Innovation Lead - Medicines Manufacturing

Job summary

Context:

The Innovation Lead will operate within the Innovation as a Service Directorate, in the Life and Land team.

Building on the Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy and Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Life and Land team deliver managed programmes spanning the discovery, development manufacturing and supply of therapeutics and vaccines with the objective of securing continued investment and growth of the UK’s biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.

Job Purpose:

The role holder will be an Innovation Lead in the Life and Land team, working with the Deputy Challenge Director to successfully deliver the medicines manufacturing managed programmes and portfolio of projects. Responsibilities include, but are not limited, to those listed below.

Job description

• Maintain a deep understanding of the UK pharmaceutical industry / sectors / technologies including UK strengths and global opportunities, to contribute to Innovate UK and UKRI strategy and priorities, and to provide thought leadership to stakeholders and the wider ecosystem
• Work closely with organisations in receipt of funding from medicines manufacturing managed programmes to support successful delivery of projects, acting as a point of contact for project leads and project Monitoring Service Providers
• Provide industrially relevant subject matter expert support to impact and benefit analysis for medicines manufacturing managed programmes
• Enable knowledge dissemination across life sciences programmes and between external organisations, taking a leading role in Communities of Practice established by the programmes.
• Build strong relationships with businesses, trade associations, Catapults, government departments and agencies, private investors, medical charities, regulatory bodies and research organisations.
• Support international activities to ensure that UK medicines manufacturing and supply innovation activity is set in an international context.
• Work with Innovate UK and UKRI colleagues to keep medicines manufacturing managed programmes aligned with other initiatives.
• Represent the Life and Land team at conferences, meetings, workshops and in the media as appropriate.
• Work across Innovate UK’s life sciences teams and a broad range of stakeholders to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded across life sciences activities.
• Input into the development and implementation of Innovate UK's strategy and funding for future medicines to enable industry to develop and commercialise new products, processes, business models and services.

This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.

Person specification

Shortlisting criteria

(S) – Assessed at shortlisting

(I) – Assessed at interview

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Person Specification:

This position requires a person with a broad understanding of the UK pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, ideally gained within industry. They will understand the pathway to commercialisation for novel medicines, the key challenges that companies in this sector face, the technologies involved, and a passion to see the UK achieve further success in the area. They need to be technically literate, business savvy, with strong interpersonal skills. They should be capable of leading the thinking in their particular area of domain expertise, inputting to the creation and implementation of national strategies. They should be able to work within a team but be equally comfortable and confident to work on their own initiative. They should be motivated to achieve goals that enable the success of others (colleagues and UK companies).

Experience & Qualifications:

Essential –

• Degree or post-graduate qualification, in a science or technical subject relevant to medicines manufacturing, or relevant equivalent experience. (S)
• Strong business experience in a decision-making capacity (S&I)
• A sound, up-to-date and broad-based knowledge of medicines manufacturing and related disciplines (regulatory affairs, process economics, quality assurance) in the UK and globally, ideally gained within drug substance and/or drug product development and/or manufacturing environment. (S&I)
• Proven ability to develop, implement and deliver major and complex programmes and projects to time, cost and required quality. (S&I)
• Strong experience in managing relationships with various internal and external stakeholders. (S&I)
• Experience of managing a portfolio of activities or investments and tracking related impacts. (S&I)
• Knowledge of the UK government and wider stakeholder activities in small molecule medicinal products, biotherapeutics, advanced therapies, regenerative medicine, and related areas. (I)
• Demonstrated ability to inspire and facilitate cooperation/partnership working, and to work across boundaries, whilst still maintaining impact. (S&I)

Competencies:

All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:

Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria’s listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

Field-based: There will a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,589, Innovate UK contributes £16,973 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

1st interview incl presentation.

Interviews will either take place remotely via Teams or in person face to face.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

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Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@ukri.org

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitmement@ukri.org