Research Strategy and Funding Directorate (RSF)

HRB Grade VII Job Family (consisting of R&I 4 / Research Officer / Service 4 Grade VII)

 

Background

The Health Research Board (HRB) is a statutory agency under the aegis of the Department of Health. As the lead agency in Ireland responsible for supporting and funding health research, generating health information and promoting the use of evidence in policy and practice, we are motivated and inspired by our vision – for better health through excellent research, data and evidence. The HRB’s mission is to support research that improves people’s health, promotes evidence informed care and creates solutions to societal challenges. The HRB recently launched a new Strategy (2026-2030)- Bringing research to life, accessible at https://hrbstrategy2030.ie/.

Within the HRB, the Research Strategy and Funding Directorate (RSF) is responsible for the HRB’s external research funding and support activities. RSF allocates approximately €55 million per annum in the broad areas of patient-oriented research, health services research and population health sciences. It does this through a number of grant schemes and instruments, including projects and programme grants, career grants, funding for research infrastructure and networks, and support for clinical trials and healthcare interventions. At any time, staff in RSF design, manage, monitor and evaluate a grant portfolio of almost 400 grants valued in excess of €200 million to ensure effectiveness, relevance, outcomes, impact and return on HRB investments. HRB staff work with a wide range of national, EU and international partners to address shared research and evidence goals and to ensure that our policies, systems and practices are aligned with best practice.

The RSF Directorate comprises in the region of 40 staff and delivers on its objectives via three Units, organised around key strategic portfolio areas. The HRB is now looking to recruit a Grant Operations Coordinator/Officer (permanent role) to join the Research Strategy and Funding Directorate. Reporting to the Director and working closely with the Heads of Unit and programme managers, this post is critical to provide a central point of contact and coordination in the Directorate on cross-cutting operational (and governance) matters with a focus on administration, efficiency compliance, and relationship management.

 

Key responsibilities of the post of Grant Operations Coordinator (RSF)

This role offers an exciting opportunity for a suitably qualified candidate that has excellent organisational skills and is highly capable of multitasking. As well as working across the RSF Directorate, the successful candidate will be expected to work with colleagues from corporate operations (ICT, comms, finance, HR and governance) as required to support planning, coordination, implementation, compliance and improvement of activities in RSF.

Duties will include but are not limited to:

  • Engaging with business units throughout the business planning and budget process to develop consolidated annual workplans for RSF, with associated project plans and oversee quarterly reports to track project milestones, dependencies, deadlines and risks.
  • Acting as centralised owner for underpinning and cross-cutting policies such as the HRB policy on approval of host institutions and the HRB budget framework, ensuring that these are regularly reviewed, fit for purpose, used consistently and appropriately.
  • Managing a log, centralised documentation and coordinating updates to HRB Grant terms and conditions, as appropriate.
  • Ensuring Memoranda of understanding (MOUs) MOUs between the HRB and partners are reviewed and updated upon mutual agreement.
  • Maintaining a central repository and mapping and optimizing workflows, templates and SOPs (with version control) across all aspects of pre-award and post-award activities, ensuring structured review schedules.
  • Coordinating onboarding guides for RSF staff, and supporting the coordination of annual training plans for the Directorate
  • Advising on the redesign of administrative processes to align with new, faster, AI-enabled workflows.
  • Gathering data to create dashboards on team productivity, project status, or resource allocation, allowing the Heads of Unit and the Director to make data-driven decisions faster.
  • Performing the role of web content coordinator for RSF. This includes regularly reviewing website pages for outdated information, broken links or compliance issues, directing content owners when their content needs updating and organising training sessions for new staff on the content management system and style guide.
  • Collating inputs from units in RSF to build, review and maintain a Risk register, aligned with the HRBs risk management policy and practices and preparing reports for the Audit & Risk Committee.
  • Acting as central point of contact for internal audit (financial and non-financial), coordinating priorities, activities, findings reporting and tracking actions plans.
  • Maintaining a data retention schedule for RSF and ensuring implementation of the retention schedule across the directorate.
  • Managing complaints and appeals to the Directorate in line with agreed policies and practices.
  • Supporting managers with complex scheduling, high-level meetings, town halls, and offsites for 40+ people.

 

Essential knowledge and experience

Formal requirements include:

At a minimum, the successful candidates will have a NFQ Level 9 qualification (Masters/Post Graduate Diploma) in business, public administration, project management or applicable related field, with a minimum of five years’ relevant experience.

Essential requirements

Candidates must have:

  • Experience with project management and coordination, using accessible and effective tool/s for team-based working.
  • Expertise in overseeing business operations, improving efficiency, and ensuring smooth daily functioning.
  • Proven experience of working in a collaborative team environment working across business units.
  • Excellent Microsoft Excel, Word & PowerPoint skills.
  • Experience with workflows, document management systems and version control.
  • Data analysis and dashboarding skills to support decision making by senior managers.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and communication skills and ability to work collaboratively with individuals and teams
  • Attention to detail and accuracy in all tasks
  • Problem solving skills
  • A high degree of motivation and professional integrity

Desirable requirements include:

The ideal candidate will have:

  • An understanding of grant funding stages, processes and lifecycle
  • Understanding of board procedures, compliance, and regulatory requirements (for a public sector agency (and/or grant funding agency)).
  • Working experience of risk registers and audit processes.

 

Competencies

Competencies incorporated into this role profile reflect the competency framework issued in conjunction with the Civil Service Competency Framework which has been adopted by the HRB.  A comprehensive list of expected competencies ca be found at Grant Operations Coordinator (HEO) Competency Framework.

Reporting relationship

The Programme will report to the Director of Research Strategy and Funding in the first instance.  In time the postholder may be expected to line manage other administrative staff as required.

Salary scale

Salary Range for Grant Operations Coordinator                                                 €60,613 – €78,795

NOTE:  This post is a permanent, full-time post

Appointment will be made in accordance with the Department of Health guidelines. New entrants to the public service will be appointed at the first point of the scale.

 

How to apply

Please submit a cover letter and curriculum vitae by email to recruitment@hrb.ie You must include the name of the post that you are applying for in the email subject line.

Closing date for applications is 12.00 Noon on 24 June 2026

NOTE: Interviews for this position are expected to take place in our offices on Wednesday 08 July 2026.

If you require further information, please contact Karen O’Donnell, HR Officer at recruitment@hrb.ie or refer to the recruitment page on the HRB website at http://www.hrb.ie/about/recruitment/  for full details on this campaign.

 

The Health Research Board is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. We do not discriminate based on gender, age, race, religion, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, membership of the Travelling community or family status. If you have a disability and require accommodations to be made during the recruitment process, please contact HR in advance and we would be happy to assist.

Please Note:

To be eligible to apply for this competition, candidates must be nationals of a European Economic Area (EEA) Member State or otherwise have a current and valid legal entitlement to work in Ireland.

Candidates who do not meet this requirement will be deemed ineligible.