Group R&I Operations Manager

St. George's University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

St. George's University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is seeking a senior role to oversee research governance, performance management, and collaboration across Trust divisions. You will lead budgeting, budgeting sign-offs, and financial planning for NIHR/ RRDN funded projects.

The post requires extensive experience in NHS research environments, strong leadership, and the ability to work across multiple sites and external partners to promote robust research delivery.

Qualifications

• Experience of developing and implementing new practices within a complex organisation.
• Experience in performance management across a large field or organisation.
• Knowledge of NHS R&D practices and current priorities.

Responsibilities

• Raise the research profile across the Trust and public domain.
• Identify NIHR portfolio opportunities and promote to investigators.
• Support research-active clinicians to develop proposals and funding sources.
• Ensure governance, quality management, and compliance across the directorate.
• Oversee budgeting, financial planning and cost monitoring for research awards.

Skills

Project management

Communication skills

Negotiation

Change management

Education

First degree or equivalent qualification/experience

Postgraduate degree (Master's level)

Job description

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Operational Oversight & Performance Management

• Raise the research profile across the Trust's and Public domain, supporting and encouraging staff to participate in research
• Proactively identify research opportunities within the NIHR portfolio and with commercial partners, where the Trust's might be eligible to participate, and promote these to potential investigators.
• Support research active clinicians to develop new research proposals, including providing advice about funding sources and signposting to other sources of assistance to maintain study integrity and support delivery
• Advise on feasibility aspects of studies, working with research governance colleagues.
• Ensure governance and compliance requirements of GESH led and hosted research
• Contribute to the effective oversight of the organisational Quality Management System
• Work with research teams to support sustainable and cost-effective research infrastructures.
• Develop systems and processes within EDGE to monitor and improve research infrastructure and support services.
• Act as escalation point for setup issues including contracting, NCVR, AcoRD, and sponsorship.
• Ensure that Department of Health, NIHR and HRA guidance and other government policies affecting NHS research are implemented in the trust.
• Work closely colleagues to provide guidance, training and support to researchers in order to promote robust research methodology and compliance with research governance

Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure robust governance arrangements & systems are in place tp ensure compliance across GESH with all relevant regulations and legislation, for example Human Tissue Act, Medicines Act, Data Protection Act, GDPR, HRA, MHRA and EMEA
• Provide research governance expertise ensuring quality assurance across the directorate
• Support investigators and their research teams with incident reporting and to research governance, including supporting with corrective and preventative action (CAPA), with the R&D Auditor and research monitors
• Manage standard operating procedures (SOPs) and research governance guidance related to research Governance and research Performance activity
• Ensure that the identification and clarification of sponsorship responsibilities between GESH and external collaborators, such as City St Georges UoL,
• Work with the R&I Auditor and any wider team to oversee the study risk-assessment process and give mitigation advice to the highest-risk sponsored studies that are referred, escalating as appropriate

Collaboration & External Engagement

• Promote collaborative working across Trusts, regional partners, and NIHR/CRN.
• Attend RRDN South London meetings and build networks with key research stakeholders.
• Liaise with commercial companies to negotiate Clinical Trial Agreements and costing templates.
• Form relationships with research leaders and operational managers to promote research engagement.

Financial Responsibility

• Establish and maintain effective working relationships with R&I Finance Department to ensure an accurate and efficient service for researchers undertaking clinical research in relation to the costing of their research.
• Liaise with post-award administration staff across collaborators and R&D Finance within the Trust to ensure accurate and timely management of research funding and transparency of financial information between organisations.
• Advise on financial implications of research decisions and identifying cost efficiency opportunities in research management
• Contribute to financial planning by providing accurate information and activity estimates for projects and initiatives.
• Budget management of expenditure for specific research awards, such as NIHR/RRDN, including regular monitoring and reporting of variances, and escalating significant deviations to senior management for review and corrective action.
• Lead on the development and management of the R&I operational budget where required, including forecasting, resource allocation, and monitoring against agreed targets
• The post holder will have research budget sign off responsibilities

