UK Collaborations Lead

Collaborating with external academic partners is central to GSK’s ambition to accelerate the development of transformative medicines for patients. Harnessing cutting-edge science and technology from world-class research institutes and commercial partnerships is critical to strengthening our innovation pipeline and expanding R&D capability to benefit patients.

If you are motivated by building and delivering high-impact partnerships, operating entrepreneurially within a complex ecosystem, and influencing across boundaries to help translate scientific excellence into patient value, the UK Collaborations Lead role offers a unique leadership opportunity. As UK Collaborations Lead, you will play a pivotal role within GSK’s Strategic Partnerships team, working with colleagues within the Research Externalisation and Operations Group in establishing and leading high-quality strategic partnerships with cutting-edge global research institutions and commercial partners. Working across a multidisciplinary matrix, you will establish and manage partnerships that connect external innovation with internal scientific and business priorities, ensuring collaborations are structured to deliver differentiated science, sustainable value, and long-term impact for GSK and its partners.

This role provides the opportunity to lead key enterprise-level activities, including:

• Accountable for delivery of key UK strategic collaborations (e.g. Cambridge-GSK Translational Immunology Collaboration).
• Develop and nurture trust-based relationships with internal and external partners and other key stakeholders, ensuring alignment with GSK values and long-term vision. This is an enterprise role which requires working across a complex matrix.
• Shape the development, evolution and delivery of a network of partnerships, science and portfolios to maximize the value to GSK
• Establish, implement, and optimize GSK and collaborative scientific research activities, in partnership with collaborators.
• Drive GSK interests as member of external collaborations scientific and operational teams for UK collaborations
• Drive engagement and collaborate with internal partners and senior stakeholders, to develop, review, prioritize, and access existing and new collaborative project opportunities
• Work closely with global collaborations team to maximize synergies between collaborations, including optimal placement of projects and capability mapping to drive the optimal balance of internal and external science.
• Contribute to scientific assessment of value for UK collaborations and recommendations for extension or termination and monitoring of budget allocated to the collaborations.  

This is a highly visible leadership role requiring strategic agility, entrepreneurial mindset, exceptional communication skills, creative thinking, and the ability to influence at all levels while operating within a complex global matrix.

Basic Qualifications:

We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• PhD degree or equivalent experience in scientific discipline
• Strong experience as a Research Scientist or Dug Discovery Leader in the pharmaceutical or academic research environments
• Demonstrated experience initiating and/or leading complex external academic research collaborations relevant to early drug discovery including target discovery and validation, translational human data, platform technologies or clinical translation. 
• Experience applying AI-enabled tools or digital technologies to streamline workflows, automate reporting, enhance data analysis, or support decision-making relevant to early drug discovery processes.
• Experience in influencing senior leaders and working in complex environments
• Experience developing strategies and in operationalising strategic decisions, providing leadership in multifunctional teams
• Demonstrated experience in thinking outside of the box to solve key operational and/or research related challenges, with demonstrable impact on time to execution, deliverables or other impact on the project.
• Experience in communicating complex concepts to diverse audiences

Preferred Qualifications:

If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:

• Understanding of the legal, intellectual property, compliance and governance issues that impact translational science in the academic industry interface.
• Experience of implementation of data management principles around large-scale data focused collaborations.
• Knowledge of project management principles.
• Experience working in translational science that supports early drug discovery

Why GSK?

Our values and expectations are at the heart of everything we do and form an important part of our culture.

These include Patient focus, Transparency, Respect, Integrity along with Courage, Accountability, Development, and Teamwork. As GSK focuses on our values and expectations and a culture of innovation, performance, and trust, the successful candidate will demonstrate the following capabilities:

• Agile and distributed decision-making – using evidence and applying judgement to balance pace, rigour and risk.
• Managing team and/or individual performance.
• Committed to delivering high quality results, overcoming challenges, focusing on what matters, execution.
• Implementing change initiatives and leading change.
• Sustaining energy and well-being, building resilience in teams.
• Continuously looking for opportunities to learn, build skills and share learning both internally and externally.
• Developing people and building a talent pipeline.
• Translating strategy into action - a compelling narrative, motivating others, setting objectives and delegation.
• Building strong relationships and collaboration, managing trusted stakeholder relationships internally and externally.
• Budgeting and forecasting, commercial and financial acumen.

Why GSK?

Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. We aim to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade, as a successful, growing company where people can thrive.

We get ahead of disease by preventing and treating it with innovation in specialty medicines and vaccines. We focus on four therapeutic areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases – to impact health at scale.

People and patients around the world count on the medicines and vaccines we make, so we’re committed to creating an environment where our people can thrive and focus on what matters most. Our culture of being ambitious for patients, accountable for impact and doing the right thing is the foundation for how, together, we deliver for patients, shareholders and our people.

GSK is an Equal Opportunity Employer. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), parental status, national origin, age, disability, genetic information (including family medical history), military service or any basis prohibited under federal, state or local law.

We believe in an agile working culture for all our roles. If flexibility is important to you, we encourage you to explore with our hiring team what the opportunities are.

Should you require any adjustments to our process to assist you in demonstrating your strengths and capabilities contact us at [email protected] where you can also request a call.

Please note should your enquiry not relate to adjustments, we will not be able to support you through these channels. However, we have created a Recruitment FAQ guide. Click the Link where you will find answers to multiple questions we receive

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