Post Award Finance Manager

The Role and Department

Research and Innovation Services (RIS) provides Durham’s academic and professional services community with guidance, expert advice, and hands-on support for all aspects of research and research-related work, including securing funding, working with partners, undertaking knowledge exchange, demonstrating impact, commercialising outputs, ensuring good research practice, and supporting professional development.

Within Research and Innovation Services (RIS), our Research Operations Team provides support and services for our academics working across the research and innovation life cycle, focusing on applying for and managing funding and providing professional advice on collaborations and contracts.

The Research Operations Team is comprised of three sections: Pre-Award, Contracting, and Post-Award. These sections work together to deliver a service to support, advise, and provide expertise to our academic community for our extensive and varied portfolio of externally funded projects.

As Post Award Finance Manager, you will join the Post Award section of Research Operations leading on grant administration for a portfolio of high-risk and high-value projects across the University.

You will have the following key responsibilities;

• The financial administration of individual projects, including preparation of funder financial reports, monitoring project progress, ensuring compliance with funder terms, tracking over or underspends and providing guidance on funder terms and conditions.
• Provide advice and guidance to Principal Investigators and their teams on a range of project funding matters
• Provide advice to Senior Management on project risks and suggest mitigating actions.
• Provide training to new and existing staff on key funder terms.
• Actively participate in regional and national networks and working groups to represent Durham and share best practices across the sector in research project management, ensuring that Durham is actively engaged in relevant consultations and well-positioned to understand and, where appropriate, influence funder policy.

From early 2025 the base location for this role will change from our Durham City Centre site to our exciting new professional services hub based at Boldon House. Boldon House is situated on the outskirts of Durham near the Arnison Centre in Pity Me. Boldon House will bring a number of professional services teams together in a vibrant office environment which supports collaborative working and is designed to embrace hybrid working. To find out more about this project, please visit this webpage: Boldon House – Durham University.

Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.

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