Job Openings at Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About the job: 

• The CSIR has a vacancy for an Impact Area Manager, in the Landward Sciences impact area, within the Defence and Security Cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for the provision of strategic and technical leadership to the research groups, and including people management, business development, financial sustainability and operations management. This position is based in Pretoria and will report to the Executive Cluster Manager.

Key responsibilities:

• In conjunction with the cluster leadership, contribute to research, development and implementation (RDI) strategy.
• Provide and coordinate strategic leadership within the Impact Area.
• Develop, provide and motivate capacity to deliver on the cluster's strategy.
• Integrate complete solutions aligned with the focus of the Impact Area.
• Develop and implement appropriate components of cluster research, development and innovation (RDI) strategy with specific sub-sectors and specific impacts.
• Contribute to strategic investment goal setting for the cluster and development of an RDI strategy for the Impact Area.
• Drive and implement a business plan for operation, sustainable growth and impact.
• Drive staff development through strategic Human Capital development initiatives to advance individuals through their research careers, to ensure alignment with industrial needs.
• Promote high quality science, engineering and technology (SET) expertise and develop appropriate SET capacity and profiles.

In collaboration with business development and commercialisation portfolio: 

• Drive the transfer of technology and solutions to industry/user environments.
• Drive and implement the business development and commercialisation strategy.
• Package technologies for commercialization and/or develop and "investment ready business" through financial modelling, market assessment and business development.
• Lead strategic stakeholder interaction, internal and external - including international collaborations.
• Establish and service strategic alliances (institutional) according to RDI strategy.
• Drive the financial sustainability of the Impact Area and attract funding.
• Integrate sector knowledge in multidimensional research and development programmes to deliver industry aligned RDI, through deep understanding of the industry needs.
• Propose and/or contribute to the strategic investment plan and implement Parliamentary Grant, other grant-funded projects and programmes.

Drive SET outputs and quality, which includes:

• Industry applications - support to SMME, products and prototypes developed, technologies localised and diffused, new patents granted, new licenses, new companies formed, industry standards and capable state (technology development, acquisition and use dimension), etc.
• Deliver on all KPIs of the area and ensure all outputs are achieved, including transformation, profit and loss, quality, health, safety and environment as per agreed targets.
• Implement and comply with appropriate financial, business and governance systems, including operational approvals.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Master's degree in science, engineering or related fields with at least eight years' experience in strategic leadership and/or business management at a senior level within the RDI sector.
• A Doctoral degree would be advantageous. 
• Experience and skills in RDI project leadership.

Solid track record of:

• Engagement with target sector on strategic level and understanding of industry competitiveness drivers (product and manufacturing).
• Engagement and understanding of South African Defence Industry and South African National Defence Force.
• Broad understanding of relevant technologies and their potential impact on competitiveness.
• SET capability building track record (HCD, R&D rigour and R&D infrastructure).

Closing Date

19/02/2026

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About the job: 

• The CSIR has a vacancy for a Specialist Senior Counsel: Commercial in the Legal and Compliance Department. The incumbent will assist the CSIR to commercialise its Intellectual Property Assets and maximise its financial sustainability by providing comprehensive expert commercial legal advice; actively mitigating all legal commercial and contractual risks and safeguarding the legal rights of the organisation and its brand. The position is based in Pretoria and reports to the Manager: Legal Services. A hybrid working arrangement is possible for this position.

Key responsibilities:

Legal Strategy

• Responsible for input into the Legal strategy of the CSIR with specific focus on topics pertaining to intellectual property commercialisation and corporate commercial matters.
• Provide expert advice and support to the wider organisation in the planning and implementation of intellectual property commercialisation efforts and commercial strategies and goals.
• Ensure alignment between CSIR business and operational strategies and initiatives and those of Legal Services.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Enforce all relevant intellectual property and commercial policies, procedures, standards, norms and best practices in line with organisation¿s Legal and IP strategy and in line with prevailing regulatory framework.
• Remain abreast of changes in intellectual property and corporate commercial legislation and ensure that the CSIR remains compliant and that governance frameworks are up to date.
• Provide advice on the interpretation and implementation of new / draft legislation, relevant to intellectual property commercialisation, for the CSIR¿s compliance.
• Ensure appropriate training of relevant staff with respect to corporate commercial legislation awareness.
• Contribute to cost effectiveness, reduce risk, and optimise the commercial opportunities available to the organisation.

Legal Corporate Commercial Service delivery

• Provide corporate commercial legal information and recommendations for enhancement of commercial transactions.
• Provide sound expert legal advice, identify risks and implement appropriate action for prevention and correction on matters such as intellectual property and corporate commercial transactions, contracts, litigation, competition law, commercialisation of outputs and any other relevant legal matters, initiating and/or facilitating internal and external negotiations, and contributing to discussions on corporate commercial matters.
• Coordinate all corporate commercial matters that require external assistance and act as a liaison between the CSIR and external counsel. 
• Provide dedicated subject matter expertise to the entire organisation especially related to the specialist skills within the Legal department teams.
• Draft and review a variety of commercial contracts and negotiate the terms of such contracts to protect and enhance the interests of the organisation.
• Manage litigation matters across the CSIR and contribute to the effectiveness of the Legal department.
• Support the effective administration and management of contracts and other legal documents.
• Support and nurture existing relationships with internal and external stakeholders and building new relationships where possible.

