Role Purpose:
Serve as the company’s digital lead and center of excellence for digital communications in Japan.
The role is responsible for developing and driving the company’s digital strategy, content strategy, and channel strategy to strengthen corporate reputation, support business priorities, and enhance stakeholder engagement. By translating complex scientific, medical, policy, and corporate topics into compelling and accessible content, the Digital Lead helps connect unmet needs, innovation, patient impact, and company purpose for key audiences.
The Digital Lead leads content development, social media, digital channels, social listening, digital governance, and agency management, ensuring all activities are aligned with business objectives, corporate standards, and measurable performance outcomes.
The role is the single point of accountability for digital communications performance in Japan, including strategy, content quality, channel effectiveness, governance, and agency delivery. The role is responsible for ensuring that all digital communications activities deliver measurable business impact, support corporate reputation, meet compliance requirements, and align with business priorities.
Key Job Accountabilities:
1. Digital Strategy & Planning (25%)
• Develop, own, and continuously evolve the company’s digital strategy, channel strategy, content strategy, and annual digital roadmap that is aligned with business priorities and Corporate Affairs objectives.
• Ensure digital priorities are translated into clear plans, timelines, and deliverables and are executed effectively across the organization.
• Lead integrated content planning and execution across digital channels, including websites, social media, articles, videos, infographics, and other multimedia content.
• Act as a trusted advisor to stakeholders to identify opportunities to strengthen digital engagement, reputation, disease awareness, and stakeholder communications.
• Advise leadership and key stakeholders on digital trends, audience behavior, content investment, and emerging communication opportunities.
• Define KPIs, performance metrics, and reporting frameworks to measure effectiveness and business impact.
• Ensure effective implementation of agreed strategies across all relevant digital touchpoints.
2. Content Development & Storytelling (50%)
• Own the development and storytelling of digital content across corporate, disease awareness, innovation, executive communications, and other priority topics.
• Write high-quality, audience-centric high-quality content that effectively translates complex scientific, medical, policy, and corporate topics into compelling and engaging communications that support business objectives and stakeholder engagement.
• Personally develop high-quality content, including copy, messaging, social media posts, articles, executive communications, and creative concepts based on source materials and stakeholder input.
• Adapt and localize global content while developing locally relevant content and engagement programs for Japan.
• Develop original disease awareness content and integrated communication campaigns where appropriate.
• Serve as the final communications lead for digital content quality, ensuring content is strategically aligned, audience-centric, compelling, compliant, and fit for purpose before publication.
• Lead cross-functional content development and review processes to ensure scientific accuracy, compliance, message consistency, and alignment with corporate priorities.
• Ensure consistent messaging, tone of voice, and adherence to corporate branding standards across all digital communications.
3. Digital Channel Management & Optimization (10%)
• Own and optimize company digital channels, including corporate websites, social media, INSITE, Viva Engage, and emerging AI-enabled functions as required
• Continuously optimize channel performance through analytics, audience insights, SEO/GEO considerations, and best practices.
• Monitor and report on channel effectiveness and recommend improvement actions. Develop data-driven recommendations to guide content strategy, channel investments, and stakeholder engagement approaches.
• Collaborate with global teams on digital platform evolution, governance, and campaign execution.
4. Social Listening, Risk Monitoring & Governance (10%)
• Lead social listening activities to identify stakeholder sentiment, emerging trends, opportunities and potential issues.
• Monitor digital and reputational risks and provide timely guidance and recommendations to relevant stakeholders.
• Support issue management and response activities when required.
• Localize, implement, and maintain global and local digital policies, guidelines, and governance frameworks.
• Establish and oversee governance processes for digital communications, ensuring compliance with company policies, healthcare regulations, approval processes, and adverse event reporting requirements.
• Responsible for localizing global digital guidelines and establishing and managing Japan-specific guidelines in accordance with local regulatory requirements.
• Conduct quality reviews of digital content and communication activities to ensure accuracy, consistency, compliance, and alignment with corporate standards.
