Senior Associate Consultant - London

Who we are

Solici is the strategic competitive intelligence division of Cambridge Healthcare Research. Founded in 2013 and having grown to over 120 staff today, CHR gives healthcare decision makers the power of knowing by providing critical insights, analysis and interpretation that informs pivotal decisions that advance healthcare.

Our vision at Solici is to help the brightest ideas reach patients. We achieve this by combining research excellence with deep subject matter expertise in a range of therapy areas and a passion for enabling our clients to deliver innovative products and services to those who need them.

Our values enable us to embed considered and curious teams at the heart of any client challenge:

• Collaboration – We build strong connections to achieve more together
• Excellence – We aim for greatness in everything we do
• Community – We deliver beyond work for our people, our clients, and wider society
• Courage – We embrace challenges as opportunities for growth
• Integrity – We always do the right thing

What you will do

Senior Associate Consultant is the second level of role in the Solici consulting career path and provides an opportunity for you to continue building a strong foundation for a successful career in consultancy. You will be part of integrated project teams spanning research and analysis, consulting and client leadership, operating autonomously and acting as a role model for Associate Consultants, whilst continuing to develop your existing expertise in competitive intelligence to support our clients in the pharmaceutical industry to better understand their competitive environment and make key strategic decisions for their assets.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Research planning – Partnering with consulting and research colleagues to help develop robust research plans, including key milestones and deliverables, to support the successful delivery of projects that maximise client satisfaction.
• Briefing researchers – Briefing research colleagues clearly to help them identify and access relevant data sources for updates on competitive landscapes relevant to assigned projects and conduct primary research according to agreed terms. Providing honest, professional and constructive feedback to help researchers improve the quality of their outputs.
• Formulating client-ready output – Understanding therapeutic areas to authoritatively review (e.g. quality control), evaluate and develop primary and secondary research output from research colleagues into insightful content, through creating easy-to-navigate, concise and readable client-friendly slide decks and email notifications, covering key findings and actionable implications to support project deliverables.
• Project team and client interaction – Coordinating (e.g. building agendas and taking minutes) and participating in internal meetings with project teams and external meetings with colleagues and clients.
• Conference coverage – Attend conferences in the UK and overseas to deliver high quality coverage, engaging with relevant key opinion leaders and commercial sources to drive conversations that address the key intelligence questions, and writing up daily research outputs into clear, concise and client-ready summaries.
• Workshop support – Supporting workshops (as required by projects) by contributing to the development of materials (such as client briefing packs) and assisting facilitators on-the-day (e.g. through transcribing discussions).
• Commercial awareness – Developing an awareness and understanding of project scoping and profitability to shape one’s own approach to achieving project deliverables. Building a broad understanding of the external market, key client challenges and both industry and therapy area trends.
• Business development – Researching and contributing to the creation of proposal materials and pitches. Representing the company effectively in external settings (e.g. at industry events or publishing thought pieces etc.)
• Quality control and colleague development – (Peer) reviewing work and coaching and supporting colleagues, coordinating their efforts as required, to ensure outputs from project teams are of the highest quality.
• Continuous improvement – Using expert knowledge and experience from past projects to proactively contribute towards the development of more effective and efficient ways of working that support CHR business strategy and culture.

Requirements

Who will thrive here?

Together with degree-level qualifications in life sciences, you will have already developed a strong foundation for a career within consulting, typically through at least 18-24 months working within competitive intelligence, but demonstrable capability and achievements are of greater importance than tenure. You will also be able to demonstrate the following:

Skills

• Planning, organising and prioritisation skills to successfully complete deliverables and achieve milestones in a timely/punctual manner
• IT skills across the Microsoft suite (especially Excel and PowerPoint)
• Primary and secondary research skills to identify appropriate data sources and information
• Analytical skills to convert gathered research into relevant client-friendly outputs
• Written and verbal communication skills to proactively collaborate effectively with others and develop impactful and user-friendly materials with a clear narrative and logical flow
• Attention to detail to ensure own and others’ outputs are accurate and of the highest quality

Behaviours

• A collaborative and solution-focused attitude to achieve success as part of a team and with other teams
• Critical thinking to use appropriate judgement in a variety of situations, including evaluating the reliability of research findings
• Growth mindset with an openness to accepting and acting on constructive feedback to improve one’s own capabilities
• An inclusive, empathetic and encouraging attitude to support, constructively challenge and get the best out of others
• Proactivity and using initiative to keep colleagues updated on one’s own progress and anticipate and address challenges with achieving project deliverables and milestones
• Motivation to develop specialist expertise required to understand research requirements (e.g. therapeutic areas, data sources etc.)

Personal alignment with and commitment to upholding and embedding CHR’s values

Other

• Flexibility and willingness to travel to and cover conferences in the UK and overseas throughout the year

Benefits

CHR's head office is in Shoreditch, London and provides the opportunity to work within our hybrid working model. Due to the customer-facing nature of this role, we anticipate 2-3 days per week on-site in our London office. We offer a collaborative and stimulating environment with an opportunity to make and influence decisions that will drive CHR forward, as well as a competitive salary and benefits package that includes:

• Base salary depending on prior experience
• Annual bonus
• 25 days holiday per year (with an additional day per year of service, up to 30 days) plus all bank/public holidays and Christmas/New Year closure
• Private Healthcare and Life Assurance
• Contributory Pension Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Mind & Body allowance to support activities that proactively support your health & wellbeing (such as gym membership or wellbeing apps)
• A collaborative and stimulating leadership environment
• An opportunity to make and influence decisions that will drive CHR forward

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and make all employment decisions without regard to age, national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, creed, gender, sexual orientation, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.