Director, Life Sciences (Health and Life Sciences) in London

Role Overview

WSP is a leading specialist consultancy, transforming environments for clients in health and life sciences.

Our target market in life sciences focuses on organisations operating in discovery and development, pre‑clinical research, clinical research and clinical development, and we interface with pharmaceutical manufacturers, universities, and health organisations.

In this senior, market‑facing role you will expand WSP’s Life Sciences real estate consultancy across England, building on WSP’s multidisciplinary capability and helping clients make robust, commercially informed decisions about their property portfolios.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the growth of WSP’s Life Sciences Property Advisory offer across England, identifying target clients, shaping propositions, developing routes to market and converting new opportunities.
• Provide market‑facing transactional, agency and strategic property advice to life sciences clients, helping them respond to occupier demand, market conditions, funding drivers and commercial objectives.
• Lead property transactions, including acquisitions, disposals, lettings, lease advisory, rent reviews and related client‑side negotiations.
• Use market intelligence, sector networks and active client engagement to identify emerging requirements, create leads and position WSP for repeat and strategic advisory work.
• Advise on asset and portfolio strategies that enhance productivity, support expansion, mitigate risk and support long‑term client objectives.
• Lead options appraisals, development strategies, market assessments and cash‑flow analysis to support acquisition, disposal, letting, rationalisation and redevelopment decisions.
• Work alongside WSP’s multidisciplinary teams, including planning, cost management, project and programme management and sustainability.
• Leadership & Team Development
• Take an active leadership role in growing the team, supporting colleagues, sharing knowledge and creating opportunities for others to develop.
• Deliver work commercially, managing scope, quality, programme, risk and profitability across commissions.
• Communicate clearly and persuasively through reports, proposals, presentations, workshops and senior client conversations.
• Promote collaboration across HLSA and the wider WSP business to create stronger, broader client propositions.
• Understand the wider commercial, strategic and reputational impact of your work, balancing client value with WSP’s growth objectives.
• Champion technical quality, robust governance and effective review across the work you lead.
• Engage confidently with senior stakeholders, including executive teams, estate directors, commercial leads, clinicians, public sector partners and investors.
• Demonstrate WSP’s values in the way you lead, collaborate, make decisions and represent the business.

Qualifications & Experience

• A strong track record in transactional, agency or specialist property advisory work, ideally gained within a consultancy, agency, client‑side property team or comparable advisory environment.
• Degree qualified, or equivalent, with a relevant professional qualification such as MRICS preferred.
• Excellent knowledge of property markets, transaction processes, occupier requirements, landlord and investor drivers, and wider economic and commercial trends.
• Strong client relationship, negotiation, networking, agency and business development skills, with evidence of originating, winning and growing market‑facing work.
• Commercial confidence, sound judgement and the ability to manage priorities, risk and delivery across multiple client relationships and commissions.
• Experience leading, motivating and developing collaborative teams, with an inclusive and empowering leadership style.
• The ability to build capability in others, provide constructive feedback and foster long‑term learning, collaboration and devolved leadership.
• An interest in how digital technologies, data and evidence‑led insight can support market analysis, portfolio optimisation, investment planning and improved outcomes for life sciences clients.

Here at WSP we positively encourage applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, religion or belief, marital status, pregnancy or maternity/paternity.

As a Disability Confident leader, we will interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria.

Please let us know if you require any workplace adjustments in support of your application.

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