Digital Capability Advisor

Job Title: Digital Capability Advisor
Department: Computing and Information Services (CIS)      
Grade: Grade 7 
Salary range: £35,333 - £42,155 per annum

Working arrangements: Fixed-Term - Full Time /  Part Time 

Contract Duration: initial 7 months

Contracted Hours per Week: 35hrs Full Time or minimum of 2 days (15hrs) Part Time 

Working Hours: 8am-4pm / 9am-5pm (Hybrid working arrangement available)

Closing date: 13th February 2023

Potential interview date: w/c 27th February 2023

The University

At Durham University we are proud of our people.  A globally outstanding centre of educational excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other. We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things professionally and personally.  
Across the University we have a huge variety of roles and career opportunities, which together make us a large and successful community, which is a key hub of activity within our region and nationally.  We would be thrilled if you would consider joining our thriving University. Further information about the University can be found here .

The Role and Department

CIS work with departments across the university and one of its priorities is to support people in using digital technology confidently and get the benefits they want from it. Details of the recently launched Digital Strategy and ongoing work can be found at https://www.dur.ac.uk/cis/digitalstrategy/ .  As part of CIS, you will find it is a friendly, innovative and demanding department, where we ensure competent, self-motivated individuals and teams, are inspired to thrive and grow.

The purpose of this role is to support a pilot project that fosters digital confidence and improves digital capability within the university through a range of staff engagement and organisation development interventions. This will enable members of the University’s staff community to contribute effectively to the achievement of the University’s Digital strategy and objectives.

The Digital Capability Advisor will be part of a project team and will report to the project manager.

They will:

• Support the project team in defining, developing and delivering a roadmap of activities that provide a clear, structured adoption approach to digital capabilities, in partnership with the pilot stakeholders.
• Lead the coordination, design and delivery of communications and engagement sessions/ workshops to promote the adoption of a new framework.
• Introduce and explore the potential of a self-assessment discovery tool with stakeholders.
• Signpost and explore further resources with individuals to support their digital development needs.
• Advocate the need to improve digital capability.
• Work with individuals who have limited access and confidence of the digital environment.
• Engage individuals and teams to ascertain the level of intent and commitment from work areas.
• Fact find to understand bespoke local needs and identify appropriate solutions that support their role.
• Measure success and feedback to inform the vision for the broader roll-out to the university.

There may be, on some occasions, the requirement for a 08.00 a.m. start time to support some work areas.

There is the opportunity for hybrid working in this role.

Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.

Working at Durham 

• A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University: you will also receive access to the following fantastic benefits: 
• 30 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 42 days per year.  
• The University closes between Christmas and New Year.
• We offer a generous pension scheme, as a new member of staff you will be automatically enrolled into the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).
• No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered.  We have parking across campus, a cycle to work scheme which helps you to buy a bike and discount with local bus and train companies.
• There is a genuine commitment to developing our colleagues professionally and personally.  There is a comprehensive range of development courses, apprenticeships and access to qualifications and routes to develop your career in the University.  All staff have dedicated annual time to concentrate on their personal development opportunities. 
• Lots of support for health and wellbeing including discounted membership for our state-of-the-art sport and gym facilities and access to a 24-7 Employee Assistance Programme.
• On site nursery is available and children’s clubs in the summer holidays.
• Family friendly policies, including maternity and adoption leave, which are among the most generous in the higher education sector (and likely above and beyond many employers).
• The opportunity to take part in staff volunteering activities to make a difference in the local community.
• Discounts are available via our benefits portal including money off at supermarkets, high street retailers, IT products such as Apple, the cinema and days out at various attractions. 
• A salary sacrifice scheme is also available to help you take advantage of tax savings on benefits. 
• If you are moving to Durham, we can help with removal costs and we have a dedicated team who can help you with the practicalities such as house hunting and schools.  If you need a visa, we cover most visa costs and offer an interest free loan scheme to pay for dependant visas.

Durham University is committed to equality diversity, inclusion and values

Our collective aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and we believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  As a university, equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do.  We also live by our values and our Staff Code of Conduct.  At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI.

We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.  If you have taken time out of your career, and you feel it relevant, let us know about it in your application.  If you are a candidate with a disability, we are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role.

What you need to demonstrate when you apply/Person Specification

When you apply it is important that you let us know what skills/experience you have from a similar role and/or what skills/experience you have which would make you right for this role.  Further information about the role and responsibilities is at the end of this job description.  

Where a criteria has an asterisk* next to it, it may be given additional weighting when your application is considered.  Your application should cover the following criteria:

Essential Criteria  

Desirable Criteria

How to Apply   

To progress to the assessment stage, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above. It will be at the discretion of the recruiting panel as to whether they will also consider any desirable criteria, but we would urge candidates to provide evidence for all criteria.  Please don’t forget to check if there are any weighted criteria (see above).

While some criteria will be considered at the shortlisting stage, other criteria may be considered later in the assessment process, such as questions at interview.   

Submitting your application 

We prefer to receive applications online.   We will update you about your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to make sure you have not missed any of our updates.

What you need to submit   

Contact details   

For a chat about the role or any further information please contact Debbie Robson (Project Manager) [email protected] .

Typical Role Requirements

Role Delivery

• Support the creation of and implement change management strategies.
• Be the point of contact for designated work areas and subject matter expert for use of the Jisc Discovery tool and available resources. 
• Contribute to the development of evaluation tools, analyse feedback from stakeholders and identify gaps in deliverables. 
• Work closely with and support a team of Student Digital Advisors who will explore and deliver IT access, where possible, to those individuals within the university who have limited exposure and access to a computer. Oversee the embedding of user adoption into the project plan. 
• Ensure the consistency of the business change management approach and activities. 
• Create business change management plans and interventions to maximise user adoption and minimise resistance for support and development initiatives (e.g., Jisc Discovery Tool, engagement meetings, bespoke interventions). 
• Fact find local needs and support the development of bespoke solutions.

Planning and Organisation

• Collect stakeholder feedback to help define needs and requirements and the design and planning of future project deliverables.  
• Analyse feedback data and provide reports to the Project Manager and Project Team making recommendations for improvement as appropriate. 

Teamwork

• Contribute to and support the project team to explore the feasibility of integrating digital capabilities within staff development reviews and broader human resource processes.

Communications and Networking

• A key part of this role will be to build and maintain professional relationships with stakeholders across the University in addition to working with 3rd  parties such as Microsoft and Jisc. 
• Work collaboratively with Section Heads and managers across the university to develop engagement approaches that enable the provision of solutions that meet their needs.
• Deliver engagement and adoption sessions/workshops to stakeholders focusing on the utilisation of the Jisc Discovery tool.
• Distribute and process key engagement and organisation development information in a range of stakeholder specific formats.
• Contribute to and lead adoption and engagement meetings and workshops at departmental and operational service levels.  
• Provide proactive and comprehensive input and support to Head of Services, School and/or Department to achieve strategic and operational priorities.
• Provide guidance and advice where appropriate to stakeholders in relation to University, School and or Department policy, procedures and regulations.

Knowledge and Experience

• Provide specialist engagement expertise and support to increase and improve digital capability within the university.
• Identify and design activities to meet digital capability development and learning objectives and outcomes. 
• Awareness of the external environment and sector best practice to support high quality digital capability services. 
• Any other reasonable duties.  

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.durham.ac.uk/about-us/governance/information-governance/privacy-notices/privacy-notices/job-applicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.  

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.