Centre Manager, ARC Training Centre for Predictive Breeding

• Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI)

• Key management role in new ARC Training Centre based at QAAFI

• Support research collaboration for multiple disciplines & diverse stakeholders

• Contribute to an organisation with a meaningful purpose and impact 

• Based at St Lucia Campus

About UQ

As part of the UQ community, you’ll have the opportunity to work alongside the brightest minds, who have joined us from all over the world.

Everyone here has a role to play. As a member of our professional staff cohort, you will be actively involved in working towards our vision of a better world. By supporting the academic endeavour across teaching, research, and the student life, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to activities that have a lasting impact on our community.

Join a community where excellence is at the core of our culture, contributions are valued and a range of benefits and rewards are available, such as:

• 26 weeks paid parental leave or 14 weeks paid primary caregiver leave

• 17% superannuation contributions

• 17.5% annual leave loading

• Access to flexible working arrangements

• Health and wellness discounts – fitness passport access, free yearly flu vaccinations, discounted health insurance, and access to our Employee Assistance Program for staff and their immediate family

• On campus childcare options

• Cheap parking (from just $5 a day)

• Salary packaging options

About This Opportunity 

The Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures is a Centre led by the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) with collaboration across the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability, School of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the Business School and the Law School. The ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding is administered by The University of Queensland and has nodes at The University of Western Australia, The University of New England, La Trobe University and University of Wollongong. There are also a number of domestic and international partner institutions.

The ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding aims to develop the advanced capacity needed to secure Australia’s food and fibre production and export value into the future. Leveraging immense industry support, the Centre expects to develop and integrate cutting-edge plant and animal breeding technologies and deliver world-class training that addresses critical demand for highly skilled industry leaders. Expected outcomes include a future-ready predictive breeding industry able to transform data into optimised decisions, and the human capacity to drive it. This should provide significant benefits to enhance the sustainability and profitability of all major Australian agriculture sectors, including livestock, grains, horticulture, cotton, wine, dairy, forestry and fisheries.

The Australian Research Council funded the Training Centre in Predictive Breeding in July 2023 and work is underway to establish the Centre, which has 38 chief investigators and 34 partner investigators.

Your primary role in this position is to support a nationally dispersed ARC Training Centre through strategic and operational management of the Centre’s activities. You will also be responsible for performing a wide range of complex research management related activities which determine how objectives will be achieved and how resources will be deployed to achieve outcomes. You will be responsible for developing and sustaining effective working relationships with existing Australian and international university and industry collaborators to better understand stakeholder needs and to enable the delivery of high quality operational, training and research support services.

Key responsibilities will include: 

• Assist the Director and QAAFI contracting team with activities and processes required for contracting in the establishment phase of the Centre.

• Develop strong relationships with an extensive network of internal and external stakeholders, including academic and professional staff at Centre Node institutions, to understand business needs, deliver effective, consistent services and to enable data collection for ARC reports, training and research collaborations.

• Develop and maintain strong relationships with the relevant UQ service teams to ensure Centre compliance with UQ policies and procedures, governance protocols, and risk management frameworks, as well as any legislative requirements.

• Assist the Director with the supervision and mentoring of the Centre’s professional staff.

• In consultation with the Centre Director and the QAAFI Accounting Team, lead the planning, development and management of multi-year budgets across all Centre Nodes to ensure compliance with funding rules.

• Contribute to the development of financial and administrative acumen among the Centre’s Node Leaders or Administrators to ensure the provision of accurate, timely and informative advice on routine matters to research staff at their respective Nodes.

• Contribute to the monitoring and reporting of KPIs established for the Centre, working with the Director to produce performance trend analyses to inform Centre strategy and operations and to optimise achievement of the Centre’s objectives.

• Project manage the development and delivery of agreed postgraduate, ECR and industry training and professional development activities across all Centre Nodes.

• Coordinate data sharing and management across Centre partners.

• Manage secretariat services for meetings as required, including organising meetings, developing minutes/notes and preparing meeting papers.

• Manage key projects as requested by the Centre Director.

• Ensure all business support functions of the Centre are efficient and effective and meet compliance with the Australian Research Council and University requirements.

• In conjunction with the Director, oversee the work of the Centre’s professional staff team both at UQ and at partner Nodes.

• Other duties as required, consistent with the level of appointment in the administration job family concerned, as directed by the Centre Director.

This is a Full-time, 100% FTE Fixed-term position from March 2024 to February 2029 at HEW Level 8.

The full-time equivalent base salary will be in the range $105,338.31 - $118,280.70, plus a generous super allowance of up to 17%. The total FTE package will be up to $123,245.82 - $138,388.42 annually. As this role is covered by an Enterprise Agreement, you will also receive regular remuneration increases – at least once a year.

Organisational Relationships

In the first instance the position reports to Prof Lee Hickey, Centre Director, ARC Training Centre in Predictive Breeding for Agricultural Futures. The Centre Manager will assist the Director with the supervision and mentoring of the Centre’s professional staff team once appointed.

About You  

•  A university degree at postgraduate level, with extensive relevant experience in a university or similar environment; or an equivalent combination of relevant experience and/or education/training.

• Substantial knowledge of, and experience, with research development and innovation processes.

• Significant experience in project management and reporting with the ability to work well under pressure and constant concurrent deadlines.

• Highly developed interpersonal, influencing, and negotiation skills with demonstrated ability to build both internal and external relationships and networks with key stakeholders.

• Highly developed written communication skills and a demonstrated ability to write formal proposals and documentation to a publishable standard for a highly educated audience.

• Ability to show innovative leadership and provide critical advice and clarity of direction for a complex research centre (spanning disciplines, cultures, career stage, gender, community, industry, government).

This role is subject to The University’s Code of Conduct .

In addition, the following mandatory requirements apply:

• Work Rights: You must have unrestricted work rights in Australia for the duration of this appointment to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this appointment. 

• Background Checks: All final applicants for this position may be asked to consent to a criminal record check. Please note that people with criminal records are not automatically barred from applying for this position. Each application will be considered on its merits. 

Questions? 

For more information about this opportunity, please contact Prof Lee Hickey: [email protected]

For application queries, please contact [email protected] stating the job reference number (below) in the subject line. 
 

All applicants must upload the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Cover letter addressing the ‘About You’ section  

• Resume 

Other Information 

At UQ we know that our greatest strengths come from our diverse mix of colleagues, this is reflected in our ongoing commitment to creating an environment focused on equity, diversity and inclusion .  We ensure that we are always attracting, retaining and promoting colleagues who are representative of the diversity in the broader community, whether that be gender identity , LGBTQIA+ , cultural and/or linguistic , Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples , or people with a disability . Accessibility requirements and/or adjustments can be directed to [email protected]  

If you are a current employee (including casual staff and HDR scholars) or hold an unpaid/affiliate appointment, please login to your staff Workday account and visit the internal careers board to apply for this opportunity. Please do NOT apply via the external job board.

Applications close Friday 19 January 2024 at 11.00pm AEST (Job Reference Number - R-32588). Please note that interviews have been tentatively scheduled for late January 2024.