Director, Real World Data Strategy and External Partnerships Lead

GSK•Upper Providence, PA

About The Position

The Director, Real World Data Strategy and External Partnerships Lead is accountable for strategically executing external data partnerships that support R&D and CPO activities. The role delivers insights, models, and evidence, and ensures that real-world data (RWD) provides scientific value for decision-making, pipeline progress, and portfolio growth. Working with clinical, medical, and real-world evidence (RWE) leaders, the role identifies and develops potential partnerships based on their scientific value and impact on development programs. The position leads the external data strategy for a key business area and works across internal implementation functions—including data platforms, legal, procurement, and AI-enabled engineering—to help partnerships deliver value quickly, meet research and analytics needs, and support compliant data use and integration. The role also stewards investment governance for prospective data investments and manages the portfolio of RWD and external cohorts in alignment with pipeline strategy. The role reports to the Executive Director and Head, RWD Strategy and Partnerships. For candidates based at Stevenage, the role will temporarily be located there before the Company's proposed relocation to Cambridge, UK, currently planned by early 2029.

Requirements

Advanced degree (MSc or PhD) in life sciences or a quantitative field such as Epidemiology, Biostatistics, HEOR, or data science.
Demonstrated track record of owning and executing data strategy in drug development, including experience in wide and complex cross-functional organizations.
Leadership skills to influence and mobilize stakeholders toward a common goal, communicating with clarity, vision, and purpose.
Experience and knowledge of RWD sources and partners across multiple geographies, including understanding country and regional health-data landscapes.
Experience working with RWD partners to enable evidence generation, in-silico modelling, or data-product creation in support of drug development or commercialization.
Exceptional portfolio project-management and organizational skills, particularly in a complex, dynamic organization.
Understanding of current regulatory and payer guidance on the use of RWE and RWD in decision-making.
Knowledge of RWD data-strategy concepts, including FHIR, tokenization and linkage, synthetic control arms, Common Data Models (CDMs), and context-specific LLMs.

Nice To Haves

Hands-on programming or coding skills and demonstrated experience with RWD.
Experience with data engineering and architecture, including working in or deploying trusted research environments.
Experience in AI/ML enablement and deployment of AI workflows.
Strong knowledge and experience of observational research methodology, including study designs and the impact of data quality on research validity.
Demonstrated experience developing strategic partnerships involving human patient-level data, including biomarkers, -omics, and other biological measures and samples linked to clinical or real-world outcome data.

Responsibilities

Define and deliver strategically purposeful RWD partnerships, aligning data acquisition with asset- and therapy-area portfolio strategy as the pipeline evolves.
Review data strategy regularly, provide feedback on governed partnerships, and prepare prospective investments for technical approval with relevant senior leaders.
Build relationships with senior leaders across Research Units, Development Sciences, and Medical Affairs; provide strategic updates and serve as the accountable lead for communicating the therapy-area RWD partnership strategy.
Maintain an inventory of data assets that support evidence generation and in-silico modelling plans.
Provide thought leadership on data quality and suitability for RWE generation, in-silico modelling, and AI workflows, assessing partners against quality, reliability, regulatory, and external stakeholder standards.
Partner with Translational Sciences colleagues on opportunities to link data with biobanks and translational cohorts.
Develop and steward strategic partnerships aligned with the pipeline and portfolio, including with data holders, academic institutions, national data ecosystems, and health technology companies; ensure objectives and deliverables are achieved to plan and within budget.
Work with health-system partners where appropriate to support RWE for regulatory approval and access or reimbursement, and cultivate engagements that strengthen external data ecosystems, data quality, and research opportunities.
Build external relationships that position GSK as a thought leader in RWD and RWE and foster innovation and shared objectives.
Steward new partnerships through implementation with internal stakeholders, including legal, procurement, and data-platform teams, to ensure data is ready for research and modelling.
Apply a data-product mindset to partnerships, understanding the AI-ready data products needed to support insights, models, and evidence.
Act as Business Data Owner for pipeline-aligned RWD assets, ensuring compliant use and establishing appropriate governance with data-platform teams.
Work with data offices to capture and manage required metadata and data-use materials, and ensure accessed data is FAIR.
Account for internal AI adoption pathways and their effect on externally licensed or accessed data; protect privacy and ensure use complies with contractual terms and global privacy regulations.
Champion data-linkage opportunities, including linking translational cohorts and prospective clinical studies with routine RWD streams to enrich study datasets and maximize reuse.
Where relevant, require and implement data-reliability plans with external partners to ensure regulatory-grade traceability of RWD used in external evidentiary claims.
Steward the investment-governance process for prospective data investments and manage the portfolio of RWD and external cohorts in line with pipeline strategy.