Senior Contracts Officer (Legal) in Taunton

As a Senior Contracts Officer (Legal), you will join a small but well-established team of professionals supporting the University's research contract portfolio. Your main focus will be to manage the contract process for a given Faculty, and to support the Head of Team in co-leading the team to ensure that the overall caseload is effectively allocated and managed; you will also deputise for the Head when required, and line manage and mentor junior members.

This role is pivotal in providing expert advice to academics and managing legal risks for the institution. To do this, you need to:

• hold a law degree or suitable relevant legal qualification (e.g., LLB, LLM, CPE, SQE, LPC, CILEX).
• be able to advise on and manage a range of research-related, commercial contract issues.
• have strong drafting and negotiating skills and be confident in managing legal risk.
• build effective working relationships and networks, internally and externally.
• manage a diverse workload and think strategically.

We are looking for someone with proven experience in a busy (preferably in-house public sector) Contracts/Legal Team, with a commitment to personal and team development. We ask you to be curious, collaborative and collegiate in your work, maintaining awareness of relevant legislation, participating effectively and engaging with our academic community and other professional services. We are looking for:

• up to date knowledge in Data Protection and other relevant legislation.
• outstanding communication and relationship building skills.
• outstanding organisational and time management skills.
• the ability to work independently.
• a willingness to use initiative and drive forward positive change.

A hybrid working pattern will be adopted for this position, both on-campus and working from home, and the possibility of a largely remote contract will be considered if the successful candidate meets the requirements.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Amy Charles Persson, Head of Contracts or Rachel New, Deputy Head of (Research) Contracts.

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equality and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage applications from all genders, backgrounds, and communities, particularly from under-represented groups, and value the positive impact that will have on the university. We are committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for our students, staff, and community by reinforcing our Safer Recruitment commitment.

What we can offer you: We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:

• Free counselling services through Health Assured
• Cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
• Staff discount at Team Bath gym
• Staff discounts on postgraduate tuition fees
• Staff discount on language courses
• Generous employer contributory pension schemes
• Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work life balance
• A wide range of personal and professional development opportunities, including Apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning and more
• Free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
• Local discounts and more
• A family-friendly workplace
• An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
• Relocation allowance
• Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses

Find out more about our benefits and watch the video on our website to hear from our staff about what makes the University of Bath a great place to work as well as following us on X and LinkedIn.

Right to Work in the UK: We do not assess immigration or right to work status until offer stage. Being invited to interview does not guarantee you are eligible for visa sponsorship, and all offers are conditional on meeting right to work requirements. Further information is available on our application support webpage.

Anonymous shortlisting: We are constantly seeking to reduce the unconscious bias that enters any assessment process, with the goal of creating an inclusive and equal assessment process. To support this, personal details such as your name, may be removed from application forms at the initial shortlisting stage.