Medical Lead
• Medical Information Officer

What is Medical Affairs?

Medical affairs is a unique department within life sciences that focuses on the communications between the company and medical professionals, healthcare providers, and patients. In a nutshell, Medical Affairs plays a key role in communicating scientific and clinical information to the medical community through various channels:  

• Standard response documents
• Approved presentations
• Educational collateral
• Medical publications
• Field interactions

Medical Affairs sits within commercial organisations and is concerned with post-approval activities. With pressure from regulatory authorities to have a department separate from commercial activities, Medical Affairs grew as a sector.

Medical Affairs roles are there to provide scientific and clinical support for commercial products. Some activities they may be involved with include:

• Managing key thought leader relationships
• Working with data and publishing reports from clinical trials
• Working on research initiatives outside of labelled and marketed indicators
• Presenting educational information
• Providing product safety information for healthcare professionals (e.g. physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and NHS managers) and to patients

All information and advice these professionals use are based on published literature, confidential company data, and experiences. They work closely with brand teams to approve literature and ensure it meets industry standards, as well as is well balanced and up-to-date.

Medical Affairs teams are the medical face of the company. Their value lies in their scientific and clinical expertise and they strive to build strong relationships with communities and academic physicians. This allows for information to flow freely between the medical community and the pharma organisation – and because its remit is positioned outside of commercial activities the team can help external bodies to navigate their way through internal departments.

Those starting out their careers within Medical Affairs will probably do so within a junior Medical Information role, before moving into a senior Medical Information position after a couple of years. From here, your Medical Affairs career path could lead to a Scientific Advisor or MSL position.

The skills you develop within a Medical Affairs role will also be transferable into other divisions of the pharma sector, such as Regulatory Affairs, PV, or Sales.

Find out more about how to progress your career within Medical Affairs here. 

If you would like to find out more about our current Clinical Research and Clinical Operations opportunities or contact Kerry to discuss the next steps in your career:

kerry@carrotpharma.co.uk