DiSSCo UK Impact and Engagement Manager
Salary: £37,841 Per Annum
Band: UKRI D
Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 0.8 FTE)
Contract Type: 3 years Fixed Term
Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire
Closing Date: 28 June 2026
Employees applying for any opportunity which may mean being away from your substantive role for a temporary period, please refer to the Recruitment Policy and associated guidance 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 the Role
The Distributed System of Scientific Collections UK (DiSSCo UK) is a £155.6 million investment for a national infrastructure programme to digitise 37 million natural science specimens. To deliver this exciting new programme, AHRC, alongside their delivery partner the Natural History Museum (NHM), are developing a DiSSCo UK delivery team to manage the programme on a day-to-day basis. This new team will be based at Swindon (with strong links to London) and will be responsible for managing the contract with the external evaluation supplier, leading on benefits management, engaging with relevant communities, measuring the impacts of the programme, and ensuring that impacts, outputs and outcomes are reflected upon, reported and communicated in a timely and effective manner. Some of the key activities for the team will be supporting grant holders, designing, and delivering future funding opportunities, and capturing programme and project level impacts.
The DiSSCo UK Impact and Engagement Manager will ensure AHRC and NHM work closely on the programme to capture and communicate impacts and outcomes. This role will include communication activities and community engagement with both active grant holders and the wider DiSSCo UK consortium. The role also requires support for grant holders who are due to start post-confirmation of the DiSSCo UK Business-Case. There will also be development of the next phase of funding for digitisation activities involving collaboration with the AHRC Operations team to deliver the grants.
As this role will involve interaction with grant holders and stakeholders, as well as attendance at events and conferences, the role will involve regular travel, including overnight travel.
The role also offers opportunities for professional development, and the chance to build knowledge of partner engagement, communications, and evaluation.
Your Responsibilities
- You will lead on AHRC communications for the DiSSCo UK programme. This will involve working with delivery partner NHM and UKRI central communications to draft news stories, blogs and press releases, and working with funded projects and the Investment Officer to capture impact stories.
- You will support partner engagement, maintaining a good awareness of key funders, organisations, researchers, government bodies and others working within digital research infrastructures and natural science collections.
- You will attend appropriate meetings and conferences, representing AHRC and the DiSSCo UK programme and identify opportunities for involvement.
- You will lead on the delivery of cohort and community events, such as workshops, visits, and tours.
- You will support the Senior Impact Manager in coordinating the programme level monitoring and evaluation, setting up meetings with the evaluation supplier and other interested parties.
- You will work collaboratively and effectively with DiSSCo UK colleagues at NHM, adapting and communicating to ensure shared goals are met and staff feel supported.
- You will be involved in cross-team working with delivery partners NHM, and the AHRC Research and Innovation Infrastructure Team on related portfolios.
- You will work with NHM colleagues to support the work of the DiSSCo EU European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC).
- You will support on the delivery of future programme approvals including Gate Reviews.
You will co-manage the Investment Officer, providing line and task management, and support their professional development.
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Person Specification
The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).
- Experience of engaging with partners, including identifying the key organisations and contacts for a particular sector or project.(S&I)
- Experience of fostering networks, formally or informally between colleagues or other individuals to encourage peer support. (S&I)
- Experience of delivering or supporting events, workshops, or visits online and in person. (S&I)
- Ability to collect and present data with accuracy and sensitivity. (S&I)
- Excellent communication skills, including experience of writing for internal and/or external audiences and providing clear written and verbal information. (S&I)
- Good team working skills, including collaborating with colleagues to prioritise tasks and maximise resources. (S&I)
An interest in arts and humanities, heritage, natural science, the environment or a related field. (S)
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To apply you must attach your CV (2 pages max.) and a covering letter (2 pages max.), ensuring that your cover letter addresses the essential shortlisting and interview criteria.
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
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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)
UKRI is an Equal Opportunity & Disability Confident Employer.
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].
Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact [email protected]
