Partnership Manager - Research Strategy and Services - 105819 - Grade 8

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Birmingham seeks a Partnership Manager for the RESILIENCE Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellence. This full-time role involves engaging with industry stakeholders, managing partnerships, and delivering high-quality training. The successful candidate will have a strong background in project management and a degree in a relevant field. This position offers a competitive salary and a range of benefits, including generous holiday and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

40 days paid holiday

Occupational sick pay

Pension scheme

Paid day for volunteering

Subsidised day nurseries

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level in a relevant subject.
• Experience of leadership in project planning.
• Exceptional networking and relationship building skills.

Responsibilities

• Manage development of partnerships at a senior level.
• Identify new opportunities to engage industry stakeholders.
• Support strategic plans for financial sustainability.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Networking

Project Management

Strategic Planning

Education

Degree in Medicines Manufacturing

Tools

MS Office

Website Editing Software

Job description

Position Details

Research Strategy and Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,735 to £55,755 with potential progression once in post to £62,728

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to March 2026

Closing date: 5th June 2025

UK travel may be required for this role.

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, andweare equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here todevelopthrough our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programmewhichprovides allprofessionalservices staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.With almost 5,000professionalservices jobs in a wide-range of functionsin Edgbaston andin our campus inDubai, there are plenty of opportunities foryou to be able to develop yourcareer at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are,and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees andtothe success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer avarietyof flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 dayspaid holidaya year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops,places to eat and drink,our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about thebenefits of working for the Universityof Birmingham

Background

The RESILIENCE Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellenceis a partnership between theUniversity of Birmingham,University College London,Heriot-Watt University,Teesside UniversityandBritest Limited.

The Centre brings togetherleading regional training providersto support the UK life sciences workforce bydeliveringhigh quality training and outreach, spanning the entire careers pipeline for industry, academia, and the NHS.

Part of the Research Strategy and Services Division, the Business Engagement & Research Impact team provides sector-leading support and drive to the University’s externally facing research, innovation ambitions and ensures that real world impact of this activity is identified, tracked and evidenced. Bringing together business-focussed experts who work across all sectors, geographies, and business sizes, the team is a critical element of our wider research ecco-system. From supporting student placements and graduate employment to helping business get involved in our innovations to achieve their own goals, the team facilitates collaboration across R&D and business strategy, and offers a stimulating and supportive work environment.

Role Summary

The post holder will work collaboratively with a national consortium (RESILIENCE, UK Medicines Manufacturing Skills Centre of Excellence - https://www.resilience-skills.com/) to deliver high quality training and outreach, spanning the entire careers pipeline for industry, academia and NHS, sharing best practice and adopting common, state of-the-art approaches to training delivery i.e. digital transformation using virtual reality and mixed reality (VR/MR).

The Partnership Manager will inspire Stakeholders to engage with the programme, participate in activities across the consortium and facilitate interactions across partner institutions to sign up members to the RESILIENCE Affiliate Member Programme.

As the Partnership Manager you will be responsible for mobilisation and engagement of the industry and stakeholder membership; supporting a UK-wide consortium. You will be expected to identify new opportunities to engage industry, sector organisations, further education, higher education and schools with the programme. This will require you to communicate and work at a senior management level within the consortium members, research and professional staff supporting the programme and more widely with external organisations, School and College staff.

Main Duties

Establish and manage the development of partnerships at a senior level with:

