Scientific Writer

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Why join Harvard University Central Administration?

Harvard University's Central Administration (CADM) is a 5,000+ employee organization that supports the university's overall excellence by understanding and serving the needs of its schools, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and surrounding communities. Through dynamic and collaborative partnerships, CADM provides high-quality and efficient services to the schools to help them achieve their goals.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES The Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) serves as the connective tissue for global health across all 15 Harvard schools. As a university-wide hub, we convene and facilitate collaboration between world-class faculty, students, and global partners to ensure that expertise in multiple disciplines aligns to advance health equity worldwide. Our work is grounded in the belief that we must inform each other's work to transform health at every level.

HGHI seeks a Scientific Writer to support the institute’s scholarly and research mission. Reporting to the Executive Director and working in collaboration with HGHI’s Faculty Director and, at time with affiliated faculty, this role is responsible for the production of high-quality institutional scholarly products, including grant proposals, technical policy briefs, research reports, and working group publications. 

This is an institute-level position supporting HGHI’s collective research and programmatic activities. This role requires the ability to navigate both technical and public-facing writing, ensuring that institute outputs meet rigorous academic standards while remaining accessible to diverse stakeholders, including funders, policy makers and, at times, the broader public.

Primary responsibilities include: 

• Serve as writing lead for academic outputs, grant proposals, reports, policy briefs as assigned by Executive Director in collaboration with Faculty Director.
• Research, draft, edit, and produce technical policy briefs on global health topics for the institute, funders, and public. 
• Search literature, compile literature reviews, synthesize complex research evidence into clear, policy-relevant documents that support HGHI’s mission. 
• Revise scientific manuscripts, research papers, and reports for technical and specialist audiences. 
• Ensure accuracy, rigor, and appropriate citation of sources across all institutional publications, adhering to institutional guidelines and publication standards.

Scientific Editing and Quality Assurance

• Provide technical review and editing of public facing communications materials (press releases, newsletters, website content, and social media) produced by the Communications team to ensure scientific accuracy.
• Maintain consistency in tone, style, and formatting across HGHI’s scholarly and institutional publications.
• Stay current on trends in scientific communication, publication standards, and ethical and responsible use of AI-assisted writing tools, integrating best practices into HGHI’s writing and editing workflow.

Grant Writing and Institutional Proposals

• Draft, edit and manage the production of grant proposals and funding applications on behalf of HGHI to external funders including foundations, government agencies, and multilateral organizations.
• Collaborate with the Faculty Director, Executive Director and, when assigned, affiliated faculty to translate research concepts into compelling, well-structured proposals that meet funder requirements.
• Prepare ancillary proposal materials including budget narratives, letters of support, bio sketches, and compliance documentation in coordination with the Finance Team.

Cross-Institutional Coordination

• Coordinate with internal teams and external collaborators, including partner institutions, co-investigators and journal editors to produce cohesive, polished content for joint projects and publications.

• Prepare and organize ancillary materials, figures, appendices, graphs, copyright permissions, and other materials to submit to publication platforms, as necessary.

Basic Qualifications are the minimum threshold a candidate must meet in order to be considered for this role.

• Five or more years of professional experience in scientific or technical writing, with demonstrated experience writing grant proposals, research reports and technical policy documents.

Additional Qualifications and Skills:

• Master’s Degree (MA, MS, MPH or equivalent) in public health, global health, or a related field.
• PhD or doctoral degree in a relevant field preferred; equivalent professional experience in grant writing and scientific publishing will be considered.
• Subject matter expertise in global health, public health, including familiarity with major funders, research frameworks, and policy processes in these fields.
• Experience writing successful grant proposals for foundations and government agencies.

• Experience managing or leading writing projects with diverse stakeholders in academic or research institutions.

• Proficiency in project management tools (e.g., Asana), Microsoft Office Suite, and citation management software (e.g., Zotero, RefWorks, Sciwheel).

• Familiarity with AI-assisted research and writing tools, with an understanding of their responsible application in scholarly contexts.

• Standard Hours/Schedule: 35 hours per week
• Visa Sponsorship: Harvard University is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position
• Pre-Employment Screening: Harvard University requires pre-employment reference and background screenings: Identity
• Other Information:
  • Requirements:
    • Two writing samples demonstrating range across technical/scholarly and accessible/public-facing writing (e.g., a grant proposal excerpt, a policy brief or published article).
    • List of publications or representative writing portfolio.
  • This position will have a 3-month orientation and review period. 

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Work Format Details

This position has been determined by school or unit leaders that some of the duties and responsibilities can be effectively performed at a non-Harvard location. The work schedule and location will be set by the department at its discretion and based upon operational needs. When not working at a Harvard or Harvard-designated location, employees in hybrid positions must work in a Harvard registered state in compliance with the University’s Policy on Employment Outside of Massachusetts. Additional details will be discussed during the interview process. Certain visa types and funding sources may limit work location. Individuals must meet work location sponsorship requirements prior to employment.

Salary Grade and Ranges

This position is salary grade level 056. Please visit  Harvard's Salary Ranges  to view the corresponding salary range and related information. 

Benefits

Harvard offers a comprehensive benefits package that is designed to support a healthy work-life balance and your physical, mental and financial wellbeing. Because here, you are what matters. Our benefits include, but are not limited to: 

• Generous paid time off including parental leave 
• Medical, dental, and vision health insurance coverage starting on day one 
• Retirement plans with university contributions 
• Wellbeing and mental health resources 
• Support for families and caregivers 
• Professional development opportunities including tuition assistance and reimbursement 
• Commuter benefits, discounts and campus perks 

Learn more about these and additional benefits on our Benefits & Wellbeing Page. 

EEO/Non-Discrimination Commitment Statement

Harvard University is committed to equal opportunity and non-discrimination. We seek talent from all parts of society and the world, and we strive to ensure everyone at Harvard thrives. Our differences help our community advance Harvard's academic purposes.

Harvard has an equal employment opportunity policy that outlines our commitment to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, religion, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law or identified in the university's non-discrimination policy. Harvard's equal employment opportunity policy and non-discrimination policy help all community members participate fully in work and campus life free from harassment and discrimination.