Head of NIHR Life Sciences Industry Engagement

LGC Ltd ) is a global life sciences company serving government, academia, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, environment, security, and sports sectors. Its Grant Management Group (GMG) works closely with the NIHR and other UK government bodies to support medical and health research. GMG manages funding calls, contracts and intellectual property, ensuring research projects are delivered efficiently and in line with strategic priorities, while collaborating with stakeholders across the NHS, academia, government and industry to advance health innovation.

The NIHR, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, is the UK's largest funder of health and social care research. It delivers world leading studies that improve health, wellbeing and economic growth with GMG providing critical operational and management support to its funding programs.

Job Description

The
Head of NIHR Life Sciences Industry Engagement
is responsible for delivering a unified, strategic, and outcomes-driven industry engagement model across the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The aim of this role is to maximise the impact of NIHR's Key Account Management (KAM) and Business Development (BD) functions, ensuring NIHR presents a single, coordinated interface to the global life sciences industry.

The postholder will integrate and lead NIHR's engagement activity across multiple organisations and infrastructures, transforming it from an activity-based function to a business-focused growth unit that delivers measurable outcomes- including increased commercial trials, inward investment, and strengthened industry confidence in the UK.

They will work closely with the
Head of the NIHR Industry Hub
to ensure that engagement directly drives delivery, aligning relationships, study setup, and performance into one end-to-end offer.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership and System Integration

• Establish a cross-NIHR Key Account Management and Business Development model - uniting currently fragmented functions into a single, coherent industry-facing offer
• Define and operationalise a clear national
  industry engagement framework
  that links the NIHR Coordinating Centre, Research Delivery Network (RDN), and wider NIHR infrastructure
• Ensure industry partners experience NIHR as a single, joined-up system- balancing research delivery strengths with NIHR's broader innovation, translational, and data capabilities
• Oversee alignment of engagement functions with the
  Life Sciences Sector Plan
  and NIHR's
  Life Sciences Industry Strategy

2. Key Account Management (KAM) Transformation

• Expand and professionalise the NIHR KAM function to operate across the full NIHR system
• Ensure each key sponsor has a single, senior NIHR relationship lead with full visibility of all their studies, collaborations, and innovation partnerships
• Introduce standardised KAM principles, role definitions, and performance measures across NIHR, ensuring consistency and accountability
• Establish governance, escalation, and feedback loops to continuously improve the sponsor experience
• Strengthen collaboration between KAMs and the Industry Hub, ensuring sponsor issues and study-level challenges are rapidly resolved

3. Business Development (BD) Leadership

• Transform NIHR's Business Development function, responsible for generating new partnerships and expanding NIHR's commercial research portfolio
• Introduce a unified pipeline management system (Salesforce CRM) to track, qualify, and convert industry opportunities from engagement to contract
• Deliver and regularly review sector-specific strategies for pharma, biotech, and healthtech, ensuring NIHR proactively engages with companies at all stages of maturity - from SMEs to global multinationals
• Develop and promote a clear SME offer
• Co-produce guiding principles and operating models for KAM and BD across NIHR

4. Governance, Processes, and Principles

• Lead co-development of the Guiding Principles and Governance Framework for KAM and BD, ensuring:
• Clear delineation of roles, responsibilities, and escalation processes
• Defined procedures for transitioning accounts between teams with no loss of continuity
• Common standards for conference participation, external representation, and industry communications
• Transparent reporting and shared accountability through an Industry Delivery Board structure
• Establish a national reporting framework that enables DHSC, NIHR Board, and HMG to track performance, growth, and impact across all industry-facing functions

5. Integration with the Industry Hub

• Work in strategic partnership with the Head of the NIHR Industry Hub to ensure engagement activity translates into delivery outcomes
• Align KAM and BD intelligence with the Hub's performance data and dashboards
• Establish a real-time feedback loop between sponsor engagement and operational delivery, supporting rapid escalation and issue resolution
• Collaborate to maintain sponsor visibility and confidence from initial contact through to study delivery and "last patient out"

