King's College London

About us

We are looking for an experienced contracts professional to be an integral member of the Contracts Team, which provides a professional, effective and efficient service for King’s researchers by drafting, reviewing, negotiating and advising on contracts from private and public sector organisations for King’s research and consultancy activity.

The Contracts Team Lead will support King’s strategy to increase income from industry and other funders through the negotiation of relevant contracts and agreements as well as promotion and input into the Contracts Team’s contractual and costing processes, with an emphasis on the efficient contractual management of larger and/or more strategic projects.

The Team Lead will manage a small team of Contracts Associates and have particular responsibility for the newly awarded Smart Trials Hub.

About the role

The Team Lead will be responsible for specific Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine (FoLSM) Schools within the Contracts Team remit and in particular, the contractual delivery of the UK Smart Trials Hub, a research facility that will study diverse patient data and samples to understand the mechanisms behind an individual’s response to treatments. The data generated in the Hub in partnership with clinical, academic and pharmaceutical partners will help to develop targets for and approaches to treat complex diseases and will require an experienced contracts professional to lead on a large workload of related agreements. In addition, the post will have line management responsibility for a small team of Contracts Associates and oversight for a specialised policy area across the whole team. They will be the key point of escalation within the team for such policy issues, as well as responsibility for tracking and monitoring their team’s work as well as their own.

Candidates should have experience of negotiating legal agreements, preferably in a university environment, policy development expertise and be confident and persuasive negotiators with a track record of successful negotiation with different stakeholders. Experience of costing and pricing project budgets is desirable. Applicants also require excellent organisational and communication and literacy skills, proven decision-making ability and be able to work well under pressure, both individually and as part of a team.

The Team Lead will secure optimum terms in research, service or research related agreements (including publication and intellectual property rights, institutional risk and liability exposure, strategic value general provisions, apportionment of risk and reward, reputational management), referring to the Director of Research & Consultancy Agreements where appropriate.

This will involve collaboration with partner organisations as well as service providers. The candidate will ensure the contracts they negotiate comply with King’s regulations and policies and, where relevant, those of external funding organisations and NHS collaborators.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), offered on an indefinite contract.

About you

Essential criteria

1.      Degree or equivalent professional qualification

2.      Proven track record of negotiation of research related contracts and agreements, including negotiation of intellectual property, liability/indemnity and price

3.      Proven negotiation/influencing skills in relation to external funders and partners and ability to analyse and problem solve complex contractual issues

4.      Proven track record of engaging with internal and external partners and promotion of activity or policy within an organisation

5.      Ability to manage a large and diverse turnover of bids and contracts and excellent organisation skills  (managing team workload and remit, multiple competing priorities)

6.      Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to explain complex ideas with clarity and liaise effectively with a wide range of stakeholders of varying seniority

7.      Sound numeracy/IT skills and knowledge of university research funding environment and full economic costing (TRAC fEC)

8.      Self-starting, a completer/finisher and able to work largely unsupervised

Desirable criteria

1.       Strong leadership skills and team management experience, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and ownership of driving staff development.

2.       Knowledge of regulations for research facilities

3.       Track record of promoting growth in a particular delivery area through promotional activities and implementing process change where necessary

4.       Working knowledge of the university research funding environment, including experience and familiarity with key funders’ terms and conditions

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.

Interviews are due to be held in early February 2025

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