Associate Director - Alliance Management

About Relation Relation is a sector defining TechBio company developing transformational medicines, with technology at our core. Our ambition is to understand human biology in unprecedented ways, discovering therapies to treat some of life’s most devastating diseases. We leverage single-cell multi-omics from patient tissue, functional assays, and machine learning to drive disease understanding, from cause to cure. We are scaling rapidly and building a team of exceptional individuals to push the boundaries of drug discovery. You will work in highly interdisciplinary teams where biology, computation, and engineering come together to solve complex problems that have not been solved before. Our state-of-the-art wet and dry labs in the heart of London are designed to accelerate this integration and translate insight into impact. We are committed to building diverse and inclusive teams. Relation is an equal opportunities employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, marital or civil partnership status, gender reassignment, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, disability, or age. By joining Relation, you will help define how medicines are discovered and deliver meaningful impact for patients. The opportunity Relation is offering a unique opportunity for an experienced Associate Director in Alliance Management to ensure that our strategic pharma partnerships continue to thrive and deliver. Working across high-profile collaborations including GSK and Novartis, you will be the connective tissue between Relation and our partners - building trusted relationships, creating clarity across complex collaborations and helping both organisations work together effectively towards shared strategic goals. You will sit at the centre of Relation’s partnership model, working closely with Programme Leaders, interdisciplinary teams and senior leaders across Relation and our partner organisations. You will have a highly visible role to safeguard relationship health, contractual alignment and forward visibility - ensuring that the right conversations happen at the right time, commitments are clearly understood, risks and opportunities are surfaced early, and that governance enables high-quality decision making at pace. You will bring together different perspectives with clarity and pragmatism, helping our partnerships operate as one team, while ensuring commitment to Relation’s high scientific standards, platform integrity and strategic priorities. The delivery of successful partnerships strengthen both partner organisations, and ultimately help to fulfill Relation’s goal of bringing transformational medicines to patients. Day to day you will: Manage the health and effectiveness of strategic pharma partnerships , building trusted relationships across Relation and partner organisations and influencing cross-functional stakeholders at all levels to maintain alignment and momentum. Shape and steward partnership governance , ensuring governance meetings focus on the decisions, risks and opportunities that matter, with clear ownership, effective escalation and disciplined follow-through. Maintain forward visibility across each alliance , anticipating relational, contractual and governance risks and opportunities and ensuring they are surfaced early to the appropriate decision-makers. Safeguard contractual alignment , maintaining oversight of scope, milestones, reporting requirements, financial triggers, data-sharing commitments and other obligations; translating contractual terms into clear implications for teams and governance. Influence across organisational boundaries , connecting Programme Leaders, interdisciplinary teams, senior leadership and partner stakeholders to resolve ambiguity, navigate competing perspectives and enable timely decisions. Lead alliance-level escalation , bringing clarity to complex or sensitive issues and ensuring escalation strengthen