Operations Officer - Research

About the role

This is a key role within the Research Support Team of the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences. The post holder will be responsible to the School Research Manager, as part of the team ensuring that high quality financial data and research management is provided to the School.

The successful candidate will provide high quality support for the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, with an emphasis on research grant management and reporting. The post holder will be highly numerate and able to interpret as well as communicate figures to a wide range of audiences.  They should be proficient in Excel and PowerBi and will be expected to provide monthly grant reports to Principal Investigators.

Developing and producing finance reports for grants and discretionary accounts, inputting financial data on income and expenditure 

• Developing an understanding of the platforms used in the University (primarily KFin and Worktribe, PeopleXD and Pure)
• Building and improving reporting templates taking into account of data availability and quality, user needs, data access control, and other relevant factors
• Support all aspects of post award activity from project queries to closing awards.
• To collate and review research grant reports and send to PIs. Attention is required to consider, projects nearing their end dates with large over/underspends and to highlight these to the PI, School Finance/Research teams, School Manager, and Post Award.
• To assist the School Research and Finance Managers in the review of grant ‘health checks’, ensuring that the expenditure charged is eligible, and grant expenditure is in line with forecasted expenditure.
• To review the ineligible spend report and assess that the expenditure is in line with the funders’ rules. Any ineligible expenditure is to be highlighted and addressed to the PI, School Research and Finance Managers, and Post Award.
• Ensure compliance with the College’s financial regulations and funder policies.

About you

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

Essential criteria

1. Educated to degree level or relevant experience ideally within a research-intensive institution, or significant administrative experience or dealing with funding bodies   
2. Experience in grant costing and award management for research (Pre and Post-Award) using specific software e.g. Worktribe or Oracle based software  
3. Ability to work under pressure in a busy environment with minimal supervision while maintaining accuracy and observing systems and processes  
4. Excellent communication, negotiation, and influencing skills at all levels with the ability to translate complex information; financial or the terms and conditions of funding bodies  
5. Solutions and quality-focused, with strong planning and analytical skills, able to manage competing priorities and work with minimal supervision  
6. Commitment to good practice and following process/procedure 
7. Good knowledge of MS Office including Word Processing, Excel, PowerPoint, Power Bi, and use of email/internet

Desirable criteria

1. Experience of working in the higher education sector and/or a medical/clinical environment with a detailed knowledge of the regulatory, policy, and procedural context along with the challenges and opportunities faced by the sector
2. Experience in financial planning and implementation, including preparing budgets, financial profiling, monitoring key performance indicators, budgets, and risks
3. Evidence of an active commitment to career development with the application of learning to the work context
4. An understanding of research-intensive Higher Education institution activity, context, and processes

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