Vacancy: Senior Health Outcomes Researcher

Close date: 27/05/24

Shortlisting and Interviews will happen on a rolling basis so early application is encouraged. We may close this vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found.

Who we are, who we are looking for and what we offer

Symmetron has over 14 years of business activity in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), providing solutions for major pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers worldwide. We promote a culture of creativity, independent thinking, teamwork and scientific excellence.

We are looking for a senior health outcomes researcher, with exceptional attention, to detail to join the team. The successful candidate will have a keen interest in furthering their strategic and project management skills in a consultancy setting, while utilising and expanding their skills in health economics and outcomes research to drive technical excellence to meet our client’s needs. Our work focuses on delivering high-quality literature reviews of clinical, health economic and real-world evidence, often to inform manuscripts or health technology assessment materials. Our reviews can be systematic, rapid or pragmatic and usually lead to qualitative or quantitative synthesis, including network meta-analyses and matching-adjusted indirect comparisons.

We are committed to the personal development of our employees and offer excellent training and career development opportunities. Symmetron was awarded the Investors In People accreditation in 2021, with 100% of our team agreeing Symmetron is a great place to work.

Our company offers excellent benefits, including but not limited to:

• A very competitive base salary, pension scheme and annual performance-related discretionary bonus
• Professional development opportunities, within a friendly and supportive team with access to our tailored internal training programme or external training as needed.
• A hybrid and flexible mix of home and in-office working
• Complete office closure between Christmas and New Year
• Life and private health insurance
• Access to free confidential well-being advice via our employee assistance programme (EAP)
• A cycle to work scheme
• Eye care contribution
• A wealth of policies that include enhanced parental leave, compassionate bereavement leave

Key responsibilities

• Utilise technical expertise to conduct systematic reviews and perform evidence synthesis
• Conduct and oversee study analyses, including meta-analysis and other evidence synthesis in collaboration with fellow technical analysts or statisticians
• Work with health economist colleagues to scope new projects, develop protocols and run search strategies to identify necessary evidence for health economic models
• Be responsible for the development of slide decks, study reports, manuscripts, posters and other publications related to health economics and outcomes research
• Provide support or leadership on components of business development activities, including development of proposals for new projects
• Be responsible for the day-to-day management of projects and activities related to quality assurance
• Proactively undertake continuous professional development and learning activities, including assisting, mentoring or line managing other team members.

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by the organisation's overall business objectives.

Essential requirements and qualifications

• Experience and demonstrated knowledge of health outcomes research, ideally within academia, consulting or the pharmaceutical sector
• An undergraduate degree or higher in medicine, pharmacology, life sciences, mathematics, economics, statistics or another relevant discipline
• Good understanding of the concepts associated with systematic review, evidence synthesis and critical appraisal, with excellent technical expertise in methodologies aligned with personal research interests
• Competence in using analytical software to undertake data analysis and/or synthesis
• Experience of quality control and critical assessment of systematic review and evidence synthesis methods
• A genuine interest in health technology assessment and health economics.
• Strong quantitative, critical thinking and analytical skills, and able to review and synthesise large amounts of scientific information under a deadline
• An organised and methodological approach to planning and delivering work of high quality
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to identify, and summarise critical connections to explain complex evidence synthesis to a non-expert audience
• Excellent writing skills (development of presentations, reports, dossiers, manuscripts)
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail, along with the ability to maintain high-quality deliverables given competing demands and changing deadlines
• Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment, as well as independently, taking responsibility for small projects or subcomponents of larger projects
• High self-motivation, can-do attitude, optimistic outlook and leadership ability
• Initiative to learn new skills, and develops the skill set of others with less experience
• Proficiency using Microsoft Office and reference management software

Desirable skills and experience

These are nice-to-have skills. Candidates who do not fulfil these requirements but are interested in this role are encouraged to apply.

• Postgraduate qualification in a relevant scientific, health policy or evidence-based discipline
• Understanding of advanced statistical methods and concepts for evidence synthesis or modelling, e.g. indirect treatment comparison and network meta-analysis methods, survival analysis
• Mentorship or line management experience
• Project management experience
• Business development experience
• An interest in publication and conference attendance, with some publication history

Application process

• On application with a short description of your experience and upload of your CV, you will be invited to complete a short questionnaire.
• Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a task-related exercise (remotely).

Please Note:

• This job is a full-time position based in our offices in Central London. Working from home is supported and organised around staff roles and responsibilities.
• No agencies, please.

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Vacancy: Project Assistant

Close date: Monday, 13 May 2024. Shortlisting and interviews will happen on a rolling basis so early application is encouraged. We may close this vacancy early if a suitable candidate is found.

