Job Description

SALARY:

94,931 - 117,800 (plus 5,560 London allowance) per annum

HOURS:

Full Time or Part Time (minimum 0.8 FTE)

CONTRACT TYPE:

Open Ended (permanent) or Secondments welcome

LOCATION:

Caxton House, London or Polaris House Swindon (Hybrid)

GRADE:

UKRI Band X

POSITIONS AVAILABLE:

1

CLOSING DATE:

15 February 2026

PROPOSED INTERVIEW DATE:

W/C 09 & 16 March 2026

This role has been re-advertised under the Research Programme and Funding Management job category to better reflect the social sciences nature of this position. A change of location has also been implemented to outline that successful candidates will have the opportunity to be based at either our Swindon or London offices.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are seeking a dynamic, creative social science research leader with standing in the profession who thrives on making a difference in the science community, turning complex challenges into opportunities. It's your chance to influence how new and existing social science data infrastructure are positioned as core national infrastructures to support the delivery of government priorities, including the industrial strategy. Also, to influence the development of talent and skills related to social and economic research are nurtured and deployed.

You'll bring:

Data infrastructure leadership across social science 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, working as part of our executive team to exemplify credible, empathetic and effective leadership of ESRC's workforce and diverse partners. Your impact:

Strategic influence across the research and policy landscape with a deep understanding of ESRC's social science data infrastructures as its foundation. National presence as ESRC's authoritative voice on the value of our data infrastructure and skills investments and responsibility for senior liaison across the UK's research ecosystem. Direct engagement across university and national research organisations in relation to data infrastructures, talent and skills. Leading role in ensuring ESRC's data infrastructures support the delivery of impactful research that helps inform the nation's social and economic future.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

As ESRC Executive Director responsible for data infrastructures and skills you will play a key leadership role at the heart of the executive team, ensuring our data infrastructure and skills investments support impactful research that informs decisions about the economy, public service delivery and society over the next decade. The role has direct responsibility for all ESRC budget lines related to data infrastructures, talent and skills funding, ensuring that outcomes align with UKRI's priorities, and that ESRC keeps pace with evolving social science data needs, technological changes (including the use of AI techniques) and computational capabilities.

It will be important to seek out opportunities to create funding and collaboration partnerships with other research councils, UK government departments and the devolved governments, for example in relation to other major data infrastructure investments. You will need to command esteem and pro-actively engage across ESRC's social science community, both to keep pace with their insights on new developments in the data infrastructure and skills landscapes and to communicate ESRC's agenda, particularly to senior leaders.

You will join a strongly collaborative executive team, working closely with ESRC's Directors to ensure that data infrastructure, talent and skills priorities are coherent and optimised across all programmes and are reflected in the ESRC Data Infrastructure and Skills strategy.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

Reporting directly to the ESRC Executive Chair you will be the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) for:

The Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) programme, which has recently received approval of 168m for the next investment phase (2026 - 2031). The Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK) programme. The UK Data Service (UKDS). The Population Research UK (PR UK) programme. The Understanding Society longitudinal study. The UK Centre for Evidence Implementation in Adult Social Care (IMPACT). Additionally, you will be responsible for:

Delivery of over 100M per year of UKRI's research and talent budget, programme evaluation. Direct responsibility for the leadership management and development of c80 staff across data and infrastructure investments, talent and skills, and public engagement. Leading on the inception, direction and timely delivery of any new ESRC data infrastructure investments. Working collaboratively across UKRI to align with UKRI policies and to inform and shape the latest thinking around data infrastructures, talent and skills funding, to continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these investments. Exploiting your ESRC domain expertise to seek out opportunities for collaborations that leverage partnerships to support the delivery of data infrastructure, talent and skills programmes. Being a critical point of contact across the ESRC community, winning trust and confidence at senior level to pick up the latest intelligence on data infrastructure developments (including the benefits and risks related to AI in these environments), to ensure the smooth running of ESRC's programmes, and to empower UKRI's Head Office with relevant insights. Contributing to the corporate management of ESRC as a member of an inclusive and collegiate executive team and representing ESRC and UKRI at senior level to a wide range of communities and stakeholders, Executive change leader within UKRI and ESRC as responsibilities continue to evolve. Acting as an effective representative of ESRC's Executive Chair at senior level government and other meetings. Participating in the evaluation and planning of ESRC Council activities and attending Council meetings. Championing equality, diversity and inclusion.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

We recognise that a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences enriches our work environment and therefore we actively welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates. Candidates will be assessed against the following criteria throughout the recruitment process.

(S) - Assessed at shortlisting
(I) - Assessed at interview
(S&I) - Assessed at shortlisting & interview

Qualified at PhD level (or equivalent work experience) with a strong personal record of scientific achievement and a deep understanding of social science data infrastructures and their value, sufficient to gain the confidence of the scientific community.

(S)

A sustained first-class track record of senior roles relevant to the social sciences, with experience leading and managing major scientific initiatives and programmes.

(S)

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.

(S&I)

Experience of the management and evaluation of major programmes, including proactively managing risks, and delivering to support agreed outcomes.

(I)

Sound experience of effective leadership and management of staff performance and development.

(S&I)

INCENTIVES

UKRI can offer the successful candidate:

Flexible Working 30 days annual leave + Public Holidays Access to Civil Service Pension Scheme Various everyday discounts through our dedicated provider Visit our dedicated benefits webpage for more info: Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

APPLICATION GUIDANCE

To view the role in more detail, please click

HERE

to download our Applicant Pack.

How to evidence the criteria:

We encourage you to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in your cover letter to clearly demonstrate how your experience meets each of the 'person specification' criteria outlined 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 our 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