Job Description
College/Management Unit
School/Unit
Post Title & Subject Area (if relevant)
Post Duration
Grade
Job Grading Reference No.
Reports to
HR Reference No.
HR Administrator
Academic Affairs
UCD Career Development Centre
Research Career Manager
Permanent
AO1A
2013/97
Director of Career Development Centre or nominee
006392
Aisling Croke
Position Summary
The UCD Research Career Framework (RCF) supports the career and professional development of
Postdoctoral Researchers as they progress in careers within and outside of academia. The success of
the initiative has been significant, leading the University to task the RCF with introducing career and
professional development opportunities and services set within a new mandatory framework. This
successful collaboration between UCD Research, UCD Career Development Centre and UCD Learning
and Development is seeking to develop and introduce this new model; ensuring services are
meaningful, engage and develop the postdoctoral researcher community. Based at UCD Career
Development Centre, this post represents a key strand of the Research Careers Framework and is
staff rather than student facing.
Working with top-class researchers, this position supports Postdoctoral Researchers’ Career and Skills
Development by creating opportunities, innovations and synergies that enable Postdoctoral
Researchers to plan and develop their career.
This position requires innovative approaches to career enhancement and skills development with
services that are pitched and delivered at an appropriate level. The position needs an energetic, selfstarter with a passion for service enhancement including the development, delivery, evaluation and
continuous improvement of bespoke services for postdoctoral researchers across UCD. A
consummate networker, the ability to make meaningful connections with key personnel across
academia, industry, commerce, the public and private sectors is needed with tangible outcomes that
benefit UCD Postdoctoral Researchers.
2013 (2010) AO1A Salary Scale : €56,058 - €65,000 per annum
2013 (2011) AO1A Salary Scale : €50,452 - €59,999 per annum*
* Subject to all new entrants to public sector as of 1 January 2011
Appointment will be made on scale and in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities
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Development, delivery and evaluation of opportunities that facilitate researcher-employer
connections and interface, engaging industry, commerce, public and not-for-profit sectors in
the development of, for example, internships/researcher-into-industry events.
Engaging with technical experts, subject specialists and key recruitment personnel and high
profile individuals, enabling excellent applications to be made for academic and nonacademic careers and high quality training in interview skills and techniques.
Developing services and provisions that support Postdoctoral Researchers moving into a
range of suitable research, lecturing and administrative careers.
© UCD Human Resources
Job Description 006392
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Development, delivery and evaluation of a range of tailored, high level Professional Services
e.g. career coaching, career guidance, career action planning and psychometric profiling.
Planning, developing and delivering courses, events and seminars from induction, to short
and longer-term interactions on career and skill development, enabling the development of
clear, achievable career and professional development plans.
Efficient and effective development, delivery and evaluation of high-level researcherindustry networking opportunities.
Responsive approach to researcher needs including Postdoctoral Researchers, Principal
Investigators and partner units such as UCD Research and UCD Learning and Development.
Active, constructive engagement with internal stakeholders i.e. Standing Committee for
Postdoctoral Career Development, UCDHR and UCD Research including regular updates on
progress, annual reports and contribution to and management of new and ongoing projects
and initiatives e.g. HR4R.
Developing an effective career-tracking facility to provide accurate data on career
destinations of Postdoctoral Researchers to include producing an annual report on
destinations and making use of information in supporting existing Postdoctoral Researchers.
Creating on-line communities, mentoring services and other provisions that bring alumni and
postdoctoral researchers together in meaningful, developmental relationships.
Development of appropriate and bespoke web content and materials.
Management of non-pay budget
Any other duties as allocated by the Director of Careers or nominee.
Selection Criteria
Selection criteria outline the qualifications, skills, knowledge and/or experience that the successful
candidate would need to demonstrate for successful discharge of the responsibilities of the post.
Applications will be assessed on the basis of how well candidates satisfy these criteria.
Mandatory
 At least a 2:1 honours degree in any subject and a relevant professional qualification.
 At least 5 years relevant experience gained in business/industry to include effective
networking as a core role as well as effective use of social networking for professional
development.
 At least 3 years experience of one-to-one career coaching in a professional context.
 Development, delivery and evaluation of career and professional development services (both
one-to- one and groups) to staff.
 Experience of developing and implementing quality assurance frameworks around the
delivery of services to high level professional staff.
 Excellent attention to detail and written communications.
 Exceptional networking skills developed in a professional environment inc. building networks
for business development purposes
 Exceptional presentation and oral communication skills.
 Track record of being able to translate policy and strategy into key deliverables and
programmes of work.
 Good understanding of the Irish economy, relevant professional organisations and bodies.
Desirable
 A PhD in any discipline.
 A professionally recognised career guidance or career coaching qualification.
 Experience of working in higher education within a research career development context.
 Experience of working in a private, public or not-for-profit organisation within a training and
development or career development context.
© UCD Human Resources
Job Description 006392
Further Information for Candidates
Supplementary information
The University:
The College/Management Unit:
Other (Please specify):
http://ww.ucd.ie/aboutucd.htm
http://www.ucd.ie/careers/
NA
Relocation Expenses
Will not apply
Will be applied in accordance with the UCD Relocation Policy
http://www.ucd.ie/hr/policies
© UCD Human Resources
Job Description 006392