Senior Medical Writer
Medical writing is the job. All of it.
If you love medical writing, like properly love it—the science, the structure, the satisfaction of a happy client—and you want to spend your days doing more of it and getting better at it, then read on.
We're growing the team within our Agency Support vertical, the part of Word Monster that provides medical writing services to medical communications agencies and pharmaceutical company clients, and we're looking for a Senior Medical Writer who wants to focus on the thing that matters most: the writing. This is a writing-led role through and through: real briefs, real variety, real science — with senior support around you and the room to truly master your craft.
Who we are
Word Monster is an agency with a difference, one on a mission to transform healthcare communications worldwide. We're built on a core of scientific excellence and an award-winning, life-first culture. Our proprietary frameworks and our Friction in Pharma® philosophy underpin a genuinely different approach to medcomms.
We're remote-first, which means you can work from anywhere, design your own setup and manage your own schedule, staying connected through our virtual 2D office, regular socials, and in-person get-togethers like our annual Monster Mash retreat. Standard hours are 09:00–17:30 (UK), with real flexibility around them as long as client needs and deadlines are met. We trust our people to manage their workload like the grown-ups they are.
We call it writing with bite. You'll see why.
The role
As Senior Medical Writer, you'll sit within our Agency Support vertical, providing high-quality medical writing services to medical communications agencies and pharmaceutical company clients, reporting to a Principal Medical Writer. You'll take a brief, interrogate it until you have everything you need, and deliver meticulous, scientifically accurate work that adds value every time.
The work spans the full medcomms and promotional mix, including medical affairs, medical education, event support, advisory boards, slide decks, marketing materials and strategic documents across a wide range of therapy areas. If you like variety and getting your teeth into new TAs, you'll be well fed here. Day to day you'll work with account handlers and writing teams on the agency side, with some client-facing work thrown in.
A typical day looks like a morning brief with the agency team (with or without a call), proper protected writing time, and the finished work sentback before the deadline, negotiating timelines and handling queries as you go. All of it wrapped around weekly internal WIPs, all-team catch-ups, wellbeing check-ins and the odd coffee break, in a small team that's super collaborative, flexible, excellence-first and generous with what it knows.
What you'll be doing
Writing clear, engaging, scientifically accurate content across the full mix — from medical affairs and med ed to advisory boards, slide decks, marketing materials and strategic documents
Interrogating every brief — asking the right questions up front, and not being afraid to challenge an approach if you can see a way to make it better
Delivering meticulous work: well proofed, on-brief, with fully marked-up reference packs — and value added at every pass
Working independently, with strong self-editing — using the team as a sounding board for the trickier briefs and queries
Building fast, easy relationships with agency account and writing teams — and representing us brilliantly in any client-facing moments
Keeping everything squarely within ABPI and local codes of practice, flagging concerns early and proposing solutions
Delivering to deadline, with honest, open communication when timelines or briefs need negotiating
What good looks like
We've thought about this, so you're not walking in blind:
At 3 months — you're signed off to deliver without senior review, and clients are happy with the level of work landing on their desks
At 6 months — you're delivering high-quality work fully autonomously — leaning on the team for the tricky briefs — and adding value wherever you can
At 12 months — you're delivering a confident, value-add service to every client, an indispensable part of their teams — with the positive feedback to prove it
What you'll bring
Essential:
Prior experience as a Medical Writer or Senior Medical Writer in a medical communications agency
Genuinely independent working, with strong self-editing skills — your work arrives accurate, polished and properly referenced
A sharp eye for what a brief is really asking for, and the confidence to query and negotiate when needed
A life sciences degree (BSc)
Excellent knowledge of pharma regulation and the ABPI code
Nice to have:
An MSc or PhD in a relevant area (preferred, not a dealbreaker)
A track record of working across a wide variety of projects and therapy areas independently
A role for the love of writing
This role isn't your typical medical writer role. Here, you'll typically be working on one to two briefs a day, across a mix of agency clients and therapy areas. There's no strategy and no pitching: just writing, and lots of it. We're upfront about that because it's the whole point of the role — if your ambitions lie in strategy decks, congress centres and new business meetings, this isn't the one. If the idea of protected, brief-in-hand writing time makes your ears prick up, keep reading.
The early learning curve is about brief interrogation, adding value to every job, building relationships with client teams quickly and getting to grips with their systems. You won't be doing it alone: you'll have regular line-manager check-ins and day-to-day support from our Principal Medical Writer and Associate Editorial Director — a small, knowledge-sharing team that wants you to succeed.
What's in it for you
Salary of £45,000–£55,000 per annum
Annual company performance bonus (one pot, shared equally across the whole team)
Share options — we're all in this together
Company-paid private health insurance with Vitality (fully covered by us)
Pension (we contribute 3% if you join the scheme; you contribute 5%)
Individual and team training / self-development budget
Enhanced parental leave (full pay — 12 weeks maternity / 4 weeks paternity)
25 days' holiday (3 saved for the Christmas–New Year shutdown), plus UK bank holidays
Your birthday off — so that's 26 (day in lieu if it lands on a weekend)
An extra day's holiday after 2+ years, building up to 5 additional days over time
Buy up to 5 more holiday days if you want them
Optional UK “working together” days, with a contribution to travel
A quarterly wellbeing perk, because you've earned it
Financial coaching with Octopus MoneyCoach
Your own personalised monster character (naturally)
The process
There's a take-home medical writing/editing exercise as part of the process — your chance to show us how you think and write. We can accommodate notice periods of up to three months, so don't let your current notice put you off applying.
Sound like you? We'd love to hear from you. Apply with your CV and a quick note on why this one caught your eye — and help us keep writing with bite.
Word Monster is an inclusive employer. We lead with fairness, kindness and respect, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds.
- Department
- Agency Support (Medical Writing Services)
- Role
- Principal Medical Writer
- Remote status
- Fully Remote
- Yearly salary
- £55,000 - £65,000
- Employment type
- Full-time
About Word Monster
Welcome to Word Monster, your medical communications agency with a difference. We provide deep, scalable scientific expertise, training and development, and strategic and commercial consultancy for pharma companies and healthcare agencies. Our award-winning culture cultivates top talent to help our people shine brightly and bring their passion to your projects. Together we can make positive change for patients, healthcare professionals, teams, and the industry.