Head of Medical Innovation
Description
The Head of Medical Innovation is the agency’s primary architect for modern medical engagement. They will be responsible for identifying, shaping, and bringing to market the next generation of medical engagement solutions for the agency and its clients.
This role serves as a strategic innovation leader and partner across the Medical Business Units, Design & Delivery, and the Insights & Connections team to power it into an integrated "transformation engine" with a focus on translating emerging trends, technologies, and market opportunities into scalable offerings and differentiated capabilities.
While AI and advanced technologies are important enablers, this role is not limited to a single technology. Instead, it focuses on advancing innovation across healthcare communications, including new engagement models, data-driven experiences, and productized solutions that drive measurable client impact, and operationalizing these changes in the industry. As an enabler of larger group-wide technologies and enhances ways of working, the role will serve as the primary extension to the Fingerpaint Group’s "wetpaint" AI ecosystem, ensuring that agency-level innovations are synergistic with group-wide technology standards.
Beyond traditional strategy, this role is tasked with operationalizing transformative solutions—revolutionizing how we extract and analyze medical insights, how we communicate with HCPs, and how we measure clinical impact. You are not just a strategist; you are an internal and external innovator who builds the tools that redefine medical communications while championing a culture of collaborative intelligence across the broader Fingerpaint network.
This leader will partner closely with internal technical and delivery teams to bring ideas to life, ensuring innovation is both visionary and executable.
Core Responsibilities
1. Innovation Strategy & Market Leadership
- Emerging Trends: Identify emerging trends across healthcare, med comms, digital engagement, and adjacent industries.
- Competition: Monitor competitor and best-in-class agency offerings to understand market gaps and opportunities.
- New Product Offerings: Define and prioritize new strategic offerings, products, and capabilities for the agency.
- Thought Leadership: Act as a thought leader for both internal teams and external clients on the future of medical engagement. Act as the agency’s lead futurist, educating, and inspiring both internal teams and C-suite clients on the "Next" in med comms tech.
2. Opportunity Development & Productization
- Translate market insights into tangible offerings, solutions, and products that can be brought to clients.
- Drive the evolution from a service-based model to a product-plus-service model where appropriate.
- Partner with Client Services and Business Units to identify opportunities for innovation within existing and prospective accounts.
- Support commercialization strategies for new offerings, including positioning, packaging, and value articulation.
3. The "Innovation Lab" Mindset
- Partner with Engineering, Design & Delivery, and other technical teams to bring new solutions to life.
- Ensure ideas are feasible, scalable, and aligned with existing capabilities and workflows.
- Act as a bridge between strategy, technical execution, and client needs.
- Collaborate with group-level innovation and technology teams to align with broader initiatives (including the "wetpaint" ecosystem). Identify opportunities to scale local pilot programs into group-wide solutions and ensuring all local AI tools align with Fingerpaint Group’s technical architecture.
4. Technology and AI Enablement
- Evaluate and leverage emerging technologies, including AI, where they create meaningful value.
- Identify opportunities to enhance internal processes and client solutions through automation and data-driven approaches.
- Ensure all technology-driven solutions align with regulatory requirements, data privacy standards, and medical accuracy expectations.
- Support the integration of agency-developed innovations into broader group platforms where applicable.
5. Innovation Culture & Capability Building
- Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement across the organization.
- Lead pilot programs to test new ideas, technologies, and engagement models.
- Educate and upskill teams on emerging trends, tools, and opportunities.
- Establish frameworks for evaluating and scaling successful innovations.
Qualifications & Technical Skills
- Experience: 12+ years in Healthcare/MedComms strategy, with at least 3 years specifically leading digital transformation or AI integration initiatives. Proven experience in innovation, strategy, or digital transformation roles.
- AI Fluency: Deep understanding of the AI stack (LLMs, NLP, predictive modeling) and how to apply it within the constraints of medical/legal/regulatory (MLR) environments.
- Tech Stack: Strong understanding of healthcare engagement models, data, and tech ecosystems. Mastery of Veeva/Salesforce, and specialized healthcare data platforms (e.g., Crossix, IQVIA, Precision Sample).
- Experience developing new offerings, products, or solutions within an agency or consultancy environment. Familiarity with AI, data, and emerging tech, with the ability to apply them strategically (not just technically).
- Change Management: Ability to partner with senior leadership and teams to adopt modern workflows, guiding the transition toward digital-first mindsets and enhanced technical capabilities.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Innovation Pipeline: Number and quality of new offerings, solutions, or products developed.
- Innovation Revenue: Percentage of agency revenue derived from new offerings, solutions, products, or AI-led services which lead to agency revenue growth.
- Market Differentiation: Successful launch and scaling of innovation initiatives with adoption of new capabilities and offerings by clients and internal teams.
- FP Group Synergy: Alignment and contribution to broader group innovation efforts.
Don’t meet every single requirement? That’s okay! Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Fingerpaint, we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles! Our team of qualified recruiters can match you with the right opportunity. Fingerpaint Group provides equal employment [and affirmative action] opportunities to all applicants and employees. We are proud to recruit qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, protected veteran status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or citizenship status.