Executive Director for Portfolios, Partnerships and Engagement

Band: UKRI X - £91,943-£99,000 per annum (depending on skills and experience) 

Hours: Full time (37 hours) 

Location: Swindon - Please note, applicants must be willing and able to travel regularly within the UK and occasionally overseas to maintain and enhance our strong partnership networks

Contract: Open-ended contract; secondment arrangements also welcome (minimum of 3 years with possibility of extension)

Closing Date: 5th October 2025 (23:55)

Interview Date(s): 30th /31st October 2025 

About the Role

We have an outstanding opportunity for a highly skilled and experienced individual to take on the role of Executive Director of Portfolios, Partnerships and Engagement in AHRC. This is a remarkable chance to lead AHRC’s strategic partnerships and engagement domain, alongside managing flagship portfolios in the Cultural and Creative Economy portfolios. You will be part of AHRC’s Executive Leadership Team, driving the strategic research direction of the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide clear, collaborative, and collective leadership as part of the AHRC Executive Leadership Team.
• Empower direct reports and their teams to be purposeful and strategic in their operations and delivery.
• Lead the strategic Partnerships and Engagement domain, inspiring and developing a team that collaborates across the organisation.
• Coordinate AHRC’s Cultural and Creative Economy portfolios, ensuring strategic alignment and outcome focus.
• Undertake Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) responsibilities for major infrastructure investment programmes.
• Lead the strategic relationship management and engagement with AHRC's strategic partners.
• Build new and innovative external partnerships to increase co-funding opportunities.
• Lead on the progression of AHRC policy and practice to support better partnering and engagement.

Person Specification

Seeking a team-oriented leader skilled in communication, program delivery, partnership building, investment support, and team leadership in dynamic settings.

Candidates will be assessed against the following criteria throughout the recruitment process:

• Proven track record of crafting and delivering organisational strategy and major investments in the arts and humanities or a related sector.
• A consultative and adaptable leadership style, working flexibly and visibly across teams and sectors.
• Demonstrable experience of influencing and managing relationships at senior levels.
• Extensive experience providing advice and assurance on the design and delivery of complex programmes.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Experience of building, motivating and developing high-performing and diverse teams.
• Strong ability to manage and deliver outcomes under pressure and at pace.
• Strong analytical skills, including the capacity to assess arguments and make decisions based on evidence.
• Essential: Educated to degree level in a relevant field.
• Desirable: Postgraduate qualification in arts and humanities or a related field.

Qualifications

• Essential: Educated to degree level in a relevant field.
• Desirable: Postgraduate qualification in arts and humanities or a related field.

For the full information on the responsibilities and requirements, please view the candidate prospectus (here). 

Other Key Information

• Applicants are required to provide an up-to-date CV and a statement of suitability/cover letter (up to 2 pages per document) outlining their suitability for the role against the advertised criteria. For further information on what to include in your application, please see the “How to apply” section below. 
• We reserve the right to close the application period early if a sufficient number of applications is received. Any changes to the closing date will be reflected on our careers site.

About Us

UKRI - UK Research and Innovation

UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.

Supporting some of the world’s most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation.

More information can be found at www.ukri.org.

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit benefits of working for UKRI.

How we support EDI in the workforce

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’.

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all applicants with a disability who opt into the disability confident scheme and meet the minimum criteria for the role. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

How to apply

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.

About the Team

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) supports world-class research that furthers our understanding of human culture and creativity. It supports research and postgraduate training in a wide range of subject areas, from ancient history and heritage science to modern dance and digital content. Research into these areas helps us to interpret our experiences, probe our identities, interrogate our cultural assumptions and understand our historical, social, economic and political context. It adds to the economic success of the UK, through its contributions to the knowledge economy and innovation agenda. The research we fund can lead to improvements in social and intellectual capital, community identity, learning skills, technological evolution and the quality of life of the nation.

Further details about AHRC can be found here