Job Description

At our heart we are committed colleagues. We offer interested people numerous opportunities and strongly believe in, and promote, diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a company we offer roles based on merit, welcoming candidates of any gender, age, religious belief, sexual orientation, race, color, ethnic or social origin, or disability.

Our team is growing and for this we need bright minds with creativity and flexibility – what talent do you have?

About the Role
Join Takeda as a Global Medical Excellence Lead, an Associate Director-level role that sits at the intersection of global strategy and local execution. Based in the UK, one of Takeda’s key strategic markets, you will play a central role in strengthening Medical Affairs capabilities and ensuring Medical teams are equipped to deliver impact today and prepare for the future.

Acting as a trusted partner to country and global leaders, you will drive medical excellence initiatives, field medical effectiveness, onboarding, launch readiness, and capability development. You will also bring valuable market insights back to the global organisation, helping shape future Medical Excellence programmes and standards.

This is an influential role for someone who enjoys working across global and local environments, building strong partnerships, and driving meaningful change through collaboration rather than formal authority.

How You Will Contribute

• Serve as the primary Global Medical Excellence partner for the UK Medical organisation, translating global strategies, frameworks, and programmes into impactful local initiatives.
• Assess organisational and field medical capabilities, identify development opportunities, and help shape capability-building priorities.
• Contribute strategic insights from a core market perspective to global Medical Excellence initiatives and programme design.
• Lead and continuously improve onboarding experiences for new Medical Affairs colleagues, ensuring alignment with global standards and local needs.
• Drive the field medical effectiveness agenda, partnering with Medical leaders to define, measure, and continuously improve performance and engagement quality.
• Support capability development and certification programmes for Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs), ensuring readiness before deployment and ongoing professional growth.
• Monitor field medical performance metrics, identify capability gaps, and implement targeted improvement plans.
• Partner with Medical, Commercial, and Training teams to align field medical activities with strategic business priorities and launch objectives.
• Ensure Medical teams are prepared for upcoming launches through effective capability planning, scientific training, and readiness assessments.
• Provide market insights to governance and compliance discussions and support the implementation of compliant ways of working.
• Build trusted partnerships with senior stakeholders, including Country Medical Directors, General Managers, and global functional teams.
• Represent the UK market within the Global Medical Excellence network, sharing best practices and contributing to continuous improvement across Takeda.

What You Bring to Takeda

• Advanced degree in a scientific, medical, healthcare, or related discipline; MD, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent preferred.
• 10+ years of experience within the biopharmaceutical industry, including significant experience in Medical Affairs.
• Strong understanding of Medical Affairs operations, field medical excellence, capability development, and pharmaceutical launch readiness.
• Experience in Medical Excellence, learning and development, capability-building, medical education, or related functions.
• Previous experience in a field medical role (e.g., MSL) strongly preferred.
• Proven experience working across local, regional, and global organisations within a complex matrix environment.
• Demonstrated ability to build credibility and influence senior stakeholders across Medical and Commercial functions.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, with the ability to operate independently and make sound judgements.
• Experience supporting or partnering with Oncology Business Unit (OBU) markets is an advantage.
• Passion for developing people, building organisational capability, and advancing Medical Excellence across a global organisation

Empowering our people to shine
At Takeda, we earn the trust of society and our customers through our values of Takeda-ism: Integrity, Fairness, Honesty, Perseverance. We incorporate these values in everything we do. They represent who we are and how we act. They help us make decisions that we can be proud of today and in the future. We enable our employees to develop their full potential. As a global top employer, we offer exciting career paths, promote innovation, and strive for top performance in everything we do. Takeda fosters an inclusive, collaborative, and international work environment where our teams are united by their relentless commitment to our goal of improving people's health and creating a better future for the world.

Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion
Takeda is committed to foster diversity, equality, and inclusion. Hiring decisions are based entirely on qualifications and are made regardless of gender, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability.

If you are interested in this opportunity, we look forward to receiving your application via our online tool!

Locations
London, Great Britain

Base Salary Range:
£92,000.00 - £126,500.00

Worker Type
Employee

Worker Sub-Type
Regular

Time Type
Full time

About Us
Takeda is an industry-leading, global pharmaceutical company with an unwavering dedication to putting patients at the center of everything we do. We live our values of Takeda-ism – Integrity, Fairness, Honesty, and Perseverance – and are united by our mission to strive towards Better Health and a Brighter Future for people worldwide through leading innovation in medicine.

Here, everyone matters and you will be a vital contributor to our inspiring, bold mission. At Takeda, you will make an impact on people’s lives – including your own.

Takeda is an equal opportunity employer.

For applicants of U.S and Puerto Rico positions: Click here to learn about our commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). If you are limited in the ability to use our job application tool, or otherwise require a reasonable accommodation for a disability please click here.