Licensing Manager

Salary: c £41,000 per annum (negotiable based on experience) + comprehensive benefits package

Jisc grade: PRS3

Job Type: Permanent

Hours: 35 hours a week

Working style: Hybrid - A blend of working from home and your nominated hub office. We have hubs located in London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford.

About Jisc:

For 30 years Jisc has pioneered digital solutions for UK education and research, transforming how knowledge is created, shared and used.

We are uniquely positioned to protect, promote and lead the sector in digital and data transformation, making a difference to students, communities and society. Together, we are

working to build a better digital future for education and research.

Raise your potential at Jisc through our culture of lifelong learning. At Jisc, we're all about growth, so embrace new challenges, sharpen your skills and shape a career that excites you.

The role:

Join us at the forefront of digital innovation, where you’ll play a key role in shaping the agreements that power sustainable, secure and flexible research across the UK.

In this exciting role, you’ll identify, shape and negotiate sector‑leading agreements that enable universities and research institutions to thrive. You’ll translate complex member needs — spanning financial, legal, systems, workflows and research‑computing requirements — into effective, future‑focused solutions that deliver real impact.

You’ll have a particular focus on technologies and platforms that support advanced research computing, including:

• High‑performance computing (HPC)
• Data‑intensive research workflows
• Cloud‑based and on‑premises research environments
• Research analytics and software tools

Your work will strengthen our portfolio and help drive digital transformation in large‑scale data processing, computational research, and secure research environments.

If you’re passionate about enabling cutting‑edge research through smart, impactful agreements — we’d love to hear from you.

What you’ll be doing:

In this role, you’ll:

• Negotiate high‑value, complex agreements, including creating counter‑proposals and analysing detailed financial information.
• Lead projects and contract negotiations, guiding stakeholders through to mutually successful outcomes.
• Communicate with influence, delivering clear, tailored briefings and presentations to senior stakeholders and translating complex concepts into simple, actionable insights.
• Bring hands‑on experience in research, research computing or data‑intensive environments, enabling you to understand the challenges and opportunities faced by today’s research institutions.

It’s a bonus if you have

• Experience in drafting agreements, reviewing legal terms and working with internal and external legal counsels.
• Ability to draft high level technical, legal or product specifications.
• Experience supporting or delivering research computing services, HPC, cloud compute, or secure research environments.
• Experience engaging with research communities or research IT teams.

What we are looking for:

We’re seeking a proactive, collaborative professional who brings both the mindset and the capability to drive meaningful impact across our organisation.

You’ll thrive here if you:

• Bring a growth mindset, actively seeking new knowledge, perspectives, and opportunities to develop.
• Are highly collaborative, focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for our members, funders, and end users.
• Work openly and inclusively, treating everyone with fairness and respect, and supporting the wellbeing of colleagues by being present, engaged, and attentive.
• Strong advocacy and negotiation skills, able to create compelling arguments, adapt messaging to different audiences, and find creative pathways to agreement.
• A thoughtful approach that takes time to understand problems and anticipates a range of potential outcomes.
• Exceptional communication skills, keeping messages clear, concise, timely, and tailored.
• Knowledge of institutional information systems and research computing ecosystems, such as HPC, cloud computing for research, workflow automation, research data management, and research software tools.
• The ability to think tactically, identify and mitigate risks, and translate…