Student Portfolio Analyst (undergraduate placement scheme)

Student Portfolio Analyst (undergraduate placement scheme)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

Cancer Research UK is looking for a motivated and ambitious undergraduate student to join our Centre for Drug Development (CDD) as a Student Portfolio Analyst. You'll support the management of our drug development portfolio by gathering, analysing and presenting project data, assisting with resource forecasting, and developing reporting and data visualisation tools. This is an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on experience in portfolio management, data analysis and stakeholder engagement while contributing to life-saving cancer research.

To find out more, read all the details below. You can also hear from some of our past students (click here).

About the placement

The Centre for Drug Development (CDD) at Cancer Research UK consists of a diverse and experienced office- and home-based team who sponsor and manage high-quality early phase clinical trials. We work in collaboration with leading scientists and clinicians around the world to develop effective new anti-cancer treatments.

Here at the CDD, we’re offering a unique opportunity to gain valuable experience and training within a world class clinical research environment. Our placements will provide you with an exciting opportunity to develop key skills, which will help to open doors to future careers within this industry. During this placement year, the chosen candidates will be provided with training, mentorship, and exposure to key roles in drug development and pharmaceutical research.

We have 1 placement to offer, it will last for 54 weeks, with a negotiable start date in July 2027.

What will you be doing?

Key duties will include:

• Assist with gathering, analysing and presenting information about our portfolio of early-phase drug development projects to support the effective review and management of the CDD portfolio e.g., project goal tracking and reporting.

• Support routine and targeted reviews of the CDD portfolio, creating/updating tools to gather and present information, coordinating provision and internal review of information and organising logistics for the review as needed.

• Support monthly management meetings (Portfolio Review Team, PRT) by writing minutes, preparing slides and performing other activities as needed.

• Assist with user account management for Portfolio Management/Dashboard tools.

• Ensure project information held in Portfolio Management/Dashboard tools are up to date, by reviewing data and prompting Project Leaders to update their project information.

• Update and maintain resource planning models to capture functional group resource forecasting across CDD and to coordinate information gathering across functional groups and project teams.

• Assist with developing data visualisation methods and tools for CDD portfolio information and maintain up to date information.

• Create, update and maintain models and trackers for the effective delivery of Portfolio activities and analyses.

• Support change initiatives both within Portfolio Management and across CDD including external benchmarking, stakeholder management and development and delivery of relevant training and guidance documents.

• Maintain a broad awareness of Portfolio Management practices and trends in the pharmaceutical sector and wider landscape.

• Create, update and maintain guidance documents for portfolio processes and tools

• Play a supportive role in contributing to and maintaining a cohesive Project and Portfolio Management function.

What are we looking for? 

If you’re a motivated life sciences student, with an interest in drug development, data analysis and visualisation, and oncology clinical trials, then this is your opportunity to gain invaluable experience working within the pharmaceutical sector.

You will also be able to demonstrate:

• Excellent organisational and interpersonal skills.

• Good teamwork skills.

• A meticulous eye for detail.

• Good time management skills.

• A sound knowledge of Microsoft packages.

• Familiarity with ICH/GCP guidelines is beneficial but not essential.

• Experience working in an office environment is beneficial but not essential.

Please read the following information carefully before applying: 

If you would like to apply for the placement student scheme, please ensure that you meet the following criteria before completing your application form:

• You must be in your 2nd year of undergraduate study (or combined undergrad/Masters programme) at university. Please note that applications from graduates and PhD students will NOT be considered for this scheme.

• You should expect to receive a 2:1 or grade B in your second-year results in a science related degree.

• You should have 3 A levels (or equivalent) grade B and above (preferably one in a biological science).

• You should be able to commence work in July 2027 (the start date is negotiable).

• You should have the right to live and work in the UK without restriction. We regret that we cannot consider applications from candidates who require a work permit to work in the UK.

If you meet these requirements, we look forward to receiving your application. Please note that this role is a flexible role (office based with an option to partly work from home), not laboratory based.

Useful tips for completion of the application form:

• Read through the whole form first and draft your answers accordingly.

• Complete all sections - please do not leave any gaps.

• Check your spelling and grammar.

• Be concise and focused with your answers.

• And finally, don’t forget, it’s important that you tell us how you found out about the scheme.

If your application is short listed, you will be invited to attend an Interview (likely to be virtual). This will involve some written and Excel-based exercises designed to assess your ability and a competency interview.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won’t be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form and answer some screening questions for us to be able to assess you fairly and objectively.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We’re looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: Linked In, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube.

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they belong, benefits from and participates in, the work we do. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures, in particular those from ethnic minority backgrounds who are currently under-represented.

Unfortunately, we are unable to recruit anyone below the age of 18, so that we can protect young people from health & safety and safeguarding risks.