Vaccine Development Project Manager

Vacancy reference

VAC-0423

Department

Project Management Office

Location

Oslo / London

Close date

16/12/2025

About CEPI

Launched in 2017, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is an international coalition of governments, academic, philanthropic, private, public, and intergovernmental institutions whose vision is to create a world in which epidemics and pandemics are no longer a threat to humanity. Our mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need. CEPI played a central role in the global response to COVID-19, creating the world's largest portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines – seven of which are approved for global or domestic use - and co-leading COVAX, the global initiative to support equitable access which supported the delivery of over 2bn vaccine doses globally. CEPI has CEPI has contributed to a number of scientific breakthroughs in vaccine development against other infectious diseases, including the first ever licensed Chikungunya vaccine and the first Nipah and Lassa virus vaccines into Phase 1 trials.

As COVID-19 has demonstrated, emerging infectious diseases represent an existential threat to our way of life. COVID-19 is not the first pandemic of the 21st century, and unless we act now, we can be sure that it will not be the last. Unlike some of the other big threats that humanity faces, we have the tools to systematically reduce and even eliminate the risk of future pandemics. It is vital that we capitalise on the rare alignment of political will, practical experience, and technical and scientific progress emerging from the pandemic to prevent such devastation happening again. CEPI's five-year plan for – known as CEPI 2.0 - aims to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics. Central to the plan is CEPI's goal to accelerate the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days. Achieving this '100 Days Mission', which has been embraced by the G7 and G20, would give the world a fighting chance of containing a future outbreak before it can spread to become a global pandemic, potentially averting millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in economic damage.

CEPI is a not-for-profit association under Norwegian Law and has offices in Oslo (HQ), London, and Washington DC.

In CEPI we strive for diverse thinking, and we want a diverse pool of candidates for all our vacancies. We work for an inclusive working environment where each employee can contribute and grow.

More details about CEPI and our mission can be found on our website:

About the role

Project Manager at CEPI provides state-of-the-art project management skills to CEPI's projects for the successful development of vaccine candidates, including projects conceptualised out of CEPI's departments and PMO-led programmes and activities, reporting on progress and milestones associated with CEPI's mission. This position is a full-time, fixed-term opportunity for one year.

Responsibilities

• Collaborates closely with Project Leads and Scientific & Disease programme Leads, internal/external experts and other partners.
• Establishes a strong working relationship with the Project Leads to jointly ensure timely deliverables and to continuously seek ways of improving team performance.
• Develops a clear understanding of project content and programs maintaining relevant knowledge throughout the project lifecycle.
• Clearly identifies and develops roles for project team members and helps individual contributors to be successful in these roles. Provides specialised guidance or training to peers and junior staff through mentoring.
• Manages and/or ensures project/program team related documentation and communications. Assists with determination of cross-functional communication and coordination of action items. Generates, collects, distributes, stores, and retrieves project communications.
• Facilitates the successful delivery of projects associated with CEPI's mission. Responsible to proactively manage all elements of each project – monitoring, scope, timelines, risk, budget, and quality.
• Guides Awardees in the definition of operational plans and execution strategies against award goals.
• Tracks project progress at the project level against timeline, financial and quality milestones as well as report to management and investors.
• Proactively identifies issues and/or obstacles, works with subject matter experts to develop resolutions and/or contingencies to guide the project to a successful outcome. Moreover, such activities should strive to reduce project timelines and optimize resources.
• Ensures that risks are sufficiently and regularly exposed to CEPI's governance committees.
• Identifies synergies and efficiencies, eliminates redundancies, and facilitates collaboration and communication between different projects; identifying ways to accelerate project execution where possible while maintaining high quality standards.
• Maintains and closely manages project risks to ensure that mitigating activities are fully resourced.
• Manages Call for Proposals including review process and due diligence through to signature and develops a good understanding of the project subject. Manages the project through CEPI Governance committees.
• Ensures development and maintenance of project tracking tools, project status reports and SF updates.
• Actively contributes to portfolio review and analysis, working closely with colleagues across CEPI, external experts and Scientific Advisory Committee, contributing to continuous improvement through leveraging lessons learned.
• Develops depth in vaccine/technical development and project management knowledge.
• Other duties as assigned

Education, Experience and Competence

• An advanced university degree in life sciences, medical-related sciences, or equivalent relevant experience.
• A qualification in project management is highly desirable.
• Experience working in the pharmaceutical industry, or not-for profit vaccine or drug development, or academia as Project Manager for vaccine/drug development projects or equivalent in global multidisciplinary teams.
• Has advanced and comprehensive knowledge of global research and development processes related to vaccine development and a good understanding of project management and its interdependencies.
• Has expert planning and tracking skills, well-organized, focused on results, capable of managing multiple projects, excellent time-and self-management.
• Has demonstrable problem-solving abilities with ability to identify issues seeking advice as required.
• Has strong interpersonal skills, team player, able to work in different cultural environments, to negotiate timelines and develop effective internal/external collaboration.
• Has a strong critical and objective interpretation of project development and scientific issues with the ability to articulate and establish processes which impact cross-functional activities.
• Has work experience within key responsibilities.

Travel and Location Requirements

• This role is based in London (UK) or Oslo (Norway).
• Applicants must be based in either the UK or Norway and possess a valid work permit. We are unable to sponsor work visas for this one-year fixed-term position.
• This role is likely to involve some international travel.

What we can offer you

• The opportunity to work together with leading experts on solutions for global challenges
• Experience in the international effort on developing vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and accelerating vaccine development response to outbreaks
• A diverse and inclusive working environment

Background verification will be conducted to verify information provided in the CV and available documentation.