6. Performance, Outcomes, and Reporting

• Define and deliver measurable performance metrics, including:
• Growth in commercial trials and investment
• Conversion rate from engagement to new clinical trial or industry collaborative project
• Reduction in duplication and fragmentation across engagement functions.
• Sponsor satisfaction, retention, and repeat business
• Efficiency gains in account transition and partner management
• Lead quarterly performance reviews, providing insight reports to DHSC and NIHR leadership on engagement effectiveness and system impact
• Ensure all reporting aligns with the NIHR Industry Metrics Framework and UK Life Sciences Competitiveness Indicators

7. Culture, Capability, and Workforce

• Build and lead a national team with the commercial, relationship, and analytical skills to engage credibly with global life sciences companies
• Promote a culture of collaboration, transparency, and accountability across all industry-facing NIHR teams
• Deliver structured development programmes for KAMs and BD staff to build commercial awareness and negotiation skills
• Model NIHR's core values, partnership, inclusivity, and innovation, in all engagement activity

Qualifications

**Person Specification:

Essential Criteria**

• Senior leadership experience in business development, account management, or strategic partnerships within life sciences or healthcare
• Proven success in delivering measurable growth through industry collaboration
• Strong understanding of NIHR, NHS R&D, and the UK life sciences landscape
• Demonstrated ability to lead cultural and structural change within large organisations
• Excellent relationship management and negotiation skills at executive level
• Strategic thinker with ability to link engagement activity to system-wide outcomes

Desired Criteria

• Experience working with or within the pharmaceutical, biotech, or healthtech sectors
• Track record of leading transformation across complex, multi-stakeholder systems
• Experience of working across devolved administrations or international research networks
• Familiarity with CRM and performance analytics systems (e.g. Salesforce)
• Formal qualification in business, leadership, or health innovation management
• Understanding of UK life sciences policy and industrial strategy

Performance Measures

• Unified cross-NIHR KAM and BD model operational by end of Year 1.
• Increase in commercial studies initiated, completed, and reinvested.
• Improved conversion rate from engagement to active contract.
• Reduced duplication across NIHR industry-facing functions.
• Positive sponsor feedback on coherence and responsiveness of NIHR's offer.
• Demonstrable impact on NIHR's contribution to UK life sciences growth metrics.

Impact Statement

This role will deliver one of NIHR's most significant organisational transformations — uniting fragmented industry engagement into
a single, strategic, and accountable system
that speaks to industry with one voice.

By turning engagement into measurable business outcomes, the Head of NIHR Life Sciences Industry Engagement will strengthen sponsor confidence, accelerate investment, and ensure NIHR plays a central role in delivering the UK's ambition to be the best place in the world to develop, test, and adopt life sciences innovation.

Additional Information

Compensation, Benefits & Working Arrangements:

Salary: £64,700 per year

Location: Victoria, London / Hybrid working model

Contract Type: Permanent Contract

Working Hours: 37.5 per week, 7.5 hours per day

Annual Leave: 25 days, plus UK public holidays

Employee Benefits Include:

Annual, discretionary bonus

Enhanced Contributory Pension Scheme

Life Insurance Cover

Benenden Healthcare Membership

Training and Development Opportunities

Season Ticket Loan

NB:
We offer a range of work life balance and family friendly, flexible working arrangements. This is an office based, hybrid role with an expectation for all employees to attend our offices 1 day each week, this may increase, subject to team requirements.

Application

If you are excited about the prospect of joining our team and believe you possess the relevant skills and background, we invite you to apply. Please submit your CV along with a 'Statement of Suitability' that showcases your key skills and experiences in relation to the 'Essential and Desired Criteria' outlined in the job description. Additionally, share your enthusiasm for working with the NIHR.

Deadline for applications TBA

Inclusion and Diversity

LGC strongly believes that every job applicant and employee should be valued for their individual talents regardless of age, disability, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion, or belief. Short listing, interviewing and selection will always be carried out without regard to gender, sexual orientation, marital status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, age, or trade union membership.