Head of the Office for Open Research

Location: Osney One Building, Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0EW, with flexible/hybrid working options available

Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)

Contract type: Fixed-term for 1 year to cover maternity leave

Lead the future of open research at one of the world's leading universities

We are seeking an exceptional strategic leader to become our Head of the Office for Open Research. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the University's vision for open research and scholarly communications, ensuring our researchers have the policies, services and infrastructure they need to maximise the reach, impact and sustainability of their work.

About the role

Working across the Bodleian Libraries and the wider University, you will provide strategic leadership for open research throughout the research lifecycle - from creation and dissemination to stewardship, assessment and long-term preservation.

You will lead a highly skilled multidisciplinary team and work with senior academic and professional leaders to develop innovative, researcher-centred services that support excellence in research. You will play a pivotal role in developing institutional policies and services that make research outputs more discoverable, accessible, reusable and sustainable, while ensuring compliance with funder and publisher requirements.

This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 1 year to cover maternity leave.

About You

You will possess a strong understanding of the research lifecycle and the evolving landscape of open research, scholarly communication and research assessment. Combining strategic thinking with excellent leadership, influencing and partnership-building skills, you will be able to lead organisational change within a complex research-intensive environment.

The ability to nurture and develop expert teams, identify opportunities for innovation and collaboration, and respond effectively to emerging policy and technological developments, will be essential.

What We Offer

As an employer, we genuinely care about our employees’ wellbeing and this is reflected in the range of benefits that we offer including:

• An excellent contributory pension scheme
• 38 days of annual leave
• A comprehensive range of childcare services
• Family leave schemes
• Cycle loan scheme
• Discounted bus travel and Season Ticket travel loans

More information is available at https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/life-in-oxford

Diversity

Our staff and students come from all over the world, and we proudly promote a friendly and inclusive culture. Diversity is positively encouraged, through diverse groups and champions, as well as a number of family-friendly policies, such as the right to apply for flexible working and support for staff returning from periods of extended absence, for example, shared parental leave.

How to apply

You will be required to upload your CV and a supporting statement as part of your online application. Your supporting statement should list each of the essential and desirable selection criteria, as listed in the job description, and explain how you meet each one. CVs alone will not be considered.

For further information or an informal discussion about the role please contact Amy Warner May, Associate Director, Scholarly Resources at amy.warnermay@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. General queries about the recruitment and application process, please contact GLAM Recruitment team (recruitment@glam.ox.ac.uk).

Only applications received online by 12.00 midday (BST) on Monday 14 September 2026 can be considered. Interviews are expected to take place at the end of September.

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