Technical Manager (Finance)

The University      

At Durham University we are proud of our people.  A globally outstanding centre of educational excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other. We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things professionally and personally.      

Across the University we have a huge variety of roles and career opportunities, which together make us a large and successful community, which is a key hub of activity within our region and nationally.  We would be thrilled if you would consider joining our thriving University.     

Further information about the University can be found here    

The Role and Department   

Durham University Business School

Dynamic and vibrant, Durham University Business School is one of Durham University’s four Faculties and is comprised of four research-intensive departments: Accounting, Economics, Finance, and Management and Marketing. Known for its global reputation, its impact on policy and practice and its strong focus on ethics, responsibility and sustainability, the school aims to be a leading European business school with a strong global presence by 2027. The school currently has circa 200 academic and teaching staff, with plans and resource commitments to grow to 230 by 2027. In addition, 12 funded research centres (https://www.dur.ac.uk/business/research/research-centres/) blend leading theoretical perspectives with a strong emphasis on impact and engagement with practice, noted in www.durham.ac.uk/business. The school’s student population is around 4000, across undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes. 

 Our vision is to lead business thought and practice to improve global wealth and well-being. Our associated mission is to create, share and use knowledge to deliver equitable and sustainable futures around the world. We pursue this mission by advancing world changing knowledge and securing global impact through increasingly collaborative research across disciplines and around the world.

The Department of Finance

Our department is part of the triple-accredited Business School, home to academics whose research is internationally renowned for intellectual rigour and for the benefits it brings to the society. You will have an opportunity to interact with and supervise our excellent undergraduate and postgraduate students and doctoral researchers. We work closely with business partners around the world, sharing insights, supporting innovation, and educating tomorrow’s leaders. More details about our research, teaching, and business connections can be found on our website: https://www.durham.ac.uk/business/about/departments/finance/

The Department of Finance at Durham University seeks to appoint a talented individual to the role of Technical Manager (Finance) . The Technical Manager (Finance) will provide data analysis and management support and will be responsible for building and managing larger data infrastructure available to researchers and educators in the department. Finance is a subject with a major lab-component that requires state of the art expertise in quantitative methods, big data infrastructures, (statistical) programming languages, and high-performance computing. We therefore welcome applications from those with quantitative subject backgrounds such as in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, or related fields that are interested in applying their technical knowledge to the financial context. This post is designed to support research and teaching activities across the broad spectrum of finance and offers an exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the development of internationally excellent research and teaching while allowing you to progress and embed your career in an exciting and progressive institution. While there are opportunities to engage with researchers in the department, this post is intended as a support role to work within the Department of Finance, but not to conduct research in other areas outside of finance.

Further information about the role and the responsibilities is given below.

Technical Manager (Finance) in the Department of Finance

On the research side, the Technical Manager (Finance) will provide support to researchers in assessing the feasibility and logistics of running their study or collection of primary as well as secondary data. Technical Managers (Finance) will help acquire and maintain servers for digital data infrastructure but also support researchers in accessing and using university resources efficiently, e.g., preparing customised data sets for secondary analysis or help onboarding researchers to high-performance financial computing facilities. Technical Managers (Finance) will explore potential for linkages to other research and data hubs on the administrative and programmatic level on a regular basis. There will be opportunities for the Technical Manager (Finance) to engage with exciting topics in contemporary finance, e.g., in quantitative risk management, climate finance or financial technologies, to enhance the Technical Manager (Finance)'s  ability to work with finance colleagues across a broad spectrum of topics.

On the education side, the Technical Manager (Finance) will provide support to students and staff members by helping to access large existing data sets and creating customised data samples that can be used for education purposes. The Technical Manager (Finance) will help assemble and maintain a repository of our existing teaching resources in a systematic manner and assist with the creation of new module material if support is needed (e.g., writing accompanying programming tutorials and guidance documents for students).

Most of the Technical Manager (Finance)'s workload will be focusing on providing support to research-related activities and approximately a quarter of the Technical Manager (Finance) time will be allocated to providing teaching-related support.

