IQVIA Posted September 25, 2026

Principal Medical Writer - FSP

Reading, United Kingdom Full time
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IQVIA 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 Overview

Acts as Lead Medical Writer on most types of writing projects. Prepares assigned documents in accordance with IQVIA Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and customer requirements as well as to the agreed timelines. Performs Senior Review of straightforward medical writing deliverables. Negotiates timelines and discusses/resolves customer comments.

Provides written and verbal feedback to junior staff, and to customers when appropriate.

Keeps abreast of current medical and/or technical writing/regulatory knowledge, including Good Clinical Practice (GCP), along with developments and advances in drug development/medical and/or technical writing.

Essential Functions

Take a leading role in preparing assigned documents, including, but not limited to, confirming the scope of the task, confirming templates and specifications, negotiating and adhering to timelines, organizing document reviews, communicating directly with the customer.

Plan and organize workload for assigned projects and tasks: identify project needs, track timelines and implement customer requests.

Lead meetings on more challenging topics independently.

May present on standard Medical Writing processes at full-service bid defense meetings.

Assist in the training and development of junior staff, either formally as an assigned mentor or ad hoc for local colleagues or others. May develop and deliver training to the global team on a topic he/she has specific expertise in. May input into and deliver presentations on Medical Writing to other IQVIA groups.

May act as Project Manager for a more complex but single Medical Writing project which includes Project Finance/Invoicing responsibilities.

Complete project finance activities, including monitoring and forecasting budgeted hours.

Propose, review and approve budgets and costings for routine projects, including estimation of hours needed for Medical Writing tasks.

May take on a small customer lead role or assist an established partnership lead in their role.

May represent region or site on a Medical Writing initiative or cross-functional initiative.

Facilitates and brainstorms the identification of new ideas. May represent Medical Writing at a general capabilities audit.

Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree Bachelor's Degree in life sciences related discipline or related field

Master's Degree Master's Degree in life sciences related discipline or related field

Ph.D. Ph.D. in life sciences related discipline or related field Pref

Typically requires at least 5 years of highly relevant experience and related competency levels.

In-depth knowledge of the structural and content requirements of clinical study reports, protocols, and similar documents and ability to identify deficiencies, errors, and inconsistencies in a protocol or report.

Good understanding of common statistical methods used in clinical trials and/or interpretation of their results.

Ability to effectively review a statistical analysis plan and to identify deficiencies, errors, and inconsistencies in statistical output

Ability to integrate, interpret, and summarize data from a variety of sources in a clear and concise manner.

Significant experience as a lead writer in preparing CSRs and protocols, with consistently positive feedback from customers and colleagues.

In depth knowledge of drug development, medical writing, and associated regulations. Good understanding of statistical principles and of medical terminology across a range of therapeutic areas.

Excellent written and oral communication skills including grammatical/technical writing skills.

Excellent attention to detail and accuracy.

Confident and effective communication and negotiation skills with customers and project managers.

Able to deliver difficult messages in constructive manner.

Demonstrates initiative and sound judgement when faced with less familiar project/document situations or challenges.

Demonstrated abilities in collaboration with others and independent thought.

Demonstrates confidence and maturity in most routine medical writing situations.

Demonstrates good judgement in requesting input from senior staff.

Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with coworkers, managers and customers.

Ability to effectively manage multiple tasks and projects.

Ability to proactively evaluate risks and potential issues and seek solutions and discuss appropriately with colleagues and customers.

Must be computer literate.

IQVIA is a leading global provider of clinical research services, commercial insights and healthcare intelligence to the life sciences and healthcare industries. We create intelligent connections to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative medical treatments to help improve patient outcomes and population health worldwide. Learn more at https://jobs.iqvia.com

IQVIA is committed to integrity in our hiring process and maintains a zero tolerance policy for candidate fraud. All information and credentials submitted in your application must be truthful and complete. Any false statements, misrepresentations, or material omissions during the recruitment process will result in immediate disqualification of your application, or termination of employment if discovered later, in accordance with applicable law. We appreciate your honesty and professionalism.

Job details

Seniority
Principal
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Reading, United Kingdom
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 446 comparable Principal Medical Affairs roles across 73 biopharma companies.

446Comparable roles tracked
428Currently active
73Companies hiring similar roles
37Countries represented

Salary context

190 of 446 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Principal Strategic Medical Writer · AbbVie $109,500/yr – $208,500/yr
Peer group range $159,000 – $392,100 (median $232,750)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 446 comparable roles

United States293
United Kingdom23
China23
Germany13
India11
Japan10

+ 31 more countries

Seniority mix

446 of 446 peers have a known seniority level

Director241
Senior189
Principal16

Therapeutic area mix

193 of 446 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology84
Dermatology & Aesthetics23
Neuroscience20
Immunology18
Respiratory14
Rare Disease12
Cardiovascular / CVRM9
Vaccines & Infectious Disease7
Gastroenterology4
Ophthalmology2

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.

60%similar
IQVIA London, United Kingdom Principal
Same function Same seniority Same country
50%similar
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50%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited Uk, United Kingdom Director
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50%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom Director
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GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited Uk, United Kingdom Director
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50%similar
GlaxoSmithKline LLC Uk, United Kingdom Senior
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country

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.

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.

60%
Principal, Health Economics & HTA, UK
IQVIA · London, United Kingdom · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
50%
SERM Medical Director
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited · UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
SERM Medical Director
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited · UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Global Medical Affairs Director Neurosciences
Ipsen Biopharm Ltd · London (UK), United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent 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.