Senior Research Contracts Manager - Finance Office
- Employer
- Global Academy Jobs
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Salary
- £40,792 - £54,765
- Closing date
- Sep 18, 2019
View more
- Sector
- Business and Finance
- Hours
- Full Time
- Organization Type
- University and College
- Jobseeker Type
- Academic (e.g. 'Lecturer')
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Job Details
The Senior Research Contracts Manager reports to the Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange (KE) Contracts within the Research Contracts team. The post holder will be responsible for the management, motivation and development of a team of Research Contracts Officers supporting specific Colleges / Schools. He / she will be responsible for instilling a service-oriented culture within their team, ensuring that the contract support needs of the academic research community are consistently met or exceeded in the preparation, review, negotiation and approval of a broad range of research contracts within agreed timescales, the appropriate assessment of contractual risk and the timely resolution of complex contractual queries. This will require the post holder to prepare and negotiate complex contracts and to draft bespoke contract documentation in response to specific research contract needs.
As a team leader the post holder will be required to monitor service performance and where appropriate implement system and process improvements to respond to changing needs and circumstances and ensure that their team can deliver consistently outstanding support to instructing academics. He / she will have a key role in coaching and supporting their team to recognise the appropriate balance of maximising benefit and minimising risk to the University as a result of the academic activities undertaken to deliver the University's external research portfolio. This requires an understanding and interpretation of external influences and their effects on research activities and attendant risk, and the ability to instigate and lead change in response to these influences.
The post holder must ensure that their team are kept up to date with relevant changes in the Law and amendments to the team's portfolio of precedent documents. This will also involve ensuring regular training and updating sessions take place with the contract officers.
The post holder should be able to understand, interpret and communicate relevant features arising from the complex structure of the University's system of financial control, with particular regard to research business, to staff at all levels. He / she should also provide high level professional and technical support to the Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange Contracts. The post holder will be expected to contribute proactively to the continuous improvement of research support systems and processes leading to the delivery of consistently outstanding support services to the academic research community.
Main duties
Team management
- Responsibility for management of a team of Contracts Officers and related support staff (currently 5 Contracts Officers).
- Responsibility for setting the professional standard and the collaborative culture in which the team operates and acting as a role model for the team in terms of output quality, service delivery and a customer-focused ethos.
- Supervising contracts officers in their workloads, monitoring performance standards to ensure standard operating procedures complied with and a professional service is provided which consistently meets the needs and expectations of the academic research community.
- Responsible for all personnel issues for the team, referring issues to line manager/HR as appropriate and carrying out all staff reviews and appraisals.
- Ongoing development of team members through coaching and training, both formal and informal.
Service provision
- Responsible for ensuring effective and professional delivery of contracts review and advisory services by the team of Contracts Officers, in accordance with agreed review and negotiation frameworks, providing fully worked out, informed solutions to individual academics and Budget Centres for external contracts.
- Responsibility for drafting, reviewing and negotiating a caseload of research contracts; these are likely to be high value, complex, or strategically important contracts on behalf of senior academic staff or significant framework agreements.
- Working collaboratively with colleagues to ensure flexible working between the Contracts teams in response to service demands.
- Resolution of complex contractual issues, taking forward negotiations with stakeholders (funders, academic leaders, and Heads of School) to arrive at mutually agreeable positions.
- Ensure that service complaints or concerns are dealt with in a consistent and robust manner, taking personal responsibility for complaint resolution and applying lessons learned to drive process improvement where possible/applicable.
- Ensure that the team maintain an appropriate balance between mitigation of risk for the University and the need to conclude contract negotiations in a timely manner on behalf of researchers.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with key contacts in Colleges and Schools, in order to monitor service provision, making recommendations to the Head of R&KE Contracts as necessary.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with legal contacts in the major commercial or other partners dealt with by the Colleges / Schools, in order to help ensure speedy resolution of issues.
- Delivery of training and awareness raising events to Colleges and Schools to promote awareness and understanding of the University's policies and standard contractual positions in relation to collaborative research.
