King's College London

About King's:

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Our ambitious Education Strategy sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.

Libraries & Collections comprises four departments: Education & Learning, Research & Impact, Service Design & Delivery, along with Business Operations. We are part of the Students & Education Directorate, which manages the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond.

About the role:

The purpose of the Open Research Manager (RDM & Metrics) is to provide operational management of research data management (RDM) services, developing and delivering researcher-focused services to support the effective management of research data and increase its impact across the university and externally. The role will also explore the responsible use of metrics and open research indicators to inform the work of the team. 

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to deliver an RDM service appropriate to the needs of researchers at King’s, and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise in research support and team management. This is an opportunity to grow your skills in service development and advocacy for open research.

The focus of the role is to provide advice and operational leadership on RDM, acting as an advocate and key contact on research data management across the University and within Libraries & Collections, embedding the university’s RDM Policy. You will be helping researchers, faculties, and the University in achieving compliance with the requirements of research funders’ RDM policies and making research data FAIR.

We encourage applications from candidates who have experience from both within and outside of the Higher Education sector where they can demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in this role.

All Libraries & Collections staff are encouraged to take responsibility for their own performance and development, through agreeing clear objectives, maintaining professional awareness, participating in professional networks and reflecting on their own performance. We expect all managers to adopt a positive, proactive, flexible and committed approach that inspires others.

You will be required to participate in frontline services as required, including contributing towards a Manager on Duty rota for evening and weekend working.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Relevant work experience and/or education: We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. Relevant work experience might include work in a university, research institute or relevant commercial setting. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training.
2. Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the experience of outreach activity such as the ability to present information and deliver training to a range of different audiences
3. Good knowledge of research data management and associated policies, as well as repository systems and issues associated with research data in a UK university
4. Experience of delivering RDM services, supervising or managing projects and/or service improvements
5. Experience of implementing change and supporting others through the process, balancing day-to-day operational activities with developing the service
6. Experience of managing and motivating staff for high performance
7. Ability to work independently in a fast-changing environment and to meet challenging deadlines
8. Ability to work effectively and proactively with other teams and stakeholders to provide a high-quality service
9. Commitment to equity, equality, diversity and inclusivity in your own learning and ways of working
10. Excellent liaison and interpersonal skills, preferably in an academic setting, for successful engagement with academics and researchers

Desirable criteria

1. Awareness of digital preservation requirements and activities
2. Understanding of the responsible use of metrics, open research indicators and relevant KPIs

Full details of the role and the skills and experience required can be found in the attached job description.

Further information:

Please submit a supporting statement when applying for this vacancy, clearly setting out how you meet the essential criteria, as this is how we shortlist applications. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please included your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our 'How we Recruit' page: www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/how-we-recruit 

 Interviews are scheduled for around mid-June.