Key responsibilities:

• Support researchers and lecturers with data analysis and data management tasks using advanced mathematical and statistical methods for research of world-leading quality, originality, significance, and rigour, that will enhance the school’s reputation of international excellence.
• Provide data access support for teaching and supervision of undergraduate and graduate students.
• Managing a portfolio of teaching materials within the department.
• Assist in the development and maintenance of data infrastructures.
• Manage existing database subscriptions and write support documentation on their access and use.
• Support the School in its commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusiveness.
• Carry out other such duties as specified by the Head of Department.

Typical role requirements

Service Delivery 

• Implement changes to the design and development of service processes, techniques and deliverables for one or more service strands or project streams. 
• Take responsibility for monitoring and updating risk assessments and safety procedures, providing guidance to others where necessary.  
• Provide advice on digital tools and infrastructure to ensure an appropriate pedagogical approach to developing world class teaching.    
• Responsible for managing small budgets for consumables and some capital items, keeping records and processing invoices.  
• Provide guidance and advice on University health and safety and compliance issues in specialist area.  
• Apply maintenance schedules to ensure the smooth, safe and efficient use of technology, facilities and services to teaching, research and learning activities.  
• Develop, modify and optimise protocols and methodologies.  

Knowledge and Experience 

• Recognised professional practitioner and service specialist. 
• Provide day-to-day management for the delivery of a high-quality technical and/or experimental facility/platform and service to ensure teaching, learning, research and knowledge exchange outputs.  
• Provide specialist expertise and support with complexity of data and information sources, interpretation and analysis.  
• Contribute to development of operational service activities to ensure excellence in the stakeholder experience.  
• Maintain an awareness of current policy for University business goals such as widening participation and access, and provision of advice using specialist knowledge.  

Teaching and Learning Support 

• Deliver training, teaching and/or development delivery for stakeholders.  
• Record, monitor and collate information, analyse patterns and trends as part of teaching, learning and research activities.  
• Take responsibility for the design, set-up, maintenance and integrity of teaching, research and learning facilities, technology and resources within a specialist area.  
• Collaborate with internal and external academics, industry and technical specialists to support the delivery of teaching, learning and research projects, contributing to the generation of external income.  
• Supervise service users during practical and test teaching, learning and research work activities, projects, and self-directed sessions.  
• Provide support to ensure the delivery of undergraduate and post graduate teaching and learning activities, and income generation where appropriate.  
• Contribute to the planning, design and delivery of research outputs and prepare innovative teaching/research proposals.  

Planning and Organising 

• Collect and analyse stakeholder feedback to help define needs and requirements and the design and planning of services.  
• Provide specialist technical problem-solving advice to inform activity and project planning, continuous improvement and service development.  
• Internal and external relationship development and partnership working, networking and participation to engage and influence future services and the University reputation.  
• Contribute to and lead business meetings, working groups and sub-committees at departmental and operational service levels.  
• Contribute to promotional events and presentations at conferences.  

Working at Durham       

A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University. You will also receive access to the following benefits:       

• 30 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 42 days per year.     
• The University closes between Christmas and New Year
• We offer a generous pension scheme, As a new member of staff you will be automatically enrolled  into the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).   
• No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered.  We have parking across campus, a cycle to work scheme which helps you to buy a bike and discount with local bus and train companies.   
• There is a genuine commitment to developing our colleagues professionally and personally.  There is a comprehensive range of development courses, apprenticeships and access to qualifications and routes to develop your career in the University.  All staff have dedicated annual time to concentrate on their personal development opportunities.    
• Lots of support for health and wellbeing including discounted membership for our state of the art sport and gym facilities and access to a 24-7 Employee Assistance Programme.   
• On site nursery is available and children’s clubs in the summer holidays.   
• Family friendly policies, including maternity and adoption leave, which are among the most generous in the higher education sector (and likely above and beyond many employers).   
• The opportunity to take part in staff volunteering activities to make a difference in the local community   
• Discounts are available via our benefits portal including; money off at supermarkets, high street retailers, IT products such as Apple, the cinema and days out at various attractions.    
• A salary sacrifice scheme is also available to help you take advantage of tax savings on benefits.    
• If you are moving to Durham, we can help with removal costs and we have a dedicated team who can help you with the practicalities such as house hunting and schools.  If you need a visa, we cover most visa costs and offer an interest free loan scheme to pay for dependant visas.     