Process improvement
- Ensure service standards and KPIs are continually monitored and where appropriate make changes to the team's prioritisation and internal resource allocation to ensure that the expectations of the research community and collaborative partners are met
- Ongoing review of standard precedent contracts, developing additional standard contracts as required to meet the needs of the team, as agreed with the Head of R&KE Contracts.
- Make recommendations to the Head of R&KE Contracts regarding the ongoing development of the University's frameworks for contract review and negotiation, based on their current operational effectiveness.
- Take a proactive role as a member of the Research Contracts management team in promoting teamwork and integrating operating processes between the contracts teams and the other functional teams within the Research Support Group
- Contribute fully to the development of improvements to University research support systems, including the new research grants IT system, ensuring that the contract team's operating needs are addressed and that the system improvements are effectively utilised to improve the support service delivered by the contracts team
Other duties as agreed with the Head of R&KE Contracts
- Investigation and analysis of specific legal or regulatory changes, and the implications for research collaboration and agreements, as directed by the Head of R&KE Contracts.
- Periodic high level contributions to other University or Finance Office initiatives
- Presentations to External Bodies and at high level within the University
- Membership of University wide Working Groups
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to degree standard.
- Understanding of the role of research contracts in a University's knowledge exchange and collaborative research activities with a wide range of partner organisations (e.g. small and large commercial organisations, health sector bodies, charities, public bodies, etc.).
- Extensive knowledge of contract law and practical experience in drafting and reviewing contracts, preferably including experience gained in a research contract role within the higher education sector.
- Experience of negotiating agreements for collaborative projects, working proactively with the academic and other stakeholders to seek as far as possible mutually agreeable terms in view of the risks, the partners involved, and University priorities.
- Good understanding of team management, motivation and development; demonstrable experience of successfully leading a team in a high-throughput customer-focused environment is desirable
- Proven ability to deliver service quality improvements, with a strong preference for a demonstrable track record of using KPIs to monitor service standards and drive innovative service quality improvement initiatives.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, including proven track record of engaging effectively with senior academic and professional services staff
Informal enquires to Amelia Petch, email: a.petch@bham.ac.uk
Position Details
Finance Office - Research Support Services
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £40,792 to £48,677, with potential progression once in post to £54,765
Grade 8
Full Time - Permanent
Closing date: 18th September 2019
We value diversity at The University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community' Valuing excellence; sustaining investment
As a team leader the post holder will be required to monitor service performance and where appropriate implement system and process improvements to respond to changing needs and circumstances and ensure that their team can deliver consistently outstanding support to instructing academics. He / she will have a key role in coaching and supporting their team to recognise the appropriate balance of maximising benefit and minimising risk to the University as a result of the academic activities undertaken to deliver the University's external research portfolio. This requires an understanding and interpretation of external influences and their effects on research activities and attendant risk, and the ability to instigate and lead change in response to these influences.
The post holder must ensure that their team are kept up to date with relevant changes in the Law and amendments to the team's portfolio of precedent documents. This will also involve ensuring regular training and updating sessions take place with the contract officers.
The post holder should be able to understand, interpret and communicate relevant features arising from the complex structure of the University's system of financial control, with particular regard to research business, to staff at all levels. He / she should also provide high level professional and technical support to the Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange Contracts. The post holder will be expected to contribute proactively to the continuous improvement of research support systems and processes leading to the delivery of consistently outstanding support services to the academic research community.
Main duties
Team management
- Responsibility for management of a team of Contracts Officers and related support staff (currently 5 Contracts Officers).
- Responsibility for setting the professional standard and the collaborative culture in which the team operates and acting as a role model for the team in terms of output quality, service delivery and a customer-focused ethos.
- Supervising contracts officers in their workloads, monitoring performance standards to ensure standard operating procedures complied with and a professional service is provided which consistently meets the needs and expectations of the academic research community.
