View Vacancy -- Business Development and Partnership Manager - MLC 1887

Open Date
01/06/2022, 15:20
Close Date
21/08/2022, 23:55
MRC Mary Lyon Centre
The Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell (MLC) is internationally renowned centre at the forefront of the generation and use of mouse models for the study of human disease. The MLC offers a range of mouse services to support researchers with generation and characterisation of mouse models of disease and archiving and distribution of existing models. The hub of the new National Mouse Genetics Network, the specialist facilities and capabilities of the MLC support a number of distinct research clusters spread across the UK to accelerate our understanding of human disease. The MLC is also home to Advance, a newly designed training centre purpose-built to deliver our world-class practical and theoretical training courses.
UK Research and Innovation is a new entity that brings together nine partners to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, more information can be found at www.ukri.org

MRC - 2
Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire
£52,877 - £65,348 per annum (depending on experience)
Permanent
Technical & Scientific Professionals
Full Time

Overall Purpose: 

The Business Development and Partnership Manager is an exciting new role to lead on the development of new business partnership and academic collaborations whilst maintaining and growing the existing MLC outreach portfolio.  The post holder will report directly to the Director of the MLC and will be a member of the MLC senior leadership team.

Main duties and Key Responsibilities:

  • Lead all strategic and operational aspects of the MLC’s external engagement and collaboration activity
  • Lead on incorporating business input into the MLC’s strategy, supporting both national targets for the Mary Lyon Centre, Advance Training Centre and the National Mouse Genetics Network
  • Develop and manage a portfolio of partnership projects
  • Develop and implement business models for collaboration and partnership with the MLC including those involving equipment/technical development
  • Lead the development of new external partnerships, managing a mixed portfolio according to current capacity and technical capability of the MLC
  • Generate leads for partnership and collaboration, engagement with associated parties and follow up activities
  • Be the point of contact with large commercial organisations such as KTNs, Catapults, BIA etc
  • Identify grant funding opportunities, preparing grant proposals in conjunction with other senior MLC staff
  • Ensure opportunities for the long-term sustainability of MLC is identified and pursued
  • Oversee contractual negotiations with external partners, working with the MLC external advisors (e.g UKRI, legal and IP teams) to optimise contractual arrangements
  • Provide regular reporting to the MLC operations board and MLC senior leadership team of projects and partnerships, opportunities and strategic changes required
  • Attend and represent MLC at national and international meetings relevant to disease positioning of mouse models
  • Set and monitor ambitious targets for community engagement (MLC and ADVANCE)

Equality & Diversity:

The MRC values the diverse skills and experience of its employees and is committed to achieving equality of treatment for all.  Our objectives are that all individuals shall have equal opportunities for employment and advancement on the basis of their skills, aptitudes and abilities.  The MRC is committed to the engagement and retention of the best possible talent and to creating an environment that encourages excellence in scientific research through good equality and diversity leadership and management. 

Corporate/Local responsibilities & requirements: 

The job holder must at all times carry out their responsibilities with due regard to the MRC’s: 

  • Code of Conduct
  • Equality and Diversity policy
  • Health and Safety policy
  • Data Protection and Security policy

Job descriptions should be reviewed on a regular basis and at the annual appraisal.  Any changes should be made and agreed between the post holder and their manager. 

The above lists are not exhaustive and the job holder is required to undertake such duties as may reasonably be requested within the scope of the post.  All employees are required to act professionally, co-operatively and flexibly in line with the requirements of the post and the MRC. 

Education / Qualifications / Training required: 

Essential:

  • PhD or equivalent experience in relevant discipline
  • Diploma or equivalent in project management 

Desirable:

  • Training in intellectual property
  • Qualification in business management

Previous work experience required: 

Essential: 

  • Minimum 5 years of experience in a business development role in either academic /funder/biotech/pharma
  • Evidence of developing strategic business development and partnership management plans, and subsequent implementation
  • Evidence of a strong understanding of IP and approaches to managing flow of IP in collaborative projects 

Desirable:

  • Experience in dealing with C-level staff (i.e CEO, COO, CSO, Director level in commercial organisations) and equivalent scientific/academic leadership
  • Evidence of a strong track record of leading and securing partnering deals, with industry and academia

Knowledge and experience: 

Essential: 

  • Knowledge of genetic research
  • Experience of putting together business strategies 

Desirable: 

  • Previous line management experience
  • Well-developed network across academia, industry and funders

Personal skills/behaviours/qualities: 

Essential: 

  • Excellent communication skills
  • Proactive and forward thinker
  • High level of organisational skills, with the ability to manage a broad range of jobs simultaneously and under pressure.
  • Capable of critical thinking and complex problem solving
  • Organised, hard-working with a strong eye for detail and is able to work as part of a team
The MRC is a great place to work and progress your career, be it in scientific research or the support functions.The MRC is a unique working environment where our researchers are rewarded by world class innovation and collaboration opportunities that the MRC name brings. The MRC is an excellent place to develop yourself further and a range of training & development opportunities will be available to you, including professional registration with the Science Council.

Choosing to come to work at the MRC (part of UKRI) means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme and excellent holiday entitlement to access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme, as well as the chance to put the MRC and UKRI on your CV in the future.

Our success is dependent upon our ability to embrace diversity and draw on the skills, understanding and experience of all our people. We welcome applications from all sections of the community irrespective of gender, race, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or age. As "Disability Confident" employers, we guarantee to interview all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy.

UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider whether this conflicts with your personal values or beliefs.

We will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as an essential part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.  The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

This opportunity is closed to applications.