Assistant Director Capital Projects and Programmes

We are looking for a highly talented individual to join our Governance, Infrastructure & Sustainability Team (GIST), Finance & Funding Directorate as Assistant Director Capital Projects and Programmes.  

The purpose of the role is to lead on SFC’s capital investment projects and programmes to ensure that our colleges and universities have appropriate buildings and estates to deliver SFC’s vision for the sector, and they make a significant contribution towards Net Zero.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE SFC STRATEGIC PLAN 2022 – 27
The role is to ensure that SFC’s capital investment projects and programmes make a lasting impact on our purpose: ‘…to create and sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that changes lives for the better, enriches society, and supports sustainable and inclusive economic growth.’  

The role will contribute particularly to our objective of “building a responsive, coherent, sustainable system: To create the conditions for a responsive, coherent system of tertiary education and skills, research and innovation that transforms social and economic prosperity and wellbeing, and environmental sustainability, at national and regional levels and through place-based investment; secures international attractiveness and influence; and supports institutions to thrive individually and together.” 

We would love to hear from you and welcome applications from people with disabilities and those from minority ethnic and language communities, as well as those who have skills in Scottish Gaelic or British Sign Language. 

The work is broad, and we expect colleagues to bring their talents, enthusiasm, and can-do attitude to their work.  In return, colleagues can expect opportunities to take on different work portfolios over time, to develop expertise and breadth of knowledge and to work as part of a close-knit team of colleagues.

The post is based within the Finance and Funding Directorate, which is led by Richard Maconachie, working for the Governance Institutional Sustainability Team (GIST), headed by Ursula Lodge.  

GIST is responsible for us meeting Ministerial priorities set out the Letter of Guidance, specifically in relation to our institutions’ governance and financial sustainability,  and the sector’s estate and other infrastructure. The planned activities of GIST are critical to delivering against all four objectives of our Strategic Plan 2022 – 27, with responsibility for delivering two of eight themes that underpin SFC’s work. GIST monitors institutions’ financial health to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the outcomes expected from them. GIST is also responsible for delivering College Infrastructure Strategy, Financial Transactions programme and other capital funding.  The delivery plan for the College Infrastructure Strategy (CIS) was published in December 2023.

One of the key areas of responsibility for this post is liaising with colleagues across SFC and engage with universities and colleges as appropriate, for example to co-ordinate implementation of the College Infrastructure Strategy Delivery Plan.  This will involve the role holder in working closely with colleagues across SFC, college and university staff responsible for their estate and net zero, as well as working with other government agencies and support bodies including Scottish Futures Trust, Colleges Scotland, and others. As such we expect staff to be flexible and adaptable and willing to take on different functions, as appropriate, to meet the changing requirements within the sectors. 

The work of GIST and Finance and Funding Directorate is broad and we expect colleagues to bring their talents, enthusiasm and can-do attitude to their work.  In return, colleagues can expect opportunities to take on different work portfolios over time, to develop expertise and breadth of knowledge and to work as part of a close-knit team of colleagues focused on finding long-term solutions that have long-term, positive impacts beyond our sector and Scotland. 

Key Responsibilities

1. Lead SFC’s work on the college and university sectors’ infrastructure to ensure SFC meets Ministerial priorities as set out in the Letter of Guidance. 
2. Lead the delivery of the College Infrastructure Strategy in collaboration with colleges and with the help of external contractors as appropriate to transform Scotland’s college estate to meet future college needs. This includes baselining the condition of the college estate; facilitating collaboration; college estate strategies update and contributions towards net zero; and delivering a 10-year infrastructure investment plan.  
3. Undertake full appraisals of ad hoc capital funding requests from tertiary institutions and prioritise these according to SFC strategic priorities to make the most effective use of SFC's finite capital budget. 
4. Encourage and support the successful delivery of capital and carbon-reduction projects (e.g. Fife College Dunfermline Learning Campus) with institutions and other stakeholders, ensuring they are able to deliver the required efficiencies in the use of estates, space utilisation and energy consumption. This will include guiding projects through all stages from inception through to ministerial approval as appropriate and delivery.  
5. Responsible for delivering, monitoring and reporting on SFC capital funding programmes, including college and university capital maintenance funding and the rolling Financial Transaction Programme.  
6. Subject to budget availability, develop the Financial Transactions Programme including preparing and publishing best practice case studies and impact analysis; identifying options for widening scope of the programme in terms of types of investment and beneficiary institutions; and exploring potential co-funding and/or alternative sources of investment. 
7. Oversee the development and approval of new policies in relation to college and university estates, infrastructure, and capital funding approaches. This includes leading SFC’s policy and practice for college asset disposals.  
8. Working with the Deputy Director, lead engagement with a range of stakeholders at a senior level such as colleges, universities, the Scottish Government, Scottish Futures Trust and other SFC directorates. This includes responding to emerging national asset or place strategies, policy, or regulatory and funding developments, SFC’s response to RAAC and engagement with Scottish Government public sector estate decarbonisation strategy. 
9. Provide authoritative advice to SFC senior management and to Scottish Government on policy areas that concern or impact the sector’s estate and Scotland’s built environment more generally. 
10. Draft concise and impactful reports to SFC Executive Team, Capital Decision Point Committee, SFC Board and the Scottish Government. 
11. Lead and motivate the capital team within the Governance, Infrastructure & Sustainability Team (GIST), other SFC staff assigned to capital projects / GIST, external contractors and SFC sponsored organisations. 