- Responsible for all personnel issues for the team, referring issues to line manager/HR as appropriate and carrying out all staff reviews and appraisals.
- Ongoing development of team members through coaching and training, both formal and informal.
Service provision
- Responsible for ensuring effective and professional delivery of contracts review and advisory services by the team of Contracts Officers, in accordance with agreed review and negotiation frameworks, providing fully worked out, informed solutions to individual academics and Budget Centres for external contracts.
- Responsibility for drafting, reviewing and negotiating a caseload of research contracts; these are likely to be high value, complex, or strategically important contracts on behalf of senior academic staff or significant framework agreements.
- Working collaboratively with colleagues to ensure flexible working between the Contracts teams in response to service demands.
- Resolution of complex contractual issues, taking forward negotiations with stakeholders (funders, academic leaders, and Heads of School) to arrive at mutually agreeable positions.
- Ensure that service complaints or concerns are dealt with in a consistent and robust manner, taking personal responsibility for complaint resolution and applying lessons learned to drive process improvement where possible/applicable.
- Ensure that the team maintain an appropriate balance between mitigation of risk for the University and the need to conclude contract negotiations in a timely manner on behalf of researchers.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with key contacts in Colleges and Schools, in order to monitor service provision, making recommendations to the Head of R&KE Contracts as necessary.
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with legal contacts in the major commercial or other partners dealt with by the Colleges / Schools, in order to help ensure speedy resolution of issues.
- Delivery of training and awareness raising events to Colleges and Schools to promote awareness and understanding of the University's policies and standard contractual positions in relation to collaborative research.
Process improvement
- Ensure service standards and KPIs are continually monitored and where appropriate make changes to the team's prioritisation and internal resource allocation to ensure that the expectations of the research community and collaborative partners are met
- Ongoing review of standard precedent contracts, developing additional standard contracts as required to meet the needs of the team, as agreed with the Head of R&KE Contracts.
- Make recommendations to the Head of R&KE Contracts regarding the ongoing development of the University's frameworks for contract review and negotiation, based on their current operational effectiveness.
- Take a proactive role as a member of the Research Contracts management team in promoting teamwork and integrating operating processes between the contracts teams and the other functional teams within the Research Support Group
- Contribute fully to the development of improvements to University research support systems, including the new research grants IT system, ensuring that the contract team's operating needs are addressed and that the system improvements are effectively utilised to improve the support service delivered by the contracts team
Other duties as agreed with the Head of R&KE Contracts
- Investigation and analysis of specific legal or regulatory changes, and the implications for research collaboration and agreements, as directed by the Head of R&KE Contracts.
- Periodic high level contributions to other University or Finance Office initiatives
- Presentations to External Bodies and at high level within the University
- Membership of University wide Working Groups
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to degree standard.
- Understanding of the role of research contracts in a University's knowledge exchange and collaborative research activities with a wide range of partner organisations (e.g. small and large commercial organisations, health sector bodies, charities, public bodies, etc.).
- Extensive knowledge of contract law and practical experience in drafting and reviewing contracts, preferably including experience gained in a research contract role within the higher education sector.
- Experience of negotiating agreements for collaborative projects, working proactively with the academic and other stakeholders to seek as far as possible mutually agreeable terms in view of the risks, the partners involved, and University priorities.
- Good understanding of team management, motivation and development; demonstrable experience of successfully leading a team in a high-throughput customer-focused environment is desirable
- Proven ability to deliver service quality improvements, with a strong preference for a demonstrable track record of using KPIs to monitor service standards and drive innovative service quality improvement initiatives.
- Excellent communication and influencing skills, including proven track record of engaging effectively with senior academic and professional services staff
Informal enquires to Amelia Petch, email: a.petch@bham.ac.uk
Position Details
Finance Office - Research Support Services
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £40,792 to £48,677, with potential progression once in post to £54,765
Grade 8
Full Time - Permanent
Closing date: 18th September 2019
We value diversity at The University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community' Valuing excellence; sustaining investment
Company
Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.
"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."
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