Chief of Staff

**Who are we?
We are the University of Cambridge presence in Singapore called Cambridge CARES, sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore as part of its CREATE program CAM.CREATE. The research programme Cambridge Centre for Carbon Reduction in Chemical Technology (C4T) is a collaborative research activity between Cambridge University, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and National University of Singapore (NUS) within Cambridge CARES.

CARES is a busy research centre responsible for the support of the operational delivery of over 150 researchers and with current managed funds of S$60m (£32.5m). Research income from the Singapore National Research Foundation's CREATE programme, government-industry partnerships and industry, continues to grow. The pursuit of strong international research collaborations in Singapore demonstrates its alignment to the University of Cambridge mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. CARES maintains strong links with the Cambridge Colleges and the University as a whole, creating further opportunities for students and researchers in South East Asia and Cambridge to engage in multi-disciplinary international collaborations. The University of Cambridge had set out to seek out excellence and setting up enduring and mutually beneficial collaborations to establish strategic partnerships across the globe, of which CARES is both an example and has become an inextricable part of the University's make-up. Cambridge researchers are working alongside collaborators in Singapore universities and other research institutions on problems such as research in carbon reduction and the science of learning to underpin preparations for a better future, which is both relevant to Singapore and the world at large.

**Who are we looking for?
The Chief of Staff works as part of the CARES leadership team (with the CARES Director) to ensure the smooth running of the University of Cambridge's research centre in Singapore. The post holder has operational responsibility for all day-to
- day non-academic activities of the centre, including research grant pre
- and post award activities, people management, financial management, and establishing and maintaining partnerships with funders and collaborating institutions. The role holder is expected to fulfil decisions made by the CARES Governing Board, working with the CARES Director, CARES Governing Board and staff members to ensure that the organisational mission is fulfilled operationally and strategically.

The post-holder leads the multi-functional CARES Support Team (currently 12 based in Singapore and UK) supporting the research operations at the centre.

This position could be well suited to University of Cambridge administrators seeking a new challenge with the rare opportunity to work in an international environment abroad to further the University's international research ambitions; in such cases the position is offered as an internal secondment.

Please note that this position is based 100% in Singapore. The CARES Chief of Staff will be seconded full-time to Singapore and will be paid by CARES Ltd in Singapore Dollars. The Singapore salary will be competitive, taking into account local salary benchmarks.

**Key responsibilities include**:

- Planning and directing all administrative and operational activities on behalf of the CARES Director and CARES Governing Board, including line management of CARES Support Team in Singapore and Cambridge.
- Areas of functional responsibility include finance, procurement, HR, IT and lab technical support, communications and outreach, grants pre
- and post-award support (including contracting), statutory compliance and reporting, and stakeholder management.
- Responsible for strategic planning and financial projections, including advising on and pro-actively planning options for full utilisation of major grants and contingency planning.
- Responsible for oversight of CARES’ legal, corporate and contractual compliance and risk management and for ensuring appropriate governance processes are in place to facilitate this.
- Organising and prioritizing critical issues and required information for the CARES Governing Board, CARES Director and leadership to facilitate efficient decision making.
- Assume responsibility for the management of the relationship with various stakeholders.
- Act as a liaison between leadership and other key stakeholders, including managing relationship with significant partners and external parties and ensuring CARES is involved in an appropriate range of discussions in the government, public and private sectors at national (UK and Singapore) and international levels, and take an active role in relevant networks to facilitate.
- Provide oversight and guidance to projects of high importance, including major grant bids, infrastructure and procurement projects, policy development