Support to Culture and Continuous Improvement

• Create a culture of customer service and continuous improvement.
• Identify gaps for training or development of staff to assist with knowledge transfer of corporate commercial legal knowledge.

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE:

• A Bachelors degree in Law, LLB or equivalent degree with at least eight years¿ experience as a corporate commercial legal advisor with a track record in the following:
• Intellectual Property and Patent matters (operational, legal, regulatory and policy);
• Contract negotiation, litigation, corporate commercial transactions, and competition law;
• Communication and engagement with senior executives.
• Admission as attorney or advocate of the high court in good standing.
• A Masters Degree in Law or Business Management would be an added advantage.
• Understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to public entities.
• Experience with drafting, reviewing and negotiating contractual agreements.
• Possess and exhibit an inquisitive, creative (but practical), solutions-orientated and goal-focused mind-set. 
• Understanding of the RD&I value chain.
• Ability to understand technologies across a range of disciplines.
• Familiarity with the NSI.
• Special Corporate Commercial Legal knowledge.
• Sound understanding of IP risk and organisational impact.
• In depth understanding of business operations and commercialisation within the RD&I environment

Closing Date

12/02/2026

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About the job: 

• The CSIR has a vacancy for a Specialist Senior Counsel: Commercial in the Legal and Compliance Department. The incumbent will provide comprehensive expert Human Capital and employee / labour relations advise to the organisation and its subsidiaries. The position is based in Pretoria and reports into the Manager: Legal Services. A hybrid working arrangement is possible for this position.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategies, Policies, Procedures and Initiatives 

• Provide timely, expert input and advice into the development and periodic review of the CSIR strategies, policies and procedures and Initiatives in partnership with relevant stakeholders.
• Contribute to the Legal and Compliance Services annual strategic planning and budgeting processes on planned activities relating to this role.
• Remain abreast with changes in labour law; legislation, regulations, codes and best practices to ensure that the CSIR remains compliant and that the CSIR strategies, policies, procedures and Initiatives are abreast of the latest developments.
• Contribute to the cost effectiveness of the organisation by reducing the cost of non ¿ compliance and use of necessary external resources.
• Monitoring and advising the interpretation and implementation of new/draft labour legislation for CSIR¿s implementation, operationalization and compliance.
• Monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly reporting as required for purpose of accountability.

Routine Legal Services 

• Providing daily, sound legal support in the form of legal opinions, legal advice, contractual drafting and vetting of agreements to allocated CSIR internal clients. 
• Actively participating in and support employee debt collection processes and efforts within organisation. 

Organisational Awareness Training and Development 

• Collaborating with relevant stakeholders to ensure appropriate training of relevant staff on topical and pertinent human capital and labour relations matters including the author of relevant presentations for such purposes.
• Writing articles, case summaries, papers, etc for purposes of awareness training and development.
• Drafting memoranda to the Executive Committee and/or Board on significant developments and other matters in labour law for noting or approval.

Personal Training and Development 

• Attending to manager-recommended and/or self-identified training and development opportunities.
• Maintaining professional associations and affiliations membership.

Labour Litigation Management 

• Managing all labour-related litigation in the organisation and providing timely reporting on same.
• Managing the reduction or elimination of external legal counsel costs, through clever litigation management and the brokering of settlements where possible.
• Engaging external legal counsel, ensuring adherence with CSIR Procurement processes to avoid irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Contribute to positive departmental and organisational culture 

• Adhering to CSIR Policies and Procedures. 
• Adhering to and promote CSIR EPIC Values within and outside the organisation.
• Assisting the Legal and Compliance Services to maintain a positive culture, excellent professional and customer service reputation.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Bachelors degree Proc / LLB with at least eight years relevant experience as Labour Relations / Employment law practitioner and/or advisor with a track record in the following:
• Legal drafting and presentation
• Dispute Resolution
• Mediation, Arbitration and Litigation Management 
• Employment contracting and sound understanding of all Labour law and practice 
• Communication and engagement with senior executives 
• Representation at the CCMA, Labour Court and other Dispute Resolutions Forums
• Dealing with Trade Unions 
• Admitted attorney in good standing with the Law Society / Bar Councils
• Relevant post graduate qualifications would be an advantage 
• Working experience in a state-owned entity and knowledge of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and procurement processes related would be beneficial
• Thought leadership
• Self-Management 
• Conflict resolution 
• Attention to detail 
• Influencing and Negotiation 
• Judgement and decision making 
• Planning and Organising 

Whats in it for you? 

