Research Project Manager in Kingston upon Thames

The Royal Marsden is seeking a highly organised and proactive Research Project Manager to provide operational project management support for a portfolio of externally funded clinical and translational research projects within the BRC Cancer Treatment Effects (CTE) theme. The post holder will play a key role in ensuring the effective coordination, governance and delivery of research grants and clinical studies, supporting investigators and multidisciplinary teams across multiple institutions. The role involves coordinating project activities, monitoring milestones and budgets, supporting regulatory and governance processes, and ensuring compliance with funder and institutional requirements. The role will also contribute to the establishment of new studies and growing the CTE theme portfolio.

Through a corporate research operations function, it will support the development and submission of competitive research funding applications across The Royal Marsden and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) with a particular focus on those related to the CTE theme. You will be an experienced project manager with a strong interest in clinical or health research, ideally within an NHS or academic environment. You will be comfortable working in a fast-paced research environment, coordinating multiple stakeholders and supporting the delivery of complex research projects.

Main duties of the job

• The primary function of this role is to support the successful delivery and operational management of externally funded clinical and translational research projects within the BRC Cancer Treatment Effects (CTE) theme.
• The post-holder will provide operational leadership to ensure the timely progression, coordination and control of research projects with defined objectives, work plans, milestones, deliverables and resources.
• They will support project organisation across multiple institutions, ensuring activities remain aligned with the strategic aims of the research project.
• The role will enable and monitor effective stakeholder engagement that contributes to the delivery of project outputs and impact, ensure resources are deployed appropriately for the timely completion of activities, and oversee project systems and governance structures that support high-quality research delivery.
• The post-holder will also support the identification and mitigation of risks to ensure projects remain on track.
• The post-holder will also support the delivery of clinical and translational research studies, ensuring activities are conducted in accordance with relevant UK research governance frameworks and regulatory requirements.

Working for our organisation

The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is a world-leading cancer centre. Our role is to offer our patients the best cancer care available anywhere in the world, and to continue to make a global contribution to finding better ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. We employ over 4,500 staff in a diverse range of careers including nursing, medical, science, radiography, pharmacy, occupational therapy, finance and administrative services. We have two hospitals – one in Chelsea, London, and one in Sutton, Surrey – as well as a Medical Daycare Unit in Kingston Hospital. At The Royal Marsden, we deal with cancer every day, so we understand how valuable life is. When people entrust their lives to us, they have the right to demand the very best. That’s why the pursuit of excellence lies at the heart of everything we do.

At the heart of the hospital is our dedicated team. We offer a stimulating and dynamic working environment, a wide range of staff benefits, learning and development opportunities and clear career pathways. There are opportunities to work flexibly across a range of areas and specialities and we welcome flexible working requests from point of hire to support employees work life balance. We are looking for employees who aspire to excellence, share our values and can play a crucial role in our ongoing achievements.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Maintain accurate project and study records, including drafting meeting agendas and minutes, tracking progress against project plans and study milestones, monitoring attribution of responsibilities, and supporting the maintenance of study documentation systems (e.g. Trial Master Files or equivalent records) to ensure documentation is complete and inspection ready.
• Support the coordination of study start-up activities, including feasibility assessments, preparation of study documentation and coordination of site set-up activities where required.
• Support the negotiation and monitoring of contracts, collaboration agreements and research budgets with internal and external partners.
• Collate and maintain risk registers and issue logs, reporting status to investigators and relevant governance committees and supporting the implementation of mitigation strategies.
• Maintain financial records to enable monitoring of project and study expenditure against approved budgets, working with finance teams where appropriate.
• Prepare progress reports, milestone updates and documentation required by funders and oversight committees.
• Liaise with research funders and sponsor representatives, supporting compliance with contractual obligations and assisting with the coordination of project amendments or revisions where required.

Person specification

Education/Qualifications

• Degree qualification in a relevant subject, preferably in the medical or biological sciences or equivalent experience of working in clinical/health research.
• Higher degree qualification (e.g. MSc or PhD) in a relevant subject, preferably in the medical or biological sciences.
• Project management qualification (e.g. PRINCE 2) or equivalent experience such as managing clinical/health research projects/trials within the NHS.

Experience

• Experience of working across multi-organisational (Higher Education Institutions, NHS, commercial organisations and others) teams within a matrix structure.
• Experience in operational leadership, including monitoring of multi-party research and/or innovation projects.
• Experience in reporting to project funders and tracking complex budgets.
• Experience of protocol writing.
• Experience of data management.
• Experience supporting the coordination or delivery of clinical research studies or trials, including study start-up, governance approvals or multi-site study delivery.
• Experience of inputting to research funding applications with the aim of developing/translating technologies into patient benefit.
• Experience of designing and delivering training.

Skills/Abilities/Knowledge

• Excellent organisational skills, including excellent attention to detail, meetings management and record keeping.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to effectively work with people from a diverse range of experience and seniority.
• Proactive problem-solving skills, with an ability to autonomously and/or collaboratively drive mitigation/resolution.
• Excellent presentation/report writing skills, with an understanding of how to meet the needs/expectations of audiences.
• A broad understanding of policy/regulation that governs the conduct of UK health and social care research.
• Knowledge of UK research governance processes, including regulatory approvals and research ethics review (e.g. IRAS, HRA or REC processes).
• An ability to rapidly gain an understanding of a new work area/topic, autonomously driving own learning/information gathering.
• An appreciation of the value of patient and public involvement in research and innovation.
• An appreciation of the importance of identifying and mitigating health inequalities through research design.
• A high level of ‘digital competency’.
• An ability to use standard resources such as Microsoft 365 and acquire new digital skills as required.
• Understanding of good documentation practice and the importance of maintaining accurate study records in line with research governance and inspection readiness requirements.
• An understanding of research funder missions, remits and schemes, UK health and clinical research infrastructure and how they add value through research.
• An appreciation of the importance of demonstrating impact, knowledge mobilisation and the diversity of methods to disseminate research work, and the protection and commercialisation of intellectual property.

Other

• Able to work on both sites and to be flexible to meet the needs of the role.

The Royal Marsden values diversity and is committed to the recruitment and retention of underrepresented minority groups. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates and candidates with disabilities. As a Disability Confident Employer, we are working to create a workplace that enables all staff to reach their full potential. We are committed to this because we know that greater diversity and inclusion will lead to an even greater positive impact for the people we serve.

Due to the high volumes of applications we receive, we reserve the right to close any adverts before the published closing date once we have received a sufficient number of applications. We advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment. Please ensure your information is accurate to avoid errors with processing your application. All applicants will be contacted by email to the address supplied on your application. Applicants are advised to check their email accounts regularly and to ensure that email filters are set to allow our emails.

Flu Vaccination – What We Expect of our Staff

At The Royal Marsden we have an immune compromised patient population who we must protect as much as we can against the flu virus. Each year, seasonal flu affects thousands of people in the UK. Occurring mainly in winter, it is an infectious respiratory disease capable of producing symptoms ranging from those similar to a common cold, through to very severe or even fatal disease. The wellbeing of our staff and patients is of the upmost importance to us, and it is the expectation of The Royal Marsden that all patient-facing staff have an annual flu vaccination, provided free of charge by the Trust.