Job Description

Position Details

Executive Division

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £48,337 to £57,666 with potential progression once in post to £64,878

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 12 months

Closing date: 26th November 2026

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do.

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success.

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University.

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

Strategic Programmes & Change is a high-performing team with a critical role at the heart of the University. We work with senior leaders to align stakeholders, set strategic direction and deliver outcomes — helping the University achieve its ambitions as a Global Top 50 institution and long-term financial sustainability. Our portfolio is complex, fast-moving and varied; no two days are the same. Our work typically involves large-scale service areas, significant process change and cultural transformation.

Estates are delivering a programme of significant change to modernise and strengthen the University’s estate services to meet the future needs of the University. This includes a substantial increase in Long Term Maintenance activity, alongside re-designing operations to be focused on the service user, and progressing the replacement of outdated underpinning systems. Together this work will enable future focussed and adaptive services, safeguarding the University’s heritage and enabling more effective use of the University estate. The Strategic Change Manager will lead the organisational change activities required to ensure success, including to coordinating change delivery, communications, stakeholder engagement, and embed sustainable governance, working across professional services, Colleges and frontline operational teams.

Our impact philosophy is simple: align with strategic priorities, lead with purpose, collaborate across boundaries, build institutional change capability, and deliver measurable benefits.

Executive Division

Strategic Programme Development & Change sits within the Executive Division, led by the Chief of Staff. The Division brings together a varied team working collectively to drive the University's performance and keep us on track to reach our Global Top 50 ambition by 2030. We use our convening power to lead key initiatives, maintain strong networks across academic and professional services — and beyond into the wider HE sector — and respond quickly as new priorities emerge. As part of the Division, you will benefit from access to these networks and the support of experienced colleagues across a range of fields.

We are trusted, collaborative and outward-looking, and we are seeking someone who shares our values: Ambitious, Open, Responsible, Collaborative and Innovative. We are committed to building a diverse team and believe that a mix of perspectives and experiences creates the best environment for success.

The right candidate will join over 10,000 staff at the University, with opportunities to join staff networks such as the Rainbow Network, Parents and Carers’ Network, Women’s Network, Race Equality Network, and Enabling Staff Network. They will benefit from good holidays and a pension scheme, flexibility (we are currently working to a pattern of three or four days from campus), and lots of opportunities for learning and development.

Role Summary

We are looking for a Strategic Change Manager to join our highly regarded team. The successful candidate will:

• Have a proven track record of delivering outcomes in complex, fast-paced environments, with the resilience to navigate ambiguity and shifting priorities
• Think strategically — bringing clarity to ambiguity, identifying paths forward and developing creative solutions to difficult problems
• Build effective relationships across organisational boundaries, balancing competing interests to collaboratively build consensus and drive results
• Shape thinking, influence decisions and drive action – using clear, persuasive communication to build confidence, align stakeholders and deliver measurable outcomes

When completing the application form, please use the person specification above to inform your answer to the section that says: This section should set out your reasons for applying, skills and experience, and other interests and activities as appropriate to the person specification. As a rough guide, we would expect you to write in the region of 1,000 words and cover how your skills and experience apply to the role, with clear examples. You may also attach a CV if you wish, however, shortlisting will be predominantly based on the information in the application form.

Main Duties

Change management for individual initiatives

To be personally responsible for leading and managing significant and complex University-wide initiatives in collaboration with Programme / Project Sponsors. This will involve:

• Managing the delivery of the Strategic Programme & Change portfolio of projects, from project initiation through to implementation and evaluation, ensuring that projects are enabling the University’s Birmingham 2030 ambitions and delivering measurable benefits and improvements.
• Working closely with Programme / Project Sponsors (academic and Professional Services) to identify and plan the requirements for change and ensuring that change projects are delivered in accordance with the project charter and plan.
• Undertaking change impact and readiness assessments, identifying adoption risks and support requirements, and developing actions to support successful implementation.
• Utilising excellent negotiation, communication and creativity skills to gain agreement across a broad range of stakeholders to initiatives. This will include working with staff groups for whom the proposed programme may represent significant changes, eg. to ways of working, and gaining commitment.
• Managing and coordinating the different strands of the initiatives including ensuring effective communication flows to all stakeholders.
• Implementing change and process improvement methodologies to drive change initiatives, including key tools such as diagnostic exercises, process mapping, rapid improvement events and ensuring implementation.
• Development of benefits realisation plans.
• Development and execution of results yielding engagement plans and strategies for a wide range of stakeholders and audiences, including academic colleagues, professional services staff, and students.
• Preparing and, where appropriate, presenting reports, proposals and papers for stakeholders, project sponsors, College Boards, RLG and other senior meetings.
• Working collaboratively with other teams that are responsible for delivering change, to ensure a coherent and consistent approach to change across the University, in line with our Portfolio and Programme Enabling Frameworks.

