Chief Operating Officer

Job description

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body, bringing together the seven
Research Councils, Innovate UK, and Research England. UKRI is charged with maximising the value
from £8,776 million of the UK Government’s investment in research and innovation annually.

This includes £1,368 million that we deliver from the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF). As an
Arms’ Length Body with a strong voice for research and innovation, both to government and
internationally, UKRI is supported and challenged by an independent chair and board. UKRI is principally
funded through the Science Budget by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
UKRI leads the overall strategic direction of the majority of the non-defence public sector research and
innovation funding in the UK, pushing the frontiers of human knowledge, and delivering benefits for UK
society and the economy through world-class research and business-led innovation. UKRI needs to
become more than the sum of its parts capturing synergies from the deep expertise in our disciplinary and
domain-specialist councils to deliver cross-cutting activities and steward a world class research and
innovation system for the UK. This requires us to transform the way we operate.

The organisation has circa 7,500 employees (in a broad variety of scientific, technical, professional and
generalist roles), primarily in the UK, with key activities in London, Swindon, Harwell, Daresbury and
Bristol. UKRI was also set up to advise and be a unified voice for transforming the UK R&D&I landscape, getting us to an intensity of 2.4% of GDP, including catalysing much stronger businesses investment in R&D&I. This is important because of the contribution it makes to the economy, to productivity and to tackling society’s most pressing challenges. UKRI enjoys convening power for international R&D&I
collaborations, working with other national Governments, world class research establishments and
businesses.

About the Medical Research Council (MRC)
Within UKRI, the MRC seeks to improve human health through world-class research. With an annual
budget of over £900 m, MRC provides support both to individuals, through fellowships and grants, and to
institutions, such as the MRC Laboratory for Molecular Biology and the Francis Crick Institute. The
outcomes of our research span discovery science, improvements in public health and the development of
new treatments for common diseases.

Purpose of the Role
This role is central to MRC’s effective delivery as part of UKRI and the wider bio-medical science sector.
The role holder will have responsibility for a number of organisational functions including financial
oversight and management, procurement and contracting, MRC governance, our funding operations;
capital and estates; and MRC’s pension scheme. In addition, the role will focus on business partner
arrangements with UKRI corporate functions including finance; governance; assurance; risk; data and
Information; and procurement.

You will:

• support MRC’s Executive Chair in the transformation of MRC in alignment to UKRI’s strategy
• lead and support strategic planning and decision making, facilitating key strategic and operational
  decisions in the support and delivery of MRC’s strategic vision, such as financial planning, evaluation and
  improvement of corporate performance, pension planning, and operational partnership with MRC
  Institutes and Units.
• you will also be jointly responsible for the MRC’s contribution to the UKRI strategic aim of ‘World-class places
• you will work closely with the Executive Chair (EC), Deputy EC, Chief of Staff, Directors, and Associate Directors to ensure effective running of the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with finance business partners to take the strategic lead in devising budgetary controland financial planning to support the needs of the business, medium-term planning and Operating Expense (OPEX).
• Ensure MRC receives quality and timely support, information and advice from UKRI Corporate Services.
• Ensure robust budget, risk, data and performance management, utilising management information to support decision making.
• Ensure a robust internal control and integrity regime within the business.
• Manage key legal and professional advice through appropriate routes (within UKRI).
• Ensure effective corporate governance and meeting of our statutory obligations; and continuouslu improve MRC’s overall performance.
• Building and developing operational and professional management capacity and capability within MRC Operations and align resources to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and resilience.
• Participating in the governance of major projects and cross council Initiatives, pre and post inception.
• Acting as Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) on material delivery projects for MRC; this will include multi million pound projects.
• Direct responsibility for the MRC Pensions Scheme, either as a Trustee, member or observer on its committees..
• Overall responsibility at a contractual and transactional level for MRC’s intellectual property.
• Serve as the MRC's representative in fulfilling UKRI strategic objective of a ‘world class place’ and contribute to UKRI's and cross-council engagement initiatives, ensuring alignment with MRC's mission and strategic goals.
• Provide strong, creative, and visible leadership of a high performing, efficient cross functional team of functional leaders
• Develop and lead optimal program structures using sub-teams where appropriate to drive timely and effective decision making and delivery of agreed program objectives.
• Develop cross functional talent within your team capable of taking on MRC and Pan-UKRI roles.

You will be expected to

•  Work closely with the research community to build commitment to the MRC strategy and collaborate
  on key areas.
• Embody the ethos, vision and mission of MRC, taking individual and collective professional
  responsibility for championing the MRC agenda and proactively implementing initiatives which secure
  the organisation’s mission.
• Work at all times with integrity and to the highest professional standards.
• Build co-operative team-based relationships with relevant colleagues across and outside the
  Research Councils as required.
• Champion MRC diversity policies and behave in a professional manner.
• Commit continually to developing personal understanding of serious and complex fraud and system security in the context of research funding and shared services.
• Ensure appropriate systems and processes are in place to support the enabling activities of MRC with a strong alignment of activities to UKRI. This requires a combination of line responsibility (setting clear expectations for several MRC corporate functions) and, influencing individuals and teams at different levels of the Council and across UKRI. Building strong collegiate relationships with the MRC Executive Team, and through the business partner arrangements are critical aspects of the role, using influence rather than line authority.
• Act as a pivot, ensuring appropriate MRC input is recognised, in particular the relationships regarding MRC Units and Institutes and other legacy MRC impacts (HR policies, redundancy, pension etc). Line manage.

About you

You will be assessed against the following throughout the recruitment process:

• First class track record of leadership of a corporate services function at senior
  management level, in large, complex multi-stakeholder organisations in either the
  public or private sector.
• Experience of financial planning and analysis, and of delivering significant projects /
  major change at pace.
• Experience of governance, risk management principles., intellectual property and
  management of legal advice.
• Proven strategic and analytical skills with the ability to analyse complex and potentially
  conflicting information as well as a record of translating organisational vision and
  strategy into operational requirements, to deliver desired outcomes and set priorities.
• Experience of successfully motivating and developing high performing collaborative
  teams to deliver high-quality and resilient business-as-usual operations and to enhance
  service delivery.
• Understanding and the ability to respond to the wider political environment in which
  MRC operates both within and outside UKRI including an ability to work effectively
  within the governance framework of the MRC.
• Strong emotional intelligence, excellent listening skills; and the ability to build
  consensus and trust.
• Considerable experience of stakeholder management including the ability to work with
  partners to build effective relationships for mutual benefit, reconcile potentially
  conflicting interests and influence others not in their management line to achieve
  desired outcomes.
• Broad understanding of the research funding system in the UK, including knowledge of
  the activities and priorities of the other UK Research Councils and Innovate UK,
  relevant Government departments and organisations including the Office for Life
  Sciences, universities and the life-sciences industry.
• A professional qualification in financial management and/or project management , as
  well as professional membership of a relevant business institution or able to
  demonstrate equivalent experience.
• This is an outline description of the key responsibilities and accountabilities involved in the job. It is not
  exhaustive and may be revised from time to time.

Benefits

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a
defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel
discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. 

The closing date for applications is 23:59 Thursday 9 May 2024. Interviews are expected to take place on 20th or 22nd May 2024.

UKRI is an inclusive employer that values diversity in its workforce. We encourage applications from all
individuals without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or age.