Freelance Digital Content & Web Specialist

Overview

Digital Content & Web Specialist (Discovery & Foundational Science)

Join a leading organization dedicated to advancing health and scientific understanding. We are seeking a scientifically minded, web-savvy digital professional to play a pivotal role in shaping our digital presence and communicating our most vital scientific endeavors to the world.

• In this role, you will primarily support Discovery, the clients department dedicated to foundational science, major investments, and long-term partnerships—representing the most science-intensive area of our work.
• You will also produce digital experiences for connected priority areas, such as the Trust in Science programme, which examines how the public engages with scientific research and explores how institutions can build enduring trust.
• This is a high-impact opportunity for someone who combines a passion for scientific inquiry with hands-on web production expertise to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and public understanding.

About the Opportunity

In this hands-on role, you will lead the digital execution, web publishing, and narrative shaping of foundational science topics. You will be building and maintaining dynamic web pages, translating complex technical ideas into accessible copy, and ensuring our digital estate provides an intuitive, high-quality user experience.

While core writing and editorial skills are central to the role, your main focus will be building, structuring, and optimizing web content within our Content Management System (CMS). Social media and video production are not primary components of this position; rather, your expertise will shine in digital publishing architecture, science translation, and technical content delivery.

What You’ll Do

• Build & Maintain Web Pages: Use our enterprise CMS (Drupal) to construct, format, and publish high-performance web pages, campaign hubs, and feature articles that align with accessibility and UX standards.
• Translate Foundational Science: Distill complex, specialized scientific subject matter—from foundational laboratory discoveries to long-term research partnerships—into clear, engaging, and accurate web content.
• Support the Trust in Science Programme: Build and maintain content exploring research, evidence, and public perception around scientific trust, highlighting how researchers and institutions can earn and sustain credibility.
• End-to-End Content Delivery: Manage the digital publication lifecycle from initial wireframing/page layout and drafting through to stakeholder sign-off, staging, and publishing.
• Collaborate with Subject-Matter Experts: Partner closely with internal researchers, program leads, and scientific stakeholders to verify technical accuracy and ensure strategic alignment.
• Maintain Web Standards & Governance: Ensure all web assets follow digital best practices, search optimization (SEO), web accessibility (WCAG), and organization-wide brand guidelines.

What You’ll Bring

• You are a digitally fluent professional with a natural aptitude for science and a proven track record of web building.
• You take pride in structured content design, clean page layouts, and precise, impactful writing.
• Methodical and curious, you thrive when diving into technical briefs and transforming them into sleek, informative web experiences.

Must-Have Qualifications:

• Hands-on CMS Experience: Demonstrated experience building, editing, and publishing pages within a modern CMS, with strong preference for Drupal.
• Science Communication Affinity: A demonstrable interest in or background within scientific, technical, or research disciplines, paired with the ability to translate complex concepts for broader audiences.
• Digital Writing & Editorial Skills: Exceptional drafting, copyediting, and proofreading abilities, with an emphasis on scannable, user-first web copy.
• Basic Web Fundamentals: Comfortable working with web page structures, metadata, basic HTML/CSS components, and digital accessibility principles.
• Project & Deadline Management: Strong organizational skills with the ability to shepherd multiple page builds and content assets across the finish line simultaneously.
• Collaborative Stakeholder Skills: High diplomacy and confidence when partnering with scientists, academic leads, and multidisciplinary communications teams.

Nice-to-Have Qualifications:

• Prior experience working within a scientific research institution, university, medical non-profit, or related sectors
• Familiarity with user testing, web analytics (e.g., Google Analytics 4), or basic SEO implementation.