Chief Strategy Officer

10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London, E14 4PU

Candidates should expect their salary upon appointment to be in the region of £105,000 to £162,500 per annum based on experience. If you’re an existing Civil Servant, your salary will be agreed in line with the Civil Service pay rules in place on the date of your appointment.

Job overview

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the UK’s sovereign regulator for medicines, including biological medicines, medical devices, and blood products. Our primary purpose is to ensure that products intended for the UK market are safe and effective and to monitor the ongoing safety of licensed products.

The Chief Strategy Officer is responsible for setting and stewarding the organisations long-term strategic direction and ensuring that the strategy is translated into clear priorities, policies, programmes and outcomes. The post-holder provides corporate leadership across strategy development, business planning, performance insight, governance, policy reform and delivery, and acts as the organisation’s senior lead for economic growth and external strategic relationships.

This role leads the Strategy Group which sits at the centre of the organisation’s coordination architecture, enabling greater clarity, alignment, prioritisation, sequencing, and coherence across the organisation.

The role operates at executive level, advising the Chief Executive, Chair, Executive Committee and Board, and represents the organisation with Ministers, senior officials, national partners and external stakeholders.

Main duties and responsibilities

Strategic leadership

• Lead the development, refresh and delivery of the organisation’s strategy, ensuring alignment with ministerial priorities, statutory duties and economic objectives.
• Translate long-term strategy into annual business plans, corporate priorities and measurable outcomes.
• Provide authoritative strategic advice to the Chief Executive and Chair, Executive Committee and Board on emerging risks, opportunities and external trends.

Business planning, performance and insight

• Own the annual business planning cycle, ensuring strong integration between strategy, resources, risk and delivery.
• Lead the organisation’s business intelligence and performance framework, providing high-quality analysis, insight and reporting to support decision-making.
• Drive a culture of evidence-led policy, prioritisation and continuous improvement.

Governance, risk and assurance

• Act as senior owner for corporate risk management and governance, ensuring risks are identified, mitigated and escalated appropriately.
• Ensure corporate governance, organisational risk management and compliance frameworks are in place that ensure high standards of transparency, assurance and accountability.
• Ensure effective operation of Board and Executive Committee governance, supporting robust decision-making and assurance.
• Oversee compliance with corporate governance, accountability and assurance requirements.

Private Office and corporate coordination

• Lead and manage the Private Office, including oversight of briefings, correspondence and diary coordination for the Chief Executive and Chair.
• Ensure the effective planning, coordination and follow-up of Executive Committee and Board meetings, enabling clear decisions and accountability.

Project, portfolio and delivery oversight

• Provide executive oversight of project delivery across the organisation, ensuring delivery is aligned to strategic priorities.
• Lead and sponsor the Enterprise Portfolio Management Office (EPMO), embedding strong portfolio management, prioritisation and benefits realisation.
• Intervene where delivery is at risk, ensuring timely recovery action.

Policy, regulatory and legislative reform

• Provide strategic leadership on policy and regulatory reform, including UK-wide and EU-derived reforms and primary/secondary legislation.
• Act as the organisation’s senior interface with sponsoring departments and partners on policy development and legislative change.
• Ensure policy positions are analytically robust, deliverable and aligned with strategic objectives.

External relations and partnerships

• Lead the organisation’s UK national partnerships, building effective relationships with government, regulators, agencies and delivery bodies.
• Lead Whitehall engagement, representing the organisation at senior official and ministerial level as required.
• Act as agency lead for economic growth, shaping and championing the organisation’s contribution to growth, productivity and investment.

Leadership and corporate contribution

• Provide visible and inclusive leadership across the organisation, modelling corporate values and high performance.
• Build and develop high-performing teams, ensuring capability, resilience and succession.
• Contribute as a full member of the Executive Committee to collective leadership, culture and organisational effectiveness.

Closing date: 17th September 2026.

Final Interviews: W/C 9th November 2026.