About the job

Job summary

Senior Programme Manager (Talent and Skills)

Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC) 
Salary: £43,116
Band: UKRI E
Hours: Full time 
Contract Type: Fixed Term (12 months)
Location: Polaris House, Swindon - Hybrid working.
Division/Section: Research and Skills – Talent and Skills team
Closing Date: 05/05/24 

Job description

As a NERC Senior Programme Manager (PM) you will join the Talent and Skills team within the NERC Research and Skills Directorate and you will engage with the academic community, business and policy makers to invest in and maintain the UK’s position at the forefront of environmental research and innovation both nationally and internationally.

You will:

• Lead on the development and delivery of NERC and UKRI investments focused on responsive studentships.
• Be working with the NERC community and other collaborators from the public and private sectors and helping to maintain strong partnerships.
• Have an interest in programme delivery and management across a range of aspects including specifically for this role in studentship and fellowship funding competition management and post-award monitoring and engagement.
• Have strong organisational, team-working and time-management skills, and excellent attention to detail.
• Be Self-motivated, quick to learn and flexible enough to manage a diverse and rapidly changing portfolio of activities, and work to deadlines.

What we offer

This role will broaden your skills by giving you the opportunity to manage your own projects and activities within the wider scope of the Talent and Skills team, and in the future this may expand to other areas of NERC Head Office activity. You will help to develop and structure ideas for future activities in a strongly team-based organisation as well as working with other Government Departments, other Councils within UKRI and international agencies.

Person specification

Essential Skills

• Graduate-level understanding of environmental science and the breadth of the remit.
• Functional working understanding and experience of the research and innovation landscape in the UK and particularly the postgraduate training environment and/or communities supported by NERC.
• Demonstrable experience and evidence of managing complex, multi-partner grants.
• Demonstrable experience and evidence of strategic level thinking and ability to resolve complex problems, balancing a number of factors.
• Good understanding of policy and its development.
• Effective interpersonal skills, with experience of building effective working relationships.
• Effective team worker with the ability to work flexibly and collaboratively as part of a team and across organisations with people of all levels.
• Demonstrable track record in influencing effectively (both verbal and written media) across teams, wider organisation and external partner communities.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,116, UK Research and Innovation contributes £11,641 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

How to apply:

For full details on the role, please visit our careers site. Please submit an application including your CV and a Cover Letter that clearly showcases how your skills and experience align to the requirements of the role.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.