TransiT Project and Industry Engagement Manager

Position Title: TransiT Project and Industry Engagement Manager

Grade and Salary: Grade 8 - £48,337 - £59,390 per annum

FTE and working pattern: Full-time, Fixed term until June 2029

Reward and Benefits: 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full-time staff.

Purpose of Role

TransiT is the UK’s largest research hub dedicated to rapidly decarbonising transport through digital twinning. Heriot-Watt University is leading a consortium of seven universities, supporting the formation of a national research capability in digital twinning. The research programme includes five Challenge Led Demonstrators testing the application of federated digital twinning for the decarbonisation of transport across all modes. There are also five work-packages developing the underpinning theory to support effective digital twinning for policy impact. The TransiT research programme is highly challenging and complex, demanding close collaboration across work packages and challenge led demonstrators. Research teams need to work in an integrated way in coordination with researchers from a broad range of disciplines. This leading-edge research environment raises complex challenges that demand creativity and sensitivity to address effectively.

The project management team is led by the Programme Manager, with support from two experienced project and industrial engagement managers (PIEMs). This sits within a wider support team of nine specialist professionals.

Detailed Description

The TransiT research hub will be responsible for delivering new knowledge, technical capabilities and policy advisement relating to UK transport decarbonisation priorities. This highly ambitious programme of research is supported by over 65 industrial, research and stakeholder organisations.

The PIEM will direct the delivery of work packages and demonstration models across the consortium (all academic and industry partners) and maximise the contribution of the significant industrial resource committed to this work. It requires strong experience in project management and industrial engagement. This is an exciting opportunity to deliver a complex and transformative research programme to rapidly advance the decarbonisation of transport, building strong industrial and policy networks.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

• Responsible for the management and reporting of research work packages and demonstrators across all academic and industrial partners. This includes managing timelines, action logs, identifying key milestones and project work plans, maintenance of risk registers and ensuring that deadlines and deliverables are achieved.
• Challenge Led Demonstrator projects (CLDs) will be jointly led by academic leaders with the PIEM, using agile approaches to deliver transport mode focussed digital twins and inter-modal transport models.
• Work Packages (WP) will have academic leadership, with PIEM support to manage the resourcing and delivery of research outputs over the programme.
• PIEMs will be responsible for co-ordinating activity across WPs and CLDs to ensure that programme interdependencies are respected.
• Responsible for maintaining risk registers for WPs and CLDs and managing the mitigation of risks, particularly those that impact the programme / other WPS or CLDs
• Responsible for maintenance of performance dashboards and KPI reporting
• Responsible for updating of project plans
• Key industrial partners have committed in-kind resources to the development of CLDs, and the PIEM is responsible for ensuring timely and effective industrial engagement in the research activities and effective communications with key stakeholders including consultation and management of expectations.
• Proactively manage engagement with related research hubs to ensure cross-learning and complementarity of research messages.
• Preparation of monthly operations reports (progress reports, risk registers, engagement logs) for all WPS and CLDs.
• Preparation of reports for Transit Executive Team (quarterly) and Advisory Board (bi-annually)
• Identify and resolve of a wide variety of complex issues using specialist knowledge and a high degree of initiative
• Assess critical situations accurately and use judgement to quickly make decisions.

About our Team

The TransiT Hub is led by Heriot-Watt University, and the support team of seven roles is based principally in Heriot-Watt, with two additional members also based at Glasgow University. All support roles report directly to the Programme Manager, who sits on the TransiT Executive Team Project managers manage research teams comprised of researchers from all of the institutional partners, working in close collaboration.

Education, Qualifications & Experience

These are the criteria on which the short-listing and recruitment selection will be made

Essential

1. Educated to first degree level or equivalent practical experience in the workplace
2. Experience of working in a project management role within a research environment.
3. Ability to persuade, motivate and lead a team, including setting objectives and managing workload
4. Competent in the use of relevant IT packages, such as MS Project Professional or similar.
5. Demonstrable substantial professional expertise in project management
6. Excellent interpersonal, influencing and presentation skills, able to understand and communicate complex issues effectively
7. Demonstrable excellent customer service
8. Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment
9. Experience of working closely with stakeholders across all levels of the organisation
10. Ability to research, analyse and present complex information effectively with good attention to detail
11. High level planning and organisational skills with the ability to prioritise major developments and to function effectively in a pressured environment
12. Demonstrable professional and proactive approach
13. Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a team

Desirable

1. Professional Qualification, such as PRINCE 2 or membership of Professional body, such as APM.
2. Experience of using Agile Project Management approaches.
3. Experience of working in Higher Education Research.
4. Knowledge of transport sector and/or decarbonisation policies.
5. Knowledge of UKRI reporting requirements.

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to midnight on Thursday 10 December 2026.

Please submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing your interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We therefore encourage you to submit your application promptly.

We recognise that many candidates use AI tools during the application process and are comfortable with AI being used as a supporting aid. However, we want to hear from you, not AI.

Your application should be an authentic representation of your skills, experience and achievements. Applications that appear to have been fully generated by AI may not accurately reflect your suitability for the role and are therefore discouraged.

At interview, candidates will be expected to discuss and provide evidence of the experience, skills and examples included in their application.

At Heriot Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.