Job Description

The Job – Head of Engagement

Head of Engagement: full-time, 35 hours per week.

Salary circa £35,000 - £42,000 (subject to outcome of Job Evaluation)

The successful candidate will join us during exciting times. The university’s estate strategy consolidates eight campuses into two by September 2017 resulting in the migration of the main Students’ Union building from the City North Campus into the City Centre during June 2015. A critical focus of new infrastructure and increased student numbers will be created during the summer of 2015, with the opening of the Curzon building alongside Millennium Point and Parkside buildings. We believe the time is right to match the existing quality of our offer with an increase in engagement by a wider number and demographic of students. Currently this is a substantial challenge due to the disparate nature of the estate and student body, however in the new environment we will be right in the heart of the action, adjacent to the main library and catering offer as well as being centrally located in the Student Hub.

As well as major changes to our environment we are scheduled to engage stakeholders during the 2015 academic year in a wide consultation exercise to inform the development of a new strategic vision. The successful candidate, along with colleagues, will play a key role in the formulation of a new vision and supporting operational plans.

These two opportunities are further enabled by a fantastic relationship with the university at every level and services ably delivered by a talented staff team.

The Role

The Head of Engagement will link all student facing services together into a unified team leading them to deliver an outstanding experience for students at BCU. Supporting the achievement of high impact outcomes and challenging targets, a consistent experience for all our students is what we aim for. These services include support for elected leaders and representatives, our student activities and volunteering programmes and our professional advice service. The reach of these services have grown to plan over the last three years, and as we come to the end of our current strategic plan you will play a key role in taking us to the next level.

The Person

We’re looking for someone who has senior level leadership or management experience of an organisation which provides services that have a social outcome. This may be a students’ union, charity or commercial organisation. The important thing is you will be able to embed a culture of continuous improvement and help us engage further with our students. You will need to be able to evidence leadership capabilities and the attainment of targets. Above all you will be people focused, committed to developing your team to become outstanding contributors to the organisation and truly effective. You will need to show effective stakeholder management and the ability to work in partnership with a range of stakeholders, not least our students and university partners.

The Students’ Union is at an exciting stage of its development with a new strategic plan forthcoming, forging our direction for the next 3 to 5 years. If you think you can add to our staffing team in this exciting role, we want to hear from you.

If you would like an informal discussion about the post, please contact Richard Evans – Chief Executive. More information is contained in the application pack and job description. Closing date for applications is Wednesday 20th May at 5pm.