Chief Operating Officer

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

As the senior executive leading the day-to-day operations of NERC, you will work alongside the Executive Chair, Professor Louise Heathwaite, in delivering NERC’s mission and objectives.

You will take responsibility for all financial, commercial, and funding operations, and major research infrastructures across NERC and beyond, into other parts of UKRI, all the while troubleshooting, resolving, and staying ahead of emerging risks.

You will be responsible for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and the operational resilience of NERC, including providing risk assurance across our polar operations, aviation, and ships.

Message from the Executive Chair of NERC

Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your interest in the role of Chief Operating Officer of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), one of the constituent Councils within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). NERC was formed in 1965 from the merger of several environmental research related organisations. It became part of UKRI in 2018 alongside the six other Research Councils, Research England and the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.

NERC is the UK’s main public funding body for research into the environmental sciences, ensuring the health of atmospheric, terrestrial, polar and marine science and addressing critical challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. NERC maintains a range of national science infrastructure such as polar research stations, Royal Research Ships, and aircraft that monitor atmospheric conditions as well as satellite technologies, data centres and monitoring stations around the world. NERC is also home for the British Antarctic Survey, which undertakes cutting edge science, for example, discovering the ozone hole together with maintaining the UK’s scientific presence in Antarctica as part of the Antarctic Treaty. NERC is also responsible for the British Geological Survey, whose research helps protect us from environmental hazards and support clean growth through decarbonising energy and industry. The full list of NERC centres can be found here.

The government is committed to tackling the linked climate and nature crises in ways which grow our economy sustainably and improve the lives of citizens. The research and innovation which NERC supports, itself and by leading partnerships across UKRI, will be a crucial part of delivering on this mission.

It is in this context that we are now seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO) who will work closely with me to lead NERC’s operational, financial and risk management to enable our science to deliver wherever we work, which includes some of the most extreme environments on earth.  The COO will be integral in shaping the tactics that operationalise our strategy and deliver for our researchers, centres, funders and the environment.

This role is responsible for overseeing research infrastructure assets of c£500m and delivering new and ongoing infrastructure projects. The COO secures the safety, risk assurance and operational resilience that underpins NERC as a safe, happy, and resilient organisation, wherever the environmental science challenges take us across the globe.

I am seeking a strategic and tactical doer with exceptional stakeholder management and relationship skills to lead the shape and delivery of our operational goals across NERC. If you feel this describes you, we want to hear from you.

In launching this recruitment campaign, we are committed to fair and open recruitment processes and actively encourage and hope to see applications from across the UK, and from a wide range of diverse backgrounds.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Professor Louise Heathwaite
NERC Executive Chair