Research Partnerships Manager

Hybrid (United Kingdom) Historic England

Summary

Historic England is the public organisation that brings new life to heritage to build a better future for every place and everyone.

Historic England has a fantastic opportunity for you to join us as our Research Partnerships Manager.

The location of this role is National where we offer hybrid working, you will be based in one of our following offices and from home - Newcastle, York, Manchester, Birmingham, Swindon, Bristol, Portsmouth and Cambridge.

Salary

National - £39,590 per annum

Cambridge - £42,624 per annum

We offer a wide benefits package including a competitive defined benefit pension scheme to which we make 28.97% employer contributions, a generous 28 days holiday, corporate discounts, free entry into English Heritage sites across the country and development opportunities to ensure you achieve your goals.

To view our full range of benefits please follow the link here.

What you will be doing

The primary purpose of this post is to facilitate the development of successful partnerships with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Independent Research Organisations(IROs) and research funding bodies, and to identify and support the submission of high quality proposals to research funding streams to help grow research opportunities and income.

Working closely with the Head of Research Development, you will engage  with research staff across Historic England and externally to match our research expertise and priorities to funding opportunities in the context of a research engagement strategy. You will oversee our Arts and Humanities Research Council–funded Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) programme, review and monitor our developing external research partnerships, and make best use of the opportunity provided by external research funding.

You will work closely with our Research Manager. You will take a lead on pre-award activities, but may be required to support other areas of the research funding process as required.

Who we are looking for

• A high quality qualification in a relevant subject or equivalent relevant experience

• A good understanding of the Higher Education sector and the research funding landscape

• Demonstrable commitment to student development

• Experience in developing successful partnerships between organisations in a research context

• Experience in programme and/or project management and budget development

• Good negotiating and influencing skills

• Aptitude for strategic thinking

Please note your application will be scored and assessed against the above criteria.

Historic England is a Disability Confident Leader and normally offers guaranteed interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the role, where it is practical and appropriate to do so. We want all candidates to shine in the recruitment process, so please tell us what we can do to help you show us your very best self.

We are an equal opportunity employer which values diversity and inclusion. If you have a disability or neurodiversity, we would be happy to discuss reasonable adjustments to the job with you. Having won the Gold Award from MIND for workplace wellbeing in seven consecutive years, we also recognise the importance of a healthy work-life balance.

We are an inclusive employer and believe that flexible working options are for everyone. We want to make sure our working arrangements don’t prevent anyone from joining us because of their personal circumstances. We also want to provide you with the best balance in your home and work life that we can.

We are open to considering options including job sharing, part-time working, compressed hours working and different working locations, including hybrid working. Please visit our jobs pages or contact us to find out more.

Why work for Historic England

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for everyone. Diversity helps us to perform better and attract more people to support our work. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds.

We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and candidates with disabilities as they are underrepresented within Historic England at this level.

Historic England wants all of our candidates to shine in the recruitment process.

At Historic England we use a hiring system called Applied. Applied is a behavioural science-backed recruitment platform that reduces bias, improves quality of hire and increases diversity. We do not use CV application for the majority of our hiring processes. You will answer a selection of questions that allow our hiring teams to test your skills and suitability for the role.

At Historic England, we value the expertise and individuality each candidate brings and want to hear about this in your own words. If you require the use or AI tools or other resources to support your application, we ask that all information is factually accurate, original, and reflects your own experience. To best represent yourself, we encourage you to write in your own words and use AI-generated content only as inspiration—not as direct input.

Provisional interview dates - week commencing 02nd November 2026