Programme Director, Executive Education - AI Leadership

Discipline: Business Strategy & Transformation

Faculty: Centre for Apprenticeships / Executive Education

Location: London, Devon House (St Katharine's Dock), Hybrid

Salary Range:

• Assistant Professor (G8) £49,469 to £57,316, progressing to £60,795 per annum once in post.
• Associate Professor (G9) £59,030 to £72,555, progressing to £79,276 per annum once in post

Direct Reports: None initially; dotted-line coordination of contributing faculty and assessors on the AI Leadership programme

Reports to: Academic Director, Centre for Apprenticeships / Associate Dean, Innovation & Enterprise

Benefits: The university supports staff maintaining a good work/life balance, offers flexible working and parental leave opportunities, an Employee Assistance Programme which provides free, confidential advice on both home and work concerns, as well as optional private medical insurance, season ticket loans, and participation in the cycle to work scheme.

Start: By arrangement

The Role

In this role you'll lead on the design and delivery of programming for senior managers and specialists within organisations to build AI strategy, governance, and delivery capability.

Northeastern University London wishes to appoint a Programme Director and Assistant or Associate Professor of Practice to lead delivery of the University’s AI Leadership courses within the Centre for Apprenticeships and as part of the wider Innovation and Enterprise team. This is a unique appointment for an academic who has built a career in industry and now brings that experience directly into strategic programme design and academia-employer partnerships.

The appointee will carry academic and operational responsibility for the university’s first three AI Leadership Apprenticeship Units:

• AI Strategy and Opportunity
• AI Adoption, Procurement, and Governance
• AI Delivery and Organisational Transformation

Each unit combines pre-work, live workshops, capstone simulations, and micro-credential skills testing (AU0009–AU0011), and is designed for delivery online, in person, or blended — including at employer venues (e.g. corporate headquarters) and on campus in London.

The appointee will work across both the Centre for Apprenticeships and the wider Innovation & Enterprise ecosystem which includes a dynamic Start-up Hub and £100 million Quantum Fund, as well as benefiting from Northeastern’s global network of experiential education and impactful research and nearly 4,000 employer partners.

The three AI Leadership Apprenticeship Units are the core, non-negotiable part of the role from day one. The wider development of the role is for the appointee to explore and help shape over their first year, in discussion with their line manager the Academic Director, Centre for Apprenticeships as part of the wider Innovation and Enterprise team.

The university intends to develop and scale additional custom, non-degree executive courses for partner-employer cohorts, as part of a new Quantum & AI workforce transformation discovery-led executive programme for senior leaders.

The appointee may carry an affiliation to other units within the University — for example, the Start-up Hub or the Computational Philosophy Lab — depending on their background and interests.

The successful candidate should be prepared to teach at employer venues (e.g. corporate headquarters) as well as on campus in London.

We particularly encourage applications from those with substantial industry or practitioner backgrounds as well as academic experience, an interest in executive education, innovative teaching, learning and assessment, and UK apprenticeships; those with experience of supporting a wide variety of learners; and those belonging to groups underrepresented in UK higher education. We are open to appointing on a reduced fraction/job-share basis subject to business needs.

About the Faculty

The Centre for Apprenticeships is the home of the University’s award-winning apprenticeships and work-related learning programmes and promotes excellence in work-based learning, online teaching, and partner-engaged instructional design. Apprenticeships represent a gold-standard of experiential education, combining academically rigorous HE programmes with the real-world tasks and challenges that learners encounter daily in the workplace.

This role also works closely with the Centre for Quantum & AI Workforce Transformation, a new initiative leveraging the University’s globally networked assets — experiential education, network science and intelligent networked systems research, and a live entrepreneurial ecosystem anchored by a £100m Quantum Fund — to meet emerging Quantum & AI workforce transformation needs.

About the University

Founded in 2012, Northeastern University London (formerly known as New College of the Humanities) has established itself as a prestigious higher education institution based in the heart of London. Northeastern University London is part of Northeastern University’s Global Campus Network. Positioned as top ranking in the USA, Northeastern has campuses in Arlington, Boston, Charlotte, Miami, Oakland, San Jose, and Seattle in the USA, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

After becoming part of Northeastern University’s global network in early 2019, the University has undergone a period of rapid growth, having been granted Taught Degree Awarding Powers in February 2020 and moved to a new, state-of-the-art campus in 2021.

