Senior Strategy Consultant – Cherry (AVENIR GLOBAL)
Location: London (minimum 3 days per week in office)
The Role
The Senior Planner is a senior strategic leader responsible for setting and driving the strategic direction of client marketing and communications programmes across medical communications and creative work. Operating with a high degree of autonomy, they lead strategy from brief through to delivery, translating complex scientific and commercial challenges into clear positioning, compelling narratives, and effective, compliant campaigns. They act as a trusted senior partner to clients, bridge creative and scientific disciplines, and play a central role in driving organic growth and new business through strong strategic thinking.
Key Responsibilities
Strategy leadership
- Own and lead strategic thinking across multiple clients, brands, and therapy areas.
- Develop clear brand strategies, positioning, value propositions, and single‑minded propositions.
- Create and own commercial and scientific narratives, message architectures, and strategic frameworks.
- Build deep understanding of clinician, patient, payer, and commercial team behaviour and motivation.
- Lead insight generation through research, HCP interviews, workshops, client immersion, field visits, desk research, and social listening.
- Apply persuasive frameworks appropriately (e.g. Challenger, AIDA, SPIN) to shape strategy and messaging.
- Write exceptional creative springboard briefs that inspire strong, effective work.
- Maintain strategic integrity throughout creative, writing, and scientific development.
- Provide strategic direction and quality control across outputs.
Client leadership
- Act as a senior strategic partner to clients, offering clarity, challenge, and confidence.
- Influence and engage senior stakeholders with authority and credibility.
- Independently lead and facilitate client workshops (strategy, positioning, messaging, brand planning).
- Present and sell strategic thinking through clear, compelling storytelling
- Work effectively with both regional and global client teams.
- Demonstrate strong understanding of medical regulations and compliance requirements across EMEA.
Collaboration and internal leadership
- Partner closely with Account Handling, Creative, and Medical Writing teams.
- Ensure effective collaboration across disciplines with clear expectations, inputs, and timings.
- Act as a senior strategic voice within the agency, providing guidance and challenge.
- Lead or significantly shape the strategic direction of pitches and new business opportunities.
Commercial impact and growth
- Proactively identify opportunities to grow existing accounts through strategic value.
- Support Account Directors in scoping and pricing strategic work appropriately.
- Contribute to new business development through strong strategic leadership.
- Demonstrate commercial acumen and understanding of how strategy drives client and agency success.
- Generate new business opportunities through personal network and outreach.
Ways of working
- Contribute to the evolution of the agency’s strategic tools and processes
- Embed strategic best practice across the business.
- Maintain strong awareness of market dynamics, competitor activity, and emerging trends.
- Build close networks across the other AVENIR GLOBAL brands.
People leadership
- Lead by example, modelling strong strategic behaviours and standards.
- Informally coach and mentor junior strategists and cross‑functional team members.
- Be influential and persuasive while remaining collaborative and constructive.
- Actively listen for strong ideas and incorporate them into strategic thinking.
Experience
- Approximately 10+ years’ experience in medical communications and/or creative agencies.
- Strong background in strategy, planning, or account handling.
- Proven experience independently developing positioning, narratives, and campaign strategies.
- Demonstrated experience leading client workshops and pitches.
- Experience working with regional and global pharmaceutical clients.
- Strong understanding of medical regulations and compliance across EMEA.
Skills And Attributes
- Outstanding strategic, analytical, and problem‑solving skills.
- Strong ability to uncover, interpret, and articulate powerful insights.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Confident facilitator and presenter, comfortable leading senior stakeholders.
- Able to balance creativity with scientific and regulatory rigour.
- Structured, logical thinker comfortable managing complex challenges.
- Highly self‑motivated, organised, and effective working autonomously.
- Collaborative, commercially minded, and outcome‑focused.
About Cherry
We’re not just another healthcare agency. At Cherry, we’re a vibrant collective of thinkers, creators, and innovators who believe the best work happens when we combine intimate knowledge of our clients’ needs and external expertise. Our culture is dynamic, supportive, and adventurous and we’ve been recognised as a Great Place to Work for six years running, including awards for Best Workplace, Best Workplace for Women, Best Workplace for Wellbeing, and Best Workplace in Consulting & Professional Services. At Cherry we work collaboratively in a hybrid model, with a minimum of 3x days per week in our office near London Bridge.
What We Offer
- 25 days holiday per year (which increases with tenure)
- Work From Anywhere Policy (for 20 days per year you can work from anywhere abroad)
- Annual Wellbeing Allowance, to spend on whatever that makes you happy
- 2 x volunteer days per year - to support a cause close to you!
- Christmas Office Closure
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Private health/free travel insurance for you and your family
- Enhanced family friendly & women's health policies
- Enhanced employer pension contribution
- Mobility program - being part of a wider group enables employees the opportunity to work from one of our global offices (US, Canada, Europe, UAE) for short/mid/long term secondments
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