Programme Manager – AI Centre

Job description

We are seeking a Programme Manager to join the London Medical Imaging & Artificial Intelligence Centre for Value-Based Healthcare at King’s College London.   

The AI Centre is funded by InnovateUK and is jointly led by King’s College London and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. It is a highly collaborative, cross-institutional centre of excellence that pools expertise from across the healthcare ecosystem in artificial intelligence (AI), data science, research, and clinical practice. The Centre aims to develop AI platforms and prototypes across an ambitious, recently expanded, consortium of 10 NHS Trusts, 4 Universities, and 15 Industry Partners.  

This is an exciting time to join the Centre, the Programme Manager will work closely with and report into to the Head of AI Programmes at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital, ultimately accountable to the AI Centre Director (Professor Reza Razavi). The role will oversee the InnovateUK funded component of the Centre, which involves overseeing a large portfolio of research & development of AI prototypes, using data from our NHS partners. This is a new role, and will involve overseeing the grant: managing a large budget, reporting to the funder on progress, supporting the Head of AI Programmes in overseeing governance boards, as well as scope to expand our programme of seminars and events, link in with education initiatives, and monitor and capture all the great research going on with our university partners: King’s College London, Queen Mary University London, Imperial College London, and University College London.  

Someone who is highly motivated, organised, and proactive with experience in research and financial administration, would be ideal – specific experience or interest in health data research, AI, or medical imaging, would be a real advantage. 

This role will require an ability to work collaboratively across a consortium of partners, and provides the opportunity for external liaison, with interfaces to UK government, academia, industry and the clinical community. This is a fast-paced programme and we are looking for someone who can bring their research administration experience to a supportive cross-organisational team. 

Depending on the successful candidate, this may be available as a secondment opportunity. 

About the AI Centre: www.aicentre.co.uk  

The post is based at the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences:   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/bmeis   
About the Faculty:   https://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm  

 
 

This post will be offered on a fixed term contract until 31 January 2023 

This is a full-time post.

 

Key responsibilities

Working closely with the School’s core professional services team and the post holder’s line manager(s) to ensure specialist operational support and leadership for the Centre:  

• is professional, well-executed and timely   

• is compliant with university policies and   

• adopts best practice.  

 

Centre Strategy and Development

• Assist in identifying and implementing short, medium and long term strategic objectives and priorities. 

• Ensure the alignment of the Centre's strategic goals with the provision of resources and supporting the Head of AI Programmes to improve performance and optimise use of resources. 

• Set the strategic objectives and operational plan for all administrative support services within the Centre. 

 

Finance

• Manage all Centre financial resources, ensuring appropriate robust control and monitoring and that all financial transactions within the Centre comply with College financial regulations. 

• Provide regular, relevant financial management information as requested. 

• Ensure that the Centre complies with funding bodies’ regulations and procedures and that research funding is managed appropriately and expended for the purpose for which it was intended. 

• Approve expenditure up to agreed limits. 

 

Communication & Networking

• Develop and maintain effective working relationships with staff across the Centre and with the other 4 Centres of Excellence across the UK 

• Work closely with the communication team to develop and maintain internal and external visibility. 

• Regularly communicate information in a clear and precise way.  

• Receive, comprehend complex or ambiguous information that is often highly specialised, abstract or technical and disseminate to Centre partners. 

• Initiate, build or lead internal networks within the College or externally. 

 

Decision Making, Planning & Problem Solving

• Lead in decisions that have a significant impact on their own work, that of others and be party to collaborative decisions. 

• Manage own workload and resources and that of others, prioritising these in order to achieve their objectives. 

• Responsible for the planning and leading of significant projects or work streams ensuring the effective use of resources, setting standards and monitoring procedures.  

• Resolve problems where the optimal solution may not be immediately apparent and where there is a need to use judgement to resolve problems that are unpredictable and / or occur infrequently. 

• Plan in advance for heavy workload. 

• Use own initiative and creativity to solve problems relating to administrative and financial tasks. 

• Comfortable with ambiguity.  

 

Service Delivery

• Provide a very high level of administrative and financial support independently and in a timely manner. 

• Review regularly the Centre’s operational administrative structure with a view to ensuring an efficient and effective service. 

• Demonstrate flexibility in providing support. 

• Work on own initiative and unsupervised. 

 

Analysis & Research

• Collect, maintain and analyse relevant data and management information to inform the Centre leadership of the impact of internal and external issues on the financial and operational strategy of the Centre, as appropriate. 

• Provide documentation and produce reports as required. 

• Produce and analyse financial information. 

 

Teamwork, Teaching & Development

• Identify team workload and give direction, form and communicate a clear vision of what is to be achieved overall, setting goals for team and individuals.  

 

The post-holder reports to the Head of AI Programmes, with a line of accountability to the Centre Director. 

 

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 

i. MSc in relevant area or equivalent experience 

ii. Strong administrative, organizational and time management skills & proven track record in research administration and management, knowledge of the grant funding life cycle within a higher education environment 

iii. Knowledge of capturing research metrics and outputs and reporting to funders 

iv. Experience in grant funded project/programme management  

v. Knowledge of legislation around use of data for research 

vi. Financially literate with sound knowledge of budgeting methodologies and resource management concepts, working with central teams to maintain an accurate view of finances 

vii. Line management experience, with a good understanding of Human Resources Administration, day to day people management, recruiting, managing and developing individuals effectively  

viii. Highly developed verbal and written communication skills (ranging from informal 1:1 discussions, formal presentations covering both oral and written skills) including the ability to liaise with staff at a range of levels internal and external to the organization 

ix. Excellent presentation skills, experience commissioning, interpreting and presenting data 

x. Ability to analyse problems and proactively identify solutions 

xi. Ability to act on personal initiative and take responsibility for own work, able to work with ambiguity. 

xii. High emotional intelligence, confident and diplomatic  

 

Desirable criteria 

xiii. Project Management qualification (e.g. PRINCE2) 

xiv. Experience working in matrix management  

xv. Experience of working on a large health data research programme grant, ideally with a government funder 

xvi. Experience working closely with a range of stakeholders such as NHS and industry partners  

xvii. Track record of building successful networks and collaborations across a complex range of stakeholders