Deputy Director (Engineering) - Scottish Partnership in Energy and Engineering Research (SPEER)

The Scottish Partnership in Energy and Engineering Research (SPEER) is a partnership of 14 Scottish Universities working collaboratively to maximise impact in energy and engineering research and innovation. SPEER works strategically with academia, industry and public sector/government to further build upon and grow Scotland’s energy and engineering research excellence to drive global competitiveness and socio-economic impact. SPEER has recently formed from the integration of two world-class pan-Scottish partnerships; the Scottish Research Partnership in Engineering (SRPe) (www.srpe.ac.uk) and the Energy Technology Partnership (ETP) (www.etp-scotland.ac.uk). The SPEER Engineering Pillar is managed in accordance with the SRPe approach, and the SPEER Energy Pillar in accordance with the ETP approach. Both Energy and Engineering pillars are focused around key themes.

The activities of the SPEER Engineering Strategy are focused around strategic themes aligning the research and innovation strengths of the Scottish universities with the key strategic opportunities for socio-economic impact and growth.

Based at the state-of-the-art Technology & Innovation Centre in Glasgow, the SPEER Deputy Director of Engineering will be a high calibre versatile professional with a wide range of skills who can manage all aspects of SPEER strategic, operational and project delivery. You will work closely with the SPEER Executive Director and manage the day-to-day operational and project delivery of the wider SPEER team. Due to the integrated nature of the partnership, you will work closely with the SPEER Deputy Director (Energy) to identify areas of synergy between the Engineering and Energy Strategies and develop joint initiatives. You will collaborate with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders from across a number of organisations spanning academia, industry and public sector, including at senior/executive level.

Your main activities and responsibilities will be across the full range of engineering focused SPEER activities, including management and oversight of partnership-wide SPEER funded initiatives and programmes; design, development and delivery of strategic investment cases, strategic initiatives/programmes, collaborative proposals and workshops; identifying and developing new collaborations with academia, industry and public sector, horizon scanning, identification and monitoring of collaborative funding opportunities; organisation and delivery of conferences, events and workshops; marketing and communications; management and coordination of early career researcher skills development/training initiatives; budget management and financial reporting; project delivery and progress tracking; development of databases, and day-to-day operational management and supervision of the SPEER executive office team.

To be considered for the role you must be educated to a minimum of degree level in a relevant discipline, or with equivalent relevant experience within the higher education, public or industry sectors. You will have extensive experience across stakeholder management, cross-sectoral collaborative strategic proposal / investment case development and workshop delivery, marketing and communications, conference and events management, strategic initiative and collaborative project development and delivery, project management and project performance monitoring, financial management and general operational delivery management and staff supervision, ideally within an industry facing higher education collaborative research environment.

In addition to having excellent interpersonal, organisational & planning, management, communication and IT skills, you must have the versatility and drive to embrace new challenges. Many aspects of delivery will be non-prescriptive and you must be able to operate proactively with a high degree of flexibility, and with a high level of motivation and personal initiative.

Salary range: £46485 - £56921 per annum 

FTE: 1.0

Term: Fixed term until 31/01/2027

Closing Date: 10 November 2024