DiSSCo UK Senior Grants Operations Manager

DiSSCo UK Senior Grants Operations Manager

Salary: £46,743

Band: UKRI Band E

Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 0.8 FTE)

Contract Type: 3 years Fixed Term

Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire

Employees applying for any opportunity which may mean being away from your substantive role for a temporary period, please refer to the Recruitment Policy and associated guidance for further information in the first instance. If you are made an offer, please ensure you liaise with your line manager and the designated HR team as soon as possible in order that implications of any move are clear and understood, prior to a move taking place.

About the Role

The Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK (DiSSCo UK) is a £155.6 million investment for a national infrastructure programme to digitise 37 million natural science specimens. To deliver this exciting new programme, AHRC, alongside their delivery partner the Natural History Museum (NHM), are developing a DiSSCo UK delivery team to manage the programme on a day-to-day basis. This new team will be based at Swindon (with strong links to London) and will be responsible for managing the contract with the external evaluation supplier, leading on benefits management, engaging with relevant communities, measuring the impacts of the programme, and ensuring that impacts, outputs and outcomes are reflected upon, reported and communicated in a timely and effective manner. Some of the key activities for the team will be supporting grant holders, designing, and delivering future funding opportunities, and capturing programme and project level impacts.

Purpose

The role will oversee the direct awards to the Natural History Museum for delivering the programme and for the digitisation grants awarded to the wider consortium. The role will report into the DiSSCo UK Team Head and will liaise with all members of the team. The role offers opportunities for travel, professional development, and the chance to build knowledge of stakeholder engagement and programme level communications. As this role will involve interaction with grant holders and stakeholders, as well as attendance at events and conferences, the role will involve regular travel, including overnight and international travel.

Your Responsibilities

The Senior Operations Manager will:

Oversee the grants funded through the DiSSCo UK funding calls, being the strategic lead for all funding opportunities.

Support the team head with finance.

Support the Impact and Engagement Manager with complex grant holder queries.

Work collaboratively and effectively with DiSSCo UK colleagues at NHM, adapting and communicating to ensure shared goals are met and staff feel supported.

Manage the DiSSCo UK project risk register, including reporting on risk to the DiSSCo UK Programme Board.

Develop and maintain close working and strategic relationships with colleagues across AHRC and UKRI to align activities and priorities, and to ensure UKRI financial, grant management and recruitment processes are followed.

Be involved in cross-team working with delivery partners NHM, and the Research and Innovation Infrastructure Team on related portfolios.

Work collaboratively with NHM colleagues to support the work of the DiSSCo EU European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).

Support on the delivery of future programme approvals including Gate Reviews.

Line management of the Investment Manager, providing line and task management, and supporting their professional development.

Develop and maintain an overview of developments in the digital research infrastructure and natural science collections landscape, strategic partners, and other funders, relevant to the remit of the role.

Person Specification

The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I)

Essential

Project management skills, including budget and/or financial management. (S&I)

Good understanding and experience of risk management; identifying, communicating, and mitigating risk in projects. (S&I)

Experience of using data and evidence to make decisions. (S&I)

Business Process: Ability to problem solve and find answers to difficult questions, and manage complex workloads with multiple deadlines and priorities. (S&I)

Experience of leading or managing activities with multiple internal/external partners. Some understanding of commercialisation within research projects and research areas would be helpful. (S&I)

Strong, collaborative team working skills, including collaborating with colleagues to prioritise tasks and maximise resources. (S&I)

Good interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences. (S&I)

Experience of managing or supervising staff and supporting staff development. (S&I)

To apply you must attach your CV (2 pages max.) and a covering letter (2 pages max.), ensuring that your cover letter addresses the essential shortlisting and interview criteria.

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!

A list of benefits below:

An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme.

30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent).

Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities.

Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice.

Flexible working options.

Plus many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance!

For further information on our benefits please see:

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

UKRI is an Equal Opportunity & Disability Confident Employer.

Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact Recruitment@ukri.org