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Research & Partnerships Executive
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Do you have intellectual curiosity, a commercial instinct and a genuine familiarity with health and life sciences? For this role, a scientific, medical, healthcare or life sciences background is strongly preferred.
Our client runs an event series which brings together carefully selected senior decision-makers and leaders around important and commercially relevant areas of healthcare, technology and innovation. It is a small boutique company based in North London who are seeking a scientific/medical graduate for their new opening of a Research & Partnerships Executive.
How You Would Spend Your Day:
The candidate will conduct detailed commercial research to help identify, develop and secure future event opportunities.
A significant part of the role will involve researching industries and understanding how different organisations fit within a wider commercial ecosystem. This will include investigating what companies sell, who their customers are, who they contract with, who buys from them, who supplies them and which organisations influence their growth.
The candidate will research potential sponsors and assess why they might be interested in a particular event. They will be expected to go beyond the most obvious companies and identify organisations from across the wider ecosystem.
The candidate will need to put themselves in the position of each potential sponsor and consider:
- Who would this organisation most want to meet?
- Which relationships could help it win business, enter a new market or build credibility?
- Who are its potential customers, partners, advisers, investors or decision-makers?
- Which individuals would make the event commercially valuable to this organisation?
The candidate will then help translate this research into practical recommendations. This may include:
- Identifying promising topics for future events
- Mapping the commercial ecosystem around each topic
- Building lists of potential sponsors and relevant contacts
- Researching the commercial priorities of individual organisations
- Identifying signals such as investments, partnerships, acquisitions, new services, leadership appointments and market expansion
- Recommending the senior guests that would be most valuable to each sponsor
- Helping tailor sponsorship proposals and outreach messages
- Researching and identifying high-quality potential guests
- Supporting email and LinkedIn outreach
- Maintaining accurate research records and contact information
- Working with the founder and the existing research team to test and develop new ideas
The role will involve both independent research and regular discussion. The candidate will be encouraged to challenge assumptions, suggest new opportunities and explain the commercial reasoning behind their recommendations.
The Ideal Candidate’s Personality and Qualifications:
The most important requirements are intellectual curiosity, commercial instinct and a genuine familiarity with health and life sciences.
We are looking for someone who is exceptionally keen, driven, enthusiastic and proactive. They should enjoy investigating unfamiliar areas, understanding how organisations operate and uncovering connections that are not immediately obvious.
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A scientific, medical, healthcare or life sciences background is strongly preferred. The candidate does not necessarily need to be a clinician or practising scientist, but they should already be comfortable with the terminology, themes and developments shaping the sector.
For example, they should be able to understand the broad significance of areas such as precision oncology, stem cell therapy, regenerative medicine, diagnostics, medical devices, artificial intelligence in healthcare and pharmaceutical innovation. They do not need to be an expert in every field, but they should be able to quickly understand a specialist topic, identify the organisations involved and recognise where commercial opportunities may exist.
This familiarity is important because the role requires the candidate to assess emerging areas within health and life sciences and determine whether they could support a commercially viable event. They must be able to understand enough of the science, medicine and market context to identify relevant sponsors, important stakeholders and valuable potential guests.
The ideal candidate will also be commercially minded. They should be naturally interested in understanding:
- What an organisation sells
- Who its customers are
- Who makes or influences purchasing decisions
- Which organisations it contracts with
- Who supplies it
- Which partners, regulators, investors or advisers affect its growth
- Which relationships would be commercially valuable to it
The candidate must be able to put themselves in the position of a potential sponsor and ask which people that organisation would genuinely want to meet, and why those relationships could matter commercially.
They should be:
- Highly proactive and self-motivated
- Genuinely interested in health and life sciences
- Familiar with key scientific and medical terminology
- Commercially curious
- Able to understand complex or specialist subjects quickly
- Comfortable conducting independent research
- Able to think creatively and make connections between different pieces of information
- Persistent when information is difficult to find
- Organised and accurate
- Confident explaining and defending their reasoning
- Able to distinguish between an organisation that is merely relevant and one that represents a genuine commercial opportunity
- Willing to take ownership of projects and propose new ideas
- Strong written English and excellent online research skills are essential.
A degree in a relevant field would be highly desirable. This could include biomedical science, medicine, pharmacology, biotechnology, neuroscience, public health, health economics, medical engineering, life sciences or another closely related subject.
Candidates from business, economics, law, politics or other disciplines may also be considered where they can demonstrate substantial knowledge of, and engagement with, the health and life sciences sector.
Previous experience in research, market intelligence, business development, consulting, healthcare, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical technology, scientific communications, events or partnerships would be useful, but is not essential.
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Questions for You to Think About
Imagine we are considering an invitation-only event focused on regenerative medicine. Which types of organisations might sponsor the event beyond the most obvious biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and why?
Choose one potential sponsor and explain whom that organisation would most want to meet at the event.
How would you work out whom a company sells to, who buys from it and which commercial relationships are most important to it?
Tell us about a time when you found a useful connection or insight that was not immediately obvious.
What makes a commercially attractive event topic, rather than simply an interesting topic?
How would you decide whether a company is a realistic sponsor or merely relevant to the subject?
Give an example of a recent business, healthcare or technology development that you find commercially interesting. Explain who may benefit from it and which organisations may have money at stake.
When researching an unfamiliar market, how do you ensure that your conclusions are based on evidence rather than assumptions?
What Does the Company Do?
We run a private invitation-only event series which brings together carefully selected senior decision-makers and leaders around important and commercially relevant areas of healthcare, technology and innovation.
Our events are designed to be very different from traditional conferences. They are small, carefully curated and focused on the quality of the people in the room, typically featuring live classical music and canapes. Guests may include senior leaders from the NHS, government, industry, academia, investment and professional services.
We work with selected commercial partners who value the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with influential people in their sector. Our role is to identify the right event topics, understand the commercial ecosystem surrounding each topic, secure relevant sponsors and curate a guest list that is genuinely valuable to everyone involved.
This requires us to identify areas where three things come together:
- An important and interesting topic
- A strong group of senior potential guests
- Organisations with a clear commercial reason to sponsor the event
Previous and planned events have focused on areas including artificial intelligence in healthcare, radiology, women’s health, surgical robotics and diagnostics.
The Perks:
This is an opportunity to join a small and ambitious business at an early stage and have a meaningful influence over its direction.
The candidate will work closely with the founder and will be trusted with genuine responsibility from the beginning. Strong ideas will be taken seriously, regardless of seniority.
The role offers exposure to senior leaders across healthcare, technology, government, investment and professional services. The candidate will develop a practical understanding of how industries operate, how commercial partnerships are built and how senior business relationships are developed.
The role would particularly suit someone who wants more responsibility and variety than they may receive in a large graduate scheme.
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