Senior Medical Writer

Role Summary

Responsibilities: You will lead diverse Medical Communications projects within a skilled project team to deliver high-quality work to clients. Responsibilities include reviewing junior colleagues’ work for accuracy, planning and overseeing projects.

Salary: £50,000 to £55,000 per annum, depending on your previous experience.

Benefits: Discretionary profit share bonuses paid twice per year, hybrid and flexible working options, generous holiday allowance, private medical insurance, critical illness cover, income protection, full funding for external training, and additional benefits.

Role Type: Full-time, permanent.

Start Date: We are currently recruiting for start dates throughout 2026; you will be asked to state your availability on your application form.

Application Deadlines: Whilst there are no set application deadlines, we strongly recommend applying as early as possible. The role may close when suitable candidates are found.

Location: This role is available in Global Headquarters in Cambridge, as well as London, Manchester, and Bristol offices.

About the Role

Do you have experience delivering publications or medical affairs projects? Do you enjoy building long-term client relationships? Costello Medical is expanding its Medical Communications team in response to growing demand from both new and existing clients, and we are therefore looking for a Senior Medical Writer who enjoys high-quality content delivery alongside project and client management.

Senior Medical Writers play a leading role across projects, working closely with their teams to ensure client deliverables are produced to an exceptionally high standard and within agreed timelines. This involves providing strategic input at project initiation, overseeing project delivery, and maintaining regular communication with clients throughout. Senior Medical Writers also play a central role in quality control, reviewing colleagues’ work and providing clear, constructive feedback to support team development.

Our Medical Communications sub‑teams collaborate closely, giving you the opportunity to work across one or both of the following project types:

• Publications: Including strategic publication planning, poster design, manuscript development, abstract production, and more.
• Medical Affairs: Including advisory boards, congress support, the development of medical information and educational materials for various events, and more.

You will contribute to business development by building and sustaining strong client relationships and identifying opportunities to extend or enhance our services within existing projects. As you progress in the role, you may also take on greater responsibility for client management, including budgeting and project finances, as well as line management of interns within your team.

Hybrid Working Policy: We believe that having face‑to‑face time in the office has many benefits and is central to ensuring that the community we have created never feels lost. At the same time, we recognise that homeworking can improve work‑life balance, reduce commuting times and costs, and provide the opportunity to juggle personal commitments. Therefore, we offer flexible working arrangements that allow colleagues who have passed probation to work from home up to half their time, measured across a 2‑week rolling period. In the Senior Medical Writer role, you will be able to work from home 2 days per week during the probationary period (normally the first 6 months of the role).

A Day in the Life of a Senior Medical Writer: Learn more about a typical day in the life of a Senior Medical Writer at Costello Medical.

Career Development: Senior Medical Writers can progress into Manager‑level roles, such as Consultant or Publication Manager, with fast progression available for high performers. In these roles, you would take full ownership of client management, including budgeting and business development, as well as project delivery. You would also line‑manage team members and contribute to internal initiatives such as recruitment and training.

About You: We are looking for collaborative, self‑motivated and enthusiastic individuals, with typically at least two years’ professional experience within an agency setting. Specifically, successful candidates will have experience in the following areas:

• Delivery of medical communications projects – either publications, medical affairs, or both.
• Communicating directly with clients, including responding to different communication styles.
• Day‑to‑day leadership of project teams, including delegating tasks and managing the time of others.

Further essential requirements for the role are:

• A degree‑level qualification in a scientific discipline (minimum 2.1). We welcome applications from candidates with a diverse range of specialisms, including but not limited to biology, chemistry, pharmacy and medicine.
• Exceptional attention to detail and high degree of written accuracy.
• Excellent proficiency in written English and arithmetic.
• Strong scientific writing skills with the ability to tailor writing style to different audiences.
• Project management skills sufficient to enable timely project delivery.
• Excellent data presentation skills, including the ability to use Excel, PowerPoint and Word effectively and efficiently, to produce a professional, high standard of work.
• Sufficient technical and strategic knowledge to provide clients with recommendations on project content and approach.
• The capacity to maintain exceptional customer service and quality of deliverables under multiple competing demands.
• The proven ability to build robust and sustainable client relationships.
• The ability to motivate colleagues and take a leadership role in the delivery of project components.

What We Offer: Alongside our award‑winning company culture, where every team member is celebrated, respected, and has their voice heard, we are proud to offer a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• A starting salary of £50,000 to £55,000 per annum, plus profit share bonuses paid twice per year. We have established salary bands to ensure a fair and consistent approach for all applicants, eliminating the need for individual negotiations.
• 4% employer pension contributions.
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank and public holidays.
• Flexible working hours, with the flexibility to start as late as 10 am, finish as early as 4:30 pm and take up a break of up to 90 minutes.
• The opportunity to work from home for up to 50% of your working time after passing probation.
• An annual flexible benefits allowance of £1,000, which can be taken as cash, an additional pension contribution or used towards other benefits.
• A holiday buy and sell scheme, allowing you to buy or sell up to 4 additional days each year.
• A fully paid 4‑week sabbatical after every five years of continuous service, taken as a block, in two 2‑week chunks, or exchanged for a holiday top‑up.
• Private Medical Insurance with comprehensive inpatient and outpatient cover on a medical history disregard basis.
• A health cash plan covering everyday healthcare costs such as dental check‑ups, optical care, physiotherapy and more.
• Paid study leave and funding for external qualifications.
• Critical Illness Cover, Income Protection and Life Assurance, including 2× salary death‑in‑service cover.
• Cycle‑to‑work, season ticket travel loan and electric vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.
• Global travel insurance for leisure use.
• Two paid volunteering days per year.

Learn more about our full reward package and the other benefits of working for Costello Medical.

Equal Opportunity Employer: We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce and, throughout the recruitment process, we can provide reasonable adjustments where needed.

Visa Sponsorship: We can provide visa sponsorship for eligible candidates for the Senior Medical Writer role. You will be asked to provide details of your right to work in the UK within your application, however this will have no impact on the processing of your application.