Site Name: UK – London – New Oxford Street, Belgium-Rixensart, Belgium-Wavre, UK - Hertfordshire - Stevenage, USA - Massachusetts - Cambridge, USA - Pennsylvania - Upper Providence
Posted Date: Sep 11 2024

The R&D Strategy team is a dedicated unit within the Office of the CSO (OCSO), whose “day-job” it is to think longer term about the ambition for R&D and its progress towards achieving it, as well as to identify external trends and understand the competitive landscape. We identify and provide recommendations on key questions informing the evolution of GSK’s R&D strategy. We will seek to determine current performance, set ambition and propose courses of action, through continuously accessing and interpreting external and internal data.


We are looking for a 12 months secondment/FTC R&D Strategy Director to work on core R&D strategy questions, collaborating with the strategy project lead, and senior leaders across GSK. Projects will vary significantly in nature and remit, though will typically last 3-4 months and result in concrete proposals and handover with a team responsible for strategy deployment. The secondee will be a core member of project teams within the Strategy team and will engage with the R&D Leadership Team (RDLT) and many groups across R&D Pharma and Vaccines, leading multi-disciplinary matrix teams where necessary.


Typically, the R&D Strategy team is focused on:

• Delivering impactful RDLT strategy face to face discussions on most critical areas of strategy development resulting in clear, actionable plans and proposals; these strategy meetings are developed for and with GSK’s Chief Scientific Officer.
• Identifying and developing sub-strategies for specific key enablers of R&D performance, for example: 1) providing strategic guidance on portfolio shape and mix, informing technical and investment governance discussions, including on portfolio growth and size, 2) testing and refining of the R&D strategy in a specific product area, or 3) assessing how GSK identifies and develops future innovation and manage the lag between demand and ready-to-use technology. In 2023, strategy work included definition of new governance model within R&D to simplify decision making and governance processes, optimisation of R&D capital allocation, and definition of multi-indication asset strategy for RUs, among other projects.
• Ensuring endorsed recommendations resulting from past strategy work transition effectively to implementation, led by functional teams or operations

Why you?

Basic Qualifications:
We are looking for professionals with these required skills to achieve our goals:

• Experience in a dedicated strategy role – either in-house strategy (corporate strategy, R&D strategy, commercial strategy) or a top-tier strategy consulting firm
• Previous experience of analytical work, including the ability to manipulate complex data, propose and test hypothesis and challenge assumptions
• Previous experience of matrix leadership, and ability to engage senior stakeholders with a good balance of EQ and IQ

Preferred Qualifications:
If you have the following characteristics, it would be a plus:

• Excellent communication skills; ability to convey ideas simply and compellingly
• Ability to both think strategically, working at a global level, and to dive deep into operational issues when required, moving quickly between the two levels of working with a sense of urgency
• Ability to manage ambiguity and develop clear, informed strategies from vast and complex datasets
• R&D experience, or broad understanding with strong curiosity paired with demonstrated learning agility

Closing Date for Applications: 01 October 2024
Please take a copy of the Job Description, as this will not be available post closure of the advert.
When applying for this role, please use the ‘cover letter’ of the online application or your CV to describe how you meet the competencies for this role, as outlined in the job requirements above. The information that you have provided in your cover letter and CV will be used to assess your application.

Why GSK?
Uniting science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together.

GSK is a global biopharma company with a special purpose – to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together – so we can positively impact the health of billions of people and deliver stronger, more sustainable shareholder returns – as an organisation where people can thrive. We prevent and treat disease with vaccines, specialty and general medicines. We focus on the science of the immune system and the use of new platform and data technologies, investing in four core therapeutic areas (infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/ immunology and oncology).

Our success absolutely depends on our people. While getting ahead of disease together is about our ambition for patients and shareholders, it’s also about making GSK a place where people can thrive. We want GSK to be a place where people feel inspired, encouraged and challenged to be the best they can be. A place where they can be themselves – feeling welcome, valued, and included. Where they can keep growing and look after their wellbeing. So, if you share our ambition, join us at this exciting moment in our journey to get Ahead Together.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we are open to all talent. In the US, we also adhere to Affirmative Action principles. This ensures that all qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to neurodiversity, race/ethnicity, colour, national origin, religion, gender, pregnancy, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, disability, genetic information, military service, covered/protected veteran status or any other federal, state or local protected class*(*US only).

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