Job description

We have a vacancy in the Research Management & Innovation Directorate of King’s College London for the role of Senior Business System Specialist (Research).

King’s College London manages a variety of laboratories conducting world-class research across its campuses and is home to a significant number of research facilities and equipment needed to facilitate research.

With laboratory space consuming up to 10 times more energy than other types of research space, it is vital that we continually develop and adapt our strategies around sustainability and ensure our research equipment and facilities are easy to locate and available to share with users across the College. This new post will support the deployment of a new online Research Facilities Management System to be rolled out across King’s over the coming 18 months.

Reporting to the Head of Research Information Systems, the post holder will have a leading role in the configuration and architecture of the new system. The post holder will join a driven Project Team that is working towards the deployment of a single system at King’s for the benefit of research and researchers. ‘End user’ experience will be key to the success of the project and the role holder will have a real opportunity to impact on the progress and sustainability of research at King’s.

The successful candidate will have expert level knowledge in systems management and administration, along with data processing and report configuration. They will have experience of training in new software and demonstrate an ability to build confidence and trust with key stakeholders and users of the new system.

This is a hybrid role (remote working / onsite working) and it is expected that the post holder may, at times, spend up to two days a week on campus in order to understand and relate their work to the day-to-day onsite research operations at King’s.

This post will be offered on a full-time basis with a fixed-term contract duration of 18-months

Key responsibilities 

• As an expert user of the system, to develop an in-depth understanding of how the Research Facilities Management system can support research infrastructure at KCL with respect to equipment sharing, visibility of available research facilities and services and charging users to access shared equipment and facilities (cost recovery). 
• To liaise directly with key stakeholders in research facilities and academic departments across King’s and work with them to ensure the deployment of the system suits the needs of their research operations. 
• Influencing equipment owners and facility managers to improve discoverability of equipment and facilities in their areas. 
• Working closely with the training lead on the requirements for facility administrators and general users.  
• To take a leading role in specifying and implementing the initial system configuration and the development of a lab equipment taxonomy to ensure researchers can readily find the equipment they need. 
• To develop and maintain a good working relationship with the software vendor and be the key operational liaison between the vendor and King’s, maintaining subject matter expertise by keeping up to date with the supplier’s development of the system and providing input on King’s requirements 
• To taking a lead on the development and implementation of processes relating to general system usage, working closely with colleagues on how this relates to other systems and ways of working at King’s 
• To work with IT, KCL system specialists and the software vendor to develop integrations with other systems, e.g., Unit4 Business World (King’s finance system) 
• Supporting the development of the RMID-Help model for the system for the handling of first line queries and acting as second line support for the Research Facilities Management system. 
• Working with Research Information Systems (RIS) team colleagues to ensure harmonisation of data with other research related systems and responsible for ensuring checks are in place to maintain data quality across the system. 
• Develop reports to monitor equipment provision and usage statistics of equipment in the system to guide strategic decision making 

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

•       Degree level education or equivalent professional qualification 

•         Evidence of a methodical approach and highly developed organisational skills 

•         Demonstrable ability to influence others, with strong inter-personal skills, a collaborative approach and excellent communication skills 

•         Proven ability to work on own initiative and apply independent professional judgement 

•         Proven experience of conveying complex ideas with clarity  

•         Expert level knowledge of systems management and administration 

•         Expert knowledge of data processing and report configuration 

•         Experience of developing a detailed metadata framework for a complex and evolving system 

•         Familiarity with processes relating to facility management 

Desirable criteria

•         Experience of working in an IT-focused project environment 

•         An understanding of software training and how best to meet users learning needs 

Further information

To discuss the role further, please contact Greg Anderson, Associate Director of Research Infrastructure: greg.anderson@kcl.ac.uk 

The application process will consist of a panel interview and a presentation.