Medical Science Director at Medtronic in Lafayette, Colorado

Job Description:

Careers That Change Lives

The Medical Science Director will be the functional manager of the Surgical Operating Unit Global Clinical Evidence Team, integrating the functionally relevant needs of the four business units within (Robotic Surgical Technologies (RST), Advanced Surgical Technologies (AST), General Surgical Technologies (GST), and Digital Technologies (DT)). The Medical Science Director will interface with the leadership of other cross-functional teams to ensure alignment of business needs with the Clinical Evidence Team's goals and priorities. In addition, the Medical Science Director will manage the Team's cost center, budget, and resource forecasting, with support from the Program Manager.

The Medical Science Director will establish and maintain solid relationships with external Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), as well as internal cross-functional leaders to ensure consistent delivery of impactful, evidence-based scientific messages across distribution channels. This is a dynamic opportunity in which the ideal candidate will possess advanced scientific knowledge, executive presence and communication skills, robust peer-reviewed publishing proficiency, and personnel management experience. Moreover this individual will be expected to lead cross-functional collaborations, clearly communicate strategy and deliverable expectations, manage team resources, and remove barriers to ensure the Medical Science Team can complete projects in a timely manner. This position's focus will be global in nature and will report directly to the Vice President, Clinical Research.

Surgical employees believe that every patient around the world deserves access to quality care and improved outcomes. Driven by our Mission, we believe that surgical robotics can add value to the healthcare ecosystem, lessen variability, and help more people around the world get better, faster.

We're making that exciting future possible - and disrupting one of the biggest and fastest growing markets in healthcare - with a game-changing portfolio of robotic and data & analytics technologies, services, and solutions.

What does it take to be a leader at Medtronic? We look for inspiring and inclusive leaders who partner with others, knowing that diverse talent, skills, and perspectives lead to better outcomes.

Location: Remote with the ability to travel up to 25%, including international travel

A Day in the Life

• Strategic and operational leadership of the Medical Science Team to generate and disseminate evidence-based scientific messages to support the short- and long-term clinical evidence strategies of the Surgical business units (RST, AST, GST, and DT)
• Lead and drive synergies across scientific communications, external research program (ERP) and collaborative research to ensure scientific rigor and strategic leadership from the Surgical operating unit.
• Establish strong collaborative relationships and work in close partnership with key stakeholders internally (e.g. HEOR, Communications, product teams, clinical teams, biostats) and externally (e.g. opinion leaders, patient advocacy groups, professional societies); maintain and enhance the reputation of the Surgical operating unit with customers globally.
• Build and lead a cross-functional governance forum to identify and prioritize global post-market evidence needs and oversee development of an integrated evidence generation and publications roadmap across each of the Surgical business units (RST, AST, GST, and DT) - driving alignment on priorities and key decisions.
• Recruit, retain, and develop talent by fostering an inclusive, engaged team environment. Provide training, oversight, coaching, and accountability to ensure exceptional representation of the Medical Science team internally and externally.
• Maintain evidence subject matter expertise around the Surgical OU portfolio of products, and develop a team with robust knowledge and awareness of the competitive and relevant landscapes to provide scientific input to business stakeholders across the product lifecycle.
• Co-chair the External and Collaborative Research board and ensure decisions on new projects are made in compliance with applicable SOPs and in alignment with research areas of focus, considering scientific merit and business impact.
• Ensure alignment of evidence dissemination plans with the current business objectives; the disseminations plans will incorporate preclinical, clinical, medical education, marketing, regulatory approval and health economic components
• Support the Medical Science Team as needed, including, but not limited to, breaking down barriers and ensuring sufficient resourcing, developing impactful evidence-based scientific messages for the business, ensuring alignment with the high-level business strategy plans, and supporting dissemination of consistent messages through all distribution channels (e.g., podium presentations, publications, Marketing materials, Sales Training, Public Relations/Investor Relations, and Medical Education)
• Support the Medical Science Team as needed to develop evidence dissemination plans for Operating Unit-managed scientific congresses/conferences and represent Medical Science in congress/conference planning meetings to ensure optimization of evidence distribution strategy and delivery of consistent scientific messages
• Support the Medical Science Team as needed to complete scientific communications deliverables including, but not limited to, scientific abstracts, manuscripts, poster presentations, oral presentations, late-breaking trial presentations, and internal presentations for development and submission
• Provide ongoing surveillance of the literature (therapy-specific, and competitive), and congress coverage/recaps (summaries of critical presentations, live cases)
• Disseminate key findings of any major data releases to internal and external stakeholders as appropriate through email blasts and literature review calls
• Maintain an internal library of slides and publications available upon request for internal and external stakeholders
• Provide subject-matter expertise to support the review of downstream materials through established processes (Global Ad Pro review, etc)
• Ensure all scientific communications deliverables are completed with the highest levels of rigor, ethics, and accepted best practices by following company SOPs and industry guidelines (GPP, ICMJE, COPE, etc).
• Identify, screen, and manage the financial and contractual aspects of assigned projects to external medical writing vendors to obtain high quality, impactful scientific deliverables
• Develop, track, and report on reach and impact metrics related to evidence dissemination, strategy development, and execution to Clinical Research and Medical Science senior staff and executive business leadership
• Communicate as needed to executive leadership on any external research project or publication request involving the business's products or clinical evidence
• Review publications, slide presentations, and other scientific materials for content and positioning
• The Medical Science Director will be responsible for following the Medtronic Code of Conduct, the Clinical Research & Medical Science Department Operating Procedures, and the ICMJE, GPP3, and ADVAMED guidelines

