Head of Technical Services

The Head of Technical Services is responsible for leading the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine’s (FoLSM) technical professional services staff and technical operations. Technical staff in the Faculty work across a wide range of operations, education, and research roles.

FoLSM is the largest Faculty at King’s College London with over 2,000 staff and an annual turnover approaching £300m. The Faculty has internationally leading expertise in basic, translational, and clinical research, and delivers outstanding education programmes in biosciences and medicine.

The Faculty operates across four campuses – Guy’s, St Thomas, Waterloo, and Denmark Hill – in 25 different buildings and occupies nearly 50,000m2 of physical space.

The Head of Technical Services is an exciting opportunity to provide senior leadership for the Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine’s technical professional services staff and operations at King’s College London, along with an important role in strengthening technical staff career pathways, expertise and understanding across the university.

Reporting to the Faculty Director of Operations, you will be a core part of the Faculty Professional Services Leadership Team, working closely with the Faculty’s Executive team to develop and implement strategy.

You will lead the strategic planning and delivery of the Faculty’s technical operations supporting education and research activities. You will work in partnership with Heads of School, School Managers, School Technical Managers and Campus Technical Operations Managers with a sense of cohesion and common purpose, and will collaborate with colleagues in King’s central directorates to ensure seamless technical services support for the Faculty’s work.

Responsibilities include oversight of specialist technical facilities, encouraging innovation in the technical field, responsibility for management of the Faculty’s space, overseeing health & safety operations, and championing work for sustainable laboratories.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

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

Essential criteria

1. Minimum level 6 qualification in a relevant subject, such as an undergraduate degree or equivalent, plus substantial work experience in relevant technical/operational/scientific posts with management responsibilities OR proven track record with extensive work experience in relevant technical/operational/management posts with progression to increasingly demanding roles with management responsibilities
2. Have extensive knowledge and practical experience of the regulations and procedures for the safe and effective management of research laboratories, buildings, and associated scientific facilities.
3. Have extensive, successful experience of managing technical staff and services across multiple locations, establishing and implementing policies, setting and monitoring performance standards and establishing protocols to deliver these.
4. Evidence of effective resource management, including management of large budgets, and development of business cases and plans.
5. Enjoy working with a wide range of different people with successful experience of taking a facilitative and consensual approach to management.
6. Proven ability to lead strategic planning processes and develop strategy, in particular with regard to space utilisation, needs assessment, and resource allocation.
7. Excellent spoken and written communication skills, especially when conveying complex/specialist information to a non-expert audience, combined with excellent motivating, negotiating and influencing skills.
8. Demonstrate a genuine commitment to the work of the Faculty and to making the world a better place through excellence in teaching, research, and service to society.

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