Job Purpose

The Academic Consultancy Service (ACS) provides a professional end-to-end support service to academics and external clients to efficiently facilitate, manage and grow the University’s academic consultancy business. The ACS team operates in a fast-moving, dynamic environment and team members are required to manage a range of concurrent complex activities contributing to a pipeline of new relationship opportunities for external collaboration to drive value creation and business growth. Working closely with academics from across the breadth of the University, the Academic Consultancy Manager will use their commercial expertise and project management skills to support a significant portfolio of consultancy engagements with external stakeholders including industry, charities, government, and public bodies.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Engage key stakeholders at College/School level to identify new consultancy opportunities to drive business growth and develop tailored strategies to promote and expand consultancy activity. Engage with academics who may wish to offer new innovative services and develop frameworks for their delivery.

2. Deliver a highly efficient customer focused service to academic staff wishing to engage in consultancy. Acting as the key liaison between the academic and client, provide expert commercial advice and project management for end-to-end support.

3. Lead drafting and negotiation of contracts on template agreements, ensuring consideration of reputational/ethical issues and mitigation of potential risks. Liaising with Legal & Contracts to resolve more complex matters.

4. Working as part of the ACS team, manage a significant and diverse portfolio of consultancy projects throughout their lifecycle (up to 500 projects across all four colleges), including impact evaluation.

5. Contribute to Academic Consultancy Services team targets through the delivery of ~£0.5M growth in consultancy activity per annum.

6. Develop trusting relationships with diverse academic community and senior colleagues to champion the benefits of consultancy and secure commitment to realise consultancy targets.

7. Act as the ‘go-to-person’ for all enquiries relating to the consultancy portfolio, providing rapid and authoritative guidance ensuring comprehensive support for all stakeholders.

8. Analyse and interpret the consultancy market to inform the development of the service.

9. Develop and deliver engagement activities, including presentations and consultancy training workshops to grow awareness of ACS and consultancy best-practice amongst the academic community.

General

10. Develop a thorough knowledge of the University’s associated policies, legal governance and financial regulations as well as a strong understanding of the academic capabilities and research objectives of each college.

11. Deputise for the Head of Academic Consultancy Services as required.

12. Any other duties that arise from time to time as directed by the manager or nominee.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential:

A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary professional knowledge and management skills in a similar or number of different specialist roles. Or: Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9,10 or 11 (Ordinary/Honours Degree, Post Graduate Qualification), or equivalent, including being professionally qualified in relevant discipline, with a broad range of professional experience in a management role(s).

A2 Demonstrable understanding of risk management and contractual matters in commercial settings.

A3 Demonstrable understanding of academic consultancy and its strategic value in generating impact.

Desirable:

B1 Knowledge of the academic research and innovation environment.

B2 Knowledge of the pressures, constraints and risk/reward positions of academic staff, Colleges, and Institutions.

Skills

Essential:

C1 Excellent organisation and time management skills, with the ability to multitask and independently execute own varied workload with goal-oriented focus.

C2 Highly effective communication skills, both verbal and written.

C3 Strong influencing and negotiating skills with a flair for motivating and influencing stakeholders at all levels. Ability to work with courtesy, discretion and a high degree of diplomacy.

C4 Ability to problem solve apply creative thinking and critical reasoning to develop solutions to non-standard activities and design a compliant framework for their delivery.

C5 Maintain high professional standards in delivery of customer & stakeholder needs.

Experience

Essential:

E1 Demonstrable experience of developing commercial proposals and managing commercial contracts. Ability to arrange, negotiate, and draft contracts in accordance with compliance and governance requirements and show an aptitude for finding solutions to issues with a creative, entrepreneurial, and proactive mind-set.

E2 Substantial proven experience of project managing a significant and strategically complex programme of work in a higher education, commercial or professional services setting.

E3 Demonstrable experience of customer service and relationship management with partners in higher education, public bodies, charities, government, and/or industry, including a commitment to continuous improvement in service delivery.

Desirable:

F1 Experience of the higher education sector and successful interaction with academic staff at differing levels of seniority and across several subject areas to deliver effectively on project outcomes to high standards.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 8, £50,253 - £58,225 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours p/w), open ended and suitable for hybrid working. Relocation assistance will be provided where appropriate.

Join our team and play a pivotal role in driving the consultancy business of one of the world’s leading universities. Informal conversations about the role are welcomed – please contact Elspeth Elliott (Elspeth.Elliott@glasgow.ac.uk), Head of Academic Consultancy Services, to learn more.

Closing date: 31 August 2025

The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK. If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.