Jack Pryor, PhD
Special Projects | Strategic Alignment | R&D Advisory
I help science-led organisations solve problems that cross scientific, operational and commercial boundaries - particularly those that sit between established functions or do not have a clear internal owner.
I'm a neuroscientist with 15 years' experience in preclinical contract research, progressing from a bench scientist delivering neuropharmacology and mechanism-of-action studies to co-founder and COO of a CRO specialising in in vivo preclinical cardiometabolic disease models. As CRO co-founder and COO, I have delivered preclinical research programs for clients including Novo Nordisk and Flagship Pioneering, with oversight from feasibility assessment through study design, P&L, risk management, governance, analysis, reporting and stakeholder relationship management.
Alongside CRO work, I have run a small UK data-analysis company supporting academic researchers, hold an Adjunct Research Fellowship at Monash University, have written editorial features for Google DeepMind and produced radio for the BBC World Service.
I possess the scientific credibility to interrogate technical evidence, the commercial experience to understand the implications of scope, contracts, budgets and timelines, and the ability to communicate complex issues to scientists, executives, clients and non-specialist audiences.
I'm strongest at the interface between scientific R&D and the systems around it - operating models, evidence generation, external partners, data, technology and senior decision-making
Where I Can Help
I work on a project or fractional basis, particularly where a company needs experienced ownership of an important scientific, strategic or operational initiative without adding permanent senior headcount.
Often what's most useful isn't more capacity but independent senior judgement - someone who can assess a problem from outside the day-to-day, challenge assumptions, and take ownership of moving it to a decision or an outcome.
Sometimes what's needed is project management, facilitation or CRO brokerage, and those are genuinely useful. This is for something different: independent senior judgement, and ownership of a problem through to a decision or an outcome.
Three Commercial Questions
Special Projects / Strategy & Operations
Who owns the work that sits between functions?Scientific Programme & External R&D Advisory
What should we test, how should we test it, who should do the work, and what does the evidence mean?Strategic Alignment & Board Effectiveness
What matters most, what are we choosing not to do, and how do we turn those choices into action?Special Projects / Strategy & Operations
Who owns the work that sits between functions?
You may need this when:
A strategically important initiative sits between established functions, with no obvious senior owner and no single team with the remit or bandwidth to own it.
A problem is clearly important but still ambiguous: the decisions, stakeholders and work-streams have not yet been mapped.
Leadership has agreed a priority, but it has not yet been translated into an executable plan.
A new partnership, capability, programme or work-stream needs to be launched and given an operating structure before it can move into permanent ownership.
Scientific, commercial, operational and external stakeholders all need to move around a shared objective, but responsibility for integrating the whole initiative is unclear.
A CEO, CSO or COO is personally carrying an important cross-functional initiative because there is nobody else senior enough - or sufficiently cross-functional - to take it on.
Scientific Programme & External R&D Advisory
What should we test, how should we test it, who should do the work, and what does the evidence mean?
You may need this when:
A CRO, academic or specialist partner is being evaluated or brought on, and an independent view is needed on capability, technical fit or proposal before resources are committed.
It is unclear whether an experimental capability should be built internally, bought in or accessed through a partner, and the trade-offs are not obvious.
New evidence, cost constraints or shifting priorities mean an experimental programme needs re-scoping or course correction.
A senior team wants an independent, arm's-length review of a priority experimental programme, separate from the people delivering it.
There is more experimental work worth doing than time or budget allows, and it is not clear which questions should be prioritised.
An experimental programme, CRO work-stream or research package needs to be turned into a clear, executable scope before work begins.
Strategic Alignment & Board Effectiveness
What matters most, what are we choosing not to do, and how do we turn those choices into action?
You may need this when:
More strategic ambitions exist than the organisation can realistically pursue, and there is no shared view of which few matter most.
Board members, executives or senior leaders are operating from different assumptions, priorities or definitions of success.
It is unclear which decisions belong to the board and which belong to executive leadership, creating either operational overreach or insufficient strategic oversight.
The board has agreed a strategy, but it has not yet translated into an accountable operating agenda the executive team can run against.
A major strategic initiative would benefit from independent challenge and synthesis before significant resources or organisational commitment are made.
Scientific ambition exceeds the capital, people or time available, and leadership needs to decide which bets deserve continued investment.
How I work
Most engagements begin with a Strategic Diagnostic - a low-commitment way to define the problem clearly before deciding what, if anything, should happen next.
Strategic Diagnostic | From £5,000 | Typically delivered over 2 weeks
A focused review of a defined strategic, scientific or operational question. I work with relevant stakeholders, review the available evidence and documentation, identify the key issues and trade-offs, and provide a clear set of priorities, options and recommendations.
The engagement concludes with a written synthesis and leadership readout, with scope and fee agreed in advance.
Implementation / Special Project | Scoped engagement | Fixed project fee or agreed duration
Where a diagnostic identifies a clear course of action, I can take ownership of the resulting initiative and drive it through execution. Engagements may include programme design or re-scoping, external R&D and partnership work, cross-functional strategic initiatives, operating-model improvements or other projects that sit between established functions.
Scope, responsibilities, milestones and commercial terms are agreed at the outset.
Fractional Leadership | n days per month | Monthly retainer
For organisations that need ongoing senior capability without adding permanent headcount. I retain ownership of an agreed programme, strategic function or set of priorities, working as part of the leadership team on a fractional basis.
This can follow a project engagement or begin directly where the requirement is already clear. Engagements are structured around an agreed monthly commitment and can scale up or down as organisational needs change.
Every engagement starts with a short conversation to understand the problem and agree the right starting point.
