Senior Alliance Manager, London

Your impact 

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the intersection of pioneering science and business, collaborating with world-leading computational chemists, biologists, and AI experts to advance the next generation of medicines. As a member of the Portfolio Operations and Alliance Management team, you will be foundational in building and nurturing strategic partnerships that are critical to our success, as well as mentoring team members and acting as a role model for  best practices. You will drive the successful delivery of our key partnerships — from early-stage research collaborations to later-stage development programs—ensuring they achieve maximum scientific and commercial value.

What you will do 

• Manage strategic alliances with our partners which have broad and long-term impact on our corporate performance and valuation. 
• Contribute to drive the implementation and execution of operational, governance, and communication frameworks for new alliances, ensuring seamless integration and alignment between internal teams and external partners.
• Oversee the co-creation and tracking of joint research, development and data-sharing plans, ensuring alignment with contractual obligations and strategic goals.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for key partners, fostering collaborative relationships and managing all aspects of alliance governance, including Joint Steering Committees) and executive reviews.
• Partner with Business Development during the negotiation and contracting phase of new collaborations, providing expert input on alliance management terms and performing due diligence to ensure operational feasibility.
• Help develop, implement, and refine best-in-class alliance management processes, tools, and metrics, aligning with industry standards to track partnership health and performance.
• Proactively identify and pursue value-creation opportunities within existing partnerships while anticipating and mitigating potential risks and conflicts.
• Champion a collaborative “one team” culture across the company and our external partners, fostering open communication and mutual success.
• Guide decision-making within the contractual governance framework, ensure milestones are met, convene appropriate partners to enlist their support, and constructively resolve conflicts, escalating to senior management as necessary.

Skills and qualifications 

Essential:

• Proven Alliance Management experience: Demonstrated success in an Alliance Manager role within the pharmaceutical, biotech, or life sciences industry, with direct responsibility for managing complex collaborations (e.g., research, development, data partnerships).
• Contractual Acumen: In-depth, demonstrable understanding of the legal and business terms of collaboration agreements, with the ability to interpret and manage contractual obligations for all parties.
• Drug discovery & development knowledge: Demonstrable understanding of the end-to-end drug discovery and development process, from target identification and pre-clinical studies through to clinical trials.
• Exceptional influence & communication: Outstanding communication, interpersonal, and negotiation skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence and align stakeholders at all levels, both internally and externally, without formal authority.

Nice to have:

• Advanced scientific background: An advanced degree (MSc, PhD) or equivalent professional experience in a relevant scientific field such as chemistry, biology, pharmacology, or computational sciences is strongly preferred.
• ASAP Accreditation: A desire to achieve or current certification in alliance management (e.g., CA-AM or CS-AP from the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals) is highly desirable.
• Diverse partnership experience: Proven experience managing data-sharing and / or data generation partnerships; discovery / pre-clinical / clinical programs; strategic CRO relationships; multi-party partnerships.
• Technical familiarity: Exposure to the application of AI/ML, computational chemistry, or complex data management within a drug discovery context.
• Large pharma or biotech: Experience working within an Alliance Management function at a large pharmaceutical company or a forward thinking AI-enabled biotech.