Portfolio Manager - Maternity Cover

LifeArc; Greater London; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 12%

Private health insurance

31 days annual leave + bank holidays

Job summary

LifeArc, based in London, is seeking a Portfolio Manager, Commercial (Maternity Cover) to lead a portfolio of business development activities. The role is hybrid with 3 days in the office and reports to the Head of Translational Science PMO Operations.

The role focuses on ensuring strategy translates into actionable plans, coordinating with Commercial and IP leads, and delivering high-quality results with optimal resource use for a 12-month maternity cover.

Qualifications

• Experience managing a portfolio of strategic and operational level projects in life sciences.
• Technical understanding of product development within life-sciences.
• Educated to at least a BSc in life sciences with PM qualifications preferred.

Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of ongoing business development activities and ensure alignment with LifeArc strategy.
• Track KPIs for Business Development and Intellectual Property teams.
• Support organisation management of Commercial teams and curate programme lists.
• Forecast revenue and manage commercial reporting across the portfolio.
• Ensure data integrity in systems and timely reporting to stakeholders.
• Collaborate with PMO colleagues on management of R&D projects funded by Commercial budget.
• Support evolution of LifeArc’s CRM tool across the project lifecycle.

Skills

Planning & organization

Communication

Negotiation

Interpersonal skills

Stakeholder management

Education

BSc in life science

PM qualifications (PMP/APM PMQ) preferred

Tools

CRM software

Job description

Job Title: Portfolio Manager, Commercial - Maternity Cover

Location: London

Job Type: Fixed Term Contract - 12 Months with hybrid working (3 days in the office required)

Closing date: 16 September 2026

About The Role

This role reports to the Head of Translational Science PMO Operations and is responsible for managing a portfolio of ongoing business development projects and programmes in which LifeArc owns a commercial interest. You will act as a key business partner to the Chief Business Officer and the Business Development and Intellectual Property Leads, ensuring alignment with project lifecycle governance. You will also work closely with the Commercial team members, ensuring strategy is translated into achievable operational plans and that business development activities are delivered to the highest quality and with optimal resource allocation.

In this role, you will be part of a dynamic multi-disciplinary team based in the London office, collaborating with colleagues across LifeArc’s sites (Stevenage, Edinburgh, London).

About You

Key responsibilities include:

• Manage a portfolio of ongoing business development activities facilitating high level strategic planning and goal setting, ensuring consistency and alignment with LifeArc’s strategy, goals and commitments.
• Tracking key performance indicators for the Business Development and Intellectual Property teams.
• Supporting organisational management of the different Commercial teams.
• In close collaboration with other colleagues in the PMO function, curate and maintain the list of all programmes in which LifeArc owns a commercial interest, facilitate revenue goal setting and supporting the prioritisation of Commercial activities.
• Accountable for ensuring project information is entered into systems and databases, and all data are accurate and updated in a timely manner in accordance with guidance and agreed frequency.
• Accountable for the oversight of the appropriate level of potential revenue forecasting across all relevant LifeArc projects, and other commercial metrics (probability of success, etc.).
• Accountable for managing commercial reporting requirements and obligations across the portfolio.
• Ensures provision of information such as programme progression tracking, reporting including impact, monitoring and controlling including contractual milestone attainment and other requirements to assess programme and portfolio performance. Ensures reporting is streamlined to manage workload, whilst tailored to meet the requirements of internal and external stakeholders.
• Collaborating with other PMO team members on the management of R&D projects funded by Commercial budget.
• Supporting the application of effective project management, governance, processes and systems across the company, demonstrating best practice for successful delivery.
• Supporting the evolution of LifeArc’s CRM tool across the business development projects lifecycle.

Essential Experience Required

• Experience of diverse portfolio management at the strategic and operational level within the life science community, preferably within a commercial setting.
• Experience and technical understanding in product development within the life-sciences industry.

Education

• Educated to at least BSc degree in life science subject.
• Certified project/portfolio management qualifications (e.g. PMP, APM PMQ) are preferred.

Skills & Abilities

• Excellent planning and organisational skills with the ability to set clear expectations, drive accountability and the tenacity to drive projects to conclusion.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence multi-disciplinary teams in a matrix environment along with driving cross-pillar collaboration.
• Ability to critically and objectively interpret and evaluate scientific, technical and business-related information, and challenge assumptions.

About Us

LifeArc is a not-for-profit life science organisation, leading the way for change in rare diseases in the UK and supporting promising initiatives in global health. We seek out research in areas of unmet need that has great potential, providing support to help it become breakthroughs that change lives.

What We Can Offer You

Focused on finding life changing solutions for underserved patients, our people thrive in an inclusive, and supportive environment that prioritises their health and wellbeing. Our multidisciplinary approach guarantees our people growth opportunities, while our culture of innovation and collaboration drives the impact we make delivering on our purpose of ‘putting patients at the centre of everything we do’.

LifeArc is committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible and developing a culture that values differences. As a Disability Confident Employer, we guarantee an interview to candidates with a disability or long-term health condition who meet the essential criteria for the role.

Please note thatin certain situations, such as high volumes of applications, it may not be practical to interview all eligible candidates. In these cases, we may need to select those who best meet the essential criteria. (At LifeArc, the Disability Confident Scheme’s ‘minimum criteria’ is referred to as ‘essential criteria’).

Salary will be determined by qualifications and experience along with other exceptional benefits. Because we understand everyone has different requirements, our flexible benefits allow you to choose those which are important to you. Our pension scheme offers employer contributions of up to 12%, private health insurance, and annual leave of 31 days PLUS bank holidays.

We all have potential. At LifeArc, you’ll discover what you can really do with it.