UKFin+ Impact and Engagement Development Manager - School of Computer Science - 105137 - Grade 7

Job Description

Position Details

School of Computer Science

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £35,880 to £45,163 with potential progression once in post to £47,874

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to September 2027

Closing date: 9th February 2025

UK travel may be required for this role

Interviews will be held on 14th February 2025

As part of the interview process, shortlisted candidates will be asked to deliver a 10-minute presentation on the following topic: "Drawing on your expertise in business engagement and impact, along with information available on the UKFin+ website, please prepare a high-level business engagement and impact plan. Outline your strategy for the first six months in this role, specifying the actions you would take to assess and enhance the project's outcomes."

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.

Background

UKFin+ is an EPSRC funded £2.5M programme of funding, tackling wicked problems in financial services. The project aims to grow a network across the UK to increase collaboration across regions, between academics and industry. Financial services have been subject to unprecedented technological changes over recent years. This increasing reliance on technology though beneficial also comes with complex associated risks, leading to financial services having a wicked problem. UKFin+ will convene conversations between academic researchers and industry, fund collaborations for projects tackling wicked problems arising from technological innovation in financial services, co-ordinate a national research agenda and communicate both the network opportunities and outcomes to stakeholders.

The Impact and Engagement Manager will play a key role in delivering the engagement and impact outcomes of the project, working in collaboration with the Network Directors and Professional Services staff.

Role Summary

The Impact and Engagement Manager will:

1. Deliver tools to enable connectivity between academia and industry with input from software engineers.
2. Grow the network's stakeholder engagement in line with the network's mission.
3. Collect and analyse data to contribute to the UKFin+ research agenda.
4. Contribute to the dissemination of project outcomes to stakeholders.
5. Contribute to collecting and reporting on project outcomes, performance indicators, project impacts.
6. Support project management staff and directors across various events.

The post holder will be expected to travel across the UK, and to work on the UOB campus for a minimum of one day week to support collaborative working with the project team.

Main Duties

Providing strategic support to the Directors on fostering connections between academic researchers and stakeholders including:

1. Leading on mapping e.g. academic research centres as needed to meet the network aims, including designing methodologies, collecting and analysing data and identifying existing relevant data sets.
2. Designing and delivering methods to collect and evaluate evidence to enable understanding of the barriers to academic-industry collaboration e.g. through focus groups, interviews and facilitated sessions.
3. Designing and delivering methods to identify and evaluate incentives for academic-industry collaboration e.g. through focus groups, interviews and facilitated sessions.
4. Leading on designing and implementing approaches to curating industry challenges, and matching these with academic researchers.
5. Work with Project Directors to build the network community through event attendance.
6. Engaging with stakeholders, for example the Fintech National Network and Centre for Financial Innovation and Technology and partners in line with the networks communication and engagement strategy.

Leading on tracking Funding and Achieved Impact of industry-academic collaborations:

1. Leading on the shaping and design of network events to communicate the collaborative approach to funding and facilitate matchmaking.
2. Delivering events in collaboration with the project team.
3. Implement approaches to track and report on outputs and impacts from the project.

Supporting the development and implementation of the project's national research agenda:

1. Develop a detailed knowledge of the research, engagement and impact landscape for fintech in the UK, and the project's research agenda.
2. Collecting data through events, funding and conversations to inform the project toolkit.
3. Documenting the regional differences and funding requirements across the UK fintech ecosystem, with input from stakeholders for external dissemination.
4. Delivering an on-line toolkit in collaboration with software engineer(s) e.g. a searchable tool for the mapping.

Leading on communication and engagement strategy development and implementation:

1. Develop an understanding of the UK Fintech sector and opportunities for enhanced collaboration between academic researchers and non-HEI organisations.
2. Drive the activities and plans for increasing engagement with fintech research, working closely with the Directors and Project Officer.
3. Writing and delivering strategic communications to disseminate project outcomes, including social media posts, blogs, newsletters, formal reports and delivery of presentations.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

1. Promote equality and value diversity by acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience:

1. Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification.
2. Experience of completing directed research assignments, working independently to produce evidenced research reports.
3. Authoritative knowledge of academic engagement and impact.
4. Experience of managing academic-industry collaboration to successful outcomes.
5. Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
6. Proven ability to meet targets and deadlines, with minimal supervision.
7. Substantial experience of engaging and collaborating with stakeholders.
8. Proven analytical and problem solving skills that will help to identify and implement initiatives to deliver project outcomes.
9. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders.
10. Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office suite.
11. High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure.
12. Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
13. Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.

Dimensions:

Roles at this level provide authoritative professional advice across a range of activities and/or will lead and manage diverse team(s) and resources. You will use your professional skills to resolve problems where the solution is not immediately apparent. Significant evaluation and independent thought is therefore required to resolve ambiguity. You will have wide discretion to decide on direction whilst ensuring activities are broadly consistent with operational policies. You will be able to influence policy through advising on the impact of policy change and implementation in your area of work. You will need to assess the impact of your activities across your area, with related areas and to ensure they fit with the broader objectives of the University.

Planning and Organising:

1. Provide professional expertise, and manage resources and/or a diverse team;
2. Integrate and co-ordinate work across different parts of the School and University;
3. Support the leadership and management of staff who are likely to be carrying out diverse duties, and ensure collaborative working to deliver a successful service;
4. Project manage activities to facilitate major changes;
5. Develop policy within functional guidelines, and contribute to strategic development within own area;
6. Be accountable for the quality and professionalism of service delivery, with an appreciation of longer term issues.

Problem Solving and decision making:

1. Anticipate, interpret and assess customer needs, identifying trends, generating original ideas and testing innovative solutions;
2. Deal with significant people management issues such as change programmes;
3. Resolve issues which may not have arisen before through use of experience and judgement.

Internal and External relationships:

1. Has an excellent understanding of their own working area and a broad understanding of the contribution other areas make to the success of the University;
2. Has an excellent understanding of how the University operates, together with an understanding of how academia operates in the UK;
3. Demonstrates empathy with the academic endeavour and seeks to encourage others to do so;
4. Proactively and sensitively manage the performance of their team and create a motivating environment;
5. Influence others (including across the University) to follow a particular course of action;
6. Represent the Research Group, School and wider University at internal and external meetings/events/network with colleagues in other institutions to share best practice.

Informal enquiries to James Convery, email: j.h.convery@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

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.