REF Support Analyst

About us

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, with the most recent exercise concluding in 2021. It is a peer review assessment process involving submissions from higher education institutions across the UK. Research England delivered REF 2021 on behalf of the four UK funding bodies and the results have driven the annual distribution of approximately £2 billion of research funding to UK higher education institutions (HEIs).

Purpose

An exciting opportunity to support UK’s next research assessment exercise.

We require systems to be delivered to enable:

• Administration of the exercise
• The submission of large volumes of research data from all participating HEIs
• The dissemination and assessment of all elements of the research data submitted.
• We are seeking proactive and passionate support analysts to assist a broad user base with a variety of systems. You will be working in the heart of an agile development team following a user centred design approach.

This is an exciting opportunity for an IT support professional to be exposed to all aspects of software development lifecycle, in a close-knit team.

Outputs & Activities

• Take full ownership of incoming contact enquiries and follow through to successful resolution following investigation on a range of system queries. Where applicable transfer queries to the policy team for resolution
• Liaise with users where issue resolution is dependent on their input or action
• Proactively resolve complex queries and errors investigating and reporting any REF system related issues, with suggested solutions to the functional specialist leads or process owners
• Contribute to the maintenance of an effective and efficient REF systems
• Review user guidance documents ensuring they are clear and match with the specification/operation of the systems
• Where appropriate identify any standard responses for users of REF systems
• Where appropriate identify trends based on customer feedback and analysis of contact data to drive improvement and increase service standards
• Provide support to other areas within the REF team, in the systems team
• Contribute to meetings where appropriate that are for the benefit of continuous improvement
• Share, help and mentor staff from other areas to increase knowledge and expertise across the funding service teams for more flexible working
• Provide support for system releases at appropriate times including assisting with User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• There are several systems and associated information to enable the REF to run. Instruction will be provided as part on induction, and you will be involved in the development/testing of systems to aid onboarding. The following list applies:
• REF admin system
• Submission system (used by HEIs)
• Panel members’ website (used by Panel members)
• Systems in use:
• Microsoft (Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint)
• SharePoint
• Zoom/Email/Teams
• Freshdesk
• Jira/Confluence

Assessment criteria

• (S) – Assessed at shortlisting
• (I) – Assessed at interview
• (S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Essential:

• Experience of a support environment (IT or non-IT) (S&I)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (S&I)
• Good analytical and problem-solving skills (S&I)
• Proficient in information technology (IT), including a good working knowledge or MS Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint (S&I)
• Confident supporting users in ad-hoc scenarios, using multiple devices (Microsoft/Apple/Mobile/Tablet) (S&I)
• Proven ability to work flexibly in a small team, demonstrate good teamwork and support for other team members (S&I)
• Strong documentation skills (articles, knowledgebase, videos, training) (S&I)
• General understanding of application areas e.g. front end, back end, database, etc. (S&I)
• Ticket/support system experience (S&I)

Desirable:

• Knowledge of Research England and/or research assessment (I)
• Ability to quickly familiarise themselves with new systems (I)
• Previous experience with testing software (I)
• Knowledge of APIs & data interchange formats e.g. JSON/XML (I)
• Website/CMS experience (I)

Applications

• Online applications only for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter to the attachments section (ignore free textbox for cover letter under ‘Experience’ section) which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘Experience’ section of the application process. 

Additional information

Developing talent:

• We are committed to developing employees in their roles throughout their career. Learning and development plans enable employees to continue their professional development through training and development opportunities such as e-learning, classroom training and on-the-job experiences. We encourage our employees to share their learning across teams and organisations.

Benefits:

UKRI can offer the successful candidate:

• Flexible Working
• 30 days annual leave + Public Holidays
• Access to Civil Service Pension Scheme
• Various everyday discounts through our dedicated provider