Senior Programme Officer — NIHR Research Training in Leeds

This is a fixed term contract role with a contract end date of 31 March 2027. We are looking for a highly skilled and motivated Senior Programme Officer to assist with planning and implementing the management of our research training programmes. You will play a key role in one of our programme teams, providing senior administrative support to the team, and engaging with a broad range of stakeholders nationally at all levels of seniority in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), NHS Trusts, local authorities, and other health and care related organisations.

Main duties of the job

• Assist the Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers in managing schemes and programmes that form part of the NIHR research training and fellowship portfolio;
• Support the Senior Management Team in their oversight of various funding streams;
• Work alongside other Senior Programme Officers, Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers, and coordinate administration where appropriate, to ensure the delivery of various funding schemes, programmes, workshops, events, interviews and conferences;
• Support other diverse areas of work as required in order to deliver the NIHR Academy programmes and awards.

About us

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has a mission to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. The NIHR plays a pivotal role in attracting, training and supporting the best researchers and complements the additional NIHR investment in world-class research facilities and a skilled research workforce. This role is hosted by the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) and delivers the work of the NIHR, leading on policy, strategy and delivery in respect of academic training in England and working closely with other NIHR centres and the Science Research and Evidence (SRE) Directorate at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Leeds Teaching Hospitals is committed to our process of redeploying 'at risk' members of our existing workforce to new roles. As such, all our job adverts are subject to this policy and we reserve the right to close, delay or remove adverts while this process is completed. If you do experience a delay in the shortlisting stage of the recruitment cycle, please bear with us while this process is completed, and contact the named contact if you have any questions.

Job responsibilities

Programme Support Calls for Fellowships and other Award Schemes

• The post holder will be responsible for the delivery of identified projects or clearly defined areas of responsibility. If required he / she may be required to highlight changes in workload and adjust work plans in response to external events and new policies.
• The post holder will: Support the Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers to plan and implement the management of NIHR research training schemes over an annual cycle, by being responsible for developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure that robust and effective administrative processes are used to manage applications (both electronic and as hard copies) in accordance with agreed project plans, this process typically takes 6 - 9 months.
• Manage the advertising of schemes to a range of publishing and professional organisations, negotiating cost effective spending, and reporting to the Programme Manager as required.
• In liaison with Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers, draft and revise application forms and guidance notes for new and existing schemes.
• To act as the first point of contact for enquiries related to the various schemes the post holder is supporting. Aiming to manage at least 75% of all queries whilst recognising which queries are best answered by other members of staff.
• Edit and prepare interview and peer review feedback to applicants to NIHR Academy programmes.
• Advise on the appropriateness of each scheme, including eligibility and general remit, purpose of call and guidance.

Programme Support - Responsibility for meetings

• The post holder will plan and coordinate a number of different events, all of which involve external stakeholders, in Leeds, London, and other locations. These include:
• Review Panel short listing and interview meetings
• Advisory Board meetings
• Workshops
• Stakeholder meetings
• Specifically the post holder will assist the Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers to:
• Coordinate invitations to join panels/boards
• Drafting panel/board terms of reference and guidance
• To be responsible for managing and organising panel meetings; This may also involve liaising with hotel/event management staff, negotiating suitable costs and managing and authorising the budget associated with these events.
• To provide secretariat for groups and meetings as required, including contributing to the production of Chairs Briefing notes, minutes and reports.

Programme Support General Support

• The post holder will:
• Contribute to planning the annual cycle and timing of schemes in the post holders area of responsibility.
• Support the Senior Programme Managers and Programme Managers in researching and publicising outputs and impacts of the programmes in the Programme Managers portfolio.
• To provide day to day line management of more junior administrative staff.
• Supervise and delegate tasks to temporary administrative support during periods of high activity.
• Undertake defined research and evaluation into NIHR Academy supported programmes as required.

Contracting and Awards Management

• The post holder will:
• Prepare and check announcement letters, contracts, and payment schedules for new awards.
• Be responsible for the development of SOPs to support the various administrative procedures used to support the production and monitoring of contracts.
• Act as the first point of contact for award holders, duties include negotiating and on occasions persuading award holders and their employing organisations to accept agreements and contracts.
• Liaise with DHSC and other relevant Organisations about payment schedules and financial enquiries from awardees.
• Deal with and track requests for changes, including variations to awards documents and contracts.
• Manage annual and final financial reconciliations for all award holders within their portfolio of work, escalating problems and issues to managers as required.
• Assist the Manager in the production of updates, financial reports and papers about schemes/programmes in the post holders portfolio.
• Maintain a clear and comprehensive audit trail in compliance DHSC contracting policy.
• Liaise with external stakeholders to monitor progress of schemes, and work closely with the Information and Evaluation team on monitoring and evaluation of schemes in the post holders area of responsibility.

Communication

• The post holder will:
• Liaise with queries and occasional complaints about the application process and funding decisions by telephone, email, and in person, escalating unresolved queries to the programme manager and senior manager as necessary.
• Provide feedback to successful and unsuccessful applicants. This may include delivering bad news and discussion of future options.
• Publicise NIHR Academy activities through attendance at some external meetings, seminars and conferences.
• Communicate and work with a range of people nationally at all levels of seniority both internal and external to the NIHR Academy, in line with DHSC policies.
• Develop and maintain strong and positive working relationships within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), NHS Trusts and other health-related organisations.
• Contribute to briefings requested from Ministers offices and other government departments. This involves researching and reporting on research outputs.
• Liaise with members of the NIHR Academy Executive Senior Management Team and Awards Managers, and University Hospital of Leeds NHS Trust staff, in order to meet responsibilities and undertake duties effectively.

Person Specification

• Ability to work flexibly as part of a team, building and maintaining good working relationships.
• Ability to tackle complex problems, identify solutions and implement them.
• Deliver work on time, to anticipate fresh demands.
• Effective liaison skills with the ability to deal tactfully with colleagues, senior academics, NHS managers, members of the public and various stakeholders.
• Identifying opportunities and approaches to achieve goals and improve results.
• Ability to plan and organise a broad range of new and ongoing activities.
• Advanced working knowledge of word processing, databases, spreadsheets.
• Advanced level oral and written communication skills.
• Confident and comfortable when communicating to others and dealing with sensitive issues.
• Ability to analyse, interpret and present complex information.
• Ability to negotiate.
• Ability to work accurately with attention to detail.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality.

Qualifications

• Degree in a health or life-science discipline or equivalent experience.

Experience

• Demonstrable experience of research and/or research management or demonstrable experience within a senior administrative post.
• An understanding of public sector health research and its management.
• Good interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate effectively as an advocate for health services research and development.
• Assimilate information quickly, and apply knowledge quickly and effectively to new problems.
• A willingness to work across discipline boundaries.
• Experience of financial management.
• Understanding of data protection, FOI and information management.
• Experience of working in an ODA (Official Development Assistance) compliant or global health environment.
• Experience of organising complex meetings, workshops and/or conferences.
• An understanding of health research capacity development.
• Experience of drafting contracts.
• Experience of contributing to reports/papers.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.