REF 2029 Project Manager
University of Edinburgh
Job Description
Grade UE08: £50,253 to £61,759 per annum
Corporate Services Group / Edinburgh Research Office
Full time: 35 hours per week
Contract: Fixed term until July 2029
Vacancies available: 1
The Opportunity:
The role offers opportunity to be part of a team delivering a successful REF submission, and the wider research performance team. You will lead the University's REF preparations through to submission, and readiness for the audit period. Through matrix management and influencing key stakeholders across the University, you will work with multiple assessed elements of the REF submission across all three colleges. The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic, resilient and have good diplomacy skills.
You will be able to plan and prioritise work across the university effectively, while able to respond to fresh challenges as they develop. An ability to work independently and as part of a team is essential.
This position is an ideal opportunity for someone looking to further develop a career in University professional services, in a department with a proven commitment to training and staff development.
Your skills and attributes for success:
Application Information
Please ensure you include the following documents in your application:
Click to view a copy of the full job description(opens in a new tab)
Informal enquiries are welcomed, can be made by contacting Charlotte Brady, Head of REF, Research Planning and Performance, email charlotte.brady@ed.ac.uk
As a valued member of our team you can expect:
The University of Edinburgh is an exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success. You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, flexible working and much more. Click to access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages.
On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.
Key information
The closing date for applications is 7th November 2025.
Interviews will be held 17th and 19th November 2025.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
Edinburgh Research Office
Working in Edinburgh Research Office you will be part of a professional, supportive, and friendly team; at the heart of University research support, working in collaboration with academics and research support professionals across the institution. The breadth of our remit means you will get an overview of research support activity while you build your skills in your specialism. Gaining new knowledge and skills to help you develop in this role and progress in your career is a priority. We offer colleagues a stimulating working environment based on our values of integrity, expertise, community, and collaboration. Our work is fast-paced and intense; you will thrive here if you are motivated, collaborative, and passionate about providing an excellent service to enable our researchers to do amazing work.
Directorate and Team
The Research Governance, Policy and Performance Directorate is responsible for driving research strategy and performance initiatives, initiating and delivering key initiatives to improve research performance. We work closely with the University Research Strategy Group, REF Board and stakeholders across the University to ensure the University is in the best position to respond to the research environment. Using insights and intelligence alongside horizon scanning, we inform strategy and planning. We lead the University's statutory research reporting, including the Research Excellence Framework (REF), ensuring the provision of high-quality data and analytics. We ensure the University of Edinburgh's compliance in a changing and increasingly complex research environment, engaging with the academic community to build understanding.
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow's greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About the Team
Working in Edinburgh Research Office you will be part of a professional, supportive and friendly team; at the heart of University research support, working in collaboration with academics and research support professionals across the institution. The breadth of our remit means you will get an overview of research support activity while you build your skills in your specialism. Gaining new knowledge and skills to help you develop in this role and progress in your career is a priority. We offer colleagues a stimulating working environment based on our values of integrity, expertise, community, and collaboration. Our work is fast-paced and intense; you will thrive here if you are motivated, customer-orientated, and passionate about providing an excellent service to enable our researchers to do amazing work.
Grade UE08: £50,253 to £61,759 per annum
Corporate Services Group / Edinburgh Research Office
Full time: 35 hours per week
Contract: Fixed term until July 2029
Vacancies available: 1
The Opportunity:
The role offers opportunity to be part of a team delivering a successful REF submission, and the wider research performance team. You will lead the University's REF preparations through to submission, and readiness for the audit period. Through matrix management and influencing key stakeholders across the University, you will work with multiple assessed elements of the REF submission across all three colleges. The ideal candidate will be enthusiastic, resilient and have good diplomacy skills.
You will be able to plan and prioritise work across the university effectively, while able to respond to fresh challenges as they develop. An ability to work independently and as part of a team is essential.
This position is an ideal opportunity for someone looking to further develop a career in University professional services, in a department with a proven commitment to training and staff development.
Your skills and attributes for success:
- Experience of project management.
- Excellent communication skills.
- A record of delivering performance enhancing projects.
- Keen attention to detail
- Ability to manage and deliver multiple areas of projects.
Application Information
Please ensure you include the following documents in your application:
- CV
- Cover letter explaining how you meet the knowledge, skills and experience required
- your motivation for applying for this post.
Click to view a copy of the full job description(opens in a new tab)
Informal enquiries are welcomed, can be made by contacting Charlotte Brady, Head of REF, Research Planning and Performance, email charlotte.brady@ed.ac.uk
As a valued member of our team you can expect:
The University of Edinburgh is an exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work. We give you support, nurture your talent and reward success. You will benefit from a competitive reward package and a wide range of staff benefits, which includes a generous holiday entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, flexible working and much more. Click to access our staff benefits page for further information and use our reward calculator to find out the total value of pay and benefits provided.
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion
The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.
Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages.
On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.
Key information
The closing date for applications is 7th November 2025.
Interviews will be held 17th and 19th November 2025.
Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.
Edinburgh Research Office
Working in Edinburgh Research Office you will be part of a professional, supportive, and friendly team; at the heart of University research support, working in collaboration with academics and research support professionals across the institution. The breadth of our remit means you will get an overview of research support activity while you build your skills in your specialism. Gaining new knowledge and skills to help you develop in this role and progress in your career is a priority. We offer colleagues a stimulating working environment based on our values of integrity, expertise, community, and collaboration. Our work is fast-paced and intense; you will thrive here if you are motivated, collaborative, and passionate about providing an excellent service to enable our researchers to do amazing work.
Directorate and Team
The Research Governance, Policy and Performance Directorate is responsible for driving research strategy and performance initiatives, initiating and delivering key initiatives to improve research performance. We work closely with the University Research Strategy Group, REF Board and stakeholders across the University to ensure the University is in the best position to respond to the research environment. Using insights and intelligence alongside horizon scanning, we inform strategy and planning. We lead the University's statutory research reporting, including the Research Excellence Framework (REF), ensuring the provision of high-quality data and analytics. We ensure the University of Edinburgh's compliance in a changing and increasingly complex research environment, engaging with the academic community to build understanding.
- The REF, Planning and Performance Team is responsible for initiatives designed to drive institutional ambition and deliver research excellence across the University in line with the Research & Innovation strategy. Our work is critical to effective and successful submissions to institutional research assessment exercises and gaining insight from our research data. Working in the team, you can expect your evidence-based analyses and recommendations to change the direction of planning for research across the institution. Working in the team will give you access to research data and systems from across the university and the Higher Education sector relevant to research performance. The team works in a hybrid manner and our in-person anchor days are Thursdays.
About Us
As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow's greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.
About the Team
Working in Edinburgh Research Office you will be part of a professional, supportive and friendly team; at the heart of University research support, working in collaboration with academics and research support professionals across the institution. The breadth of our remit means you will get an overview of research support activity while you build your skills in your specialism. Gaining new knowledge and skills to help you develop in this role and progress in your career is a priority. We offer colleagues a stimulating working environment based on our values of integrity, expertise, community, and collaboration. Our work is fast-paced and intense; you will thrive here if you are motivated, customer-orientated, and passionate about providing an excellent service to enable our researchers to do amazing work.
JOB SUMMARY
REF 2029 Project Manager
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
2 days ago
N/A
Full-time
REF 2029 Project Manager