Strategic Planning Partner
Job Description
About Us
UCL is a radically different university. Founded in 1826 in the heart of London, we were the first university in England to welcome students of any religion and the first to welcome women to university education. Today UCL has over 50,000 students and 15,000 staff, is one of the world’s top 10 universities and is recognised as one of the most successful research institutions in the world, consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2024) and is 2nd in the UK for research power and 1st in London (REF 2021).
The Office of the Vice President (Strategy) is responsible for the development of institutional strategy and coordination of the processes that ensure that UCL’s overarching strategic objectives are reflected in planning at all levels of the organisation.
The Office of the Vice President (Strategy) consists of four teams which work collaboratively and effectively to ensure a fully integrated approach to all aspects of strategy planning, development and implementation, the Strategy Planning team, Academic Strategy Development team, Data & Insight team and Strategy Implementation team. The teams work very closely with the other Vice-Provost and Vice-President offices of the university, as well as UCL Estates Development, the Pro-Provost UCL East Office, particularly in relation to Phase 2 of the UCL East campus development, the Office of the General Counsel and UCL Finance.
About The Role
We are recruiting for a Strategic Planning Partner to join our Strategic Planning Partnering Team. Reporting to the Head of Strategic Planning Partnering, the successful candidate will work with our Faculties and Departments on the effective delivery of UCL’s most significant long-term strategic priorities. As UCL is a large, complex, and highly-devolved organisation, good coordination between central teams and our 11 faculties is imperative to effective strategy delivery.
As a Strategic Planning Partner, you will form a close working relationship with a group of Faculties to understand their culture, priorities, aims, and operations in detail, to support them in effective delivery of priority strategic aims, initially focusing on those set out as in UCL’s Strategic Plan 2022-27. This will involve communicating and analysing priorities, identifying problems and issues, and jointly devising solutions to enable effective delivery. You will also have responsibility for leading on one or more specific projects or areas of responsibility within the strategy delivery unit as a whole.
You will be part of a wider team in the Office of the Vice-Provost (Strategy). As such, you will have the opportunity to contribute to the design and development of an important new service within a globally-leading university, deploying cutting-edge tools and techniques in analysis, problem-solving, service design, and delivery. You will be able to influence the direction of the unit, as well as make a major contribution to the execution of UCL’s long-term strategic aims.
This role is eligible for hybrid working, and will be based across UCL’s Bloomsbury and UCL East Campuses.
About You
To be successful in this role, you are expected to have strong planning and organisation skills, as well as skills and experience in analysing complex problems and co-designing solutions swiftly and effectively. You will be able to take a proactive approach to your work, identifying and addressing issues as they arise.
You are a strong and confident communicator, able to build positive and constructive working relationships with colleagues at all levels within the university, but particularly within the Faculties and academic departments. You will also bring a strong entrepreneurial spirit to your work, and be willing and able to innovate and experiment in the design and delivery of new products and services that can support effective strategy delivery in a complex organisation.
What we offer
As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:
- 41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
- Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
- Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
- On-Site nursery
- On-site gym
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
- Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
- Discounted medical insurance
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
As London’s Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world’s talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong.
We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL’s workforce.
These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women.
You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/
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