Cerina Health
NHS Commercial Director
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
About Cerina Health
Cerina Health is a digital mental health company building a proprietary digital and AI infrastructure for the NHS. Our products help Integrated Care Boards, NHS trusts and their partners route, engage and support people across mental health and the work-and-health agenda, from conversational routing and referral through to clinical engagement and analytics. We are already live in the NHS, working directly with commissioners, clinical academics and experienced investors, and we are scaling.
Our Values
Cerina was not built from a market opportunity spotted from the outside. Our founder, Prasannajeet Mane, lived with severe, undiagnosed OCD for years before he was finally diagnosed and treated, and he describes that diagnosis as the moment that changed the direction of his life. That experience is why Cerina exists: because he knows, first-hand, what it costs a person to go without the right support for too long, and what becomes possible once they get it. The mission is not abstract for anyone here. We built this company so that fewer people wait as long as he did.
That mission shapes how we work. We are a genuine partner to our NHS clients, not just another product company: we work alongside commissioners and their service users to get the right outcome, we are willing to share risk and agree results-based contracts, and we commit real time and energy to building and sustaining relationships. We are highly innovative, and we are looking for a Commercial Director who shares these values as much as the commercial track record above.
The Role
We are hiring a Commercial Director to lead Cerina's growth across the NHS. This is fundamentally a deal-closing role: you will own the full commercial cycle end to end, from first conversation and opportunity qualification, through the entire NHS procurement journey, framework routes, business case, information governance and clinical safety sign-off, to a signed, multi-year contract and a live deployment. You have done this before, more than once, and you know exactly what it takes to get an ICB or trust from interest to signature.
This is a senior, hands-on commercial leadership role. You will be the face of Cerina to the market, personally run and close deals rather than hand them off, work closely with the founders on go-to-market strategy, and build the commercial function as we grow.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Key Responsibilities
- Own the NHS sales pipeline end to end: source, qualify, negotiate and personally close opportunities with ICBs, NHS trusts, primary care networks and their partners. You carry deals from first meeting to signature yourself.
- Land and expand: win reference deployments, then grow them into wider adoption across a system.
- Own NHS procurement end to end: drive the deal through every gate yourself, from funding route and framework (NHS SBS, G-Cloud, DPS, direct award) through ITT/RFP response, business case, information governance and clinical safety sign-off (DPIA, DTAC, DCB0129, DSPT), to contract execution and purchase order. You run this process; you do not wait on it.
- Close: run negotiation, procurement and legal through to signature, working every internal approval and every objection until the contract is signed. Closing is the job, not something handed off to someone else.
- Build stakeholder relationships with commissioners, work-and-health leads, CCIOs and CIOs, clinical and finance stakeholders, procurement leads, and delivery partners.
- Shape the proposition: translate what Cerina does into the language of commissioner priorities and outcomes, and build compelling business cases.
- Own the numbers: pipeline, forecast and revenue targets, reported cleanly to the leadership team and board.
- Build the function: as we scale, help design and hire the wider commercial team, and set the sales methodology and playbook.
- Feed the roadmap: bring market and commissioner insight back to the product team.
What We Are Looking For
- 5+ years in commercial or business-development roles in the UK healthcare industry, with 7 to 10 years preferred.
- Direct, end-to-end experience selling into ICBs and/or NHS trusts: not just relationship-building, but running the deal yourself from first commissioner conversation through procurement, contracting and go-live. Experience commissioning, or working inside the NHS, is a strong advantage.
- Hands-on fluency in NHS procurement mechanics: commissioning cycles, funding streams, framework routes to market (NHS SBS, G-Cloud, DPS), ITT/RFP processes, business case development, and information governance and clinical safety requirements (DPIA, DTAC, DCB0129, DSPT). You can navigate the full procurement lifecycle without a bid team carrying you.
- A proven track record of closing complex, long-cycle, multi-stakeholder NHS deals and consistently hitting revenue targets. You can point to specific ICB or trust contracts you took from first meeting through procurement to signature.
- Strong existing relationships and credibility with NHS decision-makers.
- Consultative, strategic and hands-on. Comfortable being the sole senior commercial voice in an early-stage company, and happy to roll up your sleeves.
- An excellent communicator who can hold a room with a trust chief executive and a clinical lead alike.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Nice to Have
- Digital health, health-tech or medtech background.
- Familiarity with the work-and-health agenda (WorkWell, Connect to Work, IPS, Talking Therapies) and/or mental health services.
- Enough understanding of NHS assurance standards (DTAC, DCB0129, DSPT) to speak to them credibly.
- Experience building a commercial team or function from an early stage.
- An existing network across ICBs, local authorities, or the VCSE sector.
Why Join Cerina
- A rare chance to own and shape the commercial engine of a fast-growing NHS AI company.
- Sell products that are already live and making a real difference to population.
- Work directly with the founders and leadership, with genuine influence over strategy.
- Meaningful equity: share options with vesting linked to performance, on top of a competitive salary as the company scales.
Our Process
- Application and shortlisting.
- A working session with the Senior Leadership Team: walk us through how you would approach a real Cerina commercial opportunity (an ICB or trust) and how you would build the pipeline.
- Conversation on strategy, targets and fit, plus references.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location