Role Description

In the role, you will lead the successful delivery of some of Owlstone’s most strategically important R&D projects — including complex discovery and translational projects and projects funded by large U.S. government funding bodies. These initiatives span all the way from breath-based biomarker discovery and EVOC® probe development to clinical deployment of our diagnostic technologies and might include development of proprietary breath sampling and point of care detection equipment.

Reporting to the VP of R&D (Science) and working in close partnership with the Chief Science Officer (CSO), Product Leads, and functional heads across the organisation, you will operate at the critical interface between scientific strategy and project execution. You will be responsible for delivering project outcomes while being the key point of contact for our customers. Drawing on a deep understanding of scientific R&D workflows, you will ensure that appropriate project management tools and processes support iterative development, sound experimental design, and regulatory constraints.

Key Responsibilities:

Project Leadership & Execution

• Enable the delivery of multiple high-impact, cross-functional R&D projects or programmes across scientific and clinical domains, working in close partnership with technical leads to align delivery plans with scientific strategy, resource needs, and technical constraints.

• Contribute to the preparation and submission of grant applications, funding proposals, and collaborative bids, coordinating inputs from scientific, commercial, and delivery teams.
• Translate complex programme / project requirements into structured delivery plans with clear milestones, accountabilities, and risk management strategies.
• Ensure each project meets its defined objective, scope and timeline. Manage risks, blockers and scope changes, ensuring alignment with business and scientific goals.

• Guide teams through planning, execution, and delivery review cycles, driving consistent, high-quality project execution. Lead project planning and delivery meetings, ensuring that dependencies, constraints, and changes are visible and well managed.
• Coordinate, and build and manage relationships with, a range of external partners or collaborators on project-related deliverables where applicable.
• Oversee project or programmes budget tracking and resource allocation in collaboration with Finance and functional leads

Cross-Functional Coordination & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders and external customers or project sponsors stakeholders to align on priorities, scope changes, and business impact.
• Communicate key updates, timelines, risks, and decisions with clarity and rigour to senior internal and external stakeholders.

Team Leadership & Organisational Contribution

• Provide line management or mentorship to project managers and project coordinators, supporting their development and performance.
• Champion project delivery excellence across the business, acting as the centre of expertise and supporting embedded project leads.
• Contribute to team capability building through coaching, onboarding support and training of project contributors, and community-of-practice activities.
• Lead the development and refinement of project delivery frameworks, including stage-gates and planning templates

Role Requirements

Education & Experience

• Significant experience managing multiple concurrent R&D projects or programmes, ideally in a discovery setting. Experience in a biotech, diagnostics, or Medtech also valued.
• PhD or MSc in Life Sciences or a related technical discipline; additional project management certifications are beneficial.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver complex projects or programmes across different phases — from discovery and preclinical phases through to late-stage validation and clinical translation.
• Experience in dynamic, scaling environments such as SMEs or early-stage companies.
• Demonstrable experience delivering projects to customers or external project sponsors
• Experience managing external collaborators or subcontractors

Project & Technical Skills

• Brings a strong foundation in scientific R&D, with practical experience managing experimental workflows, uncertainty, and development lifecycles — ensuring delivery approaches are fit-for-purpose and context-aware.
• Understanding of clinical development processes, stage-gating, and governance frameworks
• Demonstrated capability in planning, risk management, and programme / project delivery within scientific environments.

• Proficient in project management tools (with the ability to build and maintain trackers, dashboards, and reporting systems.

Leadership & Interpersonal Attributes

• Operates with strategic awareness and detail orientation — can see both the broader programme implications and project-level execution needs.

• Strategic thinker with the ability to lead through influence at all levels across a matrix structure.

• Excellent communicator, capable of distilling complex issues and articulating risks and trade-offs with clarity.
• Brings resilience, adaptability, and proactive problem-solving to navigate uncertainty and maintain delivery focus.
  
  

Benefits

Owlstone Medical is on a mission to save 100,000 lives and $1.5 billion in healthcare costs through the development and application of Breath Biopsy®. This involves collecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and respiratory droplets from breath, which can provide information about metabolic activity and markers related to health and disease.

Breath sampling has substantial advantages for the early detection of disease and to enable precision medicine approaches to patient care. To realize these advantages, Owlstone Medical offers Research Products and Services for biomarker discovery and is developing tests in applications including cancer, liver disease, asthma, and environmental exposure. Our work includes partnerships with major organizations including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, the Cleveland Clinic, and the NHS and our platform is in use at well over 100 clinical and academic sites worldwide.

Our leadership in breath is underpinned by our world-class and varied team, including systems engineers, clinical scientists, analytical chemists, artificial intelligence specialists and clinical trials coordinators.

The Owlstone group also commercializes a range of highly innovative products based on its proprietary FAIMS chemical sensing technology in other markets including Scientific, Industrial Process Control, Military and Homeland Defense.

We offer a relaxed, friendly, flexible and international working environment with a strong and vibrant team-spirit. You will be rewarded with a competitive salary package that includes an Employee share options scheme and private medical insurance and your work will have a clear impact on people’s lives. If you want to experience the buzz of a thriving start-up company set to succeed on a global scale, Owlstone Medical could be the place for you.

We do not accept applications from agencies outside of our preferred supplier list. If you are concerned that your application has not been received by Owlstone Medical, please contact us using

Owlstone is an equal opportunity employer, and we will consider all qualified applicants for employment without discrimination on any characteristic protected by law including but not exhaustive to; grounds of disability, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity leave status, race or national or ethnic origin, age, religion or belief, gender identity or re-assignment, marital or civil partnership status.

Due to the nature of our business, all employment is subject to satisfactory references being obtained and the attainment of a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check. Access to selected project information requires prior additional security authorization. Access to US technical data by employees requires prior Export Control function approval. Full clearance must be satisfactorily attained against all applicable project security and US export control authorisations. Failure to meet any reference, BPSS, project-security or export-control authorisations may have an impact on successfully completing your probationary period.

Notice to agencies

Owlstone Medical Ltd politely requests no contact from recruitment agencies or media sales. We don’t accept speculative CVs from recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them. Should your agency wish to be considered in our next PSL review please contact careers@owlstone.co.uk