Senior Research Manager

Would you like to help us achieve meaningful outcomes for those affected by dementia? Do you want to use your experience in grants management to ensure our research funding programme supports the highest quality dementia research?

We are recruiting for a Senior Research Manager to join on a full-time, permanent contract working 35 hours per week. This is a home-based role, with occasional travel required for conferences, events and in-person stakeholder or team meetings.

As Senior Research Manager, you will lead our Research Grants & Involvement team, creating an environment where people feel supported, empowered and able to contribute their best work. In doing so, you will contribute to the development and delivery of our ambitious research strategy, ensuring that our research funding programme supports the highest quality dementia research, informed at every stage by those with lived experience.

You will lead a collaborative and purpose-driven team, working at the forefront of research that has the potential to transform lives. This is a highly visible and strategic role providing expert input across all aspects of dementia research, including our own funding portfolio, to contribute towards our organisational priorities.

You will use your knowledge of the dementia research landscape to identify emerging trends and opportunities and shape our research funding programme. Using your extensive experience in grants management, you will ensure that our funding schemes meet the needs of the dementia research community, that our processes align with best practice and ultimately, that the research we support achieves meaningful outcomes for those affected by dementia.

Interviews have been provisionally scheduled to take place via MS Teams on Wednesday 24^th and Thursday 25^th June.

About you

Joining us, you’ll possess relevant experience or education qualification in a relevant biomedical or health discipline, with extensive experience in research grants management, ideally in a medical research charity or similar funding organisation.

To be successful in this role, you’ll need to have good knowledge of the UK research funding landscape and research ecosystem, ideally in dementia. You’ll also have experience of embedding or supporting public involvement in research, or working in a co-production environment.

Crucially, you’ll have experience leading, managing and developing high-performing teams. You’ll also be a good communicator, able to work strategically with senior stakeholders, build relationships, influence and negotiate with them.

What you’ll focus on:

• Contributing to shaping Alzheimer’s Society’s research strategy, defining priority research themes aligned with our overarching organisational strategy.
• Acting as a trusted senior expert on dementia research internally, using horizon scanning and in-depth knowledge of Alzheimer’s Society’s funding portfolio.
• Working collaboratively to support the identification of funding gaps and new opportunities and partnerships, leading the development of future funding initiatives aligned with Alzheimer's Society’s research strategy.
• Overseeing the delivery and continuous improvement of research grant operations, ensuring that processes maintain the highest standards and reflect sector best practice, working closely with the Research Grants Manager.
• Developing and maintaining trusted senior level external relationships with leading dementia researchers, funders and partners, strengthening Alzheimer’s Society’s credibility as a leading research funder, and ensuring we are abreast of emerging trends and developments.
• Overseeing the development and delivery of Alzheimer’s Society’s vision for meaningful and impactful involvement of people with lived experience of dementia across its research programmes, working closely with the Research Involvement Manager.
• Leading, inspiring and developing a high performing team, building depth of expertise and strategic confidence and embedding a culture of test, learn and continuous improvement.

Dementia is the UK's biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.

At Alzheimer's Society, we're the UK's leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.

Together with our supporters, we're working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.

Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.  

We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society. 

Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people. 

Our hiring process

During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply.  Please also contact Alzheimer's Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.

To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.

We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.

We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a Criminal Record Check at the relevant level. You can read more information via our Website.

Giving back to you

Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society. 

You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it's like to be an employee at the Society.