Senior Research Manager Vaccine Product Development

Salary: 64800

Closing date: Thursday 1 May 2025

Contract type: Permanent

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation. We improve health for everyone by funding science leading policy and advocacy campaigns and building partnerships.

We plan to spend 16bn over the next ten years funding new discoveries in life health and wellbeing and taking on three global health challenges: mental health infectious disease and climate and health.

The Infectious Disease Solutions Programme (IDSP) is looking for up to 2 Senior Research Managers with a background in vaccine product development. You will help develop and deliver projects focused on earlystage vaccine development and the supporting environment required to see effective uptake of these products. We are keen to hear from individuals who have worked in earlystage vaccine development including preclinical studies and phase 1/2 studies and with knowledge of how to embed equitable access considerations into in early product development to enable uptake.

This is an exciting time to join Wellcome under new direction of JohnArne Rottingen who joined as CEO in 2024. The Infectious Disease Solutions Programme (IDSP) is a relatively new team and as such an opportune time to join and help sculpt future direction for vaccines R&D. The team focusses on two key drivers of infectious disease environmental change and antimicrobial resistance. We take a holistic approach and combine an interest in gaining a better understanding of these drivers for the optimal development and use of interventions (including vector control vaccines and small molecules). Initially we are focussing on vector borne disease cholera TB and AMR with a geographical focus on Africa and South Asia

We are looking for an individual with a passion for global health to work collaboratively across the IDSP team and Wellcome to address key gaps in the global health field through definition refinement and delivery of our vaccine product development portfolio for a number of infectious diseases that affect Africa and South Asia.

You will be joining a multidisciplinary collaborative and enthusiastic team (the Vaccines team) focused on developing impactful vaccines for lowandmiddle income countries gaining a greater understanding of protective immunity and filling key knowledge gaps that inform policy makers on the best use of these vaccines.

In this role you will:

• Work with the Research Lead for Vaccines product development to manage define refine monitor and advance the vaccine development portfolio aligned with the IDSP strategy. This will involve:

  • Management of an existing portfolio of vaccine development projects

  • Providing critical scientific assessment of applications participating in decisionmaking reviews and making clear recommendations to senior management.

  • Identify and devise approaches to capitalise on emerging opportunities within the Vaccine development space (e.g. new preclinical and clinical programmes with line of sight to impact developing novel strategies etc.

  • Monitor and critically assess progress of new and ongoing preclinical and clinical projects in Wellcomes portfolio gaining guidance from specialist advisers and commissioning work as appropriate.

• Scoping out new disease areas of interest in the vaccine product development space

• Effectively use knowledge and expertise to manage influence and sustain longterm relationships with research teams funding partners and other global vaccine development stakeholders.

• Clearly communicate the vaccines strategy and work of the Infectious Disease Solutions Programme to internal and external audiences.

• Contribute to a diverse and inclusive culture across the organisation collaborating across departments.

To be successful in this role you will have:

• An advanced degree in the life sciences

• Significant expertise in the field of Vaccine development (preclinical and early clinical) through relevant work experience in an academic industrial or funding agency.

• Significant expertise in Infectious Disease through work in academic industry or funding settings

• A strong understanding of the landscape of global health stakeholders for Vaccines R&D.

• Experience shaping and delivering vaccine Research and Development projects and programmes

• Experience in research project management and grant administration

To apply please upload your current CV and complete our short application

Interview dates: W/C 19 May

You can view the full job description on our website

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Our Hybrid Way of Working

We understand that our colleagues have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to build a flexible working environment in which people can perform at their best. We are currently working 3 days per week (Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursday) from our Euston Road offices (as part of our hybrid Ways of Working) with the remaining 2 days working either remotely or in the office.

Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do

Diversity and Inclusion is a priority at Wellcome. We are committed to cultivating a fair andinclusiveenvironment where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We are happy to discuss flexible working options for all roles. We work to ensure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible to everyone. This includesmaking adjustmentsfor people who have a disability or longterm visit our websitefor more information on adjustments and accessibility or contact us at.