Senior Programme Manager

NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) provided pay range

This range is provided by NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research). Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Be part of the next chapter in vaccine innovation.

What if your next role helped transform how vaccines are developed and delivered across the UK and beyond?

At the NIHR
, we’re driving a bold mission to make the UK the world’s best place to conduct vaccine research. And we’re looking for a Senior Programme Manager with vision, precision and purpose to help make that happen.

About the Programme

The UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway (UK VIP) is reimagining the way clinical trials are designed, set up, and delivered, from infectious disease vaccines to the next generation of cancer therapeutics.

Building on the lessons from the pandemic, UK VIP brings together the NHS, academia and industry to accelerate vaccine research, improve patient access, and strengthen national readiness for future health challenges.

This is not just another programme, it’s a movement shaping the future of public health.

Your Impact

As our Senior Programme Manager
, you’ll sit at the heart of this transformation. You’ll coordinate across multiple partners, from leading pharmaceutical companies to cutting edge research centres, to make vaccine trials faster, smarter, and more effective.

Your work will:

• Redefine how vaccine studies are delivered across the UK
• Enable collaboration between the NHS, NIHR, and industry to streamline research and accelerate breakthroughs
• Empower research teams to bring innovative vaccines to patients faster
• Strengthen the UK’s global leadership in vaccine science and clinical excellence

Every project you lead will help bring life changing vaccines closer to the people who need them most.

What You’ll Do

• Lead and coordinate key UK VIP work streams, ensuring seamless delivery across national partners
• Shape and optimise processes that speed up trial setup, improve recruitment, and enhance efficiency
• Oversee governance, reporting, and performance across UK Vaccine Delivery Groups
• Build powerful collaborations through the Vaccines Research Fora and Vaccine Innovation Fund
• Turn insights into action, continuously improving how the UK delivers research

Required Criteria

• Education: PhD or Master’s in biomedical science, life sciences, or related field
• Experience: 5+ years in clinical research programme/project management, including multi site trial setup and delivery within the UK NHS or academic research environment
• Knowledge: In depth understanding of UK health and care research landscape (NIHR networks, governance, regulatory processes)
• Leadership: Proven ability to lead complex, multi partner programmes with measurable outcomes in system/process improvement
• Stakeholder Management: Strong engagement skills with pharmaceutical companies, NHS Trusts, and academic partners at senior levels
• Governance & Oversight: Ability to design, implement, and monitor programme governance (reporting, risk management, performance dashboards)
• Project Management: Advanced skills with recognised qualifications (PRINCE2, Agile, Lean) able to coordinate multiple interdependent work streams
• Strategic & Analytical: Capable of interpreting complex information, identifying interdependencies and driving operational improvements in research delivery

Desired Criteria

• Experience managing multi partner, cross sector clinical research collaborations
• Ability to redesign research processes or implement system wide improvements (trial setup, recruitment, delivery optimisation)
• Strategic portfolio planning experience (aligning studies with NHS capacity and population needs)
• Line management and team development skills to drive performance and accountability
• Expertise in stakeholder engagement and public involvement initiatives (advisory fora, community strategies, consent-to-contact registries)
• Strong IT proficiency for digital tools, dashboards, project management software and programme planning support

Why Join NIHR

At NIHR, your work doesn’t just support research, it shapes the nation’s health future. You’ll…