Who we are, who we are looking for and what we offer

Symmetron has over 15 years of business activity in health economics and outcomes research (HEOR), providing solutions for major pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers worldwide. We promote a culture of creativity, independent thinking, teamwork and scientific excellence.

We are looking for an enthusiastic individual with a keen interest in gaining skills and understanding of HEOR consultancy, project management and producing deliverables for health technology assessment. This is a great entry-level opportunity for an organised person who would like to be involved on a wide array of tasks and projects to gain insight into working within a health research consultancy. The successful candidate will receive on-the-job training from our senior researchers and managers whilst working on various projects. There is potential to develop a specialism as your career and interests develop with us, with opportunity to progress to our Health Outcomes, Health Economics, or Operations and Communications teams from the project assistant post. Candidates with some prior experience in systematic reviews, health economic modelling or project management, and those wanting to start a career in this area will be considered for the post.

We are committed to the personal development of our employees and offer excellent training and career development opportunities. Symmetron was awarded the Investors In People accreditation in 2021, with 100% of our team agreeing Symmetron was a great place to work.

Our company offers excellent benefits, including but not limited to:

• A competitive base salary, pension scheme and annual performance-related discretionary bonus.
• Professional development opportunities, within a friendly and supportive team, with access to our tailored training programme and external training as needed.
• A hybrid and flexible mix of home and in-office working.
• Life and private health insurance.
  
• Access to free confidential well-being advice via our employee assistance programme.
• A cycle to work scheme.
• Eye care contribution.
• A wealth of policies that cover enhanced parental leave, compassionate bereavement leave, and temporary remote working for an extended time.

Key responsibilities

• Help with some of the duties associated with literature reviews, such as screening abstracts, data extraction and procurement of publications.
• Help with some of the duties associated with cost-effectiveness analyses, such as targeted reviews to identify model inputs and requirements of reimbursement bodies.
• Help with administrative activities related to client projects, inclusive of client meeting administration and minute taking.
• Assist in the preparation and coordination of draft manuscripts, posters and other publications.
• Undertake activities related to quality assurance of internal and external documents (i.e. using quality assurance checklists, proofing), ensuring consistency and correctness in terms of formatting and grammar.
• Help organise internal activities such as team training and social activities.
• Assist in business and organisation development initiatives; for example, assisting in pipeline research, contact outreach and management, development of marketing materials.
• Undertake activities of continuous professional development and learning.

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by the organisation's overall business objectives.

Essential requirements and qualifications

• An undergraduate degree that involved data analysis and synthesis alongside technical writing.
• A genuine interest in health economics and health outcomes research, with a passion for critical thinking and use of analytical skills.
• Good presentation, oral and written communication skills to effectively engage with a wide-ranging audience.
• Ability to research, organise, and summarise information from a variety of sources.
• Good literacy and numeracy skills, along with an excellent and consistent level of accuracy and attention to detail.
• An organized and methodological approach to planning and delivering high quality materials, with the ability to manage competing demands and changing deadlines.
• Ability to work effectively independently and in a team-oriented environment, taking responsibility for specific tasks with support from more experienced team members.
• High self-motivation, can-do attitude, optimistic outlook.
• Willingness to learn new skills and assist in a range of activities.
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office tools, including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Desirable skills and experience

These are nice-to-have skills. Candidates that do not fulfil these requirements but have an interest in this role are encouraged to apply.

• Experience in project management and/or office management.
• Understanding of systematic reviews, medical writing and/or health economics.
• Experience in data cleaning and managing large databases.
• Experience using EndNote or another reference management software.
• Experience in life science research or health technology assessment.

Application process

• After the upload of your CV, we ask you to fill in a brief questionnaire.
• Candidates successful in this first round will be contacted to undertake an exercise (remotely) to demonstrate the knowledge and skills required for the role.
  
• Shortlisted applicants may also be invited for an initial phone call either before the exercise or before the final interview stage.

Please Note:

• This job is a full-time position based in our offices in Central London. Working from home is supported and organised around staff roles and responsibilities.
• The successful candidate must have permission to work in the UK by the start of their employment.
• No agencies, please.

‍

‍Shortlisting and interviews will happen on a rolling basis so early application is encouraged. We may close this vacancy if a suitable candidate is found.

Who are we?

Symmetron is a health economics and outcomes research consultancy with over a decade of experience in evidence generation, decision-analytic modelling and statistical analysis. Our experience involves designing, developing, and communicating solutions for major pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers, both at a global and regional level. We promote a culture of creativity, independent thinking, team-work and scientific excellence.

