Senior Impact Engagement Manager

UKRI; Swindon; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 53,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading organization is seeking a Senior Impact Engagement Manager to enhance evidence delivery for environmental research. This role involves building relationships with key stakeholders, translating complex research impacts, and contributing to funding initiatives. Ideal candidates will have strong analytical skills and experience in engaging diverse audiences, alongside the potential for hybrid working.

Benefits

Defined benefit pension scheme

30 days' annual leave

Employee discounts

Employee assistance programme

Flexible working options

Qualifications

• Experienced in impact and engagement within research sector.
• Experienced in influencing senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively, both written and verbal.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional impact and engagement expertise.
• Build relationships with stakeholders to amplify impact evidence.
• Translate complex evidence into compelling formats for diverse audiences.

Skills

Impact Engagement

Stakeholder Communication

Analytical Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Job description

Senior Impact Engagement Manager

Salary: £45,272 per annum (dependent on skills and experience).
Band: UKRI E
Team: Impact and Outcomes
Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 30 hours per week)
Contract Type: Open Ended.
Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire - Opportunity for hybrid work arrangements.
Closing Date: 1st July 2025

We are looking for an experienced impact and engagement professional to help us land compelling impact evidence with key audiences. The Senior Impact Engagement Manager is a new role that will be critical to delivering NERC ambitions for green growth, environmental security and responsible innovation, and communicating how research and innovation benefits lives and livelihoods.

The UK’s world-leading environmental science is central to enabling the UK to grasp green growth opportunities and to address global challenges such as climate change. Effectively communicating to key stakeholders how environmental science makes a difference to the economy and our lives will help us to make the case for funding for environmental science, build partnerships to deliver research and impact, report on performance and celebrate success.

NERC has an established team skilled in producing impact evidence, and an extensive database of existing evidence. The role will capitalise on these opportunities, bringing professional impact engagement expertise to enable us to land the evidence more effectively with target audiences in UKRI, government and wider partners. The post holder will provide advice, guidance and support to teams in NERC Head Office and beyond.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional impact and engagement expertise.
• Build strong internal and external relationships that create opportunities for amplifying NERC’s impact evidence amongst key stakeholders.
• Act as a ‘translator’, taking complex evidence and reshaping it into compelling formats (e.g. narratives, briefings, presentations) suitably tailored for different audience needs.
• Identify what works for landing compelling evidence with key audiences to help to steer the team’s evidence work.
• Build productive relationships with NERC colleagues who engage stakeholders to understand opportunities and challenges, and to build confidence for communicating NERC’s impact.
• Build productive relationships with UKRI and external communications and engagement colleagues to influence and leverage wider opportunities for landing evidence.
• Engage with NERC-funded research centres to strengthen their evidence pipelines and leverage their engagement opportunities.
• Keep up to date with best practice in communicating impact evidence.
• Support other NERC Head Office priorities commensurate with the grade when needed.

Person Specification

The below criteria will be assessed at Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I)

Essential

• Experienced in impact and engagement within the research sector or comparable environment (S&I).
• Experienced in engaging and influencing senior stakeholders in government, business or the third sector through multiple channels (S&I).
• Proven ability to communicate effectively and persuasively, both written and verbal, appropriate to audiences (S&I).
• Proven ability to synthesise and summarise complex information for non-expert audiences (S&I).
• Enthusiastic self-starter able to solve problems and work independently as well as in a team (S&I).
• Effective administration, prioritisation and time management skills (S&I).
• Proficiency in IT (S).

Desirable

• Understanding of the application of environmental science to society’s needs (S&I).
• Experience of investigative research and analysis (S&I).
• Experience in monitoring and evaluating engagement activities (S&I).
• Experience of digital communication tools and platforms (S&I).

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!

A list of benefits below:

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme.
• 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent).
• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities.
• Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice.
• Flexible working options.

Plus many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance!

For further information on our benefits please see:

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

UKRI is an Equal Opportunity & Disability Confident Employer.

Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact [e-mail]

How to apply:

Please submit an application including your CV and a Cover Letter that showcases how your skills and experience align to the requirements of the role.

A well thought through application providing evidence and examples of how you meet the advertised essential and desirable criteria for the post will be considered far more favourably than a generic covering letter and CV.

About Natural EnvironmentResearch Council (NERC)

NERC is the UK's leading funder of environmental science. Our scientists study and monitor the physical, chemical and biological processes on which our planet and life itself depends – from pole to pole, to the deep Earth and oceans, to the atmosphere and space. The science we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future UK prosperity by contributing to a safe, healthy, productive nation. Many programmes involve collaborations with national and international partners to tackle large-scale environmental science challenges, including those faced by developing countries.

As well as research, innovation and training are supported from the NERC core budget. There are exciting emerging opportunities from cross-UKRI funds to develop interdisciplinary programmes enabling environmental researchers to lead and collaborate in major projects. This advances knowledge and has significant potential for delivering economic impact.

For more information about NERC, see: https://nerc.ukri.org

About UK Research Innovation (UKRI)

UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.

Supporting some of the world’s most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation.

More information can be found at www.ukri.org.

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

How we support EDI in the workforce

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’.

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the vacancy/ies. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

How to apply

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.