Ktp Officer

A KTP Officer supports Knowledge Transfer Partnerships — government part-funded schemes (run through Innovate UK) where a university or research organisation partners with a business to work on a specific innovation project, usually by embedding a recently qualified graduate (the "KTP Associate") in the company for one to three years. The Officer sits on the university or research-organisation side and handles the administration and coordination that keeps those partnerships running: building applications, monitoring budgets and claims, supporting Associates and academics, and keeping the funder's reporting requirements satisfied. Some KTP Officer posts sit instead within a business or a Knowledge Transfer Network, but the university-based version is by far the most common.

Starting salary: £26k–£33k
Live graduate jobs: Search all jobs
Main way in: Direct application to a university, further education college…
They usually ask for: A degree is normally expected but the subject rarely matters

Approximate graduate salary

Typically around £26,000–£33,000 to start for an officer-level post, though this varies widely by institution and location — universities pay on published grade scales, London and the South East attract higher bands, and more senior KTP Manager posts sit well above this range.

What you'd actually do

Helping academics and company contacts put together KTP applications — chasing draft text, checking the project fits the funder's criteria, costing the project out and making sure the paperwork is submitted before the funding deadline
Recruiting and onboarding KTP Associates: writing job adverts, coordinating interview panels made up of both academic and company staff, and getting new Associates set up with contracts, inductions and training budgets
Running or minuting Local Management Committee meetings — the regular progress meetings between the academic supervisor, the company supervisor and the Associate — and following up on actions afterwards
Processing financial claims: tracking what each project has spent against its budget, collecting evidence of spend from partner companies, and submitting claims through the funder's online grant system

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Keeping project records and reporting data up to date so that internal reviews and funder monitoring visits go smoothly, including gathering outcomes and impact evidence as projects finish
Acting as first point of contact when something goes wrong — an Associate who is unhappy, a company that has changed direction, a project slipping behind schedule — and escalating to the KTP Manager or Adviser where needed
Promoting the scheme internally and externally: running information sessions for academics, attending business networking events, and following up leads from companies who might be suitable partners

How graduates get in

Direct application to a university, further education college or research organisation. Most KTP Officer posts are advertised as professional services or research-support roles rather than through graduate schemes, and are open to graduates with some administrative or project-support experience.
Internal moves within a university are very common — people often come from research grants administration, a faculty research office, project support, student services or business engagement teams. If you want this role, a general university administration job is a realistic stepping stone.
Having been a KTP Associate yourself. Associates who finish their project and enjoyed the knowledge-exchange side sometimes move into KTP management or officer roles, bringing credibility with academics and companies.
From the business or economic-development side: roles in local growth hubs, chambers of commerce, innovation agencies or business support teams can lead into KTP work, since the job is partly about building relationships with SMEs.

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Graduate internship or temporary contract in a university research or enterprise office, then applying for the officer post when one comes up. Fixed-term and part-time contracts are common in this area.
Direct entry straight from an undergraduate degree with no prior work experience is possible but unusual — most adverts expect some demonstrable administration, finance-tracking or project-coordination experience, even if gained through placements or temping.

What employers ask for

A degree is normally expected but the subject rarely matters. Science, engineering or business backgrounds can help you follow technical project conversations, but arts and humanities graduates work in these roles routinely.
Administrative or project-support experience is usually the real gatekeeper — specifically experience of tracking budgets, managing deadlines across multiple projects, or handling grant paperwork. Some adverts will accept equivalent experience in place of a degree.
Comfort with numbers and spreadsheets. You do not need an accounting qualification, but you will be reconciling project spend, checking eligible costs and preparing claims, so adverts often ask for strong numeracy and Excel skills.
Familiarity with research funding, grant administration or the UK innovation funding landscape is a strong advantage and sometimes an essential criterion for more senior posts. For entry-level officer roles it is often listed as desirable only.

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No specific professional qualification is required. Some people later take project management qualifications such as PRINCE2 or an APM certification, or do training offered through the knowledge-exchange professional community, but these are developed on the job rather than needed up front.
Universities recruit against detailed person specifications and score applications against each criterion, so evidencing every point explicitly in your application matters more here than in many graduate jobs.

