Senior Associate in Haddington

Hours: Full Time (part time working patterns may be considered)

Location: Remote, with occasional travel as required, including to the ELC Office in Haddington, East Lothian

Salary: From £42,000 per annum (negotiable, dependant on experience)

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK on a permanent basis and must not require employer sponsorship at any stage.

About ELC

ELC is a boutique life sciences consultancy specialising in HTA, market access, patient advocacy and patient organisation support. ELC operates across five interconnected pillars, with two core strategic consultancy pillars: Patient Organisation Services and HEGA, HTA and Market Access Services. In our Patient Organisation Services pillar, we act as a trusted, independent third party, helping pharmaceutical companies engage compliantly and effectively with patient organisations, building sustainable foundations, forging powerful collaborations, influencing policy, generating meaningful insights, and delivering transformative changes for the patients they serve. ELC has unparalleled experience and decades of deep expertise across every aspect of patient advocacy, patient-centricity, and patient organisation development, with a particular focus on small and medium‑sized groups in the rare disease and rare cancer space. Through these partnerships, we help to strengthen their impact, professionalise their operations, and ensure that patient priorities, perspectives, and preferences are powerfully represented at every level of research and development and healthcare decision‑making, including regulatory, HTA, and market access processes.

The opportunity

This is a role at the heart of the consultancy business, and the successful candidate will play a critical role in ensuring high‑quality, high‑impact projects are delivered that make a tangible difference to patient organisations and the people they serve. In a challenging and fast‑moving political landscape, the role of patients and patient organisations in life sciences, health policy and healthcare has never been more important. Many political and system‑led changes are being forced through without sufficient thought given to the direct and indirect consequences for patients. This role will suit someone who thrives in a fast‑moving, high‑volume environment, is comfortable working independently with significant responsibility and can think strategically across a varied project portfolio where accuracy, reliability and ownership are essential. The post holder must be able to travel to international conferences and meetings, as required.

Role responsibilities

• The Senior Associate role is within the Patient Organisation Services content team and reports to the CEO.
• This hands‑on role will primarily support the ongoing design, growth and day‑to‑day management of a well‑established, patient‑organisation‑led, multi‑stakeholder collaboration between pharmaceutical and biotech partners and patient organisations to address the most pressing issues of inequity and inequality globally in defined therapeutic areas.
• However, the role will also include leading on and participating in other projects, including, but not limited to, patient organisation board governance, capacity building and training; co‑developing strategic and operating plans; and generating patient and carer evidence and insights through a variety of established approaches and methods.
• Additionally, the role will support ELC’s business development needs, helping to bring in new business as well as sponsors and funders for existing and future programmes and initiatives and contribute to pro bono patient organisation work, including managing the Patient Organisation Special Interest Group (PO SIG) for the Ethical Medicines Industry Group (EMIG).

General duties are expected to include:

• Contribute to the conceptual design of projects, including drafting project proposals and Statements of Work (SoW).
• Develop and work within project timelines, ensuring delivery remains within scope and agreed milestones as set out in the SoW.
• Attend all relevant project calls, serving as the primary point of contact for the client for content‑related queries, while ensuring all communication is consistent with organisational standards.
• Build and maintain relationships with all relevant stakeholders in each therapeutic area.
• Develop and design documentation throughout the lifecycle of the project, revising based on changing needs and requirements.
• Lead event and meeting logistics for relevant meetings, working closely with the Events and Marketing Manager to support end‑to‑end delivery.
• Maintain an excellent, in‑depth understanding of relevant policy developments, ensuring clients and stakeholders are informed of how these changes impact their strategy.
• Develop and maintain an in‑depth understanding of each therapeutic area, keeping informed of relevant patient organisation and industry developments.
• Work efficiently as part of a delivery team, ensuring project outputs are high‑quality and high‑impact and in line with the current health policy environment.
• Review work delegated to other team members, providing timely and constructive feedback.
• Apply a creative and analytical approach to solving problems, reaching logical conclusions.
• Independently draft high‑quality documents, reports and presentations, including senior‑level and board‑style papers, ensuring clarity, accuracy and alignment with organisational standards.
• Highlight areas of risk and provide mitigation where necessary to support decision‑making.
• Provide data to inform budgeting, forecasting and resource planning across the project portfolio as required.
• Apply a continuous improvement mindset to identify opportunities to streamline processes, improve workflows and enhance delivery efficiency, always working within ELC standards, including brand and style guidelines and SOPs.

Experience

• A minimum of 3 years of experience in a policy, patient advocacy or PPI role.
• Demonstrable experience building strong working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Proven ability to work autonomously, prioritising tasks independently and exercising sound judgement.
• Experience of working within a project environment with ownership of delivery and outcomes.

Skills

• Ability to coordinate and collaborate effectively with internal and external teams to ensure high‑quality outputs across a project portfolio.
• Excellent attention to detail, ensuring accuracy in communications, documents and process execution.
• Adaptability and resilience in rapidly changing environments.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to influence at all organisational levels.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tailor messages for different audiences.
• Proactive problem‑solving skills, with the ability to anticipate needs, identify issues early and offer solutions with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Proven ability to work independently in a high‑volume, fast‑paced environment.
• Skilled in synthesising information and data into clear, actionable insights and reports.
• Exceptional organisational and administrative skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities.
• High level of discretion, confidentiality and professional judgement, particularly when handling sensitive information or acting on behalf of the CEO or Senior Leadership Team.
• A high degree of emotional intelligence in all aspects of responsibilities.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of the life sciences ecosystem, health policy and patient advocacy best practices.
• Confidence in working with project management software.
• Knowledge of continuous improvement methodology.

We place particular importance on emotional intelligence and the ability to get along with other people. Empathy, maturity, and optimism are core to how we support our clients and collaborate as a team. You will be comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment, balancing competing priorities while maintaining a high standard of work and professionalism.