Part Time Scientific Writer Jobs in Reston, VA (NOW HIRING)

Who is USP?

The U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) is an independent scientific organization that collaborates with the world’s leading health and science experts to develop rigorous quality standards for medicines, dietary supplements, and food ingredients. At USP, we believe that scientific excellence is driven by a commitment to fairness, integrity, and global collaboration. This belief is embedded in our core value of Passion for Quality and is demonstrated through the contributions of more than 1,300 professionals across twenty global locations, working to strengthen the supply of safe, high-quality medicines worldwide.

At USP, we value inclusive scientific collaboration and recognize that attracting diverse expertise strengthens our ability to develop trusted public health standards. We foster an organizational culture that supports equitable access to mentorship, professional development, and leadership opportunities. Our partnerships, standards, and research reflect our belief that ensuring broad participation in scientific leadership results in stronger, more impactful outcomes for global health.

USP is proud to be an equal employment opportunity employer (EEOE) and is committed to ensuring fair, merit-based selection processes that enable the best scientific minds—regardless of background—to contribute to advancing public health solutions worldwide. We provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities and uphold policies that create an inclusive and collaborative work environment.

Brief Job Overview

This position is working at 50% capacity (part time) for approx. 20 hours a week, and requires a Monday-Thursday schedule, 5 hrs/day. This role will work onsite in Rockville, MD 2 days a week and offer remote work the other days.

The Senior Public Affairs Opinion Writer will play a critical role in driving USP’s external voice by producing quality editorial content that supports public and regulatory policy reforms. Some of the areas of focus include expediting patient access to quality medicines, advanced therapies, building a more secure and resilient medicine supply chain, and global health topics. This role is designed for a seasoned writer with experience in the life sciences and public health sectors who can translate complex issues into clear, credible, compelling, and persuasive narratives that convey a point of view to influencers and decision makers.

This role requires a strong understanding of the policy, regulatory, and market forces shaping life sciences and the pharmaceutical supply chain. The writer will consistently surface editorial influencing opportunities that align to USP’s mission and strategy translating them into crisp, credible editorial content.

This is not a science writing role. Instead, the focus is on editorial, issues driven content that conveys USP’s point of view to policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, trade associations, patient organizations and others to expand stakeholder perspectives and enlist them in USP’s work.

The ideal candidate is a strong writer first — someone who can work under ambiguity, manage multiple stakeholders, and shift between issues and points of view — while also working with executives and learn to communicate in their voice while serving as a thought partner to communications managers in shaping and executing messaging strategy.

How will YOU create impact here at USP?

 As part of our mission to advance scientific rigor and public health standards, you will play a vital role in increasing global access to high-quality medicines through public standards and related programs. USP prioritizes scientific integrity, regulatory excellence, and evidence-based decision-making to ensure health systems worldwide can rely on strong, tested, and globally relevant quality standards.

Additionally, USP’s People and Culture division, in partnership with the Equity Office, invests in leadership and workforce development to equip all employees with the skills to create high-performing, inclusive teams. This includes training in equitable management practices and tools to promote engaged, collaborative, and results-driven work environments.

As a Senior Public Affairs Opinion Writer, you will:

• Proactively scan the policy, regulatory, and publichealth landscape to identify emerging issues, risks, opportunities, and moments that align with USP focus areas where USP can shape or inform the dialogue.
• Establish a steady, reliable cadence of high-quality editorial content that advances USP’s point of view.
• Bring greater consistency and clarity to how USP tells its story across issues, initiatives, and channels.
• Support both proactive editorial planning and reactive writing needs during fast-moving policy or issue moments.
• Persuade and help influential audiences understand, engage with, and support USP’s perspectives on relevant priorities.
• Develop content that is credible, insightrich, and compelling enough to be picked up, referenced, or shared by policymakers, regulatory bodies, trade associations, think tanks, and influencers in the field.

Key Responsibilities

Editorial Content Development

• Propose and shape thought leadership themes and content based on what influential policymakers, regulators, and global health leaders need to understand about implications of policy developments, regulatory proposals, supply chain vulnerabilities, and medicine quality challenges.
• Write and edit a wide range of public affairs and thought leadership content, including:
• Bylines and op-eds.
• Blogs and LinkedIn thought leadership.
• Talking points, presentations, and executive remarks.
• Develop supporting public affairs materials such as backgrounders, FAQs, and issue briefs, as needed.

