Please note that this vacancy is only open to current employees within the College of Social Sciences, or current employees who are eligible under the  University’s Redeployment Policy

Job Purpose

As a senior member of the School Professional Services Leadership Team, this role plays a lead role in overseeing the management and strategic direction of the school’s operations. You will contribute towards delivering agile service provision in business processes and activities, enhancing service excellence through a collaborative, inclusive and purpose-driven school professional service team.

The core purpose of this role is to foster an inclusive environment and lead the design and development of a proactive and resilient operations service aligned with the school’s core activity. It is responsible for leadership and coordination of administration, policies and procedures, communication strategies, roles and responsibilities of staff members.  This role will lead coordination and integration with other support teams in the School, College and wider University. This role leads and contributes on behalf of the school to College and University-wide change programmes.  This role is key to the development and organization of plans and actions to embed and facilitate a culture of continuous improvement enabling progress towards the school’s core goals and objectives.
The role reports directly to the Head of Professional Services in the School.

Main duties and Responsibilities

1.  Strategic leadership and development of a high-profile operations service across a range of service operations within the school.  Deliver an efficient, effective, adaptable and constantly improving staff and student experience.

2.  Lead and direct teams delivering: operational support; internal and external communications; Executive Administration.  Ensure team members have clear and relevant objectives aligned to School goals, understand and own priorities within the scope of their team and are motivated to continually improve service performance.

3.  As the school operations lead, monitor service performance using analytical insight to identify and implement key opportunities for improvement, contributing to College and University transformation practices and initiatives to enhance capacity and capability in delivery of strategic objectives.

4.  Proactively network and develop strong collaborative relationships across the University to acquire and share best practice and remove potential barriers to the delivery of enhanced performance.

5.  Work in partnership with key Estates and IT partners in the College and University delivering plans and coordinating projects to ensure the school built and digital environments are habitable and fit for purpose.  Liaising with appropriate partners to anticipate and plan cost-efficient improvements within available budget and resource constraints.  Leading projects to ensure effective deployment of space and digital improvements while minimising disruption to staff and students.

6.  Work in partnership with key HR partners in the College and University to lead, co-ordinate and improve school services supporting staff recruitment and other people-related processes, including onboarding, induction, probation management and wider activities.

7.  Work in partnership with key Health & Safety partners in the College and University to ensure School compliance with university policies and procedures, proactively addressing areas of risk and non-compliance across health, safety and environment, fire safety, data protection, freedom of information, staff and student well-being and Equality & Diversity.

8.  Lead the development and implementation of business continuity and risk management plans for the school, liaising directly across the College and University Services to manage and mitigate associated operational risk.

9.  Deputise for the Head of Professional Services for the School as appropriate.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills & Experience

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential

A1. Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 9, (Ordinary Degree, Scottish Vocational Qualification level 4), or equivalent and experience of personal development in a similar or related role(s).

A2. Substantial knowledge of governance and business processes within a large complex organisation.

A3. Knowledge of Lean/Process Improvement.

A4. Broad knowledge of financial management of budgets and the use of insightful analytics to inform high quality decision-making.

A5. Broad knowledge of risk management principles and their application.

A6. Broad knowledge of estates and facilities management and planning.

Desirable

B1. Knowledge and understanding of the HE sector and potential challenges.

B2.  Knowledge of financial management within budgetary control framework.

Skills

Essential

C1. Excellent organisational leadership and management skills.

C2. Excellent communications and presentational skills.

C3. Highly effective influencing and interpersonal skills, including negotiation and diplomacy.

C4. Highly effective leadership skills as a strategic business partner.

C5. Proven track record of leading business process improvement delivery and change across a complex organisation.

C6. Proven track record of successful project management.

C7. Resilient and able to maintain momentum in the face of challenges and setbacks.

C8. Understanding of financial planning and use of business analytics.

C9. Excellent customer service, stakeholder management and business partnering skills.

C10. Ability to develop, deliver and articulate a clear vision.

C11. Ability to develop operational plans to support strategic initiatives.

C12. Excellent ability to empower and motivate others to deliver a high-performance culture in a participative manner.

Experience

Essential

E1. Proven track record of providing a high-quality professional service across a multi-disciplinary range in a complex organisation.

E2. Sustained proven track record using Lean/other methodology in the delivery of significant benefits to the business through process improvement.

E3. Extensive experience in a business partnering role, working with senior staff to formulate, develop and successfully deliver key strategic objectives.

E4. Proven track record of successfully leading high performing teams.

E5. Significant experience of providing high quality management information to inform decision-making.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 7, £41,064 - £46,049 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours per week) and open ended (permanent).

The University of Glasgow has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.  If you require a Skilled Worker visa to work in the UK, you will be required to meet the eligibility requirements of the visa route to be assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship.

Please note that this post may be eligible to be sponsored under the Skilled Worker visa route if tradeable points can be used under the Skilled Worker visa rules. For more information please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

2 An excellent employment package with generous terms and conditions including 41 days of leave for full time staff, pension - pensions handbook https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/payandpensions/pensions/, benefits and discount packages.

3 A flexible approach to working.

4 A commitment to support your health and wellbeing, including a free 6-month UofG Sport membership for all new staff joining the University  https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/staff/healthwellbeing/.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/.

We endorse the principles of Athena Swan https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/athenaswan/ and hold bronze, silver and gold awards across the University.

We are investing in our organisation, and we will invest in you too. Please visit our website https://www.gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/ for more information.

Closing Date:  27 October 2025