Senior Funding Policies Adviser

Salary: £51,600 - £64,500

Closing date: Sunday, 13 September 2026

Contract type: Permanent

Interview dates: 1st stage (Fri, 02/10/2026) online/Remote; 2nd stage: face to face

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 committed to spend £16bn in the ten years to 2032, funding new discoveries in life, health, and wellbeing, and taking on three global health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

These challenges need the bold science we support, but they won’t be solved by science alone.

We are looking for a Senior Funding Policies Adviser to join our team.

Where in Wellcome will I be working?

You will be part of the Funding Operations and Governance team within the Research Funding, reporting to the Funding Policies Manager. The Funding Policies team is responsible for Wellcome’s grant funding policies and grant conditions that set out our expectations on grantholders and organisations we fund.

The team’s broad responsibilities include developing new, and maintaining existing, funding policies and grant conditions that underpin Wellcome’s grant-making activities, managing compliance with and breaches of grant conditions and funding policies, providing expert advice to internal stakeholders on funding policies and governance, and engaging with external organisations and partners where appropriate.

By developing and maintaining clear funding policies and grant conditions, the team helps ensure that the research and organisations Wellcome funds are aligned with our mission to improve health for everyone, while promoting strong governance, accountability and equitable grant-making.

What will I be doing?

You will play a key role in shaping, implementing and maintaining Wellcome’s funding policies, ensuring they remain effective, up to date and aligned with our strategic goals. You will be expected to lead on and independently drive policy development projects, engage with senior internal stakeholders and our external partners in the UK and overseas to inform policy development and governance, and provide expertise and training to colleagues at Wellcome and beyond. You will be engaging with global health research and will ideally have expertise in the international funding policy landscape and setting up grant partnerships.

As a Senior Funding Policies Adviser, you will:

• Keep Wellcome's funding policies and grant conditions up to date, ensuring they are fit for purpose and support our strategic objectives

• Research and develop new funding policies in response to strategic need or external initiatives

• Provide trusted advice on funding policy, governance and grant conditions and manage all information and communication relating to funding policies, including providing training

• Develop relationships with funders, research organisations and other partners to share learning and horizon scan for funding policy management

• Work with Wellcome-funded institutions and key external organisations to ensure compliance with our grant policies and conditions

• Contribute to a diverse and inclusive culture across the organisation, collaborating across departments.

Is this job for me?

If you're someone who understands the research funding landscape and enjoys shaping funding policy, working with external partners and helping organisations make informed decisions, this role could be for you. We're looking for a confident communicator with experience in research funding, policy or governance who can bring people together, manage competing priorities and translate complex issues into clear, meaningful actions that support Wellcome's mission.

To apply for this role please submit an updated CV and answer 2 application questions to demonstrate that you meet the minimum requirements for the role.

Minimum Criteria:

• Experience working in a research funding, grant-making, research governance, or regulatory environment, with strong understanding of national and international research funding landscape

• Experience writing and reviewing policy, governance and compliance documentation.

• Experience managing competing priorities and delivering work to deadlines in a complex environment.

• Experience building effective working relationships across departments and with external stakeholders.

• Experience producing clear written guidance, reports, or communications for a range of audiences.

Applications Questions:

• Using examples please provide evidence to demonstrate that you meet the minimum criteria for this role as outlined in the job description? (Up to 500 words)

• 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.

You can view the full job description on our website

You can read more about the benefits we offer our employees on our website

Our Hybrid Way of Working

We understand that our colleagues have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to build a flexible working environment, in which people can perform at their best.

At Wellcome we have a hybrid way of working which is 3 days in our Euston Road offices (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with the remaining 2 days working either remotely or in the office.

Diversity and Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do

Diversity and Inclusion is a priority at Wellcome. We are committed to cultivating a fair and inclusive environment, where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We are happy to discuss flexible working options for all roles. We work to ensure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible to everyone. This includes making adjustments for people who have a disability or long-term condition. Please visit our website for more information on adjustments and accessibility, or contact us at jobs@wellcome.org.

Upon a conditional offer being made, the successful applicant for this position will be required to undertake a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (or equivalent) criminal record check to disclose any ‘unspent’ criminal convictions or conditional cautions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The criminal record check with not show anything that is ‘spent’.

For further guidance on disclosure of criminal records please see this UK Government Guidance. You can view our Policy Statement on the Recruitment of Ex-offenders here. You can view our Privacy Statement here.

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