Director of Strategy

Closing date: Friday 22nd March midnight

Be surprising and inspiring. Be so much more.

The Open University was established by Royal Charter in 1969 with the mission to be ‘open to people, places, methods and ideas’. It is a national university, working in all four nations of the UK as well as globally, teaching over 205,000 students, employing around 11,000 people across a range of academic, associate lecturer and professional services roles. Pioneering higher education by distance learning, over 2 million people have studied with The Open University, predominantly part-time and often while in paid work.

The Open University is recruiting for a Director of Strategy with responsibility for coordinating the development and implementation of the University’s strategy and for guiding our institutional approach to strategic development and implementation. Reporting to the University Secretary, the postholder is a key senior manager who will work closely with the Vice-Chancellor, and the University’s senior management team informing and influencing strategic decision-making. 

As Head of the Strategy Office, the Director will lead a team responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of the University’s strategy; leading the management of our planning process, risk management, tracking and evaluating institutional performance, supporting strategic change, and, working in collaboration with several departments, faculties, and units to ensure coordinated strategic delivery and oversight of our government relations. 

As a member of the leadership team for the Professional Services, the Director is also responsible for ensuring that the Office integrates its activities with those of all units to ensure the effective delivery of services. 

The successful candidate will bring outstanding strategic thinking, analytical skills and be innovation and change-focused. They will demonstrate the ability to leading, managing, and developing teams with inclusive, creative and compassionate leadership. The Director will furthermore have a track record of leading change in a complex organisation and show a commitment to the mission and values of The Open University, including a strong commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion. 

If you have vision, passion, creativity and determination to make a difference, we want to hear from you. This is a key appointment for us, and it will be for you – so we will invest time with candidates to get to know you and to give you the chance to get to know us.

We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates as they are currently under-represented at this level in the University.

To apply online for this vacancy and for any further information, please click on the 'Apply' button above. 

If you need further clarifications, or an informal, confidential conversation about the role, please contact our advisors at GatenbySanderson: Sophie Hester, Alison Elton or Hilda Gjika at [email protected] .