Senior Programme Manager

Job id: 082065. Salary: £51,974 - £61,021 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance.

Posted: 05 January 2024. Closing date: 31 January 2024.

Business unit: The Dickson Poon School of Law. Department: Law School.

Contact details:Polly Goodfellow. [email protected]

Location: Strand Campus. Category: Professional & Support Services.

The Dickson Poon School of Law is seeking to recruit a Senior Programme Manager (SPM). This role leads the administration for all the on-campus taught law undergraduate and postgraduate programmes including student and academic support.  The role manages the programmes team of 12 staff members in the wider Professional Services (PS) Education team, across the faculty.

We are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic and innovative individual with a track record of planning, implementing and managing effective programme administration within a professional or higher education environment. The post-holder will have a passion for delivering a high-quality learning experience and providing excellent student and academic support.

Successful candidates will have a proactive approach to operational programme delivery, excellent communication skills, experience of change management and a commitment to continuous improvement.  They will have a good understanding of programme administration in Higher Education and strong experience of leadership and creating high-performing, motivated teams. The post-holder will be responsible for reacting to and finding solutions to unexpected operational matters that have the potential to impact on service delivery. The role can be varied and so flexibility is required as well as exceptional prioritisation.

The SPM will report to the Associate Director, Education and will work closely with both the Associate Director, Education and the Vice Dean (Education & Students) to support implementation and delivery of Faculty- and College-level strategy and process improvement projects.

The SPM will also play a key role in supporting the implementation of strategic projects relating to the Curriculum 2029 and the Student Success Transformation Programme workstreams within the faculty. They will lead a range of initiatives to support harmonisation of professional services processes within and across programme administration teams, including working with central university teams on service improvements. This will include the effective and consistent delivery of programme administration and education support for students and staff across the faculty.

The post-holder will lead a team of twelve: two Programme Managers, a Student Support Manager, four Senior Programmes Officers and five Programme Officers. The role directly line manages three positions:  the two Programme Managers and Student Support Manager.

This post will be offered on a fixed term contract for 1 year.

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent.

This is a hybrid role and the post holder will be expected to be on-campus for a minimum of 40% of the time e.g 2 days a week.

• Lead on all aspects of the operational planning, development and delivery of the on-campus undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for the Faculty: including enrolment, record management, module selection, teaching & learning resources and assessment and progression management.
• Providing excellent student and academic support, including having oversight of complex student cases and complaints and being the primary point of contact for sensitive queries that relate to Education from academic colleagues.
• Line-management of the Undergraduate Programme Manager, Postgraduate Programme Manager and a Student Support Manager.
• Monitor and review service delivery on a continual basis to ensure compliance with agreed timeframes, expectations, key performance indicators and service level agreements, providing feedback to team members and setting clear expectations.
• Implement and communicate local and central education regulations and policies and support their development.
• Ensure the involvement of service users and stakeholders in development and improvement of services; including oversight of complex complaints, wider organisational dependencies and ongoing management of service expectations.
• Leading and supporting key faculty meetings and committees, taking responsibility for ensuring actions are clearly noted and actioned. 
• Work flexibly as part of a team of Senior Programme Managers, within the PS Education team, supporting others in times of high demand, maintaining an oversight of resource levels. Leading on recruitment activities for the team, and deputising for the Associate Director, Education as and when required.
• Leading on the implementation of a range of strategic faculty and college-wide projects including implementing Curriculum 2029 projects at faculty-level; representing the faculty on the college’s Student Success Transformation Programme workstreams and supporting the implementation of these projects across the faculty.
• Leading and supporting a culture of continuous improvement within programme administration teams across the faculty through identifying areas requiring strengthening and working at a local and university-wide level to define, develop and embed administrative processes, policy and systems which contribute to business resilience, with a focus on high quality and responsive student and staff support.
• To ensure all work is carried out in a professional and timely manner, with appropriate confidentiality and sensitivity. To maintain an up to date knowledge of the Data Protection requirements and to support Freedom of information and subject access requests.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Essential criteria

1.       Educated to degree level or equivalent work experience. 

2.       Substantial experience in a higher education programme administration environment. 

3.       Proactive and authentic approach to leadership, experience of line management and managing high-performing teams, including motivating staff. 

4.       Excellent interpersonal skills including influencing and negotiating with a range of stakeholders with the ability to form strong professional networks. 

5.       Effective, data driven decision making ability, and able to exercise independent judgement.  

6.       Experience of translating complex regulations, processes and information in suitable formats for a variety of audiences. 

7.       Excellent task management skills and proven ability to use initiative, prioritise workloads for self and others, and respond positively to competing demands and deadlines.  

8.       Experience of improving the student experience. 

9.       Awareness and understanding of higher education policies and current issues within the sector, and experience of working within regulatory and statutory frameworks. 

10.     Strong commitment to equality and diversity in the workplace.  

Desirable criteria

1.   Experience of managing exams and assessments.