Skills that matter

Grant and budget administration

KTPs are part-funded by public money with strict rules on what counts as an eligible cost, so accurate claims and spend tracking are the core of the job and errors have real financial consequences for the university or the company.

Juggling a portfolio of projects at different stages

You will typically be supporting several partnerships at once — one being written up, one recruiting, several mid-delivery and one closing — each with its own deadlines and personalities.

Working across very different audiences

In one day you might email a professor about research outputs, a manufacturing SME's managing director about invoices, and a nervous Associate about their training plan — and each needs a different register and level of detail.

Writing clear, funder-ready prose

Much of the application and reporting work involves turning an academic's technical description into something that answers the funder's questions directly and within word limits.

Diplomacy and low-key problem solving

Partnerships can go wrong when a company's priorities shift or an academic supervisor disengages, and the Officer is often the person who notices first and has to raise it tactfully before it becomes a formal issue.

Attention to detail with records and compliance

Funder monitoring and internal audit both depend on documentation being complete and consistent, and sloppy record-keeping surfaces months later as a much bigger problem.

Putting these on a CV? We counted which skills 12,914 live graduate adverts ask for, and what to do with the answer — part of our application advice.

Where it leads

Start as a KTP Officer, Knowledge Exchange Officer or Project Support Officer, typically supporting a portfolio of live partnerships under a manager.
Move to KTP Manager or Senior Knowledge Exchange Officer — taking ownership of pipeline development, leading on new applications and line-managing officers or coordinators. Timescales vary widely and depend heavily on whether a post becomes vacant, since these teams are small.
Broaden into wider research and innovation services: research grants management, innovation funding (such as other Innovate UK or UKRI schemes), business engagement, or contracts and IP support. Many people move sideways here rather than straight up.
Head of Knowledge Exchange, Head of Business Engagement or Research Operations Manager within a university's research and enterprise directorate, or equivalent leadership roles in a Catapult centre, growth hub or innovation agency.
Some people leave higher education entirely for innovation management, bid writing or funding consultancy in the private sector, or for roles in regional economic development bodies. A minority become KTP Advisers — the independent monitoring role appointed by the funder — though that usually needs substantial industry or programme experience first.

What people get wrong

“A KTP Officer is the same thing as a KTP Associate.”

They are different jobs. The Associate is the graduate embedded in the company doing the actual innovation project; the Officer is the university-side professional who administers the scheme and supports the Associates. Job adverts use similar language, so read carefully before applying.

“It is purely back-office paperwork.”

A large part of the role is outward-facing relationship work — talking to companies that have never worked with a university before, persuading academics to engage, and holding fragile partnerships together. The administration is the vehicle, not the whole job.

“You need a technical or science background to work on innovation projects.”

You are not doing the research. You need to understand enough to summarise a project and spot when it is drifting, but the expertise sits with the academic and the Associate. KTPs also cover management, design, marketing and process improvement, not just engineering and science.

“University professional-services jobs are all permanent and secure.”

Knowledge exchange roles are often funded from project income or time-limited institutional funding, so fixed-term contracts are common, particularly at officer level. Many eventually convert to permanent, but it is worth checking the contract type in the advert.

Where this varies

The role varies a lot with the size of the KTP portfolio. At a research-intensive university running many partnerships at once, the KTP Officer is one of several specialists in a dedicated team and the job is more administrative and process-driven. At a smaller or post-1992 university or an FE college running a handful of projects, the same job title can mean doing everything — pipeline development, writing applications, recruiting Associates, claims and marketing — and overlaps heavily with a business engagement or knowledge exchange generalist role. A small number of KTP Officer posts sit within the partner business instead, coordinating the company's side of one or more projects, which is a different job with much less funder administration. There is also regional variation in emphasis: in areas with strong devolved or regional innovation funding, the role often involves blending KTP with other local business support schemes.

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General guidance about the role across the UK market, not about any specific employer. Entry routes and requirements vary — always check the individual job advert.