Despite the greater role in the design and execution of research processes in the last 20 years, and a sincere appreciation by many researchers who have valued them as important pieces in the achievement of their scientific merits, research managers (RMs) at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) continue to be considered, in general, as personnel linked to the area of administration, normally linked to the bureaucratic tasks and, in most cases, without a clear place in the structure of public research organizations, with temporary contracts and without any associated career development. However, this situation has reached an inflexion point in Europe in the years 2022 and 2023, motivated by the appearance of various laws and policies that reinforce the figure of RMs at HEIs and make their role visible in the field of Science, Technology and Innovation Systems. RMs play a crucial role in planning, coordinating and executing research activities. The growing complexity in the public funding environment forces researchers to carry out a number of complementary tasks to their own research activities that they cannot assume without the corresponding specialization. The complexity of these tasks gives rise to the existence of numerous research manager profiles who participate in the research process alongside the researchers. This variety of professional profiles makes it very difficult to establish a definition of the activities carried out by a RM or, in other words, to establish which functions within the research process should be considered as belonging to a RM and which should correspond to the scope of the researchers, on the one hand, or of the administration staff, on the other. This difficulty in framing the profile of a RMr contributes to their lack of recognition. In this paper we review how the problem of RMs in Europe is addressed, and we delve into the Spanish case at HEIs. Through the results of different surveys answered by RMs from all over Europe, and following review of the Spanish case, we are able to answer the question of whether the recognition of RMs is possible and what issues need to be addressed in the Spanish landscape to achieve it. The work developed shows how it is necessary to act on 5 lines of action to reach the recognition of research management professionals at HEIs, which are: Establishment of Standards, Certification and Accreditation, Recognition and Career Development, Networks and Collaborations, Outreach and Communication,.