Senior Hub Manager

Weekly Working Hours:  37

Fixed Term Contract: End Date: 30 September 2030

Welsh Language:  Not Applicable

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK’s largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

About the Role

This is an exciting opportunity to initiate and manage the successful delivery of the new Research Capability Hub (RCH) that will provide UK-wide research training and capacity building (TCB) for social scientists for at least five years funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The role will be an integral part of the RCH leadership team. 

The project will develop a new Hub for delivering research methods courses, transforming research training, enhancing accessibility and inclusion, and fostering community engagement of social science researchers across the UK. The Hub is committed to capacity building to enable its long-term sustainability and fulfil its strategic and impact agenda. The Hub will work with partners in the four nations and beyond, and has received a grant of £4.8 Million, with options for follow-up funding if the RCH meets the success criteria. More information about the RCH and its partners can be found here (Research Capability Hub | Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University).

The Senior Manager will lead the organisational, administrative, financial and post award activities associated with the Hub. They will lead on project management and delivery to fulfil the Hub’s objectives and sustainability plans. The Senior Manager will work within the leadership team to enable delivery of the objectives through effective management processes and support. 

This role is based within the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) and will be line managed by the Project Lead. They will line manage a Hub Manager. 

What we can offer 

• Opportunity to play a key role in the establishment and delivery of an exciting new UK-wide Hub committed to developing innovative training and capacity building courses to social science researchers, building partnerships and a community of practice across the four nations and beyond.
• Working closely with the Hub’s academic leads and professional services staff across IET, the university and beyond.
• Managing delivery of five Hub workstreams
• Involvement in a community that takes pride in the development and implementation of the Open University’s Social Mission.
• Training and development relevant to the role.
• Flexible working options can be explored
• HR Benefits – diversity employer, holidays, on-site parking and pension scheme.

Key Responsibilities

For a full list of the key responsibilities associated to this role, please find the applicable Job Description HERE. 

About You 

Essential:

Qualification

• Educated to degree level or equivalent relevant work experience. 

Experience and skills

• Knowledge and experience of working in Higher Education and/or research funding environment and awareness of social scientists’ research landscape in the UK.
• Strong project management experience, from specification through to completion, including scheduling, getting things done, quality and resource management and prioritising conflicting demands.
• Experience of implementing new or improving existing operational processes and contributing to continuous improvement.
• An aptitude for strategic thinking demonstrated in experience of supporting and working with teams to develop strategic plans.
• Effective team working, influential leadership and interpersonal skills, including the ability to work pro-actively, efficiently and independently, to work flexibly across boundaries and to demonstrate commitment to strategic priorities.
• Understanding of research design, delivery and measurement and monitoring impact.
• Experience of supporting strategic institutional and cross-Faculty initiatives and recognising/bridging academic leadership priorities and professional support requirements.
• Experience of budget management, monitoring and reporting to relevant bodies internally and externally.
• Experience of working with high-profile and/or international partners.
• Well-developed and effective communication skills, including an ability to write fluently and clearly, and ability to present engagingly and succinctly to non-specialist audiences.
• Excellent organisation and time management skills.
• Understanding and commitment to Equal Opportunities practice.
• Line management experience.

Desirable:

• Postgraduate degree.
• Project Management qualification.
• Some understanding of learning design, including content development.
• Some teaching and/or research experience in HE.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

We anticipate interviews taking place for this role on W/C 3rd November. 

Early closing date notification

We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.

How to apply

To apply for this role please submit the following document(s):

• CV
• Supporting statement (Your Supporting Statement should be tailored to the Job Description above and outline how you meet the essential and desirable criteria for this role). 

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength. We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.