LifeArc
Portfolio Manager - Maternity Cover
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Job Title: Portfolio Manager, Commercial - Maternity Cover
Location: London
Job Type: Fixed Term Contract - 12 Month with hybrid working (3 days in the office required)
Closing date: 16 September 2026
Agencies: We will only work with recruitment partners on our preferred supplier list and will not engage with speculative CVs submitted.
Are you passionate about making life science life changing and delivering impact for patients? We want to hear from you.
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.
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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.
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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 that in 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.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds, for example, are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At LifeArc we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so whatever your background or lived experience, if you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. Our top priority is finding the best candidate, and you may be just right for this or other roles.
We all have potential. At LifeArc, you’ll discover what you can really do with it.
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