Head of Research Strategy and Performance

Our story

57 years ago, Taylor’s opened its doors as a small college in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It became a full university in 2012. In 14 years it has grown into the number one private university in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, and one of the top 30 universities in Asia: 272 in the QS World Ranking, with 20 QS-ranked subjects, more than at any other private university in Southeast Asia. Hospitality & Leisure Management stands in the world’s top 30; Art & Design and Marketing sit in the top 100. Taylor’s grows exponentially.

The next stage of that growth is research. University Strategy 2025–2035 commits the university to it: competitive funding, doctoral growth, flagship research teams, international standing. The strategy is written and funded. Now it needs its builder.

That is this appointment. Head of Research Strategy and Performance is a new senior post reporting directly to the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Research & Enterprise: one person who breaks the strategy into workstreams, rebuilds the research support office into a service organisation, and owns the university’s research numbers.

Your first 90 days go on the research office: you take it over, see what is broken, and put a renewal plan in front of the PVC. Then you turn to the harder question, which 3 or 4 fields the university should build its name on, and you answer it with data. From there it is rhythm: a monthly review with the faculties, one page of numbers for the PVC, and the freedom of a private university where a January decision is running by March.

The role

This is a senior professional appointment; academic rank is optional. The job has three sides. To the PVC, you are the chief of staff for research, the person who turns a 10-year strategy into plans with owners and dates. To the Centre for Research Management, you are the boss. To the university, you are the person who knows the numbers: where research money, talent and reputation are going, and where they should go.

What you will own

• Strategy into work. Translate University Strategy 2025–2035 into workstreams with owners, milestones and measures. Run the monthly delivery rhythm; report quarterly.
• The research office. The Centre for Research Management reports to you through its Director. You set its goals, rebuild its service, and answer for its performance: funding intelligence, proposal support, pre- and post-award, researcher development.
• The radar. Bibliometrics, benchmarking, dashboards. You spot the fields, funders and partners that will matter in five years, and bring the PVC the business case before anyone else sees the wave.

Your first 90 days

You take over the Centre for Research Management and, within 90 days, agree a renewal plan with the PVC: structure, people, service standards, a performance dashboard. You have a free hand. The test is whether researchers feel the office works for them.

What success looks like

• Competitive grant income up 30% against the 2025 baseline
• Three to four flagship research teams with approved cases, funding and performance agreements
• Twelve or more industry research agreements
• MyRA 5-star maintained with improved sub-scores; research evidence feeding QS

Who thrives here

You have either done research yourself or understand research administration inside out. You have led change, restructured an office, redesigned a service, moved numbers, and you can show it. You are obsessed with efficiency and service: an office that runs well is a point of pride for you. You think ahead, move fast, and lead in a multicultural environment by persuasion as much as by authority. You speak both languages: professors and industry. A PhD helps; extensive senior research-management experience counts just as much.

You may be a research office director or deputy at a research university, a grant agency professional, or an academic leader who moved into research management.

• Must-have: research, from the inside. You have done research yourself, or you understand research administration inside out.
• Must-have: change management. You have experience leading change: restructuring an office, redesigning a service or moving its numbers.

The detailed position description

The university’s own position description, condensed, is in the PDF below: position purpose, key accountabilities from strategy implementation to governance, performance expectations, and the full selection criteria (essential and desirable). If you want to understand the role completely before we speak, that is the place.