• Provide guidance to business leaders and content owners on compliance-sensitive topics, best practices, and reputation risks.
Partner with Medical, PSPV, Legal, Compliance, and global stakeholders to ensure appropriate monitoring, escalation, reporting, and handling of adverse events (AEs) and other compliance related matters.
5. Agency & Vendor Management (10%)
• Based on agreed strategy and plan, own agency performance and hold agency partners accountable for quality, execution, timelines, budget management, and achievement of agreed objectives.
• Effectively manage external agencies and vendors to ensure high-quality execution, efficient use of resources, and delivery against agreed objectives across: digital posting, creative development, video/visual production, website localization and maintenance, channel management, reporting, analytics, and digital campaign execution.
• Ensure content, campaigns, channel updates, and digital projects are delivered on time, within budget, and to agreed quality standards.
• Ensure high-quality execution
• Maintain high standards of quality, timeliness, strategic alignment, and compliance.
6. Stakeholder Management & Business Partnership (10%)
• Lead engagement with internal and external stakeholders to execute agreed digital strategies and plans.
• Partner closely with Corporate Affairs, Medical, Market Access & Healthcare Affairs, Animal Health, Human Pharma, Compliance, Legal, Regulatory, PSPV, and global teams.
• Act as the primary point of contact for digital communications guidance and ad hoc business requests.
• Provide recommendations, coaching, and support to colleagues on digital best practices and channel utilization.
• Build strong relationships with key stakeholders to ensure alignment and successful execution.
Key Performance Indicators
• Develop and successfully execute the annual digital strategy, content strategy, and channel roadmap in alignment with business priorities and Corporate Affairs objectives.
• Deliver high-quality, compliant, and audience-centric content that effectively translates complex scientific, medical, policy, and corporate topics into engaging communications.
• Maintain strong alignment with business stakeholders and consistently meet agreed expectations for content quality, strategic support, responsiveness, and delivery.
• Drive measurable improvement in digital channel performance, audience engagement, and content effectiveness through data-driven optimization.
• Successfully localize and execute global content and campaigns while developing locally relevant initiatives that support business and reputation objectives.
• Ensure all digital communications activities are compliant with company policies, governance requirements, healthcare regulations, and adverse event reporting obligations.
• Proactively identify and manage digital and reputational risks through effective social listening, stakeholder guidance, and issue management.
• Effectively manage agency partners to ensure high-quality execution, efficient use of resources, and delivery against agreed objectives and timelines.
Key Contacts:
• Report to Head of Corporate Affairs
• Key interactions with:
• Digital Agencies
•
• Business Leaders in Human Pharma and Animal Health Business Unit
• Marketing Team
• Medical function
• Market Access & Healthcare Affairs (including Patient Engagement)
• Legal & Compliance
• Colleagues in Corporate Communications / Corporate Affairs (Japan and Global)
Qualifications:
• 5+ years of experience in communications, digital, content development and integrated campaigns within healthcare/pharma or regulated industries.
• Proven experience developing and implementing digital communication strategies with measurable business outcomes.
• Strong storytelling, content creation, digital engagement and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Experience with digital channels, website management, intranet, social media, SEO and analytics.
• Hands‑on content and audiovisual production (scripts, images, video shoots, edits) with strong narrative ability; adept at translating complex medical topics into accessible, engaging formats
• Demonstrated ability to localize global campaigns and advocate for appropriate market adaptation. Familiarity with CMS and social media tools
• Compliance mindset; understands AE sensitivity and PV handoffs in corporate channels.
• Strong understanding of regulatory environments and compliance in pharma.
• Experience managing agencies and assistants.
• Strong project management skills with a proven ability to lead complex cross-functional initiatives, manage multiple priorities and stakeholders, solve problems proactively, mitigate risks, and deliver results on time.
• Strong collaborator and relationship builder with the ability to influence without authority, engage diverse stakeholders, and foster trust across functions.
• Business-minded and adaptable team player who manages multiple priorities effectively while maintaining a broad, external perspective in a fast-paced environment.