Senior Account Director | Healthcare Public Affairs | London

About us

Hanover is an award-winning communications consultancy that advises enterprises institutions and individuals on building recognition and enhancing reputation.

From our offices across Europe and the Middle East we adopt an integrated approach that connects the dots across channels audiences and issues.

Our collective of smart curious people think differently and live by a shared mission purpose vision and values. These shape how we work not just with our colleagues but with clients and partners too.

Our mission is to rewire communications for impact and harness its transformative power to advocate trailblaze and make a difference.

We do this by igniting and empowering the potential of every individual within our company recognising that each person is a unique spark capable of creating extraordinary impact. We believe that by nurturing and harnessing the collective brilliance of our people we can drive innovation foster an uncommon work culture and make a positive difference to society.

Embracing the complete range of skills and services across the communications spectrum without constraint we create the best outcomes for our clients and deliver world-class work.

Hanover is looking for a Senior Account Director to join the Healthcare Policy Advocacy & Public Affairs team.

The Senior Account Director will provide strategic advice to Hanovers existing clients and take the lead on client accounts teams and budgets.

They will also lead on new business activity including acquisition development and pitching and will play a vital role in the development of talent in the team by managing and mentoring junior team members.

The role will be based in London and offers the opportunity to work across clients we share with our offices in Brussels Dublin and the Middle East as well as integrated accounts with our Healthcare Communications and Digital teams.

At Hanover Health we are united in our common belief that good healthcare is one of the most important things we can have. And we want to play an active role in evolving and improving it. Hanover Health has been an integral part of the Hanover Groups overall growth and was shortlisted for Public Affairs Consultancy of the Year at the Communique Awards 2024. Hanover has also received award wins for its diversity and inclusion work picking up the trophy for Action on Workplace DEI at the Communique Awards 2024 and Best Team Approach to Diversity Equity and Inclusion at the PRCA UK Awards 2024.

The team works across a range of services including government relations public affairs market access policy advocacy and corporate communications across health and business. With over half of the worlds top 20 pharmaceutical companies as well as NHS providers health technology businesses and charities amongst our clients we offer a diverse and compelling range of issues and opportunities.

When applying in your cover letter please could you provide information on the following points:

• Why are you interested in the role
• What is your experience of working in policy advocacy and public affairs and the impact you have had with work in this space
• What is your experience of coaching and managing people

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage client accounts and budgets including the project management of account teams
• Build and execute breakthrough campaigns to deliver tangible policy change for our clients
• Run environment-changing events for a range of audiences including politicians policy makers health system stakeholders and patient groups
• Deliver important intelligence to our clients by utilising the Hanover network and building your own network through attending events as well as developing expertise in policy areas
• Draft reports with impact for clients on a varied number of topics including trade/business policy disease or health system policy areas
• Support the management of expert steering groups to drive thought-leadership for our clients
• Personal management of junior members of the team providing guidance on professional development
• Take a lead on new business pitches being a core part of the team in building creative strategies and tactics and pitching to clients
• Deliver marketing activity to support Hanover Healths business growth

Requirements

• Relevant experience from a public affairs consultancy in-house public affairs department patient group/NGO Parliament or other relevant organisation
• Excellent knowledge of health policy and ability to analyse developments within the life sciences sector
• Good conceptual understanding of the medicines access landscape in the UK including knowledge of how MHRA NICE and NHS England interact to deliver medicines to NHS patients
• Understanding of the levers that can impact the medicines access policy landscape for pharmaceutical companies as well as the various factors that can influence the uptake of medicines by health systems
• Ability to multi-task and manage competing deadlines while maintaining the highest quality standards
• Eye for detail and ability to think critically about your own work and that of others
• Excellent project management written and verbal communication skills
• Experience managing junior colleagues on their professional and personal development and providing advice and support for their work

Benefits:

In addition to a competitive salary your core benefits package will include:

• An annual performance-related bonus plus additional bonus potential linked to recruitment new business and long service
• 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays)
• Private healthcare insurance
• A company pension plan including 5% employer contribution

Youll also have access to a wide range of opportunities and initiatives including:

• Flexible working policies plus eligibility to apply for a sabbatical after 2 years service
• The Hanover Academy which incorporates training coaching mentoring and reverse-mentoring opportunities to support personal development and career progression across all levels with a generous training budget
• International secondments as well as the opportunity to collaborate with all offices across the AVENIR GLOBALs network
• A wellbeing programme featuring (but not limited to) pre- and post-maternity leave coaching a working parents group subsidised gym membership LiveSmart sessions on mindfulness sleep etc.
• Our Culture Club with a robust social calendar all year round Lunch & Learns and CSR activity

Diversity Equity and Inclusion Statement

Hanover Communications is an equal opportunities employer committed to creating and ensuring a fair inclusive and diverse work environment where all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. We believe that equality and diversity are essential to high performance and a thriving culture.

We maintain a strict no-tolerance stance against any form of discrimination and harassment ensuring all individuals are treated equitably irrespective of their race ethnicity religion beliefs age sex gender gender identity or expression sexual orientation national origin disability marital or pregnancy status genetic background or any other attribute safeguarded under our company policies or federal state or local laws and legislation.

We want to ensure that our hiring process is accessible. If you need reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process please send an email to with the nature of your request.

We are committed to transparency about how we collect and use your data including ensuring we comply with legal obligations relating to data protection. You can view our data privacy policyhere.

Hanover is part of AVENIR GLOBALs powerhouse of specialist communications consultancies across EMEA and North America. Collectively we rank among the top 15 largest communication firms in the world.

Find out more about Hanover and working for us.