Change Director (Research)

Location: Research Services, Central Oxford

Research Services provides comprehensive professional support for Oxford’s research and innovation activities. We work in partnership with researchers, academic departments and divisions, other professional services, funders and external collaborators. Our ambition is to combine excellent professional support with trusted strategic insight and influence.

Our work is guided by four core values: Collaboration, Excellence, Inclusion and Integrity. We work in partnership, pursue continuous improvement, create an environment where everyone can succeed, and act with openness, honesty and courage. 

The Change Director (Research) will establish and lead a reconfigured Business Improvement Team, bringing together Research Services’ business systems, data and insights, and change management capabilities. The team will support a more integrated, resilient and user-focused approach to service improvement across research support, including continuous improvement of key business systems, stronger data stewardship and analytics, and opportunities to use AI and workflow automation to improve effectiveness and efficiency. 

About the Role 

This is a new senior institutional change-leadership role with responsibility for shaping and coordinating the University’s wider research change portfolio. You will lead the development of a collective vision for research support across the research management lifecycle and coordinate improvements to business processes, systems, organisational structures, roles, skills, data and insights. The role will work through a matrix-management model across Research Services, academic departments, divisions and partner professional services.

You will represent the needs of the research support community to the Research Portfolio Committee and help ensure that digital and service-improvement priorities are informed by researchers and research support colleagues. Working closely with the Research Support Shared Leadership Group, Digital Transformation, the Portfolio Manager (Research) and the Director of Research Computing Infrastructure, you will set priorities, lead governance, support benefits realisation and embed sustainable change. You will also hold senior oversight of the wider research change portfolio, including the Oxford Research Management System programme, for which the Programme Change Director (ORMS) will retain delegated delivery responsibility.

Alongside this institutional remit, you will establish and lead the Business Improvement Team and join the Research Services Leadership Team. You will provide authoritative leadership across a complex environment, build strong relationships with senior academic and professional services colleagues, and champion continuous improvement focused on researcher and service-user needs. 

About You 

 We are looking for an exceptional senior leader who can demonstrate:

• Substantial leadership experience and significant achievement, with the ability to build trust, motivate and inspire others through change.
• A proven track record of leading complex change beyond formal spans of control in a multi-stakeholder environment, including service review, redesign, innovation and improvement.
• Credibility with researchers and senior academic leaders, together with the personal authority and judgement to take strategic decisions and represent the University at senior level.
• A strong external network in research management, with current knowledge of research support practice and research support systems.
• Outstanding communication, persuasion, listening and stakeholder-engagement skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.
• High levels of personal effectiveness, organisation and coordination, with experience mobilising broadly based teams to deliver against demanding plans and deadlines.
• Proven team leadership, management and development skills.
• The ability to navigate ambiguity, adapt to evolving organisational needs, and demonstrate drive and resilience.
• A leadership approach that is enabling and supportive, ambitious and innovative, engaged and curious, purposeful and proactive, and open and accountable.

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