King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About Us

The School of Life Course & Population Sciences (SLCPS) unites over 400 experts in women and children’s health, diabetes, nutritional sciences, population health and the molecular genetics of human disease. Our research links the causes of common health problems to life’s landmark stages, treating life, disease and healthcare as a continuum.

By exploring the life course of health and disease, we approach medicine in a different way.

We are interdisciplinary by nature and this innovative approach works: REF 2021 ranked King’s the top UK institution for research, GPA and power of the 89 submissions in Allied Health Professions & Pharmacy (Pharmacy, Nutritional Sciences and Women's Health cluster).

Based across King’s Denmark Hill, Guy’s, St Thomas’ and Waterloo campuses, our academic programme of teaching, research and clinical practice is embedded across six Departments. 

About the role

The post of Senior Research Operations Officer in the School of Life Course and Population Sciences provides research operations support to the School, working in a team led by the School’s Research Operations Manager.

The post holder will work closely with the School Research Manager and the core Professional Service team to support pre-award processes including grant applications, award acceptance and award set up across the School departments. They will also support post-award processes such as providing guidance to our Academics on eligible and ineligible costs on a grant, monitoring budgets, flagging risks with the School Research Operations Manager, helping find solutions to issues as they arise.

The post holder will forge good working relationships with the Research Management & Innovation Directorate (RMID) and champion the use of the university’s systems (in particular our Research Grants Management system Worktribe and our Finance System Business World).

This is a part time post (14 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. Minimum level 4 qualification, e.g., higher apprenticeship, HNC or other Level 4 award, plus work experience in relevant posts OR Considerable knowledge and skills in grant management or similar areas of work (e.g., contracting, business development, operations support, finance/accounting) gained through work experience in relevant posts
2. Experience of using databases, management information systems (such as Worktribe/ LUCRE or similar research grants management system, and/or Business World, Oracle, Agresso or other finance system) and Excel
3. Excellent spoken and written communication skills, and evidence of negotiation and influencing skills and of report writing
4. Accuracy and attention to detail, and the ability to follow guidance and instruction
5. Excellent numeracy skills with strong skills in data analysis
6. Experience of financial planning and monitoring, including preparing budgets, financial profiling, drafting business plans, and monitoring key performance indicators and risks

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of working in a higher education institution, or research funder
2. Knowledge of the regulatory, policy and procedural context along with the challenges and opportunities faced by the Higher Education sector
3. Knowledge of research practice and policy in Health (bioscience / medicine)  

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 next page after you click “Apply Now”. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university. 

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension. 

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination. 

 When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance. 

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 person specification section of the job description. 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. 

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day. 

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

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 February.