Senior Programme Manager - UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway (UK VIP)

Company Description

Are you experienced clinical research professional ready to apply your skills to a new role helping to transform the vaccine research environment in the UK?  Do you have exceptional organisational skills that you can apply to support a fast paced, ambitious and high-profile programme of work delivered by multiple organisations?

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR – www.nihr.ac.uk) is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research and is the largest funder of health and social care research in the UK.  NIHR is a core partner for delivering on the UK government’s Vision for the Future of UK Clinical Research where the priorities include improving the speed and efficiency of clinical research.

The UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway (UK VIP) is a programme of work focused on accelerating and improving study set up and delivery processes for clinical trials of vaccines and cancer therapeutics (cancer vaccines). This is building on the learnings from the pandemic to improve how vaccine research is delivered in the NHS and care system and to make the UK the best global destination for vaccine clinical trials.

Job Description

The Senior Programme Manager will report to the Head of the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway, and they will be part of the Vaccine Innovation Pathway Programme Management Office team. They will work closely with and support the Head of the UK VIP and the Clinical Leads in the design and implementation of new processes aimed at streamlining and accelerating the setup and delivery of new vaccine trials across the UK clinical research system.

The Senior programme Manager will contribute significantly and support the Head of the VIP in the ongoing development and monitoring of the activities of the UK Vaccine Innovation pathway programme plan. This will include delivering specific workstreams of the UK VIP programme plan.

The Programme Management Office will lead and support clinical research business process redesign to create a Vaccine Innovation Pathway for clinical trials, including:

• Designing a collaborative approach with pharmaceutical companies to ensure early sight of a portfolio of vaccine studies, in order to ensure best fit with UK population and therefore enable greater contribution from UK sites.
• Enhancing and supporting processes to engage an increasing community of investigators through the UK Cancer and Infectious Diseases Vaccines Research Fora, and developing activities to incorporate the members’ expertise to optimise successful delivery of a growing portfolio of vaccine studies.
• Developing arrangements to ensure optimal placement of the portfolio of studies, via UK systems, including supporting collaborative planning and identifying resource requirements of UK regions and their participating clinical trial sites.
• Incorporating engagement with a range of health research organisations to build in plans for advancing the utilisation of a range of consent-to-contact registries (national and local), data enable recruitment opportunities, and linking with plans to increase public awareness of vaccine research activities and associated diseases.

You will work closely with key stakeholders including management and study delivery teams from the NIHR Clinical Research Facilities, the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres Network, the NIHR Research Delivery Network and the corresponding research delivery organisations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Key responsibilities

• Support the Head of the VIP and Clinical Leads in overseeing the design and delivery of the programme’s vision.
• Maintain a comprehensive programme plan and provide written progress reports and presentations to the VIP programme management board and further meetings as required.
• Oversee the set up and ongoing management of the UK Clinical Trials of Vaccines Delivery Group meetings. These meetings (for infectious diseases and cancer) are a key part of the Clinical Trials Delivery Accelerator. The Senior Programme Manager will develop the dashboard to monitor site set up and recruitment and oversee the action logs.
• Identify project activities and resources required, captured in the VIP programme plan.
• Coordinate the programme’s projects including the interdependencies to ensure successful delivery of the proposed changes and enhancements.
• Ensure robust governance arrangements are in place, including planning, reporting, and managing risks and issues of the programme.
• Relationship management, collaborating with different stakeholders at all levels with different approaches and varied expectations.
• Work with colleagues across the Programme Management Office to ensure activities are integrated and synergies are realised across the Vaccine Innovation Pathway programme of work.
• Develop projects in order to deliver elements of the Vaccine Innovation
  
  Pathway in current priority areas, including:

• The ongoing management of the Vaccines Research Fora, including governance, secretariat, responsibilities and function of the forum and membership;

• • Redesigning established processes to ensure proactive planning for a portfolio of vaccine studies, including collaborative input into placement of individual studies to enable successful delivery of the whole portfolio, linking with clinical expertise and guidance from the Forum;
  • Engaging UK population to support willingness to participate in studies and to remain involved until study completion;
  • Delivering the operational elements of the Vaccine Innovation Fund call for investing in process and resource improvement projects for participating clinical trial sites across the UK.
     
• Monitor progress in delivery against the project plan.
• Identify as soon as possible changes and improvement opportunities as the projects and programme progresses.
• Ensure robust governance arrangements are in place.
• Coordinate access to plan reports, data and information which can inform project planning and delivery.
• Engage and involve key stakeholder groups that are important to the delivery of each area of activity.
• Ensure that project meetings/workshops and UK Cancer Vaccines Research Forum meetings are delivered to the highest professional standards.

Qualifications

Candidate specification:

To be successful in this role, you will have in depth understanding of the UK’s health research landscape programme. You will be able to combine your experience with project management skills, and the ability to identify, sequence and monitor a range of activities forming a coherent programme of delivery. You will need the knowledge and skills to get the programme plans and governance off the ground.

You will be able to work with confidence and diplomacy when engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders at various levels of seniority across multiple organisations.

You will need excellent interpersonal skills to establish and maintain productive relationships with relevant teams across the NIHR and within key partners including pharmaceutical companies.

You will need to be able to work to tight deadlines and maintain excellent communications with different teams to effectively manage multiple priorities.

Required knowledge, experience and technical skills

Essential

• Excellent working knowledge of the UK’s health and care research landscape, with prior experience of clinical research setup and delivery within the NHS.
• A good biomedical science degree or equivalent expertise gained through previous roles in the health research / life sciences sector.
• Extensive experience of managing and coordinating the delivery of complex projects, including developing project plans and monitoring and reporting on delivery.
• Project Management qualification (such as PRINCE2; Agile and Lean techniques) or equivalent experience.
• A proactive, self-motivated, flexible and enthusiastic team player who can work independently and as part of a team and contribute to the development of a positive, can-do culture.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrable success in building and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders across multiple organisations.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, evidenced by high-level reporting and presentation abilities.
• Ability to analyse issues and generate creative solutions to problems that produce mutual benefit for NIHR and partners.

Desirable

• Experience of line management.
• A relevant postgraduate qualification.
• Good IT skills with experience in using Google Apps.

Additional Information

Salary & Benefits

• £54,500 PA
• Bonus - subject to company performance
• 25 days annual leave, plus public holidays (UK)
• Enhanced contributory pension scheme
• Life Insurance
• Benenden Healthcare
• Season Ticket Loan
• Laptop, IT equipment and remote IT support

NB: Whilst the post is being advertised as a 18 month fixed term contract there is a possibility of extension which will be explained at interview.

We actively encourage applicants interested in Secondment opportunities. 

This is an office-based, hybrid role with an expectation for all employees to attend our offices a minimum of 4 days a month, usually worked as 1 day per week, and may increase, subject to team requirements.

Please apply with a CV and covering letter briefly outlining your suitability for the role and your salary aspirations.