Director of Research and Innovation Salary : £94,931 - £117,800 per annum, dependant on skills and experience (this is the full-time equivalent; actual salary will be pro rata for part-time hours). Appointment Term: Due to the nature of the role, we can accommodate several flexible options based around the successful candidates' preferences and current professional commitments, including fixed-term, secondment, and permanent contract as well as hybrid working arrangements. The minimum commitment duration is 36 months and minimum hours required is 0.8 FTE (Full FTE 37 hours) per week. Grade: Band X Location: Based in Swindon with frequent travel to London and significant travel opportunities to connect with researchers nationwide Closing Date: Sunday 2 nd November 2025 Are you a visionary leader, ready to inspire change in the environmental community? We are seeking a dynamic, creative environmental science research leader with standing in the profession who thrives on making a difference in the science community and turning complex challenges into opportunities. This isn't just another role - it's your chance to place cutting edge environmental science at the very heart of green growth and government priorities. You'll bring: Science Leadership across environmental domains with a track record of building bridges between disciplinary fields to unlock transformative research outcomes. Research delivery experience drawn from universities, institutes, or research centres, where you can show credible, impactful results. Entrepreneurial vision that sees challenges as catalysts for innovation A collaborative and engaged mindset as you join our new executive team and exemplify credible, empathetic, and effective leadership working with diverse partners. Your impact: Strategic influence with environmental science as its foundation National presence as NERC's authoritative voice and senior liaison across the UK's research ecosystem Direct engagement across university and national research organisations Leading role in delivering research that will define the nation's environmental future under NERC's Forward Look As Director of Research and Innovation you will play a key leadership role at the heart of the executive team and build an exciting new agenda under the NERC Forward Look, delivering innovative solutions for the economy and for society over the next decade. The role has direct responsibility for NERC budget lines delivering curiosity-driven research, talent and skills funding, and strategic research programmes, ensuring that outcomes align with our Forward Look, UKRI's priorities, and that NERC keeps pace with evolving science needs and changing technological and computational capabilities. It will be important to seek out opportunities to create funding partnerships with others, including other research councils, government departments, and international funding agencies where appropriate, particularly across domains with key intersections with environment, such as health, energy, and resilience in urban and engineered environments. You will need to command esteem and pro-actively engage across NERC's science community, both to keep pace with their insights on new developments and to communicate NERC's agenda, particularly to senior leaders. You will join a strongly collaborative executive team, working closely with NERC's Directors to ensure that research priorities overall are coherent and optimised across all research programmes, including those in the NERC Centres that receive 'national capability' funding to deliver long-term, large-scale research and infrastructure platforms for the science community. Key Responsibilities: Reporting directly to the NERC Deputy Executive Chair you will have responsibility for: Delivery of over £100M per year of UKRI's research and talent budget, programme evaluation, and direct responsibility for the leadership management and development of c50 staff. Leading the development of research and innovation priorities for the whole of NERC Leading on the inception, direction and timely delivery of well-designed curiosity-driven research, talent and skills funding, and strategic research programmes. Working collaboratively across UKRI to align with UKRI policies and to inform and shape the latest thinking to continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of science funding. Exploiting your NERC domain expertise to seek out opportunities for collaborations that leverage partnerships including international collaboration. NERC Community Liaison: Being a critical point of contact across the NERC community, winning trust and confidence at senior level to pick up the latest intelligence on scientific developments, to ensure the smooth running of NERC's funding programmes, and to empower Head Office with scientific insights. Stakeholder relationships: Liaison across relevant UKRI teams (including international, commercialisation, and Innovate UK) and with external partners including business and industry to ensure that NERC delivers the best possible outcomes against our priorities. You will act as a senior ambassador for NERC and ensure that NERC and its community provide a strong, unified voice for science, research, and innovation. Contributing to the corporate management of NERC as a member of an inclusive and collegiate executive team and representing NERC and UKRI at senior level to a wide range of communities and stakeholders, leading through change as responsibilities continue to evolve. Participating in the council's evaluation and planning activities. Championing equality, diversity and inclusion For the full role details and responsibilities please e-mail us at seniorrecruitment@ukri.org to request the candidate pack. Person Specification: Qualified at PhD level with a strong personal record of scientific achievement and a deep understanding of environmental science and its applications sufficient to gain the confidence of the scientific community. A sustained first-class track record of senior roles relevant to the environmental sciences, with experience leading and managing major scientific initiatives and programmes. Senior level experience of stakeholder management including the ability to negotiate with partners to build effective relationships for mutual benefit, reconcile potentially conflicting interests and influence others not in your management line to achieve desired outcomes. Experience of portfolio budget management, profiling spend against well-defined delivery criteria and outcomes. Demonstrable experience of effective management of staff performance and development. Application Guidance: How to evidence the criteria: You are encouraged to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in the cover letter to evidence your ability to meet the 'person specification' criteria in the job description. For examples of the STAR method, please visit: The STAR method | National Careers Service'. Please ensure your CV and cover letter are no longer than two A4 pages each, using a minimum font size of 11. Once submitted, your application cannot be edited via your careers website; however, if you encounter any issues or need to update your documents, please contact us at SeniorRecruitment@ukri.org Other information If you'd like to have an informal chat about the role before applying, you're welcome to get in touch with us at seniorrecruitment@ukri.org Benefits 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 Please click here for more details Benefits of Working for UKRI UKRI - UK Research and Innovation UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. Supporting some of the world's most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation. More information can be found at www.ukri.org. Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit benefits of working for UKRI. How we support EDI in the workforce At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit 'How we support EDI in the workforce'. Disability Confident Employer As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all applicants with a disability who opt into the disability confident scheme and meet the minimum criteria for the role. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation. How to apply Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the 'experience' section of the application. UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion - a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us. The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment. NERC is a partner organisation within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI brings together nine organisations to create one single, independent entity with a strong voice, and a vision to ensure the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation. NERC is the UK's leading funder of environmental science. Our scientists study and monitor the physical, chemical and biological processes on which our planet and life itself depends - from pole to pole, from the deep Earth and oceans to the atmosphere and space. The science we fund has impact across all sectors. It provides a platform for future UK prosperity by contributing to a safe, healthy, productive nation. Many programmes involve collaborations with national and international partners to tackle large-scale environmental science challenges, including those faced by developing countries. For more information about NERC, please click here