Qualifications -

Must Have: Minimum Requirements

• Bachelors degree required
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience or an advanced degree with a minimum of 7 years of relevant experience managing a team and communicating scientific information to internal/external Medical Science sources (e.g., peer-reviewed publications, regulatory writing, scientific writing for a general audience, etc.)

• Doctorate degree, MD or PhD degree(s), in a scientific discipline
• Ability to critically analyze and interpret scientific data
• Experience leading scientific communications teams at medical device companies
• Published first author of scientific papers and editing experience for peer-reviewed publications
• Ability to provide mentorship to the SciComm Team on deliverables, ensuring quality and alignment with scientific/medical evidence
• Demonstrate the ability to develop and adapt scientific/medical strategy based on a dynamic environment
• Knowledge of clinical research methodology, tools, and processes
• Proven ability to develop and lead a team
• Budget and cost center management experience
• Demonstrated success in effective interpersonal and communication skills and ability to build and foster relationships with KOLs and key business stakeholders
• Highly motivated and capable of comprehending large amounts of scientific content, which is then communicated in a clear, concise fashion
• Advanced presentation and computer skills with expertise in literature identification and evaluation

Together, we can change healthcare worldwide. At Medtronic, we push the limits of what technology, therapies and services can do to help alleviate pain, restore health and extend life. We challenge ourselves and each other to make tomorrow better than yesterday. It is what makes this an exciting and rewarding place to be.
We want to accelerate and advance our ability to create meaningful innovations - but we will only succeed with the right people on our team. Let's work together to address universal healthcare needs and improve patients' lives. Help us shape the future.

Salary and benefits

A commitment to our employees lives at the core of our values. We recognize their contributions. They share in the success they help to create. We offer a wide range of benefits, resources, and competitive compensation plans designed to support you at every career and life stage. Learn more about our benefits here .

The provided base salary range is used nationally in the United States (except in Puerto Rico and certain CA locations). The rate offered is compliant with federal/local regulations and may vary by experience, certification/education, market conditions, location, etc.

This position is eligible for a short-term incentive plan. Learn more about Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP) here .

This position is eligible for an annual long-term incentive plan. Learn more about Medtronic Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) here .
Together, we can change healthcare worldwide. At Medtronic, we push the limits of what technology, therapies and services can do to help alleviate pain, restore health and extend life. We challenge ourselves and each other to make tomorrow better than yesterday. It is what makes this an exciting and rewarding place to be.

At Medtronic, most positions are posted on our career site for at least 3-7 days. This aligns with our Global Job Posting Standards and ensures compliance with the new legislation.
Physical Job Requirements

The physical demands described within the Responsibilities section of this job description are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For Office Roles: While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to be independently mobile. The employee is also required to interact with a computer, and communicate with peers and co-workers. Contact your manager, recruiter or local HR to understand the Work Conditions and Physical requirements that may be specific to each role. (ADA-United States of America)