Research Governance Manager
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About us
Research and innovation are at the heart of King's College London's mission to make a positive difference in the world. The Research Management & Innovation Directorate (RMID) leads this ambition by shaping and enabling the university's research and innovation agenda, ensuring an environment in which our researchers, professional staff and doctoral students can excel. This work is guided by King's Strategy 2030, which emphasises academic excellence, real-world impact, and a culture where research and innovation can truly thrive.
The Department of Research Governance, Ethics and Integrity (RGEI) plays a critical role in safeguarding the quality and credibility of King's research. The department ensures that all research conducted across the university is safe, ethical, lawful and carried out to the highest standards of integrity and rigour. Our teams develop and deliver policies, systems, guidance, training and initiatives that support researchers in navigating ethical and regulatory requirements, enabling them to conduct high-quality research with confidence while feeling supported and valued.
About the role
The Research Governance Manager post leads the Research Governance Office (RGO) at King's, providing operational research governance leadership to ensure all research sponsored by King's College London (KCL) is conducted in accordance with University policy, the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research, and all relevant legal and regulatory requirements.
The post holder will contribute to the effective and efficient support of research and innovation at King's through the delivery, promotion, and robust management of research governance processes across the College. They will lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of a broad range of institutional and local policies, procedures and guidance to support high-quality, compliant research activity.
The role holder will have, and continue to develop, an expert knowledge of research governance requirements across the evolving regulatory landscape, including guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA), the Health Research Authority (HRA) and NHS R&D. They will provide expert advice to researchers on HRA and university governance processes, including data protection legislation, NHS ethics requirements, and related regulatory pathways, and will lead the development of internal systems and processes to support these functions. The role holder will also provide specialist guidance on data governance requirements as related to research.
The role supports effective Sponsor oversight across the KCL research portfolio and works closely with colleagues across King's and King's Health Partners (KHP). The recent establishment of the KCL Clinical Research Hub and King's transition to a sole-sponsorship model for clinical IRAS research have led to the expansion of the Research Governance Office (RGO). The post holder will play a key role in supporting clinical research governance through this transition and will report to the Clinical Sponsor and Quality Lead.
The role is responsible for line managing the Research Governance Office team. The team sits in the Research Ethics, Governance & Integrity Department (RGEI) within the Research Management & Innovation Directorate (RMID).
King's adopts a hybrid working model. When on campus, the role holder will be based at the Lavington Steet Building, part of the King's Waterloo Campus, with a minimum on-site presence of one day per week.
This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract.
We reserve the right to close the application process early in the event of a large volume of applications.
About you
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
1. Professionally qualified with a relevant degree/postgraduate or PhD in a relevant subject area, plus a broad management experience in similar or related roles OR Substantial vocational and relevant management experience demonstrating management ability in an appropriate professional or specialist area, and success in similar or related roles, supported by evidence of significant appropriate specialist knowledge.
2. Expert knowledge of UK research governance requirements, including the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research, HRA processes, MHRA requirements, NHS R&D governance and associated legislation including UK GDPR.
3. Experience leading research governance support and Sponsor oversight activities across a research-intensive diverse portfolio, including CTIMPs/ATIMPs, device trials, clinical studies and non-clinical research.
4. Experience of developing, implementing and maintaining proportionate research governance policies, risk assessments, SOPs, and operational processes to ensure regulatory Sponsor compliance.
5. Experience of research monitoring, audit preparation, or quality assurance activities, including maintaining accurate governance records
6. Ability to provide authoritative advice to researchers and senior stakeholders on governance, ethics, sponsorship, and regulatory pathways.
7. Experience of working independently, showing initiative and making informed high-level decisions.
8. Proven line management and team leadership experience, including supporting staff development, managing workload, and ensuring high-quality service delivery.
Desirable criteria
1. Experience leading operational change in a complex research or regulatory environment.
2. Experience conducting audits and/or safety monitoring activities at a Sponsor level, including contributing to corrective and preventative actions.
3. Experience supporting governance and Sponsor oversight measures for overseas research.
4. Experience of applying data governance requirements in a research context, including advising on DPIAs, secure data environments and/or related GDPR compliance processes.
5. Working knowledge of UK funding body guidance and application processes, including costings for research and development activities and/or experience with research contracts.
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 page. 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.