Director, Real World Data Strategy and External Partnerships Lead

Job description

For candidates seeking to be located at our Stevenage site, this role will temporarily be based at Stevenage, UK. However, the Company plans to relocate its offices to Cambridge, UK. The location of this role will therefore subsequently change to Cambridge, UK in accordance with timelines to be set by the Company. The relocation is currently proposed to take effect by early 2029. Business Introduction At GSK, we have bold ambitions for patients, aiming to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of the decade. Our R&D focuses on discovering and delivering vaccines and medicines, combining our understanding of the immune system with cutting-edge technology to transform people’s lives. GSK fosters a culture ambitious for patients, accountable for impact, and committed to doing the right thing, making sure that we focus our efforts on accelerating significant assets that meet patients’ needs and have the highest probability of success. We’re uniting science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together. The Director, Real World Data Strategy and External Partnerships Lead will be accountable for the strategic execution of external data partnerships to impact R&D and CPO activities, delivering insights, models and evidence and ensuring maximum scientific value demonstration from use of RWD as a key input into decision making, pipeline progress and portfolio growth. As the external data landscapes evolves globally, increasing competitive advantage is obtained by thoughtful data partnerships that align with GSK’s translational, development and commercialisation goals. Reporting to the Executive Director and Head, RWD Strategy and Partnerships, and aligned to one of our key business areas the role demands a leader who is forward thinking and can incubate potential external data partnerships by working with clinical, medical and RWE leaders to determine scientific value and impact on development programs. Alongside this, the role must work and influence stakeholders in implementation functions including our data platforms (Onyx and DDF), legal and procurement and our evolving AI enabled engineering functions to ensure partnerships deliver value quickly, are designed at source to be useful for research and analytics teams and can ensure compliant use and integration with systems, tools and models. This is a critical role in shaping and delivering the external data strategy for one of our key business areas and requires cross functional leadership, external credibility and proactive partnership development mindsets. In addition, the role will steward the investment governance process for prospective data investments and manage the portfolio of RWD and external cohorts aligned to the pipeline strategy. Lead RWD Strategy Define and deliver Real World Data partnerships with strategic purpose at their heart. Connect and bring together leaders at the asset and therapy area level to ensure portfolio strategy continually aligns with data acquisition – refine as our pipeline evolves and be agile to respond to emerging data needs to inform future pipeline strategy Review data strategy at regular intervals, providing feedback on governed partnerships, whilst preparing new investments for technical approval jointly with relevant senior leaders. Develop deep relationships with senior leaders across Research Units and within Development Sciences and Medical Affairs providing frequent strategic updates; single point accountable for articulating and updating the therapy area RWD partnership strategy. Maintain a clear inventory of data assets that drive evidence generation and in-silico modelling plans Provide thought leadership on data quality and suitability for activities including Real World Evidence (RWE) generation, in-silico modelling and AI workflows – ensure data partners are assessed for high quality, reliable data with regulatory and external stakeholder standards as guiding principles Partner with Translational Sciences colleagues on linkage opportunities to biobanks and translational cohorts Partner Externally Nurture pipeline and portfolio aligned strategic partnerships with a range of partner types. External partners include data holders, academic institutions, national data ecosystems and health technology companies. Hold accountable partnership leadership positions, ensuring strategic objectives are met and deliverables achieved to plan and in budget. Work where relevant with health systems partners to provide the right environment for delivering Real World Evidence to support regulatory approval and access/reimbursement. Cultivate health system partnerships with multiple engagements in mind with direct benefit to building and contributing to a external data ecosystem which improves data quality and research opportunities. Build strong relationships with external partners that position GSK as a thought leader in RWD/E and foster a culture of innovation and shared objectives. Deliver research-ready data Steward new partnerships through implementation, partnering with key internal stakeholders; legal, procurement and data platforms ensuring readiness for research and modelling Bring clear data product mindset to all partnerships, understanding how analysis and AI-ready data products are needed to support insights, models and evidence. Act as Business Data Owner for pipeline aligned RWD assets, ensuring compliant use and craft appropriate governance processes in partnership with data platforms, ensure partnerships comply with local and regional data privacy laws. Capture and manage, in partnership with data offices, the required metadata and materials for use of data and ensure all data accessed is FAIR Understand and account for AI adoption pathways internally and impact on externally licensed/accessed data. Protect data privacy and compliance at all costs to ensure appropriate use of individual human data in accordance with contractual terms and global privacy regulations. Champion and execute on data linkage opportunities for partnerships, e.g. translational cohorts maximise collection and linkage of data and prospective clinical studies where possible can be linked to routine RWD streams to enrich valuable study datasets further and maximise re-use potential Where relevant, demand and implement appropriate data reliability plans with external partners to ensure regulatory grade traceability of RWD for use in external evidentiary claims Basic Requirements: Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in life sciences or quantitative field (Epidemiology, Biostatistics, HEOR, data science) Demonstrated track record of data strategy ownership and execution in application to drug development including experiences in wide and complex cross-functional organisations Leadership skills in influencing and mobilising stakeholders to a common goal, communicating with clarity, vision and purpose Experience and knowledge of RWD sources and partners, spanning multiple geographies, understanding of country and regional health data landscapes Previous experience of working with RWD partners to facilitate one of delivery of evidence generation, in-silico modelling or data product creation all with a focus on supporting drug development or commercialisation Exceptional portfolio project management and organisational skills, particularly within a complex dynamic organisation. Understanding of current regulatory and payer guidance of use or Real World Evidence/Data in decision making. Knowledge of key data strategy concepts in relation to RWD; FHIR, tokenisation and linkage, synthetic control arms, Common Data Models (CDMs) and context specific LLMs Preferred Requirements: ‘Hands on’ programming, coding skills and demonstrated experience with RWD Experience with data engineering and architecture, including working in or deploying trusted research environments Experience in AI/ML enablement and deployment of AI workflows Strong knowledge and experien