Medical Science Liaison - the Nordics

Company Description

Santen is a specialized company with a proud 130-year heritage focused exclusively on eye health. As a Japan-originated, global company with our footprint in over 60 countries and regions, our mission is to provide essential and significant value to patients and society through our products and services created from our expertise in ophthalmology and from the patient’s perspective.

Job Description

As a Medical Science Liaison (MSL), you will act as a field-based scientific expert and a trusted, non-promotional partner to healthcare professionals, scientific experts and other relevant healthcare stakeholders across the Nordic countries, with occasional coverage of the Baltic countries.

You will facilitate high-quality, peer-to-peer scientific exchange, develop meaningful scientific relationships and generate actionable medical insights that contribute to Medical Affairs strategy, evidence generation and improved patient care. You will support Medical Affairs priorities throughout the product lifecycle, from pipeline and pre-launch through launch and lifecycle management.

What you will do:

• Scientific Exchange & External Engagement: Establish and maintain trusted relationships with healthcare professionals, scientific experts and other medical stakeholders, delivering balanced, evidence-based and non-promotional scientific exchange on disease areas, clinical evidence, emerging science and Santen's portfolio, while responding to unsolicited medical and scientific enquiries.

• Strategic Stakeholder Engagement: Identify, map and prioritise relevant scientific experts and external stakeholders, develop tailored engagement objectives aligned with Medical Affairs priorities, and build sustainable scientific partnerships addressing evidence gaps and unmet medical needs.

• Medical Insight Generation: Capture, analyse and communicate actionable medical and scientific insights from external engagements, congresses and the healthcare environment, identifying evolving treatment practices, evidence gaps, unmet needs and emerging trends to inform Medical Affairs strategy and decision-making.

• Medical Strategy Implementation & Field Execution: Translate Medical Affairs priorities into effective field medical activities, prioritising engagement according to scientific needs and potential medical impact, contributing field perspectives to strategy development and monitoring the effectiveness of activities within your assigned territory.

• Evidence Generation & Clinical Research: Identify evidence gaps and research opportunities, support the identification of potential investigators and research sites, and contribute to Santen-sponsored studies, observational research, Real-World Evidence initiatives, investigator-initiated research and scientific publications within your defined responsibilities.

• Congresses, Scientific Intelligence & Medical Education: Maintain up-to-date knowledge of scientific literature, treatment guidelines and clinical developments, participate in relevant scientific congresses, deliver scientific presentations and educational activities, and support the development of Medical Affairs materials, internal scientific training and knowledge sharing.

• Cross-functional Collaboration & Patient Focus: Collaborate with Medical Affairs and relevant cross-functional teams, sharing scientific and field perspectives while maintaining clear boundaries between non-promotional Medical Affairs activities and Commercial activities. Bring a strong patient-focused approach by identifying unmet medical needs and barriers to care, incorporating patient, clinician and healthcare-system perspectives into Medical Affairs discussions.

• Compliance, Governance & Operational Excellence: Ensure all activities comply with applicable laws, regulations, industry codes and Santen policies, maintaining scientific independence and non-promotional standards. Identify and report adverse events and product quality complaints, complete required documentation and training, and manage territory activities, resources and approved digital tools responsibly.

Qualifications

What you will bring to the role

Education

• An advanced university degree in Life Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy or another relevant scientific discipline.

• An MD, PharmD, PhD or equivalent advanced scientific or clinical qualification would be an advantage.

• Relevant postgraduate scientific or clinical training would be desirable.

Experience

• Relevant experience in Medical Affairs, clinical practice, scientific research, the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry, or another strongly scientific healthcare environment.

• Demonstrated ability to interpret, critically evaluate and communicate complex scientific and clinical information.

• Experience engaging with healthcare professionals, scientific experts or other relevant healthcare stakeholders.

• Previous MSL or field-based Medical Affairs experience would be an advantage.

• Ophthalmology experience would be desirable, although candidates with strong scientific backgrounds and the ability to rapidly develop therapeutic-area expertise will also be considered.

• Experience in clinical research, evidence generation, medical education or scientific publications would be an advantage.

Language Requirements

• Professional fluency in Norwegian and/or Danish is essential.

• Strong working proficiency in English is required to support regional and international collaboration.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong scientific and therapeutic-area knowledge, with the ability to critically evaluate clinical evidence and communicate complex information clearly and effectively.

• Excellent scientific communication, storytelling and presentation skills, with the ability to adapt discussions to different audiences.

• Strong stakeholder engagement and relationship-building skills, including active listening, effective questioning and the ability to establish professional credibility.

• Analytical and strategic thinking, with the ability to generate medical insights, identify unmet needs and evidence gaps, and align activities with Medical Affairs priorities.

• Strong planning, prioritisation and organisational skills, including territory management, project management and effective follow-through.

• Excellent collaboration and influencing skills, combined with the ability to work independently, take accountability and exercise sound professional judgement.

• High level of integrity and scientific independence, digital fluency, adaptability and commitment to continuous learning.

Ready to make a difference?  

Apply today and help us shape the future of eye health. 

What we offer:

• Competitive Salary: A market‑aligned base salary starting from 676,170,00 DKK – 929,734,00 DKK, depending on experience and location.

Additional Information

Grow your career at Santen
A career at Santen is an opportunity to make a difference. We aspire to contribute to the realization of “Happiness with Vision” by providing eye health products and services to patients, consumers, and medical professionals around the world. Guided by our CORE PRINCIPLE, “Tenki ni sanyo suru”, Santen is engaged in the global research & development, manufacturing, and sales and marketing of pharmaceutical products in ophthalmology. We have team members around the world using their diverse talents to unlock new modalities and drive innovations for patient outcomes, education and treatment. At Santen, we believe in empowering all our team members with flexible ways of working and a highly inclusive work environment.

The Santen Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building diverse teams and ensuring a safe and inclusive physical and virtual workplace for every one of our team members. All employment decisions are based on business needs, role requirements and individual qualifications regardless of race, color, ethnicity, national origin/ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/ expression, age, disability, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you require any kind of accommodation during our recruitment process, please let the recruiter from our team know.