Research Manager

Hire Purpose Ltd.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 52,000 - 68,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Office in Holborn

Job summary

Children with Cancer UK is seeking a Research Manager to build and deliver the research funding programme, shaping grant processes and establishing impact monitoring from the ground up. You will lead a small team, oversee peer review and grant management, and collaborate with clinical researchers and the research community.

The role offers hybrid working with three days in Holborn, London, and the opportunity to influence a growing portfolio (£5 million/year across ~50 active grants) to improve

Qualifications

• Experience in research funding operations within a UK medical research charity.
• Experience with peer review and grant management processes.
• Strong organisational skills and ability to own a growing portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Lead the operational delivery of our research funding programme across ~50 active grants.
• Oversee the portfolio and grant management procedures in line with best practice.
• Line-manage the Research Funding Officer and the Research Impact and Engagement Officer.

Skills

Grant management

Peer review

Line management

Stakeholder engagement

Project coordination

Education

Biology / Biomedical sciences degree

PhD or MSc desirable

Tools

Grant management software

Job description

Could you build the foundations of a research funding programme from the ground up?

Since 1988, Children with Cancer UK has raised more than £300 million and has funded over 200 research projects for children and young people with cancer.

We're now embarking on a brand-new phase, transforming how we fund future research projects and measure and evidence the real-world impact of every pound we invest. Lived experience will be positioned at the heart of our decisions as we develop new funding initiatives, strengthen our relationships with the research community, and expand opportunities for collaboration.

As Research Manager, you'll lead the operational delivery of our research programme, shape our grant processes, oversee the portfolio and build our research impact monitoring systems from scratch across a programme of around £5 million a year and 50 active grants.

You will also line manage a Research Funding Officer and a Research Impact and Engagement Officer.

This highly impactful role is ideal for someone who is excited by the opportunity to strengthen and modernise how funding is delivered in an area of huge unmet need and enormous potential. You will have well-defined experience in research funding operations and delivery in the medical research charity sector, with the desire to take ownership of a growing and ambitious research portfolio and play a central role in supporting the programme’s continued development.

What you'll build

• New funding initiatives: Deliver the next phase of our research funding programme as we build on and diversify our open grant round and introduce 2-3 new, targeted funding mechanisms a year. You'll work with the Head of Research to scope who each call targets and how it's structured, then coordinate putting it into practice.


• Impact monitoring from scratch: Lead and shape the development of the charity's approach to research impact and evaluation, have it running within your first year, and support the Research Impact and Engagement Officer to deliver it.


• Meaningful patient and public involvement: Grow the existing light-touch lay review process into PPI that shapes funding decisions.


• Strong foundations: Lead the operational delivery of every grant round, from applications and peer review to panels and funding recommendations for our committees, while owning peer review and grant management procedures and deliver in line with AMRC best practice.

Your team

Reporting into a Head of Research, you will manage two new officers, a Research Funding Officer and a Research Impact and Engagement Officer, playing a part in their recruitment. You'll also oversee how research works with the Marketing, Communications and Fundraising teams on case studies, lab visits and research news.

What your first year looks like

In your first three months, you'll take ownership of the operational delivery of our existing funding programme, launch a new funding call and begin working with the Head of Research on the development of new funding initiatives.

Using your own judgement on day-to-day grant management and operations, you'll design how rounds are run, how processes improve, and how new funding initiatives can be effectively delivered. Significant and strategic decisions sit with the Head of Research who sets strategy and holds the budget, and you'll contribute your ideas and expertise to support the development of the strategy and the research programme, collaborating on shaping the charity's next research strategy together.

By the end of your first year, you'll have strengthened our research funding processes, established the foundations for effective impact monitoring, and have played a key role in shaping and delivering the next phase of our research programme.

About you

You've worked in research funding within a UK medical research charity, and you will have first-hand experience of peer review and grant management. You may be a Research or Grants Manager, or a senior officer ready to step up. Either way, you want a role with more scope than running an established process.

You will bring:

• A degree in biology, biomedical science or a related field, with enough grounding to understand the scientific landscape and identify the right peer reviewers


• Experience of patient and public involvement in research, such as running lay review within funding rounds


• Confidence working with researchers, clinicians, committees and advisory panels


• Excellent organisation and judgement, and the initiative to take ownership of something new


• Line management experience

A PhD or MSc, research experience, FlexiGrant or other grant management software is desirable, but not essential.

If you have a passion for improving outcomes for children affected by cancer and can establish strong operational foundations, take ownership of grant funding delivery, and help grow this crucial programme, we would love to hear from me.

Please note this role is Hybrid with 3 days in our office based in Holborn, London.