Programme Manager, Cancer Research
Evidence & Implementation
£47-53k
Mid and Senior level
Remote from UK
More information about location
Cancer prevention, awareness and research charity
Be an early applicant
Cancer prevention, awareness and research charity
1001+ employees
HealthcarePersonal healthCharitySocial ImpactMedTech
Be an early applicant
£47-53k
Mid and Senior level
Remote from UK
More information about location
1001+ employees
HealthcarePersonal healthCharitySocial ImpactMedTech
Company mission
To prevent, control and cure cancer through ground-breaking research.
Role
Who you are
- If you're a Programme Manager who has led multi-project programmes, engaged with external stakeholders, and delivered strategic communications and outcomes that drive meaningful impact, we’d love for you to join our mission
- Experienced Programme Manager who has successfully delivered programmes involving multiple projects, workstreams, stakeholders, and internal teams with effective resourcing and budget management
- Experience doing this within a health, public health, UK health systems, or a research environment is desirable but not essential—we welcome applicants without this experience
- Has successfully built and maintained credible and collaborative cross-functional internal and external stakeholder relationships across a range of levels and disciplines
- Experience collaborating with academic partners would be advantageous, but is not essential
- Excellent interpersonal, facilitation, influencing, and negotiation skills
- Experience developing communications strategies to meet strategic objectives. This includes:
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
- A proven ability to translate complex concepts and evidence-based insights into engaging, accessible, and actionable content
- Strong analytical skills with experience producing high-quality reports and presentations for executive audiences, demonstrating the ability to distil complex information into clear and concise key points
- Demonstrates strong prioritisation and organisation skills, with a track record of working independently with minimal supervision, while simultaneously managing multiple projects and delivering to deadlines with strong attention to detail
- Proactive and flexible with a successful track record of delivering results in complex programme environments and adapting effectively to shifting priorities and evolving programme needs
- A solutions-focused professional skilled in problem-solving, driving continuous improvements, implementing governance frameworks, fostering collaboration, and championing best practices
What the job involves
- Reports to: Head of Health Systems Engagement
- Contract: Fixed-term contract ending 21 October 2026
- As a Programme Manager, you will play an impactful role in our mission by leading the delivery of HSE’s Test, Evidence, Transition (TET) Programme and related initiatives aimed at improving cancer outcomes across the UK as part of our Translate strategy
- You’ll oversee the full programme lifecycle—managing resources, budgets, timelines, risks, and stakeholder relationships across five interconnected projects
- A key part of your role will involve managing our talented TET team while collaborating with academic institutions, NHS partners, and patient groups to ensure research insights are effectively communicated and translated into practice
- This will involve driving strategic communications, producing high-impact reports and presentations, and ensuring strong governance and compliance across all programme activities
- Internally, you’ll support cross-functional teams within the E&I department, offering project management expertise and fostering collaboration
- Externally, you’ll champion patient involvement and partner closely with academic and healthcare partners to shape and disseminate life-saving innovations
- Overseeing programme scheduling, resourcing, budgeting, stakeholder engagement, risk management, operational delivery, and quality control across the programme
- Partnering with participating sites and academic partners across the UK to ensure the successful delivery of programme activities across five projects
- Developing and implementing engaging communication strategies for disseminating research findings and other learnings from TET pilot sites in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. Stakeholders include, but are not limited to:
- Internal: Strategic Evidence & Implementation (E&I) department (including Health Systems Engagement)
- External: Academic partners (e.g., Oxford, Cambridge & Kent universities), Patient Advisory Group, primary care stakeholders, and the NHS
- Preparing written reports, presentations, and other informative materials to share programme insights with stakeholders and key health professional audiences
- Leading and supporting the TET team, ensuring effective collaboration and high performance
- Engaging with patient partners throughout the development and dissemination of programme outputs, ensuring their insights and lived experiences are fully integrated
- This includes actively engaging and supporting the Patient Advisory Group to contribute effectively and influence programme direction
- Collaborating with internal subject matter experts to critique and contextualise research findings and develop effective messaging for stakeholders to support the wider adoption of innovations
- Ensure robust governance and compliance across all aspects of the programme, including but not limited to:
- Ensuring effective processes for managing grants, budgets, and other resources
- Championing accountability and compliance with relevant policies and standards
- Sharing expertise and influencing activities across the wider E&I department and organisation
- Providing programme and project management support to other workstreams within the E&I department, offering delivery support as needed to ensure alignment, efficiency, and successful outcomes across departmental initiatives
Application process
- End Date: September 12, 2025
- Recruitment process: One competency-based interview with an exercise
- Interview date: 24 & 25 September 2025
Our take
The world’s largest independent cancer research charity, Cancer Research UK (CRUK) was founded from a merger between the Cancer Research Campaign and the Cancer Research Fund in 2002. CRC and ICRF had been longstanding pinnacles of the British medical institution, their work dating back to 1902 and 1923 respectively, and the merger signalled a strong step forward for UK medical institutes’ global influence.
