Senior Trade & Publication Media Planner, Life Sciences

Responsibilities

• Design and present integrated trade media plans spanning print, direct-buy online display, eNewsletter/e-TOC sponsorships, podcast sponsorships, and event promotion for life-sciences clients.
• Own and grow direct relationships with publisher sales reps, editors, and association staff across journals, trade portals, and membership organizations.
• Negotiate insertion orders, rates, and added-value opportunities directly with publishers — no programmatic or self-serve platform buying involved.
• Plan and manage non-digital event promotion: conference sponsorship packages, exhibit signage, registration bag inserts, meeting-guide ads, and on-site materials.
• Evaluate publisher media kits and syndicated readership/circulation research to build accurate audience profiles for client recommendations.
• Lead client media discussions, contribute to meeting agendas, and justify recommendations with reach, circulation, and share-of-voice data.
• Track budgets, insertion schedules, and materials deadlines across multiple concurrent trade campaigns.
• Build client-facing reporting (e.g., Google Data Studio/Looker Studio) summarizing trade campaign delivery and spend.
• Independently resolve client and publisher issues; mentor junior planners on relationship-management and negotiation practices.

Requirements

• 5+ years in trade, print, or publication media planning and buying, with direct experience negotiating with publisher sales representatives (not primarily programmatic or paid-social platforms).
• Working knowledge of the life sciences/healthcare trade publication landscape — journals, associations, and trade portals — strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated relationship-management and negotiation skills with publishers and association partners.
• Comfort interpreting media kits, circulation/readership data, and syndicated audience research.
• Experience planning and executing conference/event sponsorships and on-site promotional materials.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace; familiarity with Google Data Studio/Looker Studio for reporting.
• Strong organizational skills to manage multiple concurrent insertion schedules and hard deadlines.

Preferred

• Existing relationships with key life-science publishers or associations (see below list of preferred publishers and association partners).
• Background in health/science journalism, publishing, or association sales — useful “seller-side” perspective.
• Experience with a Digital Media Planner counterpart on integrated campaigns (this role partners with, but does not own, paid social/programmatic/search).