Senior Research Manager

King's College London; Greater London; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

King's College London’s School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences seeks a senior role in imaging research governance to drive delivery of complex projects within GSTT. You will oversee study applications, provide strategic support, and mentor a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, researchers and administrators.

The post is based on-site at St Thomas' hospital, with a focus on NIHR priorities and NHS governance, reporting to the Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate degree and/or professional qualification with experience in clinical research management.
• Strong knowledge of national priorities in research and governance implications.
• Proven ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and manage complex projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of imaging research projects and ensure milestones are met.
• Provide strategic support and manage study applications, amendments and costings.
• Line-manage a research administration team and mentor staff.
• Collaborate with NHS and university offices to ensure governance and compliance.

Skills

Clinical research management

Governance knowledge

Stakeholder engagement

Line management

Communication skills

Education

Postgraduate degree

Job description

About Us

Within the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine (FoLSM), the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences is a cutting-edge research and teaching School dedicated to development, translation and clinical application within medical imaging and computational modelling technologies. Our objective is to facilitate research and teaching guided by clinical questions and is aimed at novelty, understanding of physiology and pathophysiology as well as development of new diagnostic tools and therapies. In this way, basic science can be rapidly translated into clinical applications (and vice versa). The School consists of eight research departments: Cardiovascular Imaging, Cancer Imaging, Early Life Imaging, Imaging Chemistry & Biology, Biomedical Computing, Surgical & Interventional Engineering, Imaging Physics & Engineering and Digital Twins for Healthcare.

The Research Department of Early Life Imaging performs cutting-edge research dedicated to the development and use of the most advanced medical imaging (in particular MRI scanning) and computational methods. Ultimately, our vision is to develop new ways to diagnose, understand and treat illnesses that affect the human brain, heart and body as they develop during the crucial period around birth so that we can improve outcomes for children. Placed uniquely within St Thomas' Hospital London, we are able to perform truly translational research, which extends from basic science to use in the hospital with patients.

We have over 70 members of staff with diverse but complementary skills and experience including clinical staff (doctors, nurses, midwives, radiographers), biologists, computer scientists, physicists, engineers, and research governance and administration. This ensures that by working together, everything we do can benefit from the very best skills across all of the key areas needed to conduct and support our work.

About The Role

This role provides an exciting opportunity for a highly organised, proactive individual to take on a senior post within the School's imaging services based at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT). They will require extensive experience of clinical research management under the NHS Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care and excellent understanding of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) priorities. The post will be hosted by the School's Research Department of Early Life Imaging, which delivers a clinical research portfolio of around 20 studies related to fetal, neonatal, paediatric and maternal imaging and health. The post-holder will also provide support to Principal Investigators (PIs) and research teams across the School's other imaging services and research departments as part of a network of research governance and delivery experts.

The post-holder will be responsible to the Director of Clinical & Research Imaging Operations and will provide advice to a multi‑disciplinary team of healthcare professionals and academics in managing the delivery of their assigned imaging research portfolio, including preparing new study applications and amendments, overseeing contracting arrangements and confirming proposed studies are appropriately costed and resourced. They will form effective relationships with Trust and University Research & Development offices and will line manage a small research administration team. They will also provide mentorship and training to other multi‑disciplinary research delivery staff, including clinical research practitioners, nurses, midwives, radiographers and other scientific and technical staff and students.

This role requires an individual who is highly organised, driven, ambitious, and passionate about improving patient care through research. They will be responsible for ensuring excellent standards of research governance and compliance with ICH‑GCP (Good Clinical Practice) guidelines. The successful candidate will lead on the delivery of projects on a day‑to‑day basis, ensuring reporting deadlines are met, compliance with project milestones, and providing strategic support for ongoing development and sustainability of the School's imaging research portfolio. To succeed in this role, the post holder will need a proven background in clinical research delivery and/or management, and experience of working in a multidisciplinary clinical academic environment.

Please note this role is primarily based on‑site at St Thomas' hospital with only limited opportunity for remote working. Attendance at other King's and GSTT sites may also be required.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Postgraduate degree and / or other relevant professional qualification and experience in clinical research management
2. In-depth knowledge of current issues and national priorities in research, with good understanding of complex and evolving research governance issues impacting the School's research activities
3. Proven experience of delivering all aspects of clinical research studies (e.g. governance, data management/data security, patient care) and a proven ability to apply these to the development, testing and implementation of research management procedures
4. Demonstrated ability to develop study protocols in collaboration with investigators, and support their regulatory and ethical applications
5. Ability to oversee complex research projects, ensuring meeting of regulatory submissions and project milestones across projects, and communicating progress through high quality outputs
6. Proven track record of working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, clinicians, nurses, midwives and administrative staff
7. Excellent communication and influencing skills, to facilitate effective communication with a range of clinical, academic and non‑academic staff
8. Prior experience of line management and/or training and mentorship of multi‑disciplinary staff in research delivery and/or management

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge of imaging modalities and prior experience of managing imaging studies and/or those including imaging components
2. Working knowledge of legislation dealing with data privacy and use, including in the context of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
3. Experience of using or developing electronic site file management, consenting and data capture systems

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

At King's, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King's guidance.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant's own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment. Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.