The Alan Turing Institute is the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence. The Institute is named in honour of the scientist Alan Turing and its mission is to make great leaps in data science and artificial intelligence research in order to change the world for the better.

This role sits within the Institute’s Programme Management directorate, which is responsible for the management and delivery of these programmes in support of the senior academic Programme Directors. The team oversees millions of pounds of data science and AI research, training and knowledge exchange programme initiatives in these programmes, ensuring they are managed to business requirements, specification, time and budget.

Programme Management works closely with Legal team to ensure appropriate contracts are in place for all programme activity, and there are two Contracts roles (Manager and Officer) within the Programme Management team to facilitate this function.

Working across Programme Management, and sometimes in support of Partnership Development and Research Engineering together with Programme Management teams, you will provide specialist advice and guidance on aspects of contracting for research activities including funding agreements, collaboration agreements and partnerships, predominantly relating to the Institute’s contract template tool-kit.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide specialist advice and guidance with regard to research agreements and commercial contracts for services supporting research working with relevant Institute staff and stakeholders. The caseload will include, but is not limited to; funding agreements and collaboration agreements for research with universities, partnership agreements, grants, public sector and/or charity-funded awards in and out, as well as other ad hoc support.
• Based on Legal team contractual mechanisms guidance documentation, advise colleagues on contractual mechanism options, signposting to appropriate templates
• With the Contracts Manager, act as point of contact to triage contracts queries to ensure they are dealt with and escalated accordingly.
• Support Programme Management colleagues with amendment or completion of template agreements where requirements are more bespoke than standard completion of fields and schedules
• Support legal negotiations with clients, supppliers, and university partners
• Explain relevant contractual terms, their potential consequences and recommend solutions to academic (Programme Directors, Research Engineers and Research Data Scientists) and professional (Programme management, Partnerships development) colleagues
• Provide advice on negotiation of contractual terms, such as IP ownership and licenses, and other common clauses for negotiation
• With the Contracts Manager, ensure Programme Management colleagues log details of each contract requirement on a tracker to ensure full oversight of portfolio of agreements required, in progress and fully executed. Regularly review tracker for outstanding agreements that sit within Programme Management, monitor and chase outstanding matters as appropriate, and support, as required, to finalise these agreements.
• Confidently manage relationships with, and empathise with the priorities of, colleagues across Programme Management, Partnerships and Legal team
• Ensure adherence to Turing’s contractual policies
• Undertake other duties that may be required by the Director of Programme Management or General Counsel from time to time.

Essential

• A relevant first degree including commercial or business law, or first degree with a Graduate Diploma in Law.
• LPC qualification and practical legal experience either in an in-house or law firm setting (at least 12 months but we are also very interested in individuals who have more experience for example newly qualified lawyers who are looking to develop and grow this role).
• Solid experience of reviewing and drafting research legal agreements
• Experience in managing Higher Education research contracts and/or commercial research contract support
• Ability to communicate effectively, with diplomacy, with all levels of the organisation to successfully deliver initiatives/priorities
• Ability to work under pressure to tight deadlines while applying quality standards to all tasks and ensuring that nothing is overlooked

Please review the job description and person specification for the full list of essential and desirable criteria.

This full time post is offered on a fixed term basis for two years, with potential to extend. The annual salary is £34,510-£37,000 plus excellent benefits, including flexible working and family friendly policies, https://www.turing.ac.uk/work-turing/why-work-turing/employee-benefits

Application Procedure

If you are interested in this opportunity, please click the apply button below. You will need to register on the applicant portal and complete the application form including your CV, covering letter and contact details for your referees. If you have questions about the role or would like to apply using a different format, please contact us by email [email protected].

Closing date for applications: 22 August 2021 at 23.59

Equality Diversity and Inclusion

The Alan Turing Institute is committed to creating an environment where diversity is valued and everyone is treated fairly. In accordance with the Equality Act, we welcome applications from anyone who meets the specific criteria of the post regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Reasonable adjustments to the interview process will be made for any candidates with a disability.

Please note all offers of employment are subject to obtaining and retaining the right to work in the UK and satisfactory pre-employment security screening which includes a DBS Check.

Full details on the pre-employment screening process can be requested from [email protected].