Reports to: Dr Melanie Ivarsson, CEO – Chief Commercial Officer (once recruited)
Location: London or Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, with regular travel as required to support the CEO
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £118,000 – £135,000
This job description sets out the purpose, principles, critical deliverables, and person specification for the Director of Strategic Partnerships role at HDRS. It provides a foundation for recruitment, onboarding, and performance management, and will be updated as the organisation matures.
Role Purpose
Partnerships are not a support activity at HDRS – they are a critical driver of mission delivery. The Director of Strategic Partnerships is a senior, externally-facing member of the HDRS team, leading the development and management of strategic commercial partnerships that advance the organisation’s mission and expand its reach. The Director of Strategic Partnerships is responsible for identifying, cultivating, and sustaining partnerships with academic institutions, government bodies, industry, and third-sector organisations. The postholder will work across internal teams and with external stakeholders to create mutually beneficial collaborations that drive programme delivery, income generation, and long-term organisational growth.
The Director of Partnerships is empowered to operate autonomously to build, design and propose partnerships, represent HDRS at the most senior levels, and is directly accountable to the Executive team, initially the CEO.
Critical Deliverables
Immediate Focus
- Develop and execute a partnerships strategy aligned with organisational priorities, ensuring a pipeline of high-value relationships across relevant sectors
- Lead end-to-end partnership development – from prospecting and negotiation through to contracting, onboarding, and leading the ongoing partner relationship
- Identify and lead commercial partnership discussions with life sciences companies seeking to use HDRS infrastructure for clinical trials, real-world evidence, and health economics research.
- Manage ongoing partnership relationships, ensuring delivery of HDRS objectives.
- Represent HDRS in senior external forums, including government advisory groups, NHS national bodies and industry events.
- Develop a partnership reporting framework for the CEO and Board, with clear metrics for relationship health and pipeline value.
Business as Usual
- Manage a portfolio of strategic partnerships across NHS, government, academia, and commercial life sciences.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for all partnership relationships.
- Lead negotiations on partnership agreements and commercial terms, working closely with relevant functions.
- Maintain HDRS’s presence and positioning in the key external forums shaping UK health data policy and infrastructure.
- Identify and develop co-investment and co-development opportunities aligned to the HDRS roadmap and wider Government and NHS priorities.
- Produce regular partnership pipeline reporting and provide strategic relationship intelligence to the SLT and Board.
- Build and lead the partnerships team, setting clear objectives and supporting professional development.