Programme Director — Data Partnerships

About Avegen

Avegen is a UK-based digital health company that has spent over a decade building evidence-based digital solutions for patients, clinicians, research organisations and life sciences partners, with teams in the UK and India.

About the role

This is a varied, client-facing role at the centre of two high-profile data partnerships in Alzheimer's disease, dementia and wider neurodegenerative disease research, each taking roughly half of your time. Operations and programme management for a European data infrastructure organisation (50%). Avegen provides the operational backbone for a newly established, independent European organisation that advances neurodegenerative disease research through open infrastructure and collaboration, stewarding research data and providing the community with access to it. It grows out of an EU-funded research consortium, and as that project concludes it is moving to operate as a sustainable, independent entity. You will be the day-to-day operational and project management lead, working directly with its directors and European stakeholders. Account management for a US-based Alzheimer's and dementia data initiative (50%). Avegen delivers technology work for a US-based non-profit initiative that builds open data platforms to accelerate Alzheimer's disease and dementia research. You will own the day-to-day client relationship and act as the link between the client team in the US and Avegen's technology team in India, making sure requirements are clearly understood and delivery stays on track. This is an account management role rather than a technical liaison: as much as keeping delivery moving, it is about reading the signals behind what the client is telling you, seeing where pressure is building before it becomes an issue, and being the person who calms the storm when something goes wrong. You'll suit this role if you are highly organised, comfortable moving between governance, projects and client delivery, calm and credible under pressure, and good at keeping distributed teams aligned across time zones.

What you'll do

European data infrastructure organisation: operations and programme management

- Act as the day-to-day point of contact for the directors, preparing papers and minutes for board meetings and tracking actions to completion.
- Maintain a statutory and compliance calendar, working with external accountants and advisers on annual accounts and filings.
- Coordinate the organisation's transition from EU-funded project to independent entity and provide project management support for new EU-funded and commercial projects.
- Manage external stakeholders and vendors and coordinate operational essentials such as enquiries, email, domains, website and CRM with Avegen's technical team.
- Support onboarding of new customers and partners, including contracting, data processing agreements and compliance checks.

Alzheimer's and dementia data initiative: account management

- Own the day-to-day relationship with the client team in the US as their primary point of contact at Avegen, working as the programme manager within their Partnerships team and in close collaboration with their Product team.
- Take ownership of the coordination needed to clarify and finalise project requirements, making sure scope is agreed and documented before delivery begins.
- Act as a key liaison between external partners and internal teams, coordinating across partner organisations, the client's own teams and Avegen's technology team in India, and making sure questions and decisions flow quickly in every direction.
- Track delivery against agreed scope, timelines and milestones, managing change requests, risks and issues and escalating early where needed.
- Read the signals behind client feedback, anticipate concerns before they are raised formally and shape how Avegen responds.
- Own escalations end to end: take the heat out of difficult moments, get to the real issue, agree a way forward and follow through until confidence is restored.
- Run regular client check-ins and progress reviews and produce clear status reporting for the client and Avegen leadership.
- Coordinate across time zones so that work moves forward between US, UK and India working hours.
- Maintain effective communication with executive leadership on both sides, exercising discretion whenever sensitive matters arise.
- Build long-term trust, steer the strategic direction of the account and spot opportunities to extend the value Avegen delivers.

What you'll bring

Essential

- 8–10+ years' experience in account management, client delivery, project management or operations, ideally in digital health, life sciences, health research or technology services.
- A track record of managing client relationships for technology or software delivery, including working with offshore or distributed engineering teams.
- Experience supporting senior stakeholders or boards, with excellent organisation, minute-taking and follow-through.
- Enough technical fluency to translate between non-technical stakeholders and engineering teams.
- Confidence working with international stakeholders across academic, philanthropic and industry organisations.
- Strong written communication and a structured, detail-conscious approach to requirements and reporting.
- A strategic approach to account management, with the judgement to read client signals and the composure to handle escalations and difficult conversations.
- Sound judgement and discretion when handling confidential or commercially sensitive matters.
- Flexibility to hold some early-morning and evening calls to cover US and India time zones.
- Right to work in the UK.

Desirable

- Understanding of Alzheimer's disease, dementia or wider neurodegenerative disease research, or of research data platforms and open data sharing.
- Experience with EU-funded research programmes (e.g. IHI, IMI, Horizon Europe) or grant-funded projects.
- Experience working with US-based clients, philanthropic foundations or non-profit organisations.
- Familiarity with GDPR, data processing agreements and health data governance.
- Exposure to governance or company secretarial work for a small entity, ideally in the EU.
- Working knowledge of agile delivery, Jira or similar tools, and CRM tools.

Why join

- Work at the centre of two partnerships advancing Alzheimer's disease and dementia research, with direct exposure to senior leaders on both sides.
- Help build up a European organisation that advances neurodegenerative research through open infrastructure and collaboration.
- A clear growth path as both partnerships expand.
- A collaborative, mission-driven team across the UK and India.