A multi-armed charity, CRUK uses both grant-funded researchers and its own employed staff to research the treatments and causes of cancer, whilst its striking advertising and marketing campaigns are responsible for influencing public policy on the causes, prevention, and treatment of the disease. An example of a significant public campaign was Stoptober, which appeared to have triggered a third of a million smokers at the time to try quit tobacco throughout the month of October.
Alongside its pharmaceutical efforts, in 2023 CRUK funded clinical trials for the first-ever proton beam therapy for breast cancer, indicating a focus on technological innovations in the fight against cancer. On this subject, CRUK has also taken part in a billion-pound investment in the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research institute that is aiming to make England an international leader in the industry.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Led by a woman
9% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- Health & Wellbeing - Health and wellbeing are important to us. We want our people to have time away from work to support their different commitments, needs and interests
- Our occupational health and mental wellbeing support are accompanied by online health assessment tools, Our confidential employee assistance programme is available to all to provide support for any concerns in your work or personal life for ongoing everyday support or free counselling if you need it. We also have a team of Mental Health First Aiders supporting across the organisation
- Our occupational health and mental wellbeing support are accompanied by online health assessment tools, Our confidential employee assistance programme is available to all to provide support for any concerns in your work or personal life for ongoing everyday support or free counselling if you need it
- We also have a team of Mental Health First Aiders supporting across the organisation
- UK-wide savings - Our staff have access to a wide range of discounts, benefits and cashback deals to support you with your financial wellbeing, through our Rewards platform. We offer an online savings and discounts portal covering many widely recognised retailers and brands from electronics, groceries, home and leisure, holidays and more
- Cancer Research UK staff can take advantage of savings through a cycle to work scheme, or an interest free loan to help spread the cost of travel season tickets. Staff also enjoy great benefits in and around our head office in Stratford, London with deals at local shops, bars and restaurants
- Income Protection and Life Assurance - We provide all staff with free insurance policies, paying 50% of your salary if you are unable to work through illness, and up to 4 times your salary for your beneficiaries should the unthinkable happen and you die while in our employment
- Flexible Working - We want our people to have time away from work to support their different commitments, needs and interests. We encourage a flexible working culture, including options such as home-working, reduced or flexi-hours, job shares, job-splits, compressed and core hours
- We offer a high level of flexibility for the vast majority of our office-based roles, meaning that you’ll only be required to work from a specific location for 1 or 2 days a week on average
- Annual Leave - For the majority of our roles we offer 25 days holiday a year plus bank holidays, and an extra day for Christmas Eve. You can choose to use the religious bank holidays flexibly. On top of this, you can choose to buy up to 1 week’s additional holiday each year
Company HQ
Stratford, London, UK
Leadership
Previously Non-Executive Director of NHS England for 4 years, and Chief Executive of the MS Society for 5 years.
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