GlaxoSmithKline K.K. Posted October 26, 2026

Head of Vaccine / Infectious Disease Medical Affairs

Akasaka, Japan Full time
Medical Affairs Vaccines & Infectious Disease
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GlaxoSmithKline K.K. is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

Job Purpose

The Head of Vaccine / Infectious Disease Medical Affairs is a senior leadership role with responsibility for building and leading the Vaccine / Infectious Disease Medical Affairs function in Japan.

The role provides overall leadership of medical activities across the portfolio, including leadership of Product Medical Leads, Medical Advisors and MSL functions.

Key objectives include:

• Development and execution of an integrated Vaccine / Infectious Disease medical strategy aligned with global and regional priorities

• Robust integrated evidence planning in collaboration with Regulatory, Development and Health Outcomes partners

• Excellence in scientific engagement with Vaccine / Infectious Disease experts

• Strong medical governance and compliance oversight across Vaccine / Infectious

Disease activities

• Leadership by example in science, technology and culture Key Responsibilities

• Accountable for development and execution of the Vaccine / Infectious Disease

Therapeutic Area Medical Strategy in partnership with Global and Regional Medical Affairs

• Lead and develop high-performing Vaccine / Infectious Disease medical teams, including Product Medical Leads, Medical Advisors and MSLs

• Drive high-quality external scientific engagement with key Vaccine / Infectious Disease stakeholders

• Provide strategic medical input into lifecycle management, launches and post-launch activities

• Ensure compliance with GSK governance, JPMA codes, MHLW regulations and GCP requirements

• Act as a senior leader within the Japan Medical Affairs Leadership Team

Basic Qualifications

Skills

• Strong strategic and business acumen with the ability to translate scientific data into medical strategy

• Proven people leadership and matrix leadership capabilities

• Strong cross-functional collaboration and stakeholder management skills

• Results-oriented mindset with high ethical standards and integrity

• Deep understanding of pharmaceutical governance and compliance in Japan

• Native-level Japanese and business-level English communication skills. Critical & Sensitive Information (CSI)

Experience

• Significant experience in Medical Affairs within the pharmaceutical industry

• Demonstrated leadership of Vaccine / Infectious Disease Medical Affairs teams or functions

• Strong experience in Vaccine / Infectious Disease therapeutic areas

• Experience supporting vaccine or infectious disease product launches and evidence generation activities

• Solid understanding of the Japanese healthcare environment and market access considerations

Education / Certification

• MD, PhD or equivalent advanced scientific degree Preferred Qualifications

• Medical qualification and/or advanced clinical or scientific expertise relevant to vaccines, infectious diseases, immunology, public health or a related field

• Clinical practice experience relevant to vaccines, infectious diseases, immunology or related areas

• Prior experience in global or regional Medical Affairs leadership roles, preferably in vaccines, infectious diseases or a related therapeutic area

• Experience leading across multiple products, indications or stages of the Vaccine / Infectious Disease portfolio and pipeline

• Knowledge of CVMD and renal disease areas Critical & Sensitive Information (CSI)

Skills

Cross-Functional Leadership, Digital Fluency, Enterprise Thinking, High Impact Communication, Launch Excellence, Patient Impact

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive. We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace and providing equal opportunities for all applicants. We embrace an agile working culture across our roles, so if flexibility is important to you please discuss opportunities with our hiring team. If you need any adjustments to the recruitment process to help you demonstrate your strengths and capabilities, contact APACRecruitment.Adjustments@gsk.com . Please note this email is for adjustment requests only; for other enquiries please use our standard contact channels.

Important notice to Employment businesses/ Agencies

GSK does not accept referrals from employment businesses and/or employment agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site. All employment businesses/agencies are required to contact GSK's commercial and general procurement/human resources department to obtain prior written authorization before referring any candidates to GSK. The obtaining of prior written authorization is a condition precedent to any agreement (verbal or written) between the employment business/ agency and GSK. In the absence of such written authorization being obtained any actions undertaken by the employment business/agency shall be deemed to have been performed without the consent or contractual agreement of GSK. GSK shall therefore not be liable for any fees arising from such actions or any fees arising from any referrals by employment businesses/agencies in respect of the vacancies posted on this site.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Vaccines & Infectious Disease
Location
Akasaka, Japan
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 1670 comparable Medical Affairs roles across 169 biopharma companies.

1670Comparable roles tracked
1468Currently active
169Companies hiring similar roles
64Countries represented

Salary context

443 of 1670 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Peer group range $75,510 – $454,000 (median $205,300)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 1670 comparable roles

United States769
China175
Japan95
United Kingdom69
Germany67
India57

+ 58 more countries

Seniority mix

1002 of 1670 peers have a known seniority level

Director262
Senior258
Manager214
Associate Director85
Associate78
Senior Director34
Executive/VP31
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc25
Principal15

Therapeutic area mix

596 of 1670 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology280
Neuroscience82
Immunology58
Cardiovascular / CVRM47
Dermatology & Aesthetics44
Rare Disease40
Respiratory19
Vaccines & Infectious Disease12
Gastroenterology9
Ophthalmology5

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

80%similar
Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd Tokyo, Japan Associate Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Pfizer Japan Inc. Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Sanofi KK (Japan) Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
65%similar
Pfizer Pearl River, United States
Same function Same therapeutic area
65%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Home Worker, United States Director
Same function Same therapeutic area
65%similar
Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH Berlin, Germany Intern/Fellow/Postdoc
Same function Same therapeutic area

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Medical Affairs job in Japan, and choose locations and companies.

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

80%
[R&D] Clinical Development Medical, Associate Director, Research and Development - Vaccines
Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd · Tokyo, Japan · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
Development Head, RSV, RSV Combination, and Early Vaccine Programs
Pfizer · Pearl River, United States · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
Sr. MSL, Respiratory, Immunology & Infectious Diseases
AstraZeneca · Seoul, Korea, Korea, Republic of · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
(Senior) Vaccine Clinician, Contractor, Beijing/Shanghai
Pfizer (Beijing) Research and Development Co., Ltd. · Beijing, China · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.