Business Development Operations Lead | Genomic Surveillance Unit

We have an exciting opportunity for a Business Development Operations Lead to join the Genomic Surveillance Unit here at the Wellcome Sanger Institute on a four-month fixed-term contract. This is a key role, leading all operational elements of the GSU's business development activity, ensuring that all the essential operational aspects of the Business Development function are in place and running smoothly. The Genomic Surveillance Unit (GSU) is a group at the Wellcome Sanger Institute dedicated to improving global human health by accelerating the use and impact of genomic surveillance. We deliver products, tools, and services that empower public health partners to add genomic information to their decision-making. Examples of our work include:

• Extensive involvement in COVID-19 and respiratory virus surveillance activities in the UK, providing the UK Health Security Agency with insight to detect and manage outbreaks;
• Fighting malaria - a disease which kills hundreds of thousands of children every year - by tracking drug and insecticide resistance;
• Working with research partners around the world to translate scientific discoveries into operational surveillance products;
• Delivering non-scientific projects and programmes such as organisational change and IT transformation.
About the role As Business Development Operations Lead, you will be responsible for:
• Supporting the GSU Leadership team as required, by overseeing the implementation and delivery/conclusion of agreed activities and initiatives
• Leading on all operational elements of GSU's business development activity, ensuring that all the essential operational aspects of GSU's Business Development function are in place and running smoothly
• Ensuring the end-to-end coherence of GSU's business development activity across the organisation
• Focusing particularly on the points of transition between business development and GSU's delivery teams, to ensure a safe and effective transition of accountabilities and responsibilities
• Ensuring that plans for migration and/or mobilisation of activity for delivery of pieces of work that are being pursued are in place, have been costed and included in pricing
• Ensuring that all Post Award activities are planned, and actioned and that accountabilities/responsibilities transition to the appropriate owner
• Deputising for the Head of Business Development
  
  We are looking for dedicated and friendly people with great communication skills to join our team.
To excel in this role you will need the following skills and experience: Technical Skills
• Proven experience in a business transformation or change management role, preferably within scientific, technical, or R&D environments.
• Strong business development and commercial management skills, with expertise in client engagement, stakeholder relationships, proposal development, contract management, and managed service agreements.
• Experience in project commissioning, planning, and monitoring with a track record of delivering projects on time and within scope.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement KPIs and use data to drive business improvements.
• Exceptional stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence and engage both technical and commercial teams effectively., Commercial Acumen: Strong understanding of business principles, with the ability to introduce and integrate commercial practices into a traditionally scientific setting.
• Managed Service Expertise: Familiarity with managed service models, including SLA development, service performance monitoring, and long-term client engagement strategies.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to interpret data, develop KPIs, and use insights to drive strategic improvements.
• Leadership and Influence: Proven leadership skills, with the ability to motivate teams, manage change, and drive adoption of new practices.
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into commercially relevant strategies.
• Process Orientation: Skilled in developing and implementing streamlined processes that enhance efficiency and align with business objectives.
  
  The Genomic Surveillance Unit is a rapidly growing team dedicated to global public health. We bring expertise in genomics, data science, product development, and sequencing operations to bear on surveillance solutions for important human diseases. We currently focus on malaria, COVID-19, and a range of other respiratory viruses.
The culture in the GSU is innovative, fast-paced, international, and multidisciplinary. With backgrounds in business, technology, academia, and global health, our team solves problems with perspectives from multiple angles. Our world-leading COVID-19 and malaria genomic surveillance streams have a proven track record of successful implementation. We support partners around the world at every stage of the process, from sample collection and lab set-up to training, data generation, and analysis. Our priorities are to continually increase benefits to public health, while improving the accessibility and quality of genomic surveillance data. Driven by the needs of our partners, we create analytical tools, lab methods, and data pipelines that push the boundaries of what is possible. For more information, visit https://www.sanger.ac.uk/collaboration/genomic-surveillance-unit, Hybrid Working at Wellcome Sanger: We recognise that there are many benefits to Hybrid Working; including an improved work-life balance, with more focused time, as well as the ability to organise working time so that collaborative opportunities and team discussions are facilitated on campus. The hybrid working arrangement will vary for different roles and teams. The nature of your role and the type of work you do will determine if a hybrid working arrangement is possible. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world. We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers, Disability and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness. The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others. We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work. That's why we're committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute. We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive. Our Benefits: We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme. The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute. Sanger Institute became a signatory of the International Technician Commitment initiative In March 2018. The Technician Commitment aims to empower and ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.

Permanent Full time Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges.