Based in Barcelona, you will work full-time as a consultant in higher education, research and innovation (HERI). You will work in a wide variety of consulting missions and projects including:
- Helping academic institutions define their strategic priorities and development plans.
- Helping research communities organise, argue their relevance and design their research agendas
- Contributing to diagnoses and performance evaluation
- Co-designing and animating participatory processes (working groups, strategic seminars and workshops)
- Producing high quality analysis on strategic topics (benchmarking, scenario analyses, literature reviews, data analysis…)
- Supporting the elaboration of competitive projects with high added-value for institutions (Horizon Europe, Clusters or Universities of Excellence…)
- Supporting interactions and negotiations with governments and ministries
- Providing targeted advice to senior leadership
You will have the opportunity to work in a creative, dynamic, dedicated, and multilingual team of professionals that brings together consultants, domain experts, public policy experts, data scientists.
You will be expected to take a project management role, and be part of teams of 2 to 6 collaborators, to be defined for each project.
You will regularly travel to meet our clients, animate workshops etc. (twice or up to thrice a month, in Germany, Europe or beyond). Flexibility is therefore required.
As many of your projects (while not all of them) will be conducted with German institutions, you are expected to have a deep insider knowledge of the German and European ecosystem, and to keep it updated through a regular monitoring of its evolutions.
You will be encouraged to take initiatives regarding possible market lines, trends or opportunities, in Germany and beyond.
You are expected to start in February-March 2025. If you do not currently live in Barcelona, you should be willing to move there at the signature of the contract. Part-time remote work options can be considered.
- You are a German-speaker, but also have a strong working knowledge of English.
- With a Master's degree or above, you are looking for the sweet spot in between worlds. The freedom of academia, the impact of public policy, the challenges of the corporate world... or, if that sweet spot sounds overly idealistic, at least, somewhere where people continuously question who they are and what they are doing.
- You know the German HERI ecosystem well (institutional structuration, evolution over the last 15 years, main trends in policy and vision, who are the key actors and why, main funding mechanisms, how it compares with other systems…). You combine this knowledge with a critical view and personal reflections on the challenges to be faced by the German ecosystem in the upcoming years.
- You also have a global knowledge and understanding of international models of HERI structuration, in Europe and beyond Europe. Ideally, you have professional experience in academia in one or several other countries.
- You are familiar with questions regarding research evaluation and assessment, and are aware of the main players and of the main challenges in this field.
- You have excellent writing and reasoning skills, strong capacities of argumentation and critical analysis, and show attention to details. With high standards when it comes to writing a report, defending an argument, or looking for data, you like interactions and dialectics.
- While not being an expert in data, you have the capacity to interact with the data teams in quali/quanti approaches.
- You like taking initiative and proposing new ideas. You are proactive and constantly willing to raise standards.
- You are used to working in project mode, which implies a margin of flexibility and adaptation. You are autonomous in your own time management, organisation and prioritisation of tasks. You know how to support your teams in their own time management and prioritisation.
- You are open to dialogue, feedback and constructive criticism. You see potential difficulties as challenges and opportunities. You enjoy looking for and testing solutions.
- You are eager to learn and explore new fields of expertise.
- You are proficient in using Google Suite software: Google docs, Google sheets, Google slides. You are fully comfortable with their technical features, and also manage to be creative when using their functionalities. You are flexible in terms of tools, and quickly adapt to the systems used by clients. You are agile regarding the use of communication tools such as corporate chats, documents tagging etc.
Nice to have
While you don't need to be an expert in all the skills listed below, it would be an advantage if you have an understanding and fluency in at least some of them:
- A PhD or comparable professional experience
- Working knowledge of other languages, in addition to German and English
- Professional experience in the management of an HERI institution, in Germany or beyond
- Professional experience in a consulting company in the HERI sector
- Degree in public affairs, public policies, international affairs, management
- Joint experience of both the public and the private sector
- Previous experience of direct interactions with the leadership and senior management of HERI institutions
- Basic or advanced skills in data analysis
Send CV and cover letter to jobs@sirisacademic.com. Sending recommendation letters is optional. Please mention “2025 German-speaking consultant” to the subject of the e-mail.
Deadline to send applications Jan. 10th 2024
The selection process2 will unfold in accordance with the following steps and calendar3
- After an initial CV screening, a first online interview will be carried out in early January 2025.
- A written test will be sent to pre-selected candidates at the beginning of February 2025.
- A final round of face to face interviews and work sessions4 with the team for selected candidates will happen in mid or late February 2025.
- If selected, you will join SIRIS by the end of February 2025.
Any questions regarding this offer should be sent to jobs@sirisacademic.com.
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1. Read our take on the issue: www.sirisacademic.com/wages-fees-ethics.
2. SIRIS Academic’s recruitment processes integrate a commitment towards gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
3. It is possible to make adaptations to the calendar in the event that the candidates have pre-existing commitments.
4. If applicable, travel and accommodation covered by SIRIS.