Staff and HR Management

• Provide line management to the NHS R&I set up and auditing team across the division
• Liaise closely with all research active support personnel
• Identify and contribute to own personal professional development through the appraisal process.
• Work across all sites and attend external meetings on behalf of the Trust
• Ensure team members stay updated on national research governance changes and complete mandatory training.
• Develop training programmes and competency frameworks to ensure that the Research Governance team are fully trained in line with SOPs and internal guidance across GESH trust's

Communications and Liaison

• Nurture key relationships and maintain networks internally and externally
• Promote collaborative working across trusts, and between trusts and NIHR/RRDN.
• Communicates the results of research studies and local analyses in a variety of ways, eg. to the Board of Directors and the Patient Participation Group
• Co-ordinate and disseminate information regarding Trust research activities
• Form relationships with research leaders across clinical divisions and with relevant operations and service managers to promote engagement with research.
• Disseminate research training / funding opportunities to staff

General

• Have responsibility for the Health, Safety and Welfare of self and others and to always comply with the requirement of the Health and Safety Regulations.
• Always ensure confidentiality, only releasing confidential information obtained during employment to those acting in an official capacity in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act and its amendments.
• Work in accordance with the Group's Equality and Diversity policy to eliminate unlawful
• discrimination in relation to employment and service delivery.
• Always promote equal opportunities for staff and patients in accordance with the Groups's policies to ensure that no person receives less favorable treatment than another on the grounds of: age; disability; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race (ethnicity); religion or belief; sex (gender); gender reassignment or sexual orientation
• Ensure skills are up-to-date and relevant to the role, to follow relevant Group and Trust policies and professional codes and to maintain registration where this is a requirement of the role.
• Comply with the Group's No Smoking Policies.
• Harness performance through teams - champion positive change, develop staff, create a culture without fear of retribution, actively listen, value contribution of others respect diversity
• Undertake such duties from time to time that are consistent with the responsibilities of the grade and the needs of the service

This job description is not an exhaustive document but is a reflection of the current position. Details and emphasis may change in line with service needs after consultation with the postholder.

Person specification

Education/Qualification

Essential criteria

• A first degree or equivalent qualification/ experience. ideally in the Life or Clinical sciences
• Postgraduate degree (Master's level) or equivalent experience demonstrating advanced knowledge in clinical research management, health sciences, or related field

Desirable criteria

• Project Management qualification

Experience/Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Experience of developing and implementing new practices and policies within a complex organisation
• Experience of performance management across a large field or a large organisation
• Previous experience of research systems including (but not limited to) IRAS, EDGE etc.
• Experiencing of managing/ supporting clinical trials
• Experience of running training sessions for staff, including developing training materials and delivering presentations
• Good knowledge of current NHS/NIHR research priorities and structures
• Experience of management in a clinical research environment (NHS , HEI or Industry)
• Understanding of current NHS R&D practices and processes

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working with national/regional organisations
• Experience in managing project costs and ensuring compliance with financial policiesProven responsibility for setting and managing budgets within a complex healthcare or research environment.
• Knowedlege of the national healthcare research strategy

Skills

Essential criteria

• Excellent communication and presentational skills, both written and oral, and experience of communicating complex issues to a variety of audiences, and the ability to liaise effectively with senior colleagues both within and outside the organisation
• The ability to read and analyse complex documents and extract salient information to give clear explanations and advice to colleagues at all levels of experience and seniority
• Project management skills, experience of planning and managing projects, and the ability to plan, manage and deliver complex projects, involving multiple agencies and individuals and a range of tasks, to tight deadlines
• Negotiation skills and experience of negotiating with external bodies to achieve organisational objectives

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of change management principles and an understanding of how people go through a change and the change process
• Demonstrated understanding of financial governance and accountability in a research or organizational context.