Commercial Strategy & Business Development Lead

Company description:

We are a world class research-intensive university. We deliver teaching and learning of the highest quality. We play a leading role in economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England. Attracting and retaining high-calibre people is fundamental to our continued success.

Job description:

The NIHR Innovation Observatory (IO) is a world-leading health and care innovation horizon scanning research centre based at Newcastle University. Our work supports government agencies, industry, regulators, charities, and researchers by delivering timely, actionable insights that inform strategic decision-making, policy development, investment guidance, funding programs and improve alignment across agencies. We work across the health, life sciences and wider care ecosystem to identify innovation, gaps and unmet needs, follow trends and signal potentially game changing innovations. Our work fosters national and international collaboration supporting the growth of the UK health and life sciences sector, and is a beacon for cross-sector, interdisciplinary training and capacity building in horizon scanning and foresight. We are at the forefront of developing approaches and people to identify and analyse emerging health and care innovations, ensuring the UK is prepared to leverage scientific breakthroughs that improve patient outcomes and support system readiness.

Role Overview

The Commercial Strategy & Business Development Lead is responsible for designing, developing and shaping a sustainable commercial offer for the NIHR Innovation Observatory (IO), operating at the interface between publicly funded research infrastructure, industry and innovation partners.

The role will lead commercial strategy development, market analysis and opportunity identification; building a robust pipeline of commercially viable activity aligned with IO's mission, capabilities and NIHR/DHSC requirements. Working closely with the Director, the Head of Delivery, the IO Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and University professional services, as well as NIHR colleagues, the post holder will ensure that commercial activity is credible, compliant and value‑adding.

The role is focused on strategic commercial development rather than operational delivery, with approval, assurance and organisational risk management retained by the Director. The post‑holder will develop and recommend the IO's commercial strategy for approval and, once agreed, support its implementation to maximise impact, public value and long‑term sustainability. In doing so, the role will identify, negotiate and develop new streams of commercial income and contracts, working collaboratively with the Head of Delivery, Operations Manager, University professional services and NIHR to ensure that all activity is appropriately governed and aligned with IO's mission, values and funding requirements.

This role is a full time, fixed term role available for the duration two years.

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