Funding Manager, Directed Activities

The Wellcome Trust is a global charitable foundation. We improve health for everyone by funding science, leading policy and advocacy campaigns, and building partnerships. We plan to spend £16bn over the next ten years, funding new discoveries in life, health, and wellbeing, and taking on three global health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

We are looking for a Funding Manager (senior level) to join our Directed Activities team in a permanent role. This role sits within the Directed Funding & Planning section in Research Funding, reporting to the Senior Manager of Directed Activities. The Directed Funding & Planning section provides dedicated support to Wellcome’s Strategic Programmes in Infectious Diseases, Mental Health and Climate & Health, as well as other teams across Wellcome. The team is responsible for the coordinated central planning and implementation of Directed Funding at Wellcome, working collaboratively with the Legal and Finance teams to implement the Programmes’ Directed Funding objectives.

The Directed Funding & Planning section manages and delivers the end-to-end grant application, review and award processes. Applications may be for strategic, one-off Discretionary Awards or those submitted to themed funding calls.

As a senior level Funding Manager, you will provide effective business partner support to Wellcome’s Strategic Programmes, using your key expertise in Directed Funding process and knowledge of Wellcome’s funding policies to pro-actively advise the Programmes on the delivery and implementation of their strategic activities, playing an integral part at Wellcome to ensure that world-class research happens.

You will contribute to the coordinated central planning of Directed Funding activities and proficiently implement the resulting Discretionary Award applications and Funding call rounds, as well as any associated Advisory Committees. Using your excellent communication and influencing skills, you will work collaboratively with colleagues across the organisation to ensure operational excellence and consistency of practice towards helping Wellcome achieve its strategic funding objectives.

As a Funding Manager, you will:

• Provide proactive and collaborative funding operations support to Strategic Programme teams, working closely with colleagues across Wellcome – including Legal and Finance – to guide and deliver Directed Funding processes such as discretionary awards and funding calls.
• Build strong, positive stakeholder relationships, communicating clearly and inclusively, and influencing colleagues at all levels to ensure effective programme and funding delivery.
• Lead and coordinate funding schemes and calls, setting timelines and workflows, and managing all aspects of associated committees to enable efficient, well‑governed decision‑making.
• Manage a diverse grant portfolio from application to award, ensuring robust due diligence, clear communication with applicants, high‑quality committee preparation, and smooth implementation of funding decisions.
• Oversee high‑quality peer review and governance, selecting appropriate expert reviewers, ensuring timely and transparent assessments, and providing accessible guidance on funding policies, assessment processes and allowable costs.
• Ensure effective post‑award grant management and continuous improvement, resolving complex queries, assessing change requests, monitoring compliance, mentoring colleagues, and contributing to process enhancements that support inclusive, high‑quality funding operations.

The ideal candidate should have excellent knowledge of grant funding processes and policies, and be educated to at least degree/equivalent level in a relevant life science subject. You will have excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with an ability to adapt your approach to internal and external stakeholders at all levels of seniority. You will use initiative and good judgement to know when processes need to be flexibly adapted, recognising when discussions need to be escalated and clearly communicated to Research Funding leadership. You will demonstrate strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify and explore key considerations to produce well-rationalised recommendations for a senior audience. You will have excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to summarise complex information and tailor it for specific audiences.

Minimum Criteria:

• Educated to at least degree/equivalent level in a life science subject.
• Previous experience as a Funding Manager or equivalent role and experience of the academic research environment.
• Evidence of robust stakeholder management skills – ability to quickly build and pro-actively maintain the trust of internal and external stakeholders at all levels of seniority.
• Evidence of strong verbal and written communication and collaboration skills across a range of internal and external audiences.
• Evidence of excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage large workloads and work to deadlines.

Applications Questions:

Using short summaries please provide specific details of up to two different initiatives or projects you have been directly involved in that are relevant to this role. For each initiative or project please use up to 250 words to describe your role (e.g. team leader, team member), the purpose of the activity (i.e. its aims), and the major contributions you personally made.

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