Investment Officer

Job summary

Investment Officer

Salary: £30,895 Per Annum
Band: UKRI Band C
Hours: Part Time (0.5 FTE)
Contract: 3 years Fixed Term
Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire
Closing Date: 28 June 2026

Job description

About the Role

The Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK (DiSSCo UK) is a £155.6 million investment for a national infrastructure programme to digitise 37 million natural science specimens. To deliver this exciting new programme, AHRC, alongside their delivery partner the Natural History Museum (NHM), are developing a DiSSCo UK delivery team to manage the programme on a day-to-day basis. This new team will be based at Swindon (with strong links to London) and will be responsible for managing the contract with the external evaluation supplier, leading on benefits management, engaging with relevant communities, measuring the impacts of the programme, and ensuring that impacts, outputs and outcomes are reflected upon, reported and communicated in a timely and effective manner. Some of the key activities for the team will be supporting grant holders, designing, and delivering future funding opportunities, and capturing programme and project level impacts.

An AHRC Investment Officer plays a crucial role in the delivery of their team’s priorities, particularly in relation to the management and development of key programmes, investments and partnerships. The main purpose of the Investment Officer role across AHRC is to support the delivery of team and organisational objectives.

As this role will involve interaction with grant holders and partners, as well as attendance at events and conferences, the role may involve travel, including overnight stays.

Your Responsibilities

• Working with the team head to plan and deliver team-level activities (e.g. team meetings, away days, L&D).
• Supporting other operational activities, including delivery of funding calls and team-level reporting.
• Supporting the management of DiSSCo UK, including involvement in monitoring and reporting, and managing purchase orders.
• Contributing to and/or leading portfolio development, including evidence gathering and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative data.
• Contributing to and/or leading the production of case studies/impact stories and other narratives that highlight research outputs and impacts.
• Supporting stakeholder management (including the relationship with delivery partners NHM), including ownership of team mailboxes, contact lists and responding to grant holder queries.
• Supporting stakeholder engagement, planning and delivery of events and visits.
• Support with governance including the Executive Programme Board (EPB) Secretariat.
• General support and work towards future Gate Reviews and programme approvals.
• Cross team working with delivery partners NHM, and the Research and Innovation Infrastructure Team (“Infra” for short) on related portfolios.

Person specification

The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I)

Essential

• Communication: Ability to communicate effectively in different media, with a range of audiences. (S & I)
• Working Style: Ability to work both collaboratively (seeking and offering support) and independently (think creatively, make effective decisions) to achieve progress in objective delivery, escalating where necessary. (S & I)
• Time management: Ability to prioritise effectively, considering the needs of multiple stakeholders. (S & I)
• Working flexibly and at pace: You have excellent organisational and administrative skills, and the ability to work flexibly and multi-task with good attention to detail, often at pace (S&I)
• IT skills: Good working knowledge of IT and programmes (Outlook, MS Word, Excel, MS Teams, etc.) with the ability to quickly learn new software and systems. (S)
• Interest in AHRC: Understanding of UKRI and AHRC’s business and priorities. (S)
• Changing and improving: Ability to take initiative and actively contribute to continuous improvement at individual or team level. (S)
• Experience of supporting governance boards, such as creating agendas, minute taking, and sending invitations. (S)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,895, UK Research and Innovation contributes £8,950 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!

A list of benefits below:

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme.

• 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent).

• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities.

• Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice.

• Flexible working options.

Plus many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance!

For further information on our benefits please see:

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

UKRI is an Equal Opportunity & Disability Confident Employer.

Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact Recruitment@ukri.org

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

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Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : UKRI Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitment@ukri.org

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@ukri.org