Senior Portfolio Manager – Future Communications
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Salary: £46,743 per annum
Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 0.8 FTE considered)
Contract type: Fixed Term until 31st March 2030
Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire
Grade: UKRI Band E
Positions available: 1
Closing date: 23:59 on 2nd July 2026
Proposed interview date: Interviews will be held in person at Polaris House, likely on week commencing 20th July. There will be no further stages of assessment.
EPSRC are advertising several vacancies for Senior Portfolio Managers at this time. Applicants are welcome to apply for one or more than one position. A separate application will be required for each post which should be tailored to the specific post. If you are shortlisted for interview for more than one post with the same criteria, you will only need to attend one interview.
This is a fixed term post. Internal employees applying for any opportunity which may mean being away from your substantive role for a temporary period of time, please refer to the Recruitment Policy for further information in the first instance. If you are made an offer, please ensure you liaise with your Line Manager and the designated HR Team as soon as possible in order that implications of any move are clear and understood, prior to a move taking place.
About Us
Are you passionate about research? Are you keen to work with researchers, business and Government, defining and implementing strategy to enable excellent research that delivers real impact for the economy and society?
Senior Portfolio Managers sit at the interface between strategic leadership and delivery. You will use your communication skills to develop and implement key priorities, policies, and strategies. You will lead the development and delivery of future activities, building strong relationships with colleagues across UKRI and a wide range of external stakeholders. You will be encouraged to constantly learn and be empowered to explore your curiosity in this rewarding role. Overall you will ensure we fund people and ideas of the highest quality, to implement new, innovative research programmes.
We recognise and value employees as individuals and aim to provide a pay and rewards package that motivates staff to perform to the best of their ability. The reward package includes a flexible working scheme, a Career Average Revalued Earnings pension scheme, 30 days annual leave allowance and a number of other benefits.
EPSRC is a team-based organisation, and no team or directorate works in a silo. An important part of your role will be to work with others to deliver results.
The Senior Portfolio Manager will join a newly established team within the Future Communication Systems team to support the delivery of the IS-8 Advanced Connectivity Technologies Programme. The role requires strong collaborative working across internal teams and with external UK and international stakeholders and will involve managing funding schemes and project portfolios aligned to the UKRI IS-8 ACT Programme. The role will contribute to the development of strategy and help shape EPSRC’s position within a rapidly evolving global research and innovation landscape. They will also be responsible for developing and maintaining effective relationships with DSIT in relation to strategic investments and reporting requirements, providing leadership on programme and policy areas, and supporting governance and engagement with the research community to ensure the programme delivers maximum impact.
Hybrid Working
These posts are based at our Swindon office, but hybrid working is available with regular office attendance and travel across UKRI offices. This post also requires travel to attend external visits and meetings. We welcome applications from candidates with special requirements.
Purpose
As a Senior Portfolio Manager in EPSRC, within 6-12 months, you will have a deep knowledge of your area of responsibility (which could be multiple portfolios or programmes), understanding its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. You will use that knowledge to collaborate and lead on defining, influencing, and implementing strategy.
Main outputs and activities:
Contribute to, as well as shape the development and delivery of strategy across one of EPSRC’s themes.
Deputising for team leads, including in meetings with senior internal and external stakeholders.
Line-manage and/or project manage colleagues: providing leadership and support for personal development and driving a culture of high-performance teamwork.
Building and fostering strong relationships working across EPSRC, UKRI and beyond UKRI, including across the academic community, government, and other stakeholders to ensure that investments are robust, informed, and impactful.
Providing high quality expertise and advice in your areas of responsibility, informed by evidence and engagement with relevant stakeholders.
Leading the development and delivery of investment plans, calls and associated peer review processes, and cases for investment, ensuring that these are of a high quality and in line with UKRI values, principles, and practices.
Contributing to the development of appropriate monitoring, assurance, and evaluation approaches for EPSRC’s investments.
Personal Specification
The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).
Assessment of the following skills will be made via shortlisting, and an in person interview which will include a presentation:
Essential
Knowledge and experience of programme, portfolio and/or project management of research-related or innovation activities, including managing packages of work within projects and programmes (S)
Sophisticated analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making skills, and an ability to think strategically (S/I)
An ability to engage with a range of internal and external stakeholders at all levels, and to influence others to achieve outcomes and improve performance (S/I)
An ability to work as part of a team, including leading and developing staff through behaviour and empathy, to achieve organisational goals (S/I)
Strong communication skills (both written and oral) with an ability to produce clear, concise, and accurate presentations and written documentation to successfully inform and influence a wide range of audiences (I)
Strong strategic awareness of how the UK research and innovation system operates, and the context and landscape within which EPSRC and UKRI operates (I)
Desirable
A graduate (or equivalent experience), who can demonstrate the potential to succeed (S)
How to apply
The closing date for applications is 23:59 on 2nd July 2026.
Online applications only are accepted for this role. Please submit a CV and “Application Statement”. Each document should be no more than three pages.
Across the two documents, you are expected to give evidenced examples that clearly explain how your abilities, experiences and skills demonstrate each of the shortlisting criteria listed above. While this is not the only approach, you are advised to familiarise yourself with the STAR methodology (see: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/STAR-method.htm), which is a useful framework for providing these examples.
Please ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria, exceeding the page limit or submission of an application without an ‘application statement’ may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted ‘application statement’ and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.
If successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to an in-person interviews that is expected to take place in Swindon likely during w/c 20th July 2026. You will be asked to provide evidenced examples that demonstrate that you are able to cover the interview criteria. You will also be asked to give a short presentation on a topic that will be provided to you in advance. This is the final stage of the selection process. Please note, dates are subject to change.
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.
Your application and performance through this recruitment process may be used for other opportunities that arise within an appropriate timeframe.
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 rejected and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
As part of the pre-employment checks there is a requirement to undergo Baseline Personnel Security Screening. BPSS is a pre-condition of employment and failure to achieve it may mean that the employment offer is rescinded. UKRI reserves the right to run, or re-run, security clearance as required during the course of employment.
Contact
Further information about the role can be discussed with Lydia Gardner (Joint Head of Quantum Technologies), who is leading this recruitment. Please email [email protected] to arrange a mutually convenient time to speak.
Additional Information
Developing talent
We are committed to developing employees in their roles throughout their career. Learning and development plans enable employees to continue their professional development through training and development opportunities such as e-learning, classroom training and on-the-job experiences. We encourage our employees to share their learning across teams and organisations.
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.
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)
Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs or contact [email protected]