Northeastern University London offers a vibrant, collegiate community delivering broad and academically rigorous degree programmes, designed to equip graduates with the combination of skills and knowledge increasingly desired by organisations, employers, and society. It offers state-of-the-art audio-visual technology in its teaching and meeting spaces across the organisation.

Person Specification Criteria

Qualifications

• Substantial industry or practitioner experience in AI, digital transformation, technology strategy, or a closely related field — typically gained over a significant career in industry prior to moving into an academic-adjacent role.
• A relevant undergraduate or postgraduate qualification (e.g. business, computer science, engineering, or a related discipline); an MBA or equivalent professional qualification is welcomed but not required.
• FHEA status, or equivalent, achieved or expected, is desirable given the teaching and assessment elements of the role.

General

• Demonstrates, through evidence, expertise across AI strategy and organisational viability, AI adoption/procurement/governance, and AI-enabled delivery and transformation.
• Demonstrates, through evidence, the ability to design or adapt programmes for delivery across multiple formats — in-person, online, blended, modular, or intensive — without compromising learning outcomes or assessment integrity.
• Demonstrates, through evidence, excellent ability to personally facilitate and hold the room with senior executive audiences, in-person and virtually.
• Demonstrates, through evidence, experience with credential-bearing or competency-assessed programme design (skills mapping, capstone simulation, micro-credential assessment).
• Demonstrates, through evidence, a strong track record building and holding senior client/partner relationships across varying commercial models.
• Willingness and capacity to undertake continuous professional development in relation to institutionally strategic themes, including but not limited to artificial intelligence, quantum technology, data, and ethics.
• Comfortable working within apprenticeship funding, compliance, and governance frameworks, or able to learn these quickly.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presentation and facilitation skills, both face-to-face and online.
• Brings initiative and follow-through to ambiguous, fast-moving projects, and is comfortable building something — a unit, a partnership, a process — from a first draft rather than a finished playbook.
• Builds trusted, warm working relationships easily — with learners, employer partners, and contributing faculty alike — and is a genuinely good listener as well as a confident presenter.
• A detail-oriented, quality-conscious approach to programme design, assessment, and compliance — someone who checks their own work and closes the loop, not just someone who can see the big picture.
• A genuine, visible commitment to learners' outcomes and wellbeing, including those balancing study with full-time senior roles and significant work pressure.

Desirable

• Existing network among AI practitioners, founders, or venture-backed operators.
• Familiarity with the London/UK AI policy landscape (AI Growth Zones, TechFirst, AI Adoption Framework) sufficient to position programming credibly.
• Prior experience with degree apprenticeship, LLE-eligible, or Growth & Skills Levy-funded programme structures.
• Prior experience in a business school, university enterprise/innovation function, or venture-adjacent talent/education initiative.
• Interest in or exposure to discovery-led, cohort-based executive formats, or to quantum computing concepts — useful for the growth opportunities within the role, though not required at entry.

Areas of Expertise (Indicative)

• AI Strategy and Organisational Adoption
• AI Governance, Procurement, and Risk
• Digital and AI-Enabled Organisational Transformation
• Executive and Practitioner-Facing Education Design
• Employer Partnership and Custom Programme Development

Additional Information

Enquiries

Informal enquiries may be made to Alistair Robinson via this email alistair.robinson@nulondon.ac.uk. However, all applications must be made in accordance with the application process specified.

Application Process

Applications should be made via the ‘Apply’ button above by 23:59 on 15 September 2026. Please reference your application “R141747”.

Applications must include a covering letter of no more than one page that addresses the criteria for the role, and a full curriculum vitae.

Participation in the equal opportunities section is encouraged, but voluntary.

Please note this role may require a basic or enhanced DBS check. Our organisation acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of our students and staff, and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practice reflects statutory responsibilities, government guidance, and complies with best practice and Ofsted requirements. You must adhere to the above if you are offered a role with NU London.

Applications are welcome from all sections of the community and will be judged on merit alone. We welcome applications from underrepresented groups. Candidates must be able to demonstrate their eligibility to work in the UK in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.

Job sponsorship: The University may be able to provide skilled worker visa sponsorship for this position, depending on individual circumstances.