Strategic Partner Manager

Newcastle University; Newcastle upon Tyne; On-site; GBP 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK university is looking for a Strategic Partner Manager to bolster its external partnerships in health and life sciences. The role is pivotal in managing the relationship portfolio and ensuring aligned engagement across teams. Responsibilities include supporting partnership development and engaging with various stakeholders. The successful candidate will have excellent organizational and communication skills, and relevant experience. The position is full-time and fixed-term until March 2031, based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Benefits

Generous holiday package

Great pension schemes

Health and wellbeing initiatives

Qualifications

• Excellent understanding of partnership or account management processes in complex environments.
• Proficient in managing stakeholder relationships within a CRM or digital database.
• Experience in supporting and facilitating engagement activities such as meetings or workshops.

Responsibilities

• Manage the Innovation Observatory’s portfolio of strategic delivery partners.
• Support the development of partnerships and identify collaborative opportunities.
• Produce concise briefings and reports on partnership activities.

Skills

Partnership management

Stakeholder engagement

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Education

Degree in business administration or relevant field

Tools

CRM systems

Job description

Salary: £35,608 to £37,694 with progression to £46,049 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 27 January 2026

Introduction

The NIHR Innovation Observatory (IO) is a world‑leading health and care innovation horizon scanning research centre based at Newcastle University. Our work supports government agencies, industry, regulators, charities, and researchers by delivering timely, actionable insights that inform strategic decision‑making, policy development, investment guidance, funding programmes and improve alignment across agencies. We work across the health, life sciences and wider ecosystem identify innovation, gaps and unmet needs, follow trends and signal potentially game‑changing innovations. Our work fosters national and international collaboration supporting the growth of the UK health and life sciences sector, and is a beacon for cross‑sector, interdisciplinary training and capacity building in horizon scanning and foresight. We are at the forefront of developing approaches and people to identify and analyse emerging health and care technologies, ensuring the UK is prepared to leverage scientific breakthroughs that improve patient outcomes and support system readiness.

The Role

The Strategic Partner Manager will play a vital enabling role in supporting and strengthening the Innovation Observatory’s external partnerships across the health, life sciences, care, and research ecosystem. The postholder will proactively manage the organisation’s relationship portfolio to ensure that all engagement activities are strategically aligned, operationally efficient, and well‑coordinated across teams.

Working collaboratively across internal teams including all job families and roles, the postholder will support an extensive programme of cross‑portfolio engagement initiatives and provide oversight of financial agreements and contracts that underpin strategic partnership contracts and activities. This includes aligning activities nationally across the National Institute of Health and Care infrastructure, alongside the health, life sciences and social care ecosystems to maximise the Innovation Observatory’s ability to join up at a system level and reduce potential for duplication.

The role also contributes to identifying and advancing new partnership opportunities that align with and support the Innovation Observatory’s long‑term strategic vision. Regular travel and national‑level representation of the Innovation Observatory will be required. Strong planning, organisational and project management skills are critical, alongside the ability to manage competing priorities, work independently, and make sound decisions under pressure.

The role reports directly to the External Relations and Knowledge Mobilisation Manager and will have line management responsibility for one of our Engagement Coordinator(s).

The post is full time, fixed term until 31 March 2031.

Informal enquiries should be directed to Dominic Lamb ([e-mail]) or Professor Dawn Craig ([e-mail]).

To apply for this role, please submit a CV and covering letter with your application.

Key Accountabilities

Partner and Stakeholder Management

• Proactively manage the Innovation Observatory’s portfolio of strategic delivery partners, monitoring the health and progress of relationships.
• Support the development of partnerships, through the identification of opportunities for collaborative working across priorities and programmes.
• Act as the primary point of contact for key partners, ensuring timely communication and follow up, for productive relationship development.
• Coordinate and oversee the Innovation Observatory’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, maintaining high level quality standards, and regularly mapping and monitoring new and emerging relationships.
• Maintain operational oversight of financial agreements and contracts related to strategic partnership activity, including the monitoring of timelines, deliverables, and compliance processes.

Sector and Partner Intelligence

• Lead on the organisation and support delivery of cross‑sectoral and cross‑portfolio engagement activities — such as meetings, workshops, roundtables, listening exercises, discovery sessions, collaborative forums — working with both internal colleagues, strategic delivery partners and external stakeholders.
• Gather, synthesise, and report intelligence about stakeholders, policy developments, and sector opportunities to support strategic planning and partnership development.
• Produce concise and accurate briefings, summaries, and reports on partnership activity for internal use, governance, reporting and planning.

Brand Promotion/Business Development

• Support the creation and delivery of partnership‑facing communications and documentation, ensuring clarity, consistency, and alignment with organisational values.
• Contribute to the identification and development of new strategic relationships, supporting the Innovation Observatory’s long‑term goals for collaboration and impact.

Team Work

• Facilitate internal coordination across teams to ensure aligned and consistent engagement to maximise the potential impact of our work.

This job description identifies the key responsibilities of the post. It is not an exhaustive list of duties and is subject to amendment as necessary, in consultation with the postholder.

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Excellent understanding of partnership or account management processes in complex, multi‑stakeholder environments, including a proven ability of delivering engagement activities.
• Excellent understanding of managing stakeholder or partner relationships within a CRM or digital database system (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics), supporting more junior team members in their roles.
• Proven coordination and organisational skills, with experience managing multiple tasks, priorities, or engagement activities simultaneously.
• Experience in supporting and/or co‑facilitating engagement activities, such as events, meetings, workshops, or collaborative initiatives delivered in partnership.
• Experience in supporting financial and/or contractual processes (e.g., tracking agreements, managing documentation, liaising with finance teams) in line with policies.
• Experience of using data or intelligence to support stakeholder mapping, engagement planning and partnership development.
• Has strong interpersonal and communication skills — both written and verbal — with the ability to interact confidently and professionally with a range of stakeholders and partners.

Attributes and Behaviour

• A collaborative team player, working effectively with colleagues from across all teams, partnerships and levels, and valuing shared success internally and externally
• Organised and proactive, taking ownership of tasks, follows through on responsibilities and anticipates needs and opportunities.
• Excellent attention to detail and reliable, always maintaining accurate data and documentation and upholding high standards of precision and consistency.
• Professional and diplomatic, representing the Innovation Observatory positively and respectfully in all interactions.
• Adaptable and flexible in approach, being comfortable managing changing priorities and working in a fast‑paced environment.
• Discrete and trustworthy, able to handle sensitive information responsibly and in line with data protection and confidentiality requirements.
• Adheres to Innovation Observatory policies and processes, regularly contributing to effective ways of working to support efficiency and high‑quality operational delivery.

Qualifications

• Degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field such as business administration, project coordination, stakeholder engagement, communications, or health, life sciences or care.

Desirable

• Professional development or certification in CRM administration, stakeholder engagement, or project managements (e.g. Agile, PRINCE2, Waterfall)
• Data handling or information governance training and/or qualifications

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

EEO Statement

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all background. The University values diversity and inclusive working environment and is committed to fostering a culture of respect, dignity and equality across all levels and is a proud Gold Athena SWAN and Race Equality Charter Bronze Award holder. We hold a Disability Confident status and will offer a disabled interview to credible candidates who meet the essential criteria for the role, as part of the offer and interview scheme.