The CSIR offers:

• Flexible hybrid work arrangement.
• Learning and development opportunities.
• Competitive and market-related remuneration packages.
• Total guaranteed salary packages which encompass contributions to the pension fund, risk insurance and medical scheme.
• We openly acknowledge and reward our employees' contributions and accomplishments through our esteemed CSIR Excellence Awards. 

Closing Date

12/02/2026

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About the job:

• The CSIR has a vacancy for SANReN Cybersecurity Manager in the South African National Research Network (SANReN) programme within the National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System (NICIS), which is hosted by the Next Generation Enterprises and Institution (NGEI) cluster. The incumbent will be responsible for leading, developing, and maintaining cybersecurity and related services for NICIS and SANReN, as well as providing cybersecurity support and consulting to the SANReN constituency. The position is based in Pretoria and will report to SANReN Director.

Key responsibilities:

• Manage the SANREN CSIRT (Cybersecurity Specialists with skills in information security, system administration, network engineering and IT services development) to implement the SA NREN information security strategy;
• Drive SA NREN information security and risk posture planning activities;
• Take the lead in defining policies and processes (culminating in an incident response plan) for handling information security incidents at the SA NREN level;
• Design and implement reactive and/or pro-active CSIRT services;
• Coordinate efforts to identify threats to, and vulnerabilities of SA NREN infrastructure;
• Research new cybersecurity trends, threats and risks, including innovating new tools for an efficient SANREN CSIRT
• Report to and advise the NICIS Management Team, SANReN Management Team, TENET Executive and TENET Board on the information security posture of SA NREN IT resources;
• Coordinate mechanisms for distributing information security alerts and warnings including incident-related activity, critical patches, etc. to the community;
• Collaborate with partners to enhance incident prevention and protection activities, particularly the TENET CSIRT team;
• Represent the CSIRT nationally and internationally at various forums, such as the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST); 
• Organise/coordinate SA NREN CSIRT education and training events ¿ e.g. workshops, training events and awareness campaigns;
• Define the vulnerability management process (patching, workarounds, etc.) for SA NREN infrastructure; and the development of penetration testing capabilities
• Lead the mitigation of identified threats to and vulnerabilities of SA NREN infrastructure;
• Manage compliance and audit tasks related to information security;
• Direct the implementation/adaptation of a ticketing system for tracking incidents, response actions and maintaining incident history/statistics;
• Contribute to SANReN's services development and incubation (SDI), Network Engineering (NE) and Project Management and Procurement (PPM) activities;
• Supporting national and international information security strategic initiatives;
• Contribute to SANReN's strategic planning, marketing and communications, as well as risk management activities;
• Contribute to NICIS activities aimed at developing and delivering a portfolio of integrated science data transport, stewardship and high-performance computing services;
• Provide mentorship and technical coaching.

Qualifications, skills and experience:

• A Master's degree in computer/electronic engineering, computer science or related fields with at least ten years' experience in ICT, of which five years should be in information security e.g. incident handling, risk management, security engineering, auditing (with preferably two years as part of a CSIRT/CERT/SOC);
• A Doctoral degree in computer/electronic engineering or computer science will be advantageous;
• Must have at least one security-related certification: (i.e. CISSP, Security+, CASP, CISA, CISM, ISO 2700x/27035, CRISC, SSCP, GIAC, TRANSITS, CEH);

The following would be advantageous:

• Professional registration with relevant bodies, e.g. Professional Engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) or Institute of Information Technology Professionals in South Africa (IITPSA);
• Relevant industry certifications in project management and/or services management

Skills and knowledge in the following areas:

• Data handling and interpretation;
• Vulnerability assessments, identification and resolution;
• Penetration testing principles, tools and techniques;
• Configuration and use of network protection components / securing networks;
• Identifying critical information infrastructure;
• Risk assessments, auditing, etc.
• Security architecture;
• Incident response policy and procedure development;
• IT operations, Help desk, ISSO / ISSE, policy writing, compliance, software and systems development, system administration, etc.
• System and/or network administration;
• Network applications and services;
• Software development: programming and scripting;
• General security / information assurance principles;
• Cyber security threats, attack types, vulnerabilities and exploit methodologies;
• Incident response/handling methodologies, categories, procedures;
• Good understanding of common security tools and techniques, e.g. SIEM, IDS/IPS, Netflow analysis, protocol analysis, vulnerability assessment, log aggregation, event correlation;
• Cryptography.
• Ability to lead a team;
• Ability to provide thought leadership and high-level conceptualisation;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills;
• Conflict management skills;
• Decisiveness and action orientation;
• Appropriate national and international RDI networks;
• South African Citizen is necessary as a Security Clearance may be required for this position.

What's in it for you?

The CSIR offers:

• Flexible hybrid work arrangement.
• Learning and development opportunities.
• Competitive and market-related remuneration packages.
• Total guaranteed salary packages which encompass contributions to the pension fund, risk insurance and medical scheme.
• We openly acknowledge and reward our employees' contributions and accomplishments through our esteemed CSIR Excellence Awards.

Closing Date

16/02/2026