Head of Strategy and Planning

Role Overview

• Lead the development, refresh and stewardship of a bold, coherent strategy that positions AMS as an influential voice across UK and global medical science.
• Design and embed organisation-wide strategic and business planning processes that enable clear prioritisation, coordinated action and disciplined alignment across all directorates.
• Bring domestic and international priorities together within the Academy’s strategic framework, ensuring AMS both shapes— and is shaped by — UK and global developments.
• Facilitate high-quality strategic conversations with senior leaders, bringing structure, creativity, evidence and options to complex organisational decisions.
• Build and nurture influential partnerships across the health, science, research and innovation ecosystem—government, funders, industry, academia, learned societies, the NHS, international bodies and philanthropic organisations.
• Maintain an organisation-wide view of the Academy’s stakeholder landscape, creating clarity on who our key partners are, what they value, and how AMS can work with them most effectively.
• Strengthen AMS’s role as a convener and connector, spotting opportunities for cross-sector collaboration, joint influence and shared system impact across the UK and globally.
• Act as a visible strategic ambassador, representing AMS’s priorities externally and ensuring strategic intelligence informs organisational decision-making.
• Oversee governance support for the Academy, ensuring that Council and its committees operate effectively, efficiently and strategically.
• Ensure the right business goes to Council at the right time, managing forward plans, agenda setting and decision sequencing so governance bodies can provide true strategic oversight.
• Oversee the preparation of high-quality papers and briefings that enable rigorous, insight-driven decision-making by Council, committees and the Executive.
• Strengthen governance as a strategic asset, ensuring structures, cycles and information flows enable clarity, accountability and long-term stewardship.
• Lead a high-performing planning function that provides cross-Academy visibility, assurance and coordination of major strategic programmes.
• Embed consistent project, programme and portfolio management standards so strategic work is well sequenced, risk managed and aligned to organisational priorities.
• Produce insightful, action-oriented reporting for the Executive and Council that supports confident oversight and timely decision-making.
• Build strategic relationships with current and potential funders, identifying where aligned investment can accelerate AMS’s mission and shared system goals.
• Secure funding by shaping compelling propositions that reflect both organisational priorities and funder interests.
• Partner with Finance and Fundraising to ensure strategic plans are backed by sustainable income models and clear long-term financial assumptions.
• Identify funding gaps, capacity constraints and resourcing risks, enabling informed choices by the Executive and Council.
• Monitor and interpret major external developments—scientific, policy, geopolitical, funding, regulatory and technological— across the UK and internationally.
• Ensure the Academy’s strategy is globally informed and forward-looking, helping AMS anticipate change, seize emerging opportunities and mitigate strategic risks.
• Translate horizon scanning into actionable insight, equipping leaders and governance bodies with the intelligence needed to steer the organisation confidently.
• Lead and develop your team, ensuring strategic planning, international insight, planning and governance support operate as a cohesive, high-performing unit.
• Act as a strategic partner to directors and colleagues across the Academy, supporting alignment while preserving operational accountability.
• Champion strategic discipline and focus, ensuring the Academy stays aligned around the work that matters most.

Requirements

• A strategic leader with substantial experience setting organisational direction and leading effective strategy and business planning.
• A strong track record of building trusted, influential partnerships across government, funders, industry, academia, NHS bodies and international organisations.
• Confidence operating in governance environments, including shaping forward plans and agendas, preparing high-quality papers, and enabling effective Board/committee oversight.
• Excellent analytical judgement, able to synthesise complex evidence, assess risk and translate insight into clear options and recommendations.
• Experience leading planning, programme and/or portfolio functions, ensuring delivery is well sequenced, risk managed and aligned to strategic priorities.
• Financial literacy and commercial awareness, with the ability to align resources to strategy and contribute to funding conversations.
• An excellent communicator and collaborator who can influence credibly at senior level and lead, coach and develop high-performing teams.