Research Governance Manager

About us

Research and innovation are at the heart of King’s College London’s mission to make a positive difference in the world. The Research Management & Innovation Directorate (RMID) shapes and enables the university’s research and innovation agenda, ensuring an environment in which researchers, professional staff and doctoral students can excel. This work is guided by King’s Strategy 2030, which emphasises academic excellence, real‑world impact, and a culture where research and innovation can truly thrive.

The Department of Research Governance, Ethics and Integrity (RGEI) safeguards the quality and credibility of King’s research. It ensures that all research conducted across the university is safe, ethical, lawful and carried out to the highest standards of integrity and rigour. Teams develop policies, systems, guidance, training and initiatives that support researchers in navigating ethical and regulatory requirements, enabling high‑quality research with confidence while feeling supported and valued.

About the role

The Research Governance Manager leads the Research Governance Office (RGO) at King’s, providing operational research governance leadership to ensure all research sponsored by King’s College London is conducted in accordance with University policy, the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research and all relevant legal and regulatory requirements.

The post holder contributes to the effective and efficient support of research and innovation through the delivery, promotion, and robust management of research governance processes across the College. They lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of a broad range of institutional and local policies, procedures and guidance to support high‑quality, compliant research activity.

The role requires expert knowledge of research governance requirements across the evolving regulatory landscape, including guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA), Health Research Authority (HRA) and NHS R&D. The holder provides expert advice to researchers on HRA and university governance processes, data protection legislation, NHS ethics requirements, and related regulatory pathways, and leads the development of internal systems and processes to support these functions, including specialist data governance guidance.

The role supports effective Sponsor oversight across the KCL research portfolio and works closely with colleagues across King’s and King’s Health Partners (KHP). The recent establishment of the KCL Clinical Research Hub and King’s transition to a sole‑sponsorship model for clinical IRAS research have led to the expansion of the Research Governance Office. The post holder will play a key role in supporting clinical research governance through this transition and will report to the Clinical Sponsor and Quality Lead.

Line management of the RGO team is provided by the post holder. The team sits in the Research Ethics, Governance & Integrity Department (RGEI) within the Research Management & Innovation Directorate (RMID).

King’s adopts a hybrid working model. When on campus, the role holder will be based at the Lavington Street Building, part of the King’s Waterloo Campus, with a minimum on‑site presence of one day per week. This is a full‑time post (35 hours per week) with an indefinite contract.

About you

To be successful in this role, candidates should have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Professionally qualified with a relevant degree or postgraduate/PhD and broad management experience in similar or related roles, or substantial vocational and relevant management experience demonstrating management ability in an appropriate professional or specialist area, supported by evidence of significant appropriate specialist knowledge.
2. Expert knowledge of UK research governance requirements, including the UK Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research, HRA processes, MHRA requirements, NHS R&D governance and associated legislation including UK GDPR.
3. Experience leading research governance support and Sponsor oversight activities across a research‑intensive diverse portfolio, including CTIMPs/ATIMPs, device trials, clinical studies and non‑clinical research.
4. Experience developing, implementing and maintaining proportionate research governance policies, risk assessments, SOPs and operational processes to ensure regulatory Sponsor compliance.
5. Experience of research monitoring, audit preparation or quality assurance activities, including maintaining accurate governance records.
6. Ability to provide authoritative advice to researchers and senior stakeholders on governance, ethics, sponsorship and regulatory pathways.
7. Experience working independently, showing initiative and making informed high‑level decisions.
8. Proven line management and team leadership experience, including supporting staff development, managing workload and ensuring high‑quality service delivery.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience leading operational change in a complex research or regulatory environment.
2. Experience conducting audits and/or safety monitoring activities at a Sponsor level, including contributing to corrective and preventative actions.
3. Experience supporting governance and Sponsor oversight measures for overseas research.
4. Experience applying data governance requirements in a research context, including advising on DPIAs, secure data environments and/or related GDPR compliance processes.
5. Working knowledge of UK funding body guidance and application processes, including costings for research and development activities and/or experience with research contracts.

Equality and diversity

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative are great strengths of the university. The Equality Act 2010 protects the rights of our staff and provides a framework to fulfil duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation and to advance equality of opportunity. We are committed to free speech and academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including controversial ones, can be discussed and debated. We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV and supporting statement detailing how they meet the essential criteria.

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