Strategy & Editorial Planning

• Partner closely with External Communications and Global External Affairs leaders to drive editorial strategy for key policy issues by recommending narrative frames, positioning, and content types most likely to influence external dialogues.
• Build and maintain an editorial calendar, proactively pitching topics and story ideas aligned with advocacy and thought leadership priorities.
• Balance proactive content planning with the ability to respond quickly to emerging issues or short-turn requests.

Stakeholder & SME Engagement

• Regularly interview internal subject matter experts and review source materials to extract clear, compelling narratives.
• Navigate review and approval processes involving legal, regulatory, policy, scientific, and executive stakeholders.
• Incorporate appropriate feedback while maintaining clarity, neutrality, and narrative coherence.

Quality, Consistency & Governance

• Ensure content aligns with USP’s brand narrative, voice, and tone —credible, and appropriate for audiences.
• Apply sound judgment in communications, avoiding overstatement and maintaining accuracy and balance.
• Manage multiple projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment with competing priorities.

Who is USP Looking For?

The successful candidate will have a demonstrated understanding of our mission, commitment to excellence through inclusive and equitable behaviors and practices, ability to quickly build credibility with stakeholders, along with the following competencies and experience:

Experience & Background

• 7+ years of experience as a writer in one or more of the following environments:
• Public affairs or issues-focused communications agency.
• Corporate issues or external communications.
• Government or legislative communications.
• Reputable news service or journal.
• Demonstrated experience writing for highly scrutinized industries (e.g., healthcare, life sciences, policy, energy).
• Experience writing about policy, regulatory, or scientific issues related to public health, pharmaceuticals, medicine quality, or supply chain resiliency strongly preferred.

Core Skills

• Exceptional writing and editing skills, with the ability to:
• Write under ambiguity.
• Shift tone, issue framing, and point of view as needed.
• Capture executive-level voice and intent.
• Strong interviewing and synthesis skills — able to “pull the story through” from conversations and source materials.
• Ability to quickly understand and articulate USP’s perspective on priority issues and translate them into accessible, persuasive narrative frames.
• Exceptional judgment in navigating nuance and accuracy when writing for policysensitive or highly scrutinized environments.
• Demonstrated ability to capture the unique voices of multiple executives and leaders, ensuring each piece reflects both individual perspective and USP’s organizational narrative.
• Strong stakeholder management skills and comfort navigating complex review processes
• Ability to manage multiple topics and deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

Working Style & Collaboration

• The ideal candidate brings a strategist’s instincts: anticipating narrative needs before they are requested, pushing thinking forward, and identifying opportunities to shape external conversations rather than reacting to them.
• This role sits within the External Communications team and works closely with colleagues across policy, regulatory, scientific, and executive functions.
• The role requires strong sense of urgency and editorial judgment, paired with an understanding of broader communications strategy.
• Success requires curiosity, flexibility, and the ability to operate effectively in both planned and reactive communications environments.

Additional Desired Preferences

• A selfdirected thinker who thrives on ambiguity and proactively finds clarity.
• A builder of ideas who connects dots, not just words.
• Experience supporting advocacy, public affairs, or thought leadership campaigns.
• Comfort working across multiple issue areas simultaneously.
• Ability to balance strategic understanding with hands-on execution.

Supervisory Responsibilities

None, this is an individual contributor role.

Benefits

USP provides the benefits to protect yourself and your family today and tomorrow. From company-paid time off and comprehensive healthcare options to retirement savings, you can have peace of mind that your personal and financial well-being is protected.

Compensation

Base Salary Range: USD $127,102.00 – $156,550.00 annually.

Target Annual Bonus: % Varies based on level of role.

Individual compensation packages are based on various factors unique to each candidate’s skill set, experience, qualifications, equity, and other job-related reasons.

Please note that this base salary range is reflective of full time hours and will be calculated accordingly for part time.

 Note: USP does not accept unsolicited resumes from 3rd party recruitment agencies and is not responsible for fees from recruiters or other agencies except under specific written agreement with USP.