Insight Associate Director - Pharmaceutical in Manchester

At Real Chemistry, making the world a healthier place isn’t just an aspiration—it’s our everyday reality. Our drive to transform healthcare is informed by our blend of deep scientific expertise, human‑centred creativity, and AI‑driven insights, fostering a unique environment where innovation thrives and our people are impact‑obsessed. As a global agency, we provide a full suite of services across healthcare communications and marketing to our clients, including top players in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Real Chemistry is looking for an Insight Account Director to join our growing team! We are seeking an Insight Account Director to join our global analytics and insights practice based in London or Edinburgh. This is a mid‑senior role responsible for owning and scaling large‑scale social intelligence, audience analytics, and primary research insight engagements across a portfolio of Real Chemistry’s priority UK and EMEA Medical Education clients. Sitting within our Integrated Intelligence team, this individual will serve as a senior account lead —accountable for client impact, project delivery and profitability of the business.

The Account Director will partner closely with the Insight Lead and support senior stakeholders and internal teams in the medical education function, shaping insight‑led strategy, elevate storytelling, and ensuring consistent, high‑quality delivery across engagements. We are looking for an inspirational and collaborative individual who loves healthcare insights. You are someone who loves data and insights, is expert in social, digital and / or primary data analysis and extracting insight and is already exploring the potential in new AI‑enabled approaches. You are passionate about healthcare and excited about the opportunity to use your developing skills to support medical education and advance treatment and care.

You will have significant agency experience, deep expertise in social intelligence and healthcare insights, and a proven track record of leading account teams, managing clients, and growing revenue. As part of the London team, you will be leading on the latest social, digital and market research techniques, using a range of innovative, market leading and proprietary tools. The team has built a strong culture that we are very proud of. We are passionate about our work, committed to delivering excellence, continually strive to create new things, and are very supportive of one another. We are looking for somebody who will bring the same energy to their work and foster a positive and enriching culture for all team members. We have fabulous offices in central London, Edinburgh and Manchester, with office attendance expected twice a week.

Who’ll Love This Job

• You’re a trusted advisor – You operate confidently with clients, delivering value and shaping strategy rather than reacting to briefs.
• You think commercially – You understand how insights drive growth and long‑term client relationships.
• You’re a people leader – You set standards, develop talent, and build high‑performing, motivated teams.
• You’re accountable end‑to‑end – From scope and staffing to delivery quality and financial performance, you own the outcome.

What you’ll do:

• Serve as the senior strategic lead on complex, high impact social intelligence and insights engagements, defining approach, methodology, and narrative.
• Act as a senior client partner, building trusted relationships and advising clients on how insights connect to broader business and brand strategy.
• Own delivery excellence across engagements‑ensuring insight quality, strategic relevance, and executive ready storytelling.
• Provide senior oversight across multiple concurrent projects, stepping in as needed to guide teams through ambiguity or complexity.
• Lead and grow a significant book of Integrated Intelligence business, with accountability for forecasting, profitability, and resourcing.
• Identify and drive organic growth, renewals, and new revenue opportunities in partnership with senior leadership.
• Set direction, standards, and best practices for social intelligence and insight work across the team.
• Lead, coach, and develop managers and senior individual contributors – building a strong talent pipeline and culture of excellence.
• Partner cross functionally with Medical, Communications, Advertising, Creative, and Analytics leaders across the Real Chemistry network.

This position is a perfect fit for you if:

• Our Company values – Best Together, Impact‑Obsessed, Excellence Expected, Evolve Always, and Accountability with an “I” – really speak to you.
• You are adaptable, resilient, and OK with adjusting your scope, responsibilities, and focus as we grow.
• You are proactive, driven, and resourceful with strong prioritisation skills and a desire to dive into the data.
• You are highly organised self‑starter, able to work independently and under tight deadlines.

What you should have:

• 5+ years of experience across analytics, insights, strategy, or medical education, with significant agency experience.
• Demonstrated leadership experience managing senior clients, complex scopes, and high value accounts.
• Deep, hands on expertise in social listening, digital analytics, and insight generation, with the ability to translate signals into strategic action.
• Demonstrable interest in innovation, adopting the latest research innovations.
• Strong understanding of the pharma, healthcare, and life sciences landscape, including UK/EU regulatory considerations.
• Commercial acumen, with experience managing budgets, forecasting, resourcing, and revenue growth.
• Advanced storytelling and presentation skills – comfortable delivering insights to senior and executive audiences.
• High comfort operating in ambiguity, setting direction, and driving outcomes without heavy oversight.

Real Chemistry is proud to be Great Place to Work® certified; check out what our people shared about our culture and workplace on our Great Places to Work Profile here. We believe we can do our best when feeling our best, which is why we’ve put together a benefits program designed to give you the support you and your family need at every stage of life. Real Chemistry offers a comprehensive benefit program and perks, tailored to your region. Globally, this includes offices in our key markets with free snacks to keep you running all day long, generous holiday and paid time off, options for private medical, dental, and vision plans, and support in saving for the future. Other perks include mental wellness coaching and support and access to more than 13,000 online classes with LinkedIn Learning.

Working with Real HART: Since the pandemic, we have adapted to how our people told us they want to work. We have office locations in cities in the US, UK, and Europe with many employees and clients that serve as hubs where and when they need us. For employees who are within an hour of one of our offices, we expect attendance in the office two days per week, either at a Real Chemistry office or onsite with clients. We are also actively opening new office locations, so if one opens near you, our Real HART policy will apply. We are not looking for attendance for the sake of attendance but believe that the opportunity to coordinate in‑office team meetings, 1:1 meetings with managers, taking advantage of on‑site learning, and connecting with client partners is critical to delivering on our purpose of making healthcare what it should be. Outside of these offices, we have regions where people work remotely but come together quarterly for collaboration, culture and learning opportunities. We call this our Real Hybrid and Regional Teams (Real HART) approach. Real Chemistry believes we are best together – and our workplace strategy fosters connection and collaboration in person – but also supports flexibility for our people.

Real Chemistry is an Equal Opportunity employer. We continually strive to build and sustain an inclusive and equitable work environment where our employees feel empowered to leverage all they bring from their personal lived experience and professional expertise, to build our team into the best in the industry. We encourage motivated and qualified applicants to apply without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ethnic or national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Real Chemistry operates. Should you require accommodations throughout the interview process please let your recruiter know.