Delivering the work of the Strategic Programmes & Change function

To deliver the development of change management and process improvement methodologies in the University. This will involve:

• Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Deploying our institutional Portfolio and Programme Enabling Frameworks, including change management methodologies and practices, to contribute to the development of the University’s programme and change management capability.
• Identifying and, where appropriate, adopting best practice within and outside HE in programme development and change management
• Developing and delivering training and other forms of support to staff developing and managing programmes and change within the University.
• Being a proactive member of the Strategic Programmes & Change function, contributing to its continued success and development and supporting other members of the team.

Duties and responsibilities within the post and the obligations placed upon post holders may vary and develop over time. Any resulting changes will be subject to consultation with the post holder and the Head of Strategic Programmes & Change, through the agreed annual review process.

Examples of Work:

• Development and implementation of cross-functional strategic plans, aligning workstreams to institutional priorities and ensuring clear ownership of outcomes.
• Design and facilitate workshops with senior stakeholders to develop detailed strategies, drive process innovation and build shared commitment to change.
• Lead process mapping, redesign and implementation — taking end-to-end responsibility for ensuring implementation.
• Implement robust change management frameworks, including benefits realisation and risk management, to support the successful delivery of initiatives
• Convene and facilitate relevant working groups, ensuring meetings are purposeful and drive meaningful progress.
• Produce high-quality documentation — to enable decision-making and support project outcomes.
• Develop and deliver stakeholder communications strategies, using a range of channels to engage audiences sensitively and build support for change.
• Gather and analyse data to build the evidence base for change, track progress and develop credible, deliverable benefits plan.

Person Specification

The post holder will have the following combined experience and personal qualities:

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification (change management, project management), plus substantial relevant experience evidencing the experience required in this role.
• Relevant professional experience in a large and complex organisation.
• Experience of developing effective networks and strong relationships in a complex organisation, for example (but not limited to) with academics, Professional Services and other partners.
• Experience of developing strategic and operational plans.
• Strong facilitation skills, including workshops, and face-to-face.
• Outstanding writing skills, with the ability to write/prepare high quality papers, presentations, reports and briefings to Project Board and Executive Board level. This includes a clear style of communication and the ability to write for different audiences.
• Highly developed research skills and experience of producing and analysing complex source material, information and data and turning these into purposeful reports that influence policy and assist decision making.
• Experience of enabling cultural / ways of working change, in situations where the proposed programme may represent significant changes.
• Demonstrable experience of managing a range of at-scale and complex projects.
• Excellent oral communication and presentation skills, with an ability to use a range of communication skills and strategies to gain commitment to action or change.
• Excellent IT, organisational and administrative skills.
• An ability to work simultaneously and effectively to progress several different tasks.

Personal Characteristics and knowledge

• Strong intellectual ability and the ability to apply this to management tasks.
• Knowledge of recognised change management or process improvement methodologies
• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility and a self-motivating approach. The ability to complete tasks based on only broad direction and with minimum supervision.
• Analysis of complex problems and formulation of innovative, simple and effective solutions.
• Enthusiasm and willingness to meet challenging demands, working to different people, deadlines and within budget.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including tact and diplomacy, and an ability to work at all levels of the organisation and providing effective challenge where appropriate.
• Ability with agility to work effectively as part of new and established team.
• Creativity in developing change programmes and responding to challenges.
• A flexible approach and attitude and a willingness to respond to changing requirements of the team.
• Demonstrates collaborative working, builds open, trusting and effective partnerships.
• A firm but diplomatic attitude with the ability to prioritise, negotiate and use one’s own judgement.
• A commitment to promote and adhere to the agreed values of the University and the Executive Division.
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.

Informal enquiries to Stuart Harvey, email: s.harvey@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

We believe there is no such thing as a 'typical' member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.