Job Description

Position Details

Research Strategy and Services Division

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £47,389 to £56,535 with potential progression once in post to £63,606

Grade: 8

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 7th September 2026

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. As part of our professional services team, you’ll provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. We ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.

Research Strategy & Services Division (RSSD)

The Research Strategy & Services Division (RSSD) was established to provide a cohesive, expert and agile research support ecosystem for the University of Birmingham. Since 2022, the Division has evolved into a vibrant, high-performing community that supports all aspects of research, innovation and business engagement across the institution.

Business Engagement & Research Impact (BERI) Team overview

Within the Research Strategy & Services Division, the Business Engagement and Research Impact (BERI) Team has been established to bring together the functions of Business Engagement (Strategic Industry Partnerships, Research, Innovation Partnerships and Access to University expertise); Research Impact (Impact Strategy & Operationalisation, REF Impact Case Studies, Impact Acceleration Accounts) and Strategic Regional Engagement. This team capitalises on driving change through innovation and building partnerships, to build on impactful research collaborations with research that matters to our partners. It will contribute to a significant step-change in research income through the development and expansion of new and existing research partnerships and collaborations; bring together teams that work across different research portfolios to improve the University’s engagement with external partners and collaborators, and support the development and delivery of an institutional Industry Engagement Strategy, the embedding of a positive research impact culture across all disciplines, and a new approach to ensuring the University can deliver research that matters to industry partners and policymakers.. As such, experience working directly with these sectors would be advantageous, as would experience with supporting applications to Innovate UK from either industry or Higher Education.

Main Duties

Developing corporate relationships:

• Co-deliver the Business Engagement strategy with the Assistant Director (BERI) and other Business Engagement Partners.
• Work with senior academic colleagues to bring relationships to fruition, securing income and opportunities that deliver against targets.
• Build effective, co-ordinated, working relationships with a range of external stakeholders such as businesses and organisations relevant to priority research themes, with a view to enhancing our reputation with funders and employers.
• Deputising for the Assistant Director (BERI) as and when required.

Institutional relationships:

• As a member of the Research Strategy & Services Division, to work productively with colleagues from across Professional Services to remove barriers to business engagement, ensuring that the University can deliver to the timelines required by business;
• Support practitioner colleagues across the Research Strategy & Services Division to ensure that business-university projects progress effectively through internal systems and processes, making recommendations for internal business improvement where required and making an active contribution to subsequent change processes;
• Work in partnership with the RSSD College Hub to ensure that there is a strong and effective link between the development of a business-university relationship and the operationalisation of this via approved contracts and established projects;
• Advocate for research and business engagement across the institution, across the Professional Services and the Academy.
• Work effectively with allied teams who also engage with industry partners, including the Careers network and Business School.

Organisational Understanding:

• Understand the breadth of the University and appreciate the differences in personalities, roles and ways of working throughout the University and its constituent elements.
• Understand the role of strong business relationships in achieving the University’s Global Top 50 Ambitions.
• Recognise the distinct but complementary roles of Business; Public; Civic; Community; and Cultural Engagement within the institution and understand how to leverage the benefits of each of these to enhance the University’s offering to potential partners and clients.
• Show an appreciation of the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), and the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

Strategic Thinking and Perspective:

• Understand and convey the University’s Strategic Framework, its education and research priorities, and the implications for projects.
• Recognise and enhance the value of local, regional, national and international partnerships to deliver value for projects/University.
• Understand and keep up to date with legislation and funding calls as relevant to the University.
• A highly developed capacity for short, medium and long-term strategic planning.
• A practical understanding of the strategic management of business partnerships from the identification of opportunities through to completion and ‘sign off’.

Communication:

• Assist in the provision of expert, credible and influential advice to the most senior internal and external stakeholders, including the Chancellor, the Vice Chancellor, Heads of College and academic colleagues.
• Be an able and willing internal and external ambassador for the University who can use external networks for personal and institutional benefit.
• Demonstrate high level of self-awareness of own impact and modify behaviour accordingly, listen and respond constructively to the realities and needs of others by using a range of communication skills and strategies.
• Display tact, diplomacy and the ability to challenge convention in all forms of communication. Demonstrate ability to persuade others to consider alternative perspectives and approaches and gain commitment to a change or course of action.
• Able to deal constructively with conflict to reach a workable consensus and delivery of agreed objectives.

Performance and Resource Management:

• Ensure that the best possible business engagement service is delivered to the College, Professional Services, and the University.
• Maintain detailed records on the CRM database.
• Demonstrate experience of working collaboratively with others to deliver goals within an agreed timescale.
• Agree with the Assistant Director for Research, Partnerships and Impact stretching but achievable targets and maintain a clear focus on activity which will achieve them.
• Take personal responsibility for ensuring that agreed outcomes are delivered on time and effectively.
• Actively manage equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
• Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications).
• Experience of securing funding opportunities, as demonstrated by the development of funding applications, either within a University, industry or commercial partner.
• Experience in planning and organising a comprehensive pipeline of collaboration opportunities, ensuring these are effectively managed to deliver against stretching project targets.
• Ability to balance the reactive and proactive aspects of the role, generating own work but also responding the requests from others.
• Have an understanding of the different drivers for business and academic stakeholders and how they can be brought together successfully.
• Ability to prioritise work under pressure.
• Ability to take decisions and think creatively/laterally.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and in a team.
• Good understanding of the UK Higher Education funding environment with a particular focus on Industry.
• Confidence in using information management systems and data to inform decision-making and service improvement.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with an ability to interact with a range of stakeholders both internal and external to the University with tact and diplomacy.
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
• Excellent attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills.
• An understanding of how developments in policy and the economy effect opportunities for collaboration between higher education and industry.

Informal enquiries to David Evans, email: d.evans.4@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website