Sneha Dhar

Innovation & Strategy Leader with 10+ years of international experience across UK, Germany and India. Secured £9M+ in public funding and supported startups raising capital across deep tech sectors including space, cybersecurity, health, biotech, and quantum. Experienced in building incubation programmes, mentoring founders, driving corporate strategy, and establishing high-impact international partnerships.

Proven track record of establishing cross-border partnerships and aligning stakeholders across government, academia, investors, and industry. Seeking senior innovation or strategy leadership roles. Open to relocation as needed.

Programme Manager, DeepTech Incubation at UKRI-STFC (2025-01 – Present)

• Managed the end-to-end customer journey for a portfolio of deep-tech startups, from onboarding through programme completion, ensuring high engagement, adoption, and successful outcomes.
• Delivered programme outcomes across start-up recruitment, portfolio development, and funding progression, supported by performance tracking and reporting.
• Built and maintained a high-quality deal flow by proactively sourcing, evaluating, and supporting early-stage health and bio tech ventures to submit competitive applications.
• Assessed start-up business plans (team capability, product-market fit, commercial strategy), providing structured, action-oriented feedback to enhance investment and growth readiness.
• Led mid-term and final review assessments for a portfolio of deep-tech startups, providing targeted recommendations on strategy, commercialisation, and investor readiness.
• Built trusted relationships with startup founders, providing ongoing strategic guidance, resolving challenges, and ensuring successful programme adoption and customer satisfaction.
• Managed strategic relationships with key ecosystem partners, including UKRI-BBSRC, NIHR, ESA, Lyva Labs, Sci-Tech Daresbury, NHS, Catapults, and regional authorities.
• Worked with marketing and communications teams to promote programme impact through case studies, stakeholder engagement, press releases, and targeted campaigns.
• Used programme performance metrics and customer feedback to identify improvement opportunities and deliver data-driven recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Designed and delivered investor engagement initiatives, connecting 50+ institutional investors with 30+ venture-stage companies.
• Represented the organisation at national and international forums, strengthening partnerships and enhancing organisational visibility.

Business Development Manager at CISPA-Helmholtz Centre for Information Security (2024-01 – 2024-12)

• Enabled cybersecurity startups to secure up to €6M in public and private funding through strategic grant positioning and investor alignment.
• Mentored early-stage founders and research-led spin-offs on commercialization models, capital strategy, and market entry pathways.
• Spearheaded co-founder matching and executive team formation to strengthen venture scalability and investor confidence.
• Designed and delivered structured entrepreneurship workshops enhancing founder capability in fundraising, business modelling, and stakeholder engagement.
• Built strategic partnerships with VCs, industry leaders, and government bodies to strengthen CISPA's startup ecosystem competitiveness.
• Streamlined internal business processes using BPMN, improving operational efficiency and founder engagement workflows.

Strategy Consultant at Universal Consulting Pvt Ltd (2021-05 – 2021-12)

• Led the design of a 5-year growth strategy for a pharmaceutical client, targeting revenue expansion from £54M to £215M through structured market prioritisation and capability scaling.
• Architected and implemented a performance management framework aligned to strategic objectives, integrating a Balanced Scorecard approach across functions.
• Facilitated cross-functional strategy workshops with senior leadership to drive organisational transformation and execution clarity.
• Designed enterprise-level learning and capability development frameworks to support long-term strategic growth.
• Drove profitability by aligning individual and department-level KPIs to the company's overall strategy.

Senior Research Consultant at General Mills Inc. (2014-08 – 2019-01)

• Drove innovation strategy across multiple global food platforms, contributing to new SKU launches resulting in 35% revenue growth.
• Identified and evaluated high-growth opportunities in the plant-based dairy segment, contributing to a $130M expansion pipeline.
• Partnered with international stakeholders to shape market-entry and technology transfer strategies across regions.
• Delivered strategic insights to senior leadership through structured market intelligence and competitive analysis.
• Managed intellectual property portfolios via Anaqua to safeguard innovation pipelines and mitigate legal risk.
• Standardised research and reporting frameworks to improve cross-functional execution and stakeholder alignment.

Research Analyst at Aranca Pvt Ltd. (2012-07 – 2014-07)

• Inspired innovation by identifying white spaces, key partners, and innovation trends.
• Defined market strategies by analysing the market via detailed freedom to operate, patentability, novelty, state-of-the-art, and patent invalidation analysis.
• Led the development and execution of successful brand strategies in the FMCG industry.
• Collaborated with diverse stakeholders to help strategise product launches in Tier 2 and 3 cities across India.
• Managed teams and projects end-to-end, overseeing proposals, and delivering final reports.

Freelance Founder's Associate at Kuleana Inc. (2020-02 – 2020-04)

• Led rapid production scale-up of a plant-based seafood prototype from 0.1kg lab output to 5kg pilot-scale within one month, enabling early-stage commercialization readiness.
• Developed investor communication materials and fundraising strategy to support capital outreach.
• Designed cost-efficient and sustainable packaging roadmap aligned with high-volume production goals.
• Conducted market prioritisation analysis to identify high-potential entry markets and strategic distribution partners.

Business Development Associate at University of Strathclyde (2022-07 – 2023-01)

• Proposed a new, tailored business development model to create long-term, sustainable, capability-based international partnerships in line with the 2025 vision of a 40% increase in industrial PhD collaborations.
• Identified potential industry partners in Singapore and advised a strategic approach to industry collaboration.
• Developed engaging strategic content for the UniBuddy web platform to increase international student outreach.

MBA in Business Administration – University of Strathclyde (2022 – 2023)

Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice – Chartered Managers Institute (2022 – 2023)

MTech in Food Biotechnology – Institute of Chemical Technology (2010 – 2012)

BEng in Biotechnology – Shivaji University (2006 – 2010)