King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About us

The UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) is the biggest UK initiative driving forward research is a globally leading multidisciplinary research institute of 850 staff investigating the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders causing dementia, with laboratory-based research groups located at University College London, the University of Cambridge, Cardiff University, Edinburgh University, Imperial College London and King’s College London.

Researchers at the UK DRI at King’s use innovative approaches to explore the biological mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative diseases. Their goal is to defeat dementia by uncovering vital new knowledge that will lead to the design of smarter diagnostics and effective treatments. The team aim to understand the fundamental biological processes involved in dementia at a molecular level – and to use that knowledge to design new ways to diagnose and treat disease more precisely.

About the role

The Centre Manager plays a key role in supporting our researchers to deliver on their goal. The postholder supports delivery of key research, impact/external engagement, and education objectives through managing the overarching operations and activity including financial management, human resources, governance, and reporting. Key functions of this role include providing high quality support and advice to academic and research staff, contributing to research strategy development, monitoring research performance, and strengthening relationships with funding bodies and external collaborators.

As the senior operational officer, the Centre Manager supports the Centre Director with finance, pre and post-award grant administration, HR (including senior academic recruitment), meeting and event organisation.  The Centre Manager liaises with investigators and administrative and operational leads of the other centres to monitor and report key performance indicators for regular reporting to the UK DRI Ltd., and other funders. The role is highly visible, both within King’s College and externally. The Centre Manager is the first point of contact for external queries relating to the UK DRI at King’s, for both internal staff (PIs and their researchers; central King’s teams including HR, finance, communications, procurement, etc.), and external stakeholders—the UK DRI, Ltd., partners, and collaborators.

The Centre Manager oversees resource management for the Centre to include human, physical, digital, financial, operational and equipment resources, ensuring value for money, efficiency and utilisation that meets the strategic and operational needs of the Centre both in the short- and long-term. They are responsible for centre events management, including meetings, conferences, seminar series and workshops, liaising with internal departments and external organising agencies where necessary. The Centre Manager coordinates the Centre’s funding strategy and activities, in collaboration with Centre leadership, School operational and administrative teams and the faculty Research team, leading on collation and submission of grant applications, donor proposals, and reporting materials.

This post would suit someone who has experience of managing a large research grant.

The Centre Manager reports to the UK DRI Centre Director, Jernej Ule and Head of School Operations, Vivien Cheah.

This is a part time post (17.5 Hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31st March 2028.

About you

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

Essential criteria

1. Extensive experience with all aspects of the research grant life cycle and management of collaborative multi-million-pound research awards using Worktribe, Unit4 and Flexigrant, including research and administration costings, procurement policies, purchasing, budgeting, reporting, and operational delivery.
2. An understanding of the mission and ethos of the UK DRI, its funding requirements and structure and relationship to its partners and researchers.
3. Demonstrable experience in a senior administrative/operational or management post in a lab-based research environment, preferably in HEI.
4. Experience with common recruitment policies and practices including drafting job descriptions, grading procedures, advertising, screening applications, organising, and conducting interviews.
5. Experience with effective change and problem management in a complex organizational structure.
6. Strong IT, oral, and written communication skills, with experience of analysing and conveying complex financial information and issues to a variety of audiences, and the ability to write clearly and concisely in preparing reports, guidelines, and procedures.
7. Able to think strategically and to contribute to strategic direction, with strong problem-solving skills.
8. Experience of managing a unit requiring strong interpersonal skills and excellent organisational and management skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively, meet tight deadlines whilst building effective working relationships with attention to appropriate stakeholder management.

Desirable criteria

1.  Experience in line managing other staff.
2. Postgraduate degree

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

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's.

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.

We are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who do not currently possess the right to work in the UK.