Director – Marketing Strategy and Media Planning

Why this role is different

• You are not joining an existing practice — you are building one, with senior sponsorship and a pre-existing client base.
• You sit at the intersection of strategy, data and execution: IQVIA owns the targeting, the execution arm (DME) and the measurement — you bring the strategic glue.
• Clear precedent in other IQVIA markets — proven model, UK is the next logical market.

IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at https://jobs.iqvia.com

IQVIA is committed to integrity in our hiring process and maintains a zero tolerance policy for candidate fraud. All information and credentials submitted in your application must be truthful and complete. Any false statements, misrepresentations, or material omissions during the recruitment process will result in immediate disqualification of your application, or termination of employment if discovered later, in accordance with applicable law. We appreciate your honesty and professionalism.

Key responsibilities

• Capability build. Define and stand up IQVIA UK's marketing strategy & media planning offer: service design, methodologies, pricing, IP/templates, quality standards and go-to-market narrative. Codify ways of working so the offer scales beyond the founder.
• End-to-end promotional strategy. Lead client engagements covering brand and portfolio strategy, positioning, messaging architecture, customer journey, channel mix, campaign planning, and KPI/measurement frameworks — linking strategy to IQVIA's existing targeting, DME execution and PromoSuite measurement assets.
• Media planning & buying advisory. Advise clients on channel strategy across HCP and (where relevant) patient/consumer audiences. Run channel selection, budget allocation, flighting and media-mix recommendations. Manage relationships with media agencies/owners and oversee buying where executed via partners.
• Sales & business development. Own a personal sales target. Generate and convert pipeline through existing IQVIA accounts and your own network. Lead proposals, pitches and commercial negotiations; cross-sell into Consulting, DME, OneKey, Real-World and Technology offerings. The role would be supported by sales specialists who will also drive client discussions.
• Client leadership. Act as the senior strategic advisor for clients (Marketing Directors, Brand Leads, Heads of Omnichannel, Commercial Excellence). Build trusted, repeat-buyer relationships.
• Delivery oversight. Use Consulting analysts/consultants/managers as the delivery engine. Scope, staff, QA and commercially manage projects; coach the team on marketing/media craft they don't yet have.
• Partnerships. Identify and manage a curated bench of creative, media and production partners (either through internal IQVIA teams or boutique agencies)
• Compliance & governance. Ensure all work is delivered in line with ABPI, PMCPA, MHRA, BHBIA and applicable advertising codes (CAP/BCAP, ASA) and IQVIA's own compliance and data-use standards.
• Thought leadership. Represent IQVIA externally — POVs, conference speaking, client roundtables — to position the new capability in the UK market.

Essential experience & skills:

• 15+ years' experience in a marketing strategy and/or media planning role within a healthcare and/or FMCG agency, consultancy or in-house brand team (agency-side experience strongly preferred).
• Demonstrable ownership of end-to-end promotional strategy — from insight and positioning through to channel plan, execution brief and measurement.
• Hands-on experience of media planning, with working knowledge of media buying processes, agency economics and the main UK media owners/platforms (HCP and consumer).
• Proven sales track record: personal book of business, owning revenue targets, closing six- and seven-figure engagements.
• Established senior client network in UK pharma/healthcare (Marketing, Omnichannel, Commercial Excellence) and/or FMCG.
• Strong commercial acumen: scoping, pricing, margin management, contracting.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to flex between C-suite, brand teams and delivery analysts.
• Comfortable building from a blank sheet — entrepreneurial, pragmatic, hands-on.

Desirable / additional skills:

• Omnichannel / orchestration expertise — designing HCP customer journeys across rep, email, digital, congress, paid media and content syndication; familiarity with platforms such as Veeva, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Adobe Experience Cloud.
• Performance marketing & analytics literacy — media mix modelling, attribution, A/B testing, working knowledge of GA4, programmatic, DSPs and retargeting frameworks.
• Data-driven mindset — comfortable using IQVIA assets (sales data, PromoSuite, OneKey, ALHP/Synmetrics) to shape strategy and prove ROI.
• Creative judgement — able to brief and challenge creative agencies on concept, messaging and production quality (without being a creative themselves).
• Regulatory fluency — ABPI Code, PMCPA, MHRA promotional rules; awareness of EFPIA and equivalent EU codes is a plus.
• International exposure — experience working across EU markets or with global brand teams; awareness of how UK promo strategy fits into pan-European plans.
• Therapy-area depth — at least one of: oncology, immunology, rare disease, vaccines, cardiometabolic, CNS.
• Consulting hygiene — structured problem solving, project economics, ability to QA junior deliverables, comfort with MSAs/SOWs.
• People leadership — track record of building and mentoring small teams; ability to attract talent into the new capability over time.
• Awareness of adjacent IQVIA offerings (Real-World Evidence, Technology, Patient Solutions) to spot cross-sell opportunities.