Durham University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion

Our collective aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and we believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.       

As a University equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do.  We also live by our values and our Staff Code of Conduct,  At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI.      

We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.  If you have taken time out of your career, and you feel it relevant, let us know about it in your application.  If you are a candidate with a disability, we are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role .   

What you need to demonstrate when you apply/Person Specification      

When you apply it is important that you let us know what skills/experience you have from a similar role and/or what skills/experience you have which would make you right for this role.  Further information about the role and responsibilities is at the end of this job description.     

Candidates applying for this grade 7 post may have recently completed or be concluding their PhD or have equivalent qualifications that satisfy the essential criteria listed below. The successful candidates will be expected to be able to contribute to an intellectually challenging and significant research and teaching agenda of the department. They need not necessarily come from a conventional business school background. We are also keen to attract individuals who have an innovative approach to undergraduate and postgraduate education.

When you apply it is important that you let us know what skills/experience you have from a similar role and/or what skills/experience you have which would make you right for this role.

Where criteria has an asterisk* next to it, it may be given additional weighting when your application is considered.  Your application should cover the following criteria:     

Essential Criteria    

Desirable Criteria        

How to Apply    

To progress to the assessment stage, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above. It will be at the discretion of the recruiting panel as to whether they will also consider any desirable criteria, but we would urge candidates to provide evidence for all criteria.  Please don’t forget to check if there are any weighted criteria (see above).      

While some criteria will be considered at the shortlisting stage, other criteria may be considered later in the assessment process, such as questions at interview.           

Submitting your application       

We prefer to receive applications online.   We will update you about your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to make sure you have not missed any of our updates.       

What you need to submit     

• A CV
• A supporting statement or covering letter which outlines how you meet all of the criteria within the Person Specification. 

Referees

You should provide details of 3 (academic) referees and the details of your current line manager so that we may seek an employment reference (if they are not listed as a referee). Please note:

• We shall seek the academic references during the application process. Academic referees should not (if possible/applicable) include your PhD supervisor(s) and a majority should be from a university other than your own. We would ask that you alert your referees to this application as soon as possible and provide them with a copy of the CV you submit with your application, so that we can quickly obtain references should you be progressed to the interview stage. As part of your application, you will be asked whether you give your consent to your academic references being sought should you be invited to attend interview.
• Academic references sought for short-listed candidates may be made available to the panel during the interview process.
• We will seek a reference from your current line-manager if we make you an offer of employment (albeit you may have also nominated your line manager as an academic referee).  Please clearly indicate which referee is your current line-manager and please let us know if we should only approach them once an offer has been made.

Contact details           

For a chat about the role or any further information please contact 

Professor Julian Williams

Professor in Finance

Head of Dept Finance

[email protected]

Dr Felix Irresberger

Associate Professor in Finance

Recruitment Coordinator

[email protected]

Contact information for technical difficulties when submitting your application

If you encounter technical difficulties when using the online application form, we prefer you send enquiries by email. Please send your name along with a brief description of the problem you’re experiencing to [email protected]

Alternatively, you may call 0191 334 6801 from the UK, or +44 191 334 6801 from outside the UK. This number operates during the hours of 09.00 and 17.00 Monday to Friday, UK time. We will normally respond within one working day (Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays).

Useful links      

If you would like further information you may find the following will help      

Department of Finance Webpage: https://www.durham.ac.uk/business/about/departments/finance/

Departmental Databases: https://www.durham.ac.uk/business/about/departments/finance/research-and-teaching-databases-and-facilities---/

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement Privacy Notices - Durham University  which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.        

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.