Senior Research Development Manager

The full-time starting salary is normally £44,131.00 per annum, with progression available in post to £51,182.00 per annum. Grade: G

The Research & Innovation Gateway (RIG) team is one of a number of key operational teams that constitute the Research Office professional services department. Our aim is to ensure there are robust arrangements to pursue and support high-quality, impactful research, and to enhance BCU’s reputation for research regionally, nationally, and globally.

The primary function of RIG is to provide cross-University support for the development and delivery of externally-funded research and innovation projects, working in partnership with research-active staff, as well as with senior academic and research leaders in the university’s new Schools and Departments.

Responsible for line management of a small team, the Senior Research Development Manager (SRDM) post that is available will primarily be focussed on pre-award support for development of research funding applications in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences disciplines.

The SRDM is responsible for coordinating, facilitating and enabling all aspects of the development of strategic research grant activity with a specific disciplinary focus, but working with other SRDMs and their teams across all Schools and Departments to foster multi-disciplinary collaboration. This includes supporting improvements in research culture and environment in addition to enhancing and diversifying research income.

Critical to the University’s Research Strategy, the SRDM will play a leading role in ensuring that the University maximises its research income from a range of funders and funding programmes. They will lead in identifying and developing new funding opportunities to ensure a comprehensive pipeline is maintained in terms of the number, value and diversity of our research income streams and projects. They will facilitate the development and submission of high-quality applications and provide expert advice at the pre-award stage to key staff across the university and external collaborators as required. The post-holder will be responsible for or contribute to the development and implementation of the internal process for competitive funding calls, sending out calls, filtering expressions of interest, arranging and servicing selection panel meetings, communicating outcomes to applicants, and providing leadership and support to their team in all areas of pre-award activity.

The appointed candidate will normally be employed through our subsidiary company BCU Support Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham City University. Appointees with prior LGPS membership who wish to enter the LGPS scheme will be able to do so and will be employed by Birmingham City University directly.

Further Details:
Job Description

Closing Date: 23.59 hours GMT on Friday 28 November 2025

Advert information