Research Officer

Salary: Band E £46,743 - £51,037 gross per annum dependent on experience

Location: Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire, UK

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 0.8

FTE) (We understand the importance of work-life balance, and offer flexible working, but do require at least 3 days a week on-site)

Due to the requirement of obtaining an enhanced security clearance for this role, we are only able to accept applications from persons who have been resident in the UK for the last 5 years.

Together, our scientist, technologists, engineers and business support team explore the unknown and turn what they find into work that changes the world around us.

Come and discover how much you can achieve when you’re surrounded by world-leading experts, encouraged to constantly learn and empowered to explore your curiosity!

About the Role:

We have an exciting opportunity for a Research Officer to join the National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC). You will be working alongside scientists, engineers, developers, and experts in quantum technologies, working to enhance the UK's quantum computing capabilities.

We oversee diverse projects for classical and quantum technologies, aiding quantum computer development in our labs. This involves the integration of physics-based experiments spanning neutral atoms, superconducting qubits, and trapped‑ions, along with intricate software and high‑performance computing. We seek a candidate to take a leading role in establishing the function, developing process and protocol, to lead coordination of projects and on trusted‑research compliance and to support research functions such as conferences, grants, and reporting.

This role requires communication, organisation and experience delivering projects across different stakeholder groups.

You will work alongside the technical team managers and deputy director of research to deliver the NQCC’s research program. In establishing the function, you will lead on x-functional communication and coordination of activities across the teams. To achieve this you will;

• Develop common language, protocols and frameworks to allow for coherent information sharing across the teams and programme.
• Lead on the compliance of the research program with trusted‑research frameworks.
• Cover responsibilities such as project management, collaborating with our program delivery team, ensuring research outputs are aligned with evaluation & monitoring requirements.
• Assist the research programme across activities such as conference organisation, grant opportunity seeking and grant preparation. You will also be involved in the governance of the research programme i.e. managing projects within NQCC’s framework, and implementing good‑practice guides around the themes previously mentioned.
• Represent NQCC externally and advising both internal and external stakeholders therefore stakeholder management will be an important aspect of this role.

This is an outline description of the key responsibilities and accountabilities involved in the job. This is not an exhaustive list, and the successful applicant might be expected to undertake any other duties across NQCC, appropriate to the band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post-holder has the necessary experience and/or training.

We are offering a permanent position with a whole host of benefits including:

• 30 days holiday (in addition to 10.5 bank holidays and privilege days).
• Flexible working hours (subject to business requirements).
• An excellent defined average salary pension scheme.
• Easily accessible public transport links/ free parking
• Excellent learning and development opportunities.

Prior knowledge of quantum computing is not required to apply for this role. However, experience working alongside and delivering complicated work within a scientific, technical, or Engineering environment would be a benefit.

We will offer significant development and training opportunities. Applicants for this role should meet the following criteria:

The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).

• Skills and knowledge in applying best practice principles…