The role holder will provide high-quality support to the team of research administrators across the Faculty and work closely with the research management team in the Faculty office to support the implementation of new, and the improvement of existing, processes.  

The Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences (NMS) comprises Chemistry, Engineering, Informatics, Mathematics, and Physics ¿ all departments highly rated in research activities and a wide-ranging portfolio of education programmes.  

The Faculty and its departments are growing, and this is reflected in the expansion of the research function and its responsibilities. The ideal candidate will have experience of office administration and dealing with financial processes, ideally in a Higher Education setting, and be able to build strong working relationships with both administrative and academic colleagues to support a wide range of research activity. 

The post will report to the Faculty Research Coordinator. 

Celebrating diversity and supporting staff is important to us and we offer a range of provision including flexible working, caring support (including a Parenting and Carers Fund and the Carer¿s Career Development Fund), training, and a variety of diversity and inclusion networks. Staff can apply for flexible working to help them balance the demands of their professional and personal commitments and we offer comprehensive leave policies for parental, adoption, surrogacy, dependant and shared leave. 

The university is making investment in NMS and both student and staff numbers are growing. Our staff come from over 45 countries and 56% of our students are from outside the UK. Principally located on the Strand Campus in the heart of central London, further details available at  [www.kcl.ac.uk/nms¿](www.kcl.ac.uk/nms¿  )

This post will be offered on a full-time, indefinite contract.

Key responsibilities

• To work with the faculty-wide team of department Research Officers, acting as the key support contact during high-activity periods and the primary cover for absences across the team.
• To act as the first faculty-level point of contact for research systems, developing a high degree of expertise with systems including WorkTribe, BusinessWorld, PURE, and funder portals.
• To work with the department Research Officers in the preparation of grant applications, including creating staff costings using WorkTribe, entering information in funder portals, coordinating internal peer review, checking compliance with funder and College policies, and obtaining internal approvals.
• To organise and maintain oversight of internal faculty-level funding schemes.
• To support the administration of the faculty¿s portfolio of active projects, liaising with the Faculty Research Manager and Faculty Research Coordinator.
• To provide expert guidance to the Research Officers and academics on funder regulations, terms and conditions of awards, and internal and external processes and policies.
• To support with the expansion of Post-Award monitoring across the faculty.
• To support the faculty-wide maintenance of accurate records of previous, current, and planned grant applications, and ensuring grant applications are progressed in a timely manner to meet internal and external deadlines.
• To assist with the support and preparation of materials for all faculty-level research meetings.
• To disseminate research news across the Faculty and support the implementation of the wider research communications strategy.
• To update and manage Faculty research webpages and SharePoint.
• Assist the Faculty Research Manager and Faculty Research Coordinator in sharing and implementing best practice across departments.
• To provide proactive oversight of faculty-wide data collection and support improvement of reporting capacity as directed by the Faculty Research Manager and Faculty Research Coordinator.
• To provide support for research-related Enterprise and Engagement activity and act as first point of contact for department Research Officers.
• To build and maintain effective relationships with academic and professional services staff across Departments, Faculty, and the College.
• To participate in institution-wide networks, contributing to the alignment of the Research & Researchers function across the university.
• To undertake any other duties which may be reasonably required. 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Essential criteria

1. Proven Professional Services skills gained within the Higher Education sector and a knowledge of the regulatory, policy and procedural context

2. Highly numerate with proven financial management and analytical skills

3. Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate clearly and appropriately with a range of professional service academic colleagues

4. Proactive commitment to ensuring good practice and following process/procedure

5. Ability to work under pressure in a busy environment

6. Ability to work independently and as part of a team

7. Ability to balance competing, shifting priorities under pressure of deadlines and workload

8. Accuracy/ability to pay attention to detail

9. Ability to follow guidance and instruction

Desirable criteria

1. Knowledge of Higher Education Research practice and policy

2. Experience of finance processes i.e. budgeting/forecasting/research grants.

3. Experience of using complex databases and information management systems