Industry Partnerships (SHAPE)

About Us

King’s is a leading UK research-intensive university, with strengths across a breadth of disciplines and a strong ethos of collaborative research with partners to develop innovation.

Innovation@King’s (I@K), brings together the interdependent functions of Industry Partnerships, Translational Research support and Intellectual Property & Licensing as a single team.

King’s College London is a leading research-intensive university known for high impact research across a wide range of disciplines and a strong ethos of collaborative research with partners to develop innovation.

About the Role

We are seeking a Partnerships Programme Manager to join I@K’s Industry Partnerships team with a primary focus on sourcing, developing and securing innovation partnerships with third parties that are built around externally funded research and research related initiatives from our Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy / Environment (SHAPE) activities.

The SHAPE Partnerships Manager will proactively seek new external funding opportunities and muti-disciplinary projects, developing partnerships with research partners (including industrial both large and SMEs) and key external funding agencies.

The Partnerships Manager will also play a central role in the scoping, initiation, development and ongoing management of research partnerships with industry and other external organisations that are enabled through external research funding opportunities, with a focus on SHAPE opportunities.  They will work closely with senior academic staff to define priority areas for partnership, identify and engage with suitable partners, and manage ongoing relationships to ensure success.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a 3-year fixed term contract.

Essential criteria

1. Postgraduate research experience in:
   1. a subject relevant to social sciences/arts & humanities or in
   2. life sciences/engineering sciences with a parallel cross-disciplinary or additional professional work or postdoctoral research (for PhD holders) in social sciences/arts & humanities.
2. Experience and understanding of the innovation funding ecosystem.
3. Experience in and understanding of academic or industry R&D and demonstrable ability to map industry needs to academic expertise.
4. Ability to lead and contribute to complex, difficult projects, from conception to delivery and experience of engaging, and collaborating, with internal and external stakeholders to build teams, deliver key outcomes or resolve complex challenges across a wide range of activities.
5. Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
6. Demonstrable presentation skills, including ability and keenness to present to audiences of academic and industry experts and other senior stakeholders, including internal and external conferences.
7. High level of work organisation, self-motivation, drive for performance and improvement, and flexibility in approach and attitude, possessing resilience, determination and diplomacy.
8. Comfortable working independently and able to build professional networks.
9. Positive and constructive approach, including when under pressure.

Desirable criteria

1. PhD or an equivalent level of experience in:
   1. a subject relevant to social sciences/arts & humanities or in
   2. life sciences/engineering sciences with parallel cross-disciplinary or additional professional work or postdoctoral research (for PhD holders) in social sciences/arts & humanities.
2. Experience in development and management of industry-academic research partnerships, or other relevant experience in the industry/academic sectors.
3. Significant experience in developing strategic reports and business cases.
4. High level of numerical and data analytical skills.

Well-developed leadership and influencing skills with the ability to motivate and involve individuals and teams and the ability to negotiate in a complex environment.

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