Research and Development Manager (ANZSCO 132511)

On the Short-term Skilled Occupation List and Core Skills Occupation List

From the official Home Affairs skilled occupation lists, as at 2026-08-12. Lists change at each government update — always confirm on the official page before acting.

Which lists is Research and Development Manager on?

STSOL — Short-term Skilled Occupation List. Occupations on the STSOL can access state-nominated and regional skilled visas (190/491), but not the Skilled Independent 189.

CSOL — Core Skills Occupation List. The employer-sponsorship list — occupations on the CSOL can be nominated for the Skills in Demand visa (subclass 482) and the Employer Nomination Scheme 186.

Visas this occupation can access

Being on a list makes the occupation nominatable for these visas — each visa still has its own requirements (points, age, English, a positive skills assessment, and for sponsored visas a willing employer or state).

Skills assessment

A positive skills assessment for Research and Development Manager comes from:

What the assessment actually involves

Research and Development Manager is a VETASSESS Group B occupation on STSOL and CSOL, reaching six visa subclasses including state nomination and direct employer sponsorship. VETASSESS excludes Market Research Analyst, Policy and Planning Manager, University Lecturer (including Research Associate or Research Fellow), and Health Information Manager — Clinical Trial Data Manager specifically — from this code. The University Lecturer exclusion is worth noticing on its own: research work performed inside an academic appointment, however senior, is not assessed under this managerial code even where the day-to-day work looks similar to running a corporate R&D function.

Where these applications come unstuck

The University Lecturer and Research Associate exclusion catches academics moving into industry, or industry researchers whose background is academic, who assume seniority in research work is itself the qualifying duty. VETASSESS is assessing management of a research and development function, not research seniority — a principal investigator or lead researcher without genuine managerial control over the R&D function risks the same mismatch the Quality Assurance Manager page states directly elsewhere in this family: title and seniority are not the test, organisational authority over the function is.

An honest read on this pathway

A genuinely open pathway for someone who manages an R&D function rather than performs research inside one — six subclasses, employer sponsorship included, and a Group B structure that lets extra years offset a less-directly-relevant degree. The distinction from University Lecturer is the one worth checking before nominating, since it is the exclusion most likely to trip up a strong candidate whose research background is academic rather than corporate.

VETASSESS assesses qualifications and employment separately. Both need documentation that agrees with itself. The Employment History Builder and Document Vault organise each trail before you lodge.

Talk it through with a registered agent

Whether nominating Research and Development Manager is your best route depends on your points, experience evidence and timing — exactly what a MARA-registered agent works through in an initial consultation. Describe your situation once through Migratio and compare real consultation quotes from registered agents, free.

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