View Vacancy - Office and Programme Manager - B3

Note : All applicants are required to mandatorily fill the complete online application form including the employment and educational details, motivational segment and the competency based questions. We will be thoroughly reviewing the application forms only for all the required details. Forms that are incomplete in any respect will not be considered while shortlisting for the next stage.

Please note that due to Covid-19 outbreak, the start date of employment mentioned in the advert is tentative, subject to normal business of British High Commission. All recruitment campaigns will remain open for applications, we will progress the recruitment process as swiftly as possible and continue to review all applications, monitor progress and developments. We will be in touch with you for the interviews/ should there be further updates on the application, however given the circumstances, kindly expect some delay in response and please reach out to if you have any further questions.

Main purpose of job:

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

UK Research and Innovation is a new entity that brings together nine partners and a budget of £7bn to create an independent organisation with a strong voice for research and innovation, and a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. The UK’s expertise spans all fields of knowledge, from the discovery of penicillin and monoclonal antibodies, to the jet engine and the World Wide Web. Our inspirational creative industries are strong in art, design and the innovative use of new materials and technologies. Our universities and laboratories produce a disproportionate percentage of the world’s top research, and their academics are highly-sought as international colleagues and co-authors and are among the world’s best at attracting overseas students. This excellence is not confined to university campuses and research centres. Our engineering, automotive and pharmaceutical industries are successful in part because of the superb graduates they can hire and the top rate researchers that support them.

UKRI India is a small, dynamic, high-achieving team within the British High Commission, New Delhi. We work across the breadth of UKRI interests to build collaboration with India. Since the establishment of the UKRI (then RCUK) office in India in 2008, the research and innovation (R&I) partnership between the UK and India has grown from an almost zero base to over £300 million of joint investment. This partnership in R&I is now one of the fastest growing areas of bilateral cooperation between our two countries. 

Summary of the Role

This role offers an exciting opportunity to work in a fast-paced, high-achieving environment rife with opportunities for further enhancing UKRI’s robust and growing collaboration with India. The successful candidate will provide comprehensive operational and administrative support to ensure the smooth functioning of the UKRI India office. This role will also work closely with senior programme managers in the team to provide support for programme delivery, and building connections across the X-HMG work. The successful candidate will gain exposure to high level events and visits by senior stakeholders and experience that enables a future move into Operations Management or Senior Programme Management roles.

You will have the ability and confidence to lead and drive operational activity, including identifying areas for improvement and efficiency savings. You will be a proactive and capable team player who has experience of balancing a range of tasks and rapid problem solving to ensure the effective running of an office.

You will provide high quality executive assistance to the Director and Deputy Director and this role will, therefore, include senior stakeholder engagement with our funding partners in the Government of India, UKRI’s headquarters in the UK and colleagues across the British High Commission Network in India. You will use your excellent written and verbal communications skills, ability to prioritise and your organisation and attention to detail towards this.

You will provide programme support to enable effective delivery of joint programmes between UKRI Councils and Indian funding partners. This will offer you with a unique learning opportunity for wider programme management in the future. You must have an interest and enthusiasm for research and innovation and an appetite to learn new things.

Roles and responsibilities:

This role will operate at an administrative level including (but not limited to) the following duties:

Leading operations delivery and administration for the office: 

• Act as the lead point of contact for all operational matters working closely with the UKRI Head of International Operations in the UK, including the organisation of team visits to the UK, risk management and assurance activities. This will include acting as the lead point of contact for all operational matters relating to our presence in the British High Commission and bridging between UKRI and BHC policies and processes
• Support the Director and Deputy Director in financial planning, quarterly and annual budget forecasting
• Take a lead role in office finance management by maintaining logs/spreadsheets of different types of spend, anticipating cash flow and managing adequate bank balances, settling of FCO-UKRI invoices,  procuring goods and services, managing reimbursement for GST and VAT claims, vetting and payment of vendor invoices
• Ensure understanding, and adherence of finance policies within the team, and ensuring a clear audit trail mechanism is followed for all finance matters
• Support the office Directors in HR matters by working closely with UKRI International and UKRI HR on matters pertaining to HR policies and staff welfare
• Act as IT lead ensuring smooth IT infrastructure for the team by working closely with UKRI IT, UKRI head office, and the High Commission IT team, including for an upcoming IT upgrade
• Mailbox management and responding to general external enquiries on behalf of the team
• Act as the team learning and development (L&D) champion by proactively liaising with UKRI L&D, BHC DART and any relevant resources to support team members’ L&D plans individually and as a team
• Act as the team well-being champion by participating in UKRI and BHC well-being groups, and organising well-being and team-building activities
• Identifying where office management changes are required:  designing and implementing new standards, systems and procedures, and communicating these effectively to stakeholders 

Providing executive assistance for the Director and Deputy Director:

• Managing complex diary and travel arrangements for the Director and Deputy Director, including developing meeting schedules, arranging suitable attendance, negotiating dates and making effective decisions to help with their workload management
• Employing well-informed discretion to prioritise appointments and respond to external stakeholders accordingly
• Proactively ensuring clear agendas and briefings for meetings and other senior stakeholder interactions, sourcing these from colleagues outside and within the team as appropriate

Supporting programme delivery for a range of R&I programmes:

• Working closely with senior programme managers in the team to provide programme support for the delivery of multi-million-pound UK-India partnerships by liaising with Indian and internal stakeholders on matters related to programme negotiation, agreeing peer review models
• Supporting, and where relevant leading, the development of scoping visits, academic workshops, panel meetings and preparing corresponding paperwork 
• Supporting, and where relevant leading, the successful delivery of UKRI India events and communications activities 

Essential on arrival:      

• Minimum two years’ experience in administrative or office management role
• Proven ability to provide accurate and effective support for senior colleagues, including handling complex diary arrangements and managing demanding workloads
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to absorb information quickly and efficiently
• Efficient, with excellent planning and organisational skills and attention to detail
• Strong general IT skills, particularly Office software, and the ability to use this software effectively to manage financial information
• Able to work at pace on a diverse range of tasks
• Ability to rapidly re-prioritise work depending on the situation
• Capable of proactively developing and presenting solutions to problems where past precedent is of little help and formal guidance is not available
• Experience of managing financial transactions and expenditure, reporting on budgets and contracting suppliers to deliver services in line with good financial practice
• Ability to work collaboratively, with a range of colleagues and with external organisations and partners at all levels
• Confidence to act independently and decisively within agreed boundaries, including being able to judge when to refer elsewhere for advice
• Strong problem solving skills and willingness to develop and implement innovative methods of working
• Adaptability and the ability to settle quickly into a new or changing working environment, including picking up corporate processes quickly

Desirable:

• Degree or equivalent experience relating to the use of research or innovation in an academic, policy or business context

• Understanding of UKRI and how research and innovation funding works in the UK and/or India
• Previous experience working internationally for a large organisation or working at distance from colleagues
• Previous experience of leading operational changes in a team
• Previous experience of formal minute taking
• Previous experience of preparing briefings