Job Description

We believe the world needs creativity. That\'s why UAL is a social purpose university, dedicated to nurturing creativity and deploying it to help solve the world\'s problems. At the core of our new 10-year strategy is a commitment to making the world a better place through our collective creative endeavour. This is a time of great change, and great opportunity and we are looking for a unique, talented and focused individual to join us at this exciting juncture as the Head of Social Purpose Operations.

This brand-new role will support the Chief Social Purpose Officer in defining, building and creating the University\'s recently formed Social Purpose Group. The Group brings together our fundraising team, our communications directorate, and our new Storytelling Institute, a hub for campaigners and artists to collaborate in the service of social purpose goals.

You will play a key leadership role in building and running the new division. Sitting within the Group\'s new Senior Leadership Team and working alongside four Directors, you will:

• Build and lead the strategic business planning for the Social Purpose Group ensuring that the directorates can develop and drive transformation, in line with UAL strategy
• Lead strategic planning and operational delivery of finance, people, data management, governance, compliance and communications for the Group, working with key business partners
• Develop, build and ensure consistent and effective ways of working in partnership with the Directors of Development, Communications, the Storytelling Institute and Social Purpose Lab
• Lead on the development and delivery of data-driven governance and communications internally and externally, including budget planning, business cases and papers

There is also opportunity for designing new ways of thinking and being in the workplace, to deliver a fundamental step change in how UAL can make the world a better place.

About you

We are looking for a candidate with significant leadership and management experience at a senior level in a complex organisational environment with multiple stakeholders. Key to the role will be your experience of successful management and delivery of culture change, within Higher Education or a similar environment, developing teams to be highly service focused.

With a degree / postgraduate qualification in business, management or a relevant field, professional qualification in a relevant area or substantial equivalent experience, you will have in depth knowledge of core operations and process management activities such as administration, risk management, finance, HR and quality assurance.

We are UAL

University of the Arts London (UAL) offers an extensive range of courses in art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts. UAL is ranked second in the world for Art and Design in the 2023 QS World University Rankings. The University is made up of 6 renowned Colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts.

In 2022, we launched our new 10-year strategy, \'The world needs creativity\'. Our strategy has three Guiding Policies. We identified the challenges and opportunities that are most important to UAL and our future and the guiding policies are our response to each of these issues in turn. Creativity is a skill vital across the economy and society. In today\'s knowledge economy, this will become increasingly so.

To give our students the skills they need, we must change the way we teach and deliver a rich and rewarding student experience. By doing so, in partnership with our staff and students, we will ensure our students are equipped to work in sectors beyond the creative industries. Our students will have the careers they want, the economy will have the creative skills it needs, and we will build a better world.

Our culture

UAL is home to a diverse body of over 6,000 academic, professional and technical staff who support more than 21,000 students from 130 countries. We are proud of our international student and staff community and are committed to ensuring that the University offers an inclusive and supportive environment for everyone.

We are a proud Stonewall Diversity Champion and in 2022 achieved a Gold Award in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index, helping us to ensure all LGBTQ+ people are valued and included at work. We are a member of the Race Equality Charter (REC), to help us reduce barriers that negatively impact Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff and students. We are a Disability Confident Scheme Committed employer and a member of the Business Disability Forum, which help us to recruit, retain, develop and improve the lives of disabled people in the workplace.

University of the Arts London