Senior Vice President, Global Business Development

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.

Our #LifeatRealChem culture is rooted in our people—we believe we are best together and are committed to excellence for both our clients and colleagues. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting your career, if you share our passion for healthcare and connection, we invite you to explore our opportunities.

Discover your purpose. Embrace innovation. Experience #LifeatRealChem.

Real Chemistry is seeking an experienced, proactive, and strategic SVP, Business Development to lead growth for our U.S. and global Medical Communications business. This role is ideal for a scientifically fluent, business-savvy leader who understands the nuances of promotional medical education (PME), medical affairs (MA), and broader integrated healthcare communications. As well as someone who thrives on building meaningful client relationships, identifying growth levers, and leading strategic pursuits from start to finish.

This is a highly visible role within Real Chemistry’s senior leadership team, with a clear mandate to drive new revenue, create scalable growth strategies, and ensure our capabilities remain aligned with evolving market needs across pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences sectors.

This is a hybrid role, based in any of our US offices—including New York City, Boston, Chicago, Carmel, or San Francisco—or remotely within the US, depending on team and business needs.

What You’ll Do:

• Own business development for U.S. Medical Communications—driving top-line growth by identifying, cultivating, and converting high-potential opportunities across PME, MA, and related scientific communications services.

• Develop and execute strategic growth plans, identifying clear levers for expansion, whitespace opportunities, and differentiating value propositions across therapy areas and client types.

• Provide high-level strategic and business oversight for key RFPs and pitches, partnering with practice leadership, client services, and scientific strategy to ensure quality, consistency, and competitive positioning.

• Independently lead smaller RFP or capabilities presentations, and comfortably initiate or steer conversations with prospective clients, demonstrating deep subject matter fluency.

• Monitor and analyze pharmaceutical pipelines, either independently or in collaboration with strategy and insights teams, to proactively identify new opportunities.

• Leverage industry knowledge and personal networks to pursue leads, cultivate executive-level client relationships, and advance new business conversations with minimal oversight.

• Collaborate closely with internal marketing, thought leadership, and communications teams to support Real Chemistry’s positioning and market visibility.

• Partner cross-functionally to stay fluent in Real Chemistry’s broader offerings — including advertising, data and analytics, and digital engagement — and identify opportunities for integration and cross-sell.

• Build and implement targeted growth plans, motivating team members to take action, meet milestones, and drive measurable results.

• Represent Real Chemistry at client meetings, industry events, and conferences, acting as an ambassador for our Medical Communications capabilities.

This Role is a Strong Fit for You If:

• You are a scientifically inclined account leader or a business-minded strategic medical communicator who can fluently translate science into strategy and action.

• You have strong people and influencing skills, and you can work across functions, offerings, and levels to align stakeholders and advance goals.

• You’re a highly organized driver and doer who thrives in a fast-paced environment and excels at both vision and execution.

• You’re passionate about building client trust, delivering exceptional value, and making a meaningful impact on healthcare communications.

What You Should Bring:

• 12+ years of agency experience, with significant exposure to Medical Communications, ideally across both promotional medical education (PME) and medical affairs.

• Bonus if you also bring experience in advertising, data-driven storytelling, digital, or other Real Chemistry offerings.

• Demonstrated track record of business development success, including leading multi-functional teams through high-stakes RFPs, developing pipeline strategies, and building new client relationships from the ground up.

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to analyze or guide pipeline analysis, synthesize insights, and identify commercial opportunities.

• Ability to independently engage and influence growth targets, with or without an existing team supporting.

• Executive presence and strong communication skills, able to tailor messaging for senior client stakeholders and cross-functional internal teams.

• Experience with marketing and thought leadership initiatives is a plus; belief in the alignment between business development and marketing is welcome.

• A collaborative spirit and an agile mindset. You know how to work across a matrixed organization to gather inputs, understand new offerings, and deliver on goals.

Pay Range: $225,000.00-$275,000.00

This is the pay range the Company believes it will pay for this position at the time of this posting.  Consistent with applicable law, compensation will be determined based on job-related, non-discriminatory factors including but not limited to work experience, skills, certifications, and geographical location. The Company reserves the right to modify this pay range at any time. 

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 vison 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.  Learn more about our great benefits and perks and search specific offerings in your region at: www.realchemistrybenefits.com.

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 a 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 make our team 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.

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