• Companies: to understand their training needs / interests and requirements and to facilitate their engagement with the programme activities and
• Relevant city, regional, national and international business networking
• Support the academic research leads within the programme in identifying opportunities for engagement with relevant businesses where appropriate, through the proactive engagement with the wider medicines manufacturing sector.
• Working with University Contracts and Legal Services teams where appropriate, lead or support the negotiation of terms on external contracts relevant to the programme and ensure all contractual arrangements associated with research and translational funding are robust, minimising risk and optimising value to the University.
• Manage development and implementation of the plans for dissemination and exploitation of the results from the programme.
• To support the strategic plans to enable financial sustainability of the programme after the initial funding period
• To contribute to the development and management of the programme website as a resource of information, knowledge exchange and communication.
• To influence decision making on the direction and priority of research and knowledge transfer activities through effective market intelligence gathering, analysis and reporting, including the evaluation of broader political, economic and social trends as they relate to relevant areas of the jobholder’s designated areas of responsibility.
• Share knowledge and understanding of common activity with other staff supporting research within the Research Delivery team, Research Strategy and Services Division (RSSD) and across the wider University, to collaborate with them as appropriate.
• Seek operational and process improvements wherever possible.
• A highly developed capacity for short, medium and long-term strategic planning.
• A practical understanding of the strategic management of business partnerships from the identification of opportunities through to completion and ‘sign off’.Actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
• Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) in a subject relevant to the Medicines Manufacturing sector plus significant relevant practical experience – where no equivalent qualification is held substantial practical relevant experience and expertise in a series of progressively more demanding roles will be required.
• Experience of leadership of project planning (bid, delivery and dissemination) on timescales of months to years.
• Knowledge and expertise of the external research funding environment in Higher Education desirable.
• Successful track record and expertise in the formulation of financial sustainability strategies, including research and knowledge transfer grants, bids and proposals for public and private funding and ability to provide academics with detailed direction on scoping and developing bids/grants applications drawing together complementary inputs and data to enhance the quality of the final applications.
• Exceptional networking and relationship building skills and experience in the formation and management of strategic relationships, preferably at a senior management level.
• Strong communicator. Able to present to groups, negotiate a position, structure and present complex ideas (including scientific and technical subject matter) and data in writing and translate such complexity to make it accessible to others, including to non-experts / lay persons.
• Experience in the leadership of multi-partner project teams involving research and industrial partners towards successful achievement of target goals.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
• Authoritative knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures relevant to the role, including broader sector/commercial awareness.
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
• Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
• Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action

Role context

Roles at this level provide authoritative professional advice across a range of activities and/or will lead and manage diverse team(s) and resources. You will use your professional skills to resolve problems where the solution is not immediately apparent. Significant evaluation and independent thought is therefore required to resolve ambiguity. You will have wide discretion to decide on direction whilst ensuring activities are broadly consistent with operational policies. You will be able to influence policy through advising on the impact of policy change and implementation in your area of work. You will need to assess the impact of your activities across your area, with related areas and to ensure they fit with the broader objectives of the University.

Core competencies/transferable skills

Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully use the following core competencies/transferable skills in each of the areas shown below. You will be expected to take ownership for getting things done, including calling on or joining others to assist. You will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider University.

Planning and organising

• provide professional expertise, and manage resources and/or a diverse team;
• integrate and co-ordinate work across different parts of the department/university;
• lead and manage staff who are likely to be carrying out diverse duties, and ensure collaborative working to deliver a successful service;
• project manage activities to facilitate major changes;
• develop policy within functional guidelines, and contribute to strategic development within own area;
• be accountable for the quality and professionalism of service delivery, with an appreciation of longer term issues.

Problem solving and decision making

• anticipate, interpret and assess customer needs, identifying trends, generating original ideas and testing innovative solutions;
• deal with significant people management issues such as change programmes;
• resolve issues which may not have arisen before through use of experience and judgement.

Organisational understanding

• has an excellent understanding of their own working area and a broad understanding of the contribution other areas make to the success of the University;
• has an excellent understanding of how the University operates, together with an understanding of how academia operates in the UK;
• demonstrates empathy with the academic endeavour and seeks to encourage others to do so.

Relationships and communication

• use coaching skills to motivate and develop staff;
• proactively and sensitively manage the performance of their team and create a motivating environment;
• influence others (including across the University) to follow a particular course of action;
• represent the department at internal and external meetings/events/network with colleagues in other institutions to share best practice.

Informal enquiries to Richard Fox, email: [e-mail]

View our staff values and behaviourshere

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyoneon our website.