We are committed to the personal development of our employees and offer excellent training and career development opportunities, inclusive of opportunities to pursue research interests. Our company offers a very competitive base salary, access to a bonus scheme and excellent benefits.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for an exceptional Health Economics Manager to join the team. This is an opportunity for a driven, enthusiastic individual with broad technical knowledge and a keen interest to lead on the technical and project management of our high-quality economic models to evaluate health care interventions. Our health economics team primarily focuses on developing economic models and critiquing the existing evidence base to understand the value of new medical advancements. The candidate will lead, supervise and offer support to less experienced staff in all aspects of health economic research, performing clinical and economic evidence review, synthesis of inputs, model development and communication.

Key responsibilities

• Provide leadership and project management on health economics modelling projects across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
• Provide technical expertise and develop conceptual frameworks that guide the analysis and internal methodological standards in economic modelling projects.
• Conduct, supervise, oversee and quality assure the development of cost-effectiveness models, budget impact models, local adaptations, burden of illness etc, in collaboration with fellow technical analysts.
• Lead and oversee activities related to quality assurance (i.e. design and implementation of quality control procedures to ensure that deliverables are delivered at an excellent standard).
• Lead the development of slide decks, study reports, manuscripts, evidence dossiers, posters and other publications related to health economics and outcomes research.
• Proactively encourage and engage with interdisciplinary team working to scope new projects, research new and innovative methods in health economics and outcomes research and ensure consistency in the use of evidence across the life cycle of a multi-disciplinary project.
• Develop and maintain strong client relationships to ensure high client satisfaction, while keeping projects to time, budget and scope.
• Confidently interact with clients on a regular basis, being the main point of contact for assigned projects and able to lead client meetings and written communications that may be highly technical or sensitive in nature.
• Recognise, generate and lead on opportunities for the development of the business, including proposals for new projects.
• Lead, co-ordinate and supervise project teams, and provide mentorship and/or line management for less experienced staff.
• Undertake activities of continuous professional development and learning, inclusive of recognising and generating opportunities for further training of the staff.

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by the organisation's overall business objectives.

Essential requirements and qualifications

• Proven experience in health economics research, ideally within academia, consulting or the pharmaceutical sector
• Postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline (e.g. Health Economics, Health Technology Assessment, Medical Statistics, Biostatistics, Mathematics, Econometrics)
• Excellent technical expertise in the development, audit and critical assessment of health economic evaluation and models, with experience in the development of economic models with various conceptual designs over a wide range of therapeutic areas.
• Demonstrated capability of mentoring less experienced health economists
• Demonstrated knowledge of health technology assessment methodology and processes
• A genuine interest and good understanding of statistical concepts, systematic review, evidence synthesis and critical appraisal of scientific literature
• Excellent quantitative, critical thinking and analytical skills, and able to review and synthesize large amounts of scientific information under a deadline
• An organised and methodological approach to planning and delivering work of high quality, inclusive of experience in project management
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to effectively engage with a wide-ranging audience and explain complex modelling techniques and results
• Interest in publication and conference attendance, with some publication history
• Excellent writing skills (for example, through development of presentations, reports, dossiers and/or manuscripts)
• Excellent accuracy and attention to detail, along with the ability to maintain high-quality deliverables given competing demands and changing deadlines
• Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment, as well as independently, leading small projects or subcomponents of larger projects
• High self-motivation, can-do attitude, optimistic outlook and leadership ability
• Takes initiative to learn new skills, and develops the skill set of others with less experience
• Proficiency using Microsoft Office and reference management software, with advanced skills in Excel

Desirable skills and experience

These are nice-to-have skills. Candidates who do not fulfil these requirements but are interested in this role are encouraged to apply.

• Experience with statistical and economic modelling software (e.g. R, Treeage, WinBUGS, SAS, Stata)
• Experience in analysing large datasets, understanding of clinical trial design and statistical methods
• Understanding of advanced statistical methods and concepts for evidence synthesis, e.g. indirect treatment comparison and network meta-analysis methods.
• Experience in and/or knowledge of clinical processes or trials
• Line management experience
• Business development experience

Application process

• Candidates successful in this first round will be contacted to attend an introductory phone call with a member of the Symmetron health economics team.

Please note

• This job is a full-time position based in our offices in Central London. Working from home is supported and organised around staff roles and responsibilities. Office attendance is in line with government guidance on COVID-19 restrictions.
• The successful candidate must have permission to work in the UK when starting their employment.
• No agencies, please.