Job Description

Regional Education Director

Department: Education, Cultural Engagement.
Contract type: Indefinite Contract (Permanent, 36 hours per week).
Pay band: SMPs – £55,699 plus £3,300 London Market Allowance if you are based in the London area only.

Benefits Include, but are not limited to: 
•    32 days annual leave, in addition to public holidays
•    3 days volunteering leave
•    Career average defined benefit pension scheme
•    An unrivalled opportunity for you to get to use all the experience you’ve built up working in and/or leading global organisations to support us in building trust across the world.

Location: UK – London, Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh or Belfast Only.

Closing Date: Sunday 16th June at 23:59 UK time.

Requirements: Candidates must have the pre-existing, legal right to work in the UK. 

Mobility, relocation and visa sponsoring support will not be provided. 

British Council supports working in new ways such as hybrid working, subject to full approval by line management and conditional upon our ability to provide the appropriate level of service.  This may not be appropriate for all roles but can be explored at interview.

The Team:

This role sits within the Cultural Engagement (CE) team. CE is one of the two main teams within the British Council, bringing together our work in arts, education, English Programmes and research. CE delivers impact through research and insight, sector engagement, policy dialogue and a mixed portfolio of commercial and Grant and Partnership Funded (GPF) programme work globally.

The job leads Cultural Engagement’s Education work in the Europe (EU) region, which is seeing increasing interest from the UK. The ambition for engagement is set out in the UK’s International Education and British Council TNE strategies, alongside an increasing number of bilateral MOUs.

Higher Education, Schools and Non-Formal Education are focus areas for both the UK and the British Council, with Higher Education being the backbone of our work. We work with governments to develop stronger, more inclusive and internationally connected Higher Education systems which support economic and social growth both in the UK and globally.  We create educational opportunities at all levels in the HE system. We do this by engaging institutions, policy makers, education leaders, academics, researchers and students in dialogue, partnerships, mobility opportunities and exchange.

The Role:

This is an exciting opportunity to join the team on an indefinite (permanent) basis as Regional Education Director.

Your role is to:

• Act as a credible, trusted Education expert, building and maintaining strong links with relevant UK departments (eg DBT, FCDO, DFE,DSIT) and to be an influential thought leader at policy dialogues, panel discussions and cultural commissions.
• You will lead the Tertiary, Science and Schools Education Strategy for EU to deliver benefit for both the UK and the countries we work in and raise the British Council’s profile in the space with both government and sector.
• You will bring Education expertise to the development and delivery of a portfolio of Education partnerships, programmes and contracts across mixed funding streams and business models.
• You will ensure both the impact and financial sustainability of our work and to lead dispersed teams, along with managing senior partner and stakeholder relationships.

Accountabilities:

The role will involve, but is not limited to:

Relationship & Stakeholder management 
•    Builds and maintains business critical relationships with key clients and partners and with leading partners in the education sector with a view to identifying new business opportunities and partnerships for the British Council
•    Builds and maintains the government and institutional relationships that the UK needs to succeed in region/country
•    Leads on relationships with a range of senior stakeholders and partners at a sector level, including representing and communicating about the UK sector, significant programmes in this field and the British Council at senior external level

Leadership & management 
•    Provides technical direction and design to Education contracts, programmes and projects, assuring quality and impact and managing issues and risks.
•    Uses digital platforms and technological advancements to improve efficiency, impact and quality of portfolio design and delivery
•    Incorporates specific actions to address equality, diversity and inclusion priorities in programme delivery
•    End-to-end business management responsibility for route to market
•    Manages portfolio day-to-day (including overview and advice) ensuring global standards on programme and contract management are achieved
•    Direct line management and matrix management support provided to sector programme teams in country/across the region as required.
•    Ensures effective financial management and compliance – manages and delivers to target, budgets, profitability, timelines, and to corporate quality standards in all areas
•    Leads an inclusive organisational culture where staff have opportunities for continuous professional development and are actively contributing to the British Council’s anti-racism action plan and wider strategy to mainstream equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and become anti-racist in our cultures and practices within our organisation and in our programmes, particularly through a time of change.

Strategy and/or planning 
•    Leads on planning process for designated portfolio/region
•    Contributes to pillar/region or global business strategy
•    Strategic leadership of design, development, delivery and closure of projects and or programmes as needed

 Sector/subject expertise 
•    Uses sector expertise to provide insight and content for corporate responses to public consultations, representing British Council’s perspective and demonstrating our thought-leadership in relevant external fora
•    Provides up-to-date and well-informed senior-level briefings on current and emerging matters in area of expertise, conducting detailed analysis and research, contributing cutting-edge sector knowledge and content to proposals, potentially contributing to the body of literature in their area of expertise

 Brand and market positioning  
•    Promotes and positions the UK education sector in country/region
•    Ensures British Council’s value proposition and support to the UK sector is clear, agreed and communicated.
•    Ensures that British Council’s reputation for quality and as a valued not-for-profit partner remains high and contributes to our organisational mission of building trust between the UK and other countries.

Business development  
•    Lead on business and partnership development strategy for the portfolio, aligning with regional and corporate priorities, systems and processes
•    Contribute to the development of strategic responses to partner/ client needs as efficiently and effectively as possible, including developing and promoting new ideas for services

Requirements of the role

•    In depth understanding of international education market gained through working in the international education sector.

•    Extensive knowledge of UK and international Education policy and of approaches to internationalisation.

•    Account and Partnership management (level 5).  Shapes strategic relationships:  Sets overall direction for the formation and management of strategic relationships, collaborations and contracts with stakeholder, customers and partners in a significant market.

•    Analysing data and problems (level 4). Solves complex problems:  Able to apply or devise specialised concepts and methods of analysis or commission them from others.  Understands the output and uses the results to make clear and / or solve complex business, market or policy problems.

Closing Date:   Applications will close at 23:59 on Sunday 16th June 2024 UK Time. 

Interviews will be held around the beginning of July 2024.

You must have the legal right to work in the UK at the time of application.

Mobility, relocation and visa sponsoring support will not be provided. 

Please use this link to take you to the advert and to apply directly on our website:

https://careers.britishcouncil.org/job-invite/42945/

How to Apply

Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 40,000 - 60,000.

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