Associate Director

Our offices are in London, Macclesfield and Manchester and are supported by remote and flexible hybrid working policies.

About Lucid Group

We are a global healthcare communications agency with deep therapeutic expertise that traverses the asset lifecycle, delivering transformative outcomes for healthcare brands for over 20 years. Our more than 500 highly trained professionals work with speed and agility to craft and execute breakthrough strategies that maximise performance and unlock a brand's full potential.

Our position is aligned to one of our four divisions:

• Lucid Global works with global brand teams at big and mid-tier pharmaceuticals and biotech clients to deliver powerful medical communications solutions across the asset lifecycle.
• Lucid Consulting brings depth of expertise in the research, development and commercialisation of solutions across therapeutic areas and modalities by streamlining product development, building operational capabilities, innovating, and supporting execution to create value for patients, clients and shareholders.
• US MedComms works with both US and Global brand teams to create powerful medical communications solutions for early lifecycle assets.
• US Marketing works with clients across the Rx, Medical Device, OTC and Consumer Device categories to deliver compelling communications and promotional solutions to Healthcare Professionals for in-market assets.

About The Role

The Associate Director is a senior leader in the client team with primary accountability for client strategy, and portfolio growth. They build strong, enduring senior-level strategic partnerships with clients and act as a trusted advisor. They own portfolio-level leadership, independently identifying and driving new and organic business opportunities to deliver sustainable growth and long-term value. They are responsible for delivering against revenue and profitability targets, while providing clear strategic direction to both clients and internal teams. They are responsible for ensuring that their team and business portfolio deliver against client strategy, commercial objectives, and financial performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Client partnership
  • Owns senior client relationships across the portfolio, acting as a trusted strategic partner and primary escalation point.
  • Builds and maintains strong, enduring client relationships across multiple levels.
  • Maintains a deep understanding of client business, priorities, and market context, representing the client internally across Lucid Group.
  • Acts as an ambassador for Lucid Group, strengthening long-term partnerships and client loyalty.
• Strategic influence & direction
  • Provides insight to inform and shape client strategic plans, influencing broader client priorities beyond individual programmes.
  • Leads understanding of client strategy across the team, ensuring clarity, alignment, and consistent execution.
  • Oversees execution of key components of the client strategic plan, ensuring delivery against agreed objectives and outcomes.
  • Contributes insight to the Lucid Group strategic plan, including capability development and strategic initiatives.
• Business development
  • Identifies, shapes, and drives new and organic growth opportunities across the client portfolio.
  • Leads the proposal and pitch process, partnering with internal teams to develop compelling, strategic responses.
  • Proactively develops future opportunities and long-term client roadmaps to support sustainable growth.
• Commercial leadership
  • Owns portfolio performance, profitability, and growth, with accountability for revenue targets and financial outcomes.
  • Leads portfolio-level financial management, including forecasting accuracy and commercial planning.
  • Makes informed commercial decisions to optimise resourcing, profitability, and long-term value.
  • Reports financials to the General Manager and Management Team for performance tracking, and works collaboratively with the Head of Resource Operations to manage resource planning.
• Team leadership
  • Leads and manages cross-functional teams at portfolio level (upwards of £4M revenue).
  • Builds effective partnerships across capabilities (medical, strategy, project management, creative and digital, etc.) to deliver client strategy.
  • Provides clear direction, support, and challenge to teams, fostering accountability, high performance, and development.
  • Works in close partnership with the Client Partnership Director to align internal excellence with external success.
• Decision making
  • Exercises sound judgement in complex, fast-paced environments, balancing client needs, commercial priorities, and team capacity.
  • Anticipates risk and opportunity, making proactive, risk-aware decisions that support sustainable outcomes.
  • Takes ownership for decisions and outcomes at portfolio level, escalating appropriately where required.

What We’re Looking For

Essential skills

• Proven experience in a senior client-facing role, building trusted partnerships and influencing decision-making at multiple levels.
• Strong strategic capability, with a track record of shaping insight-led programmes that deliver impact and growth for clients.
• Commercial acumen, including experience contributing to revenue growth, portfolio performance, and financial accountability.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering complex programmes of work for clients, on time and on budget.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and convert growth opportunities, both new and organic.
• Ability to confidently present, pitch, and articulate ideas to both internal teams and external clients/stakeholders.
• Experience leading and aligning cross-functional teams in a fast-paced, complex environment.
• Confident problem-solving and judgement, able to navigate ambiguity and make sound, risk-aware decisions.
• Experience leading, coaching, and developing others to deliver high performance.
• Background within medcomms or healthcare communications.
• Demonstrated ability to lead in line with organisational values and translate a clear client value proposition into meaningful, high-quality client experiences.

Desirable skills

• Life Science degree or equivalent scientific background.

Benefits Of Working With Us

Our culture is fundamental to the delivery of transformation. Harnessing the talent and ambitions of those we work with empowers us to deliver our magic. On top of this, our benefits include:

• Discretionary bonus scheme;
• Contributory pension with Lucid contribution up to 5% of basic salary (enrolment after 3 months of employment);
• Cycle to work scheme;
• 25 working days holiday, 1 Celebration Day of your choice, 4 Christmas closure days plus 8 Bank Holidays per annum (pro-rata for part-time);
• Flexible holiday buy and sell scheme;
• Family friendly policies;
• Private family health and dental cover, including Employee Assistance Programme and a comprehensive employee rewards scheme;
• 4x basic salary life assurance cover;
• Medicash Healthcare Cash Plan (Level 1 company cover);
• Season Ticket Loans;

What does it mean to be Lucid?

At Lucid Group, we transform lives. Always. We believe in providing a culture of authenticity, where we can all be ourselves, make real connections, and enjoy the work that we do. Together. We empower our people to embark on a journey of growth and advancement by offering meaningful learning and development opportunities.

Central to our ethos is our commitment to cultivating an environment that embraces and respects people of all backgrounds and identities, underpinned by a culture of conscious inclusion and support. The Lucid values are not just mere words; they are the culmination of our collective efforts. Co-created by our people for our people, these values serve as our guiding principles, ensuring that every decision we make positively impacts the lives of the clients, patients, healthcare professionals, and colleagues we serve.

Compassionately Human: We think about the human impact of our actions.

Accountable Allies: We are the go-to strategic partners for our clients.

Invent with Intent: We create meaningful solutions to solve real problems.

Courageously Curious: We challenge ourselves to think disruptively.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and welcome applications from all backgrounds and identities. We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment experience to everyone. This commitment to inclusion is explicitly inclusive of race, colour, sex, age, pregnancy, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression or disability.