Research Strategy Manager (Maternity cover)

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About us

The Centre for Developmental Neurobiology aims to understand the mechanisms that control brain development and how deviations from the normal plan lead to neurodevelopmental conditions. The Centre has a team of over 160 researchers and support staff and is based in New Hunt's House on Guy's Campus.

The Centre is part of the School of Neuroscience within the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience and has close links with several departments at our St Thomas' and Denmark Hill Campuses. The Centre for Developmental Neurobiology leads the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, dedicated to transforming our understanding of brain development to make clinical advances to improve the lives of those affected by neurodevelopmental conditions.

About the role

The Research Strategy Manager work closely with the Centre's Director, Professor Oscar Marín, contributing to scientific and strategic decision-making and overseeing the Centre's academic and public profiles. A significant part of the role involves implementing the Centre's research strategy, including delivering funding priorities and supporting the development and coordination of funding applications to various research funders and philanthropic donors. The Research Strategy Manager will also oversee the scientific operations of the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, a virtual centre focusing on identifying the biological mechanisms underlying developmental brain disorders.

The role will require strong working relationships with individual academics in the Centre, providing visible and responsive funding development support, promoting funding opportunities, and coordinating the internal peer review system. The postholder will work closely with the Director and others on strategic grant applications, including drafting aspects of the proposals.

Additionally, the Research Strategy Manager will coordinate and prepare reports for presentation and discussion at internal and external fora, such as Scientific Advisory Board visits. The successful candidate will manage external communications and the online presence of the two centres, preparing news for the media in collaboration with the Press Office, and will represent the centres in engagements with stakeholders and visitors.

The postholder will support and participate in the recruitment of group leaders to the Centre, overseeing mentoring and probation processes for tenure-track group leaders, and coordinating the Centre Steering Committee. The Research Strategy Manager will also coordinate an informal series of science-focused meetings between Centre academics and undertake other duties appropriate to the role as directed by the line manager.

This post will be offered with informal hybrid working arrangements, typically requiring three days per week on campus. There will be occasional out-of-hours working (for scientific events, for example) and occasional overnight stays.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed-term contract from May 2026 to January 2027, or until the return of the substantive post holder (maternity cover)

About you

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

Essential criteria

1. PhD in neuroscience or relevant biomedical discipline or equivalent research experience
2. Experience of working in an academic research or research funding environment in a management capacity
3. Knowledge of the UK research funding environment for science and/or biomedicine
4. Excellent ability to synthesise information from scientific literature and communicate it in both scientific and non-specialist language
5. Excellent communication, writing, and presentation skills
6. Experience of building and maintaining productive relationships with scientists, academics, or other relevant stakeholders
7. Experience of managing multiple projects at varying stages of development under time and resource pressure
8. Proactive and able to work independently

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of writing and/or coordinating research funding proposals
2. Experience of organising and running scientific events, e.g., conferences or symposia

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.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ' How we Recruit' pages.