Research Data Steward

**Job Description**:
**Job Title**:Research Data Steward

**Posting Start Date**:14/07/2025

**Job Id**:1221

**School/Department**:Library

**Work Arrangement**:Full Time (Hybrid)

**Contract Type**:Fixed-term

**Salary per annum (£)**:£38,249 - £46,735

**Closing Date**:05/08/2025

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more.

**Overview**

Based in the Scholarly Communications Team, you will be responsible for providing research data stewardship support to the University’s researchers. You will bring research data management (RDM) expertise to the role, and provide in-depth, bespoke advice across all disciplines on managing research data throughout the research data lifecycle, and in line with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Re-usable) Principles. This may include providing advice and training on creating data management plans, working with sensitive and/or qualitative data, and publishing and sharing research data and software.

Under the direction of the University’s new Office for Open Research and Scholarship, you will also contribute to open research projects on the University’s Research Culture Action Plan, including activities to support the professionalisation of research-enabling staff. As part of this work, you will be a key member of the University’s new Data Stewards Network. You will support activities to increase the visibility and recognition of research data stewards across the University, and identify opportunities for training, development, and the sharing of best practice in research data management. You will also be involved in activities to improve the institutional management of research data.

You will be comfortable with cross-team working and developing relationships with academic, technical, and professional services. You will work with stakeholders from across the University, including Research Partnerships and Innovation, Research & Innovation IT, Records Management, Data Protection, Research Software Engineering, and individual researchers. You may also have the opportunity to oversee the work of the Library’s Research Data Management Team.

**Main duties and responsibilities**
- Provide in-depth data stewardship support to researchers and research-enabling staff across all disciplines and all stages of the research data lifecycle.
- Work closely with colleagues from the Library and Research and Innovation IT Services to provide research data management and support services and disseminate best practice in research data management.
- Act as an advocate for research data management best practice, including the FAIR Principles, across the University.
- Develop and deliver RDM training and guidance, providing discipline-specific support to researchers, departments, and research groups as required.
- Contribute to the development of the Data Stewards Network, including creating resources for the online hub and fostering a community of practice for research data stewardship.
- Work closely with the Library Research Data Management Team and contribute to other activities in the Scholarly Communications Team as appropriate.
- Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

**Person Specification**

**Criteria**

**Essential or desirable**

**Stage(s) assessed at**

Experience or knowledge of delivering research data management or data stewardship support in a research environment

Essential

Application/interview

Experience of designing and delivering training in research data management

Essential

Application/interview

Understanding of the research lifecycle and how it relates to research data management issues in UK higher education and research, along with a broad general knowledge of current issues and developments globally

Essential

Application/interview

Effective communication skills, both written and verbal, and experience of delivering presentations

Essential

Application/interview

Ability to manage own workload and work across projects involving multiple academic, technical, and professional services and competing deadlines

Essential

Application/interview

Ability to lead the work of others in an operational team

Essential

Application/interview

Desirable

Application/interview

Knowledge of quantitative and/or qualitative and/or computational methods and/or experience of using APIs

Desirable

Application/interview

**Further Information**

**Grade**

7

**Salary**

£38,249 - £46,735

**Work arrangement**

Full-time (Hybrid)

**Duration**

Fixed-term to 31st March 2026

**Line man