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

It is important through your CV / Cover Letter that you give evidence of proven experience of each of the following essential criteria:  

ESSENTIAL SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE 

• Ability to lead and empower the team. 
• Ability to manage priorities and diverse workload in an area subject to close political media, and stakeholder scrutiny. 
• Ability to think and operate strategically. 
• Knowledge and experience of infrastructure and estate strategies including awareness of carbon reduction measures. 
• Good understanding of capital investment and infrastructure policies (Note: already covered in desirable criteria, probably something that can be learnt on the job).
• Excellent people skills, including engagement, representation, influencing and relationship management at a senior level within colleges, universities, Scottish Government and other stakeholders.  
• Strong oral and written communications skills.  
• Analytical and problem-solving skills - ability to manipulate, interpret and communicate complex information, including the ability to monitor and evaluate projects. 

DESIRABLE  

• Qualified to SCQF Level 9 (degree or equivalent). 
• Knowledge of different funding mechanisms for major capital projects. 
• Understanding of capital projects and estate management processes.  
• Awareness of further and higher education issues in Scotland. 

Benefits

• Normal full-time hours of work are 35 per week. We will consider flexible working arrangements. A flexi-time system is in operation.
• Annual leave entitlement of 26.5 days per annum, rising to 30 days pro-rata after 2 years’ continuous service. Public and privilege holiday entitlement of 11.5 days pro-rata.
• A flexible approach to hybrid working, giving you flexibility to work from home anywhere in the UK for some of the time while also maintaining regular in-person contact with colleagues. 
• Annual pay review: approved within the framework of the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy and negotiated with our recognised trade union, Unite. Salaries are reviewed annually in April for employees who commence employment prior to 1 October in the preceding year.
• Eligibility to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme. With its low member contribution rates and generous employer contributions, this gives you a secure, inflation-proof pension for life with no investment uncertainty. Details of contribution rates together with further details of the pension benefits are available on the Civil Service Pensions website. There is also the option of a Partnership pension account.
• Support for continuous professional development: as a part of SFC, we are dedicated to providing comprehensive support for continuous learning and professional development. Civil Service-Learning curriculum has thoughtfully designed to cater to various learning preferences, allowing employees to engage in a manner that best suits their needs. All our educational resources are conveniently accessible through the CSL website. 
• Support for health and wellbeing, including generous occupational sick pay, free access to confidential advice and support through our 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme, Special Leave (paid and unpaid), a contribution to learning outside work through our Lifelong Learning Fund, free winter flu vaccination, and access to occupational health support.
• We provide support to SFC employees with Volunteering Days.
• Support for travel to and from work, including a salary sacrifice cycle loan scheme, cycle storage and shower facilities, an interest-free loan for bus or rail season tickets and free office car parking for employees on a first-come basis.

About Scottish Funding Council

We are the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, more commonly known as the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

We are Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority and our purpose is to sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better, and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity.

We do this by investing around £2 billion of public money to deliver:

• Tertiary learning and teaching.
• Skills and apprenticeships.
• Student support and participation.
• Research, innovation and knowledge exchange.
• Data collection and dissemination.
• National quality assurance and enhancement processes.
• Capital and digital infrastructure for the sector.
• Strategic change, responsive provision and research priorities.

As a non-departmental public body established by the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005, we are directly accountable to Scottish Government Ministers and the Scottish Parliament. We work across many government portfolios and are sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Directorate.

We hold colleges, universities and other funded bodies to account for their delivery of required outcomes. We are also the statistical authority for colleges, and work closely with the UK-wide Higher Education Statistical Authority (HESA), to provide data and statistics for government, decision-makers, and the wider public.

We work in partnership with a wide range of partners and bodies, including those we fund, across all aspects of our remit.