King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About us:

The Faculty of Arts & Humanities plays a key role in delivering King’s College London’s commitment to addressing society’s grand challenges; making this happen through a wide range of intellectual exploration and innovative, interdisciplinary cultural understanding. As a University deeply rooted in both long-standing tradition and radical innovation, Arts & Humanities exemplifies our ambition to blend our long history of academic excellence with groundbreaking approaches to contemporary issues.

About the role:

The King’s Digital Lab (KDL) is seeking to appoint a Principal Research Software Analyst.

As a Principal Research Software Analyst, your primary task is to coordinate complex project teams involving researchers and internal and external contributors. You will have a number of projects to lead directly where you will take responsibility for the alignment of the design and delivery of technical solutions to research objectives and relevant requirements, and their integration into wider institution technical frameworks and strategies, working closely with the Principal Investigators (PIs), project managers and software engineers.

You are also expected to mentor other analysts in facilitating the communication between research and technical teams and in being the primary point of contact for digital projects assigned to them. You will undertake review and provide expertise to ensure funding proposals are high quality, appropriate research tools and methods are used, technical requirements are well-defined, robust processes are followed, estimates are accurate, and projects are delivered on time and to high scholarly standards.

You will be the primary point of contact for digital projects you lead, and the escalation point for projects led by analysts you line manage (e.g. advising in the production of solution overview documents, detailing technical requirements, timelines, and cost, suitable for inclusion in funding bids; reviewing technical and end user systems and tools documentation). 

You need to have demonstrable experience line managing and working with technical teams on complex projects involving computationally intensive research, data modelling & analysis, or web development. This will require proven leadership skills as well as excellent research domain knowledge and a solid understanding of digital research tools and methods. You will be inclusive in your approach to team culture and management, client facing and consultative in your approach to delivery, and innovative and flexible in your approach to problem solving. 

It is essential that you have a command of the strategical and technical aspects of the role as well as of the challenges of securing research funding and producing technical outputs in research-driven higher education environments. Interest in and/or skills related to one or more of KDL’s priority research themes would be desirable.

As principal analyst, you will line manage other research technical professionals and take a leading role in team or lab-level strategy related to management of the Software Development Life (SDLC) and other associated processes or standards, working with colleagues across the institution (including research institutes, eResearch, IT and library services as appropriate) and contributing to the conceptualisation and delivery of Faculty and College-wide relevant strategies (e.g. AI+ programme). You will draw on your leadership in, experience and knowledge of the national and international Digital Research Infrastructures (DRI) sector including the funding landscape and continue contributing to research-related software development advancement via associated communities.

This is a full time post, 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. Advanced degree in any research field, or equivalent professional experience working in a research & development role (academic or industry).
2. Demonstrable significant experience acting as lead analyst for major technical research projects by working with research software engineering teams and contributing to research through software development (e.g. in applying the fundamentals of database modelling and design to research-related problems).
3. Demonstrable significant experience in requirements analysis for research-related technical solutions and in translating complex research questions into technically tractable solutions working with Principal Investigators (PIs) at a professional research level, to secure funding and ensure research vision and/or research questions are integrated with technical design and development.
4. Demonstrable experience in line managing technical teams and mentoring other research technical professionals.
5. Recognised profile in the digital research infrastructures national and international sector with demonstrable experience in leading and contributing to networks, conferences and initiatives with associated outputs (e.g. published research outputs, technical reports, software, models, white papers or equivalent).
6. Significant experience in leading team or lab-level strategy related to management of the Software Development Life (SDLC) and other associated processes or standards supporting analysis-functions.
7. Demonstrable deep knowledge of several digital research tools & methods and expertise in developing strategies to remain ahead of the latest technologies.
8. Experience in software engineering, software development (e.g. Agile) and Research Data Management best practices.
9. A solid understanding of the higher education and research sectors including research funding landscape and instruments.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience in initiating and leading research grant proposals related to personal research.

2. Qualification in analysis-related industry frameworks such as IT business analysis or equivalent.

3. Knowledge of/experience with tools and practices related to one or more KDL’s priority Research Themes, such as:

• Digital Creativity: immersive/XR tools such as real time engines (e.g. Godot/Unity/Unreal,) WebXR libraries (e.g. three.js,) and 3D modelling tools (e.g. Blender, Maya.)
• Machine learning: methods and how to responsibly apply in applications.
• Data visualisation: methods and techniques to enhance access to complex datasets.
• Indigenous Digital Humanities: approaches and considerations appropriate for working in a range of cultural contexts and/or with culturally sensitive data.

4. Experience in teaching and training in a higher education and research context.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information:

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held in July 2025.