Senior Strategy - Swindon, United Kingdom - Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Description

Salary: £43,116 per annum

Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 0.8 FTE)

Contract Type: Open Ended

Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire

Closing Date: 09 June 2024

About the team

AHRC's Strategy, Impact and Engagement team works closely with colleagues across UKRI to define organisational strategy and provide strategic oversight of activities; to evaluate our work, capturing and sharing evidence of impacts and achievements, including for fiscal event such as spending reviews; and to engage key internal and external stakeholders with arts and humanities research, ensuring that our work as a funder is well-understood, well-informed and well-supported.

We work with colleagues across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to align our strategy and planning; to share intelligence, evidence and successes across the wider organisation; and to contribute fully and effectively to the UKRI vision for an outstanding R&I system in the UK.

Job Purpose

Reporting to the Head of Strategy, Impact and Engagement, the person taking on this role will manage a strategically focussed programme of evidence gathering and case making, producing UKRI and government-facing briefings, at pace, ensuring the benefits, value for money and impacts of AHRC's portfolio are supported by robust data and persuasive narrative content. The post holder will be expected to develop and maintain relationships with key actors across UKRI's strategy, analysis, evaluation and reporting communities including via mutual intelligence sharing and horizon scanning. The high quality outputs produced, as part of this role, are intended to raise the profile, reach and impact of arts and humanities research among important decision-making constituencies.

The role will be suitable for individuals with extensive experience of evidence gathering, strategic planning, operationalising monitoring and evaluation frameworks and a deep knowledge and understanding of arts and humanities research sectors (including challenges). Strong communication and interpersonal skills alongside the confidence and ability to deliver accurate briefing and persuasive impact materials, to tight deadlines, are essential for this role.

Duties and responsibilities

Fiscal Events & Strategy:

• To lead the delivery of AHRC's programme of evidence gathering and strategic planning, to support developing our Spending Review case, working closely with the Head of SIE
• To lead on developing new models for gathering insights, intelligence and advocacy collateral to support AHRC's participation in fiscal events, with a particular focus on enhancing quantitative data
• To create accurate financial models that help support decision making by relevant AHRC strategic bodies
• To support the Head of SIE in developing and socialising the next AHRC Delivery Plan
• To develop content for a range of UKRI products and functions, including quarterly reporting, UKRI Annual Report and Accounts and UKRI Corporate Plan
• To work closely with AHRC's Senior Management Team and SIE colleagues, to develop a suite of briefing materials, impactful products and messaging to support and improve AHRC's advocacy
• To regularly review and evaluate our approach, driving continuous improvement and maturing our organisational approach to evidence collection and strategic engagement

Collaborative working values:

• To support cohesion and a sense of shared identity in the Strategy, Impact and Engagement team, modelling behaviours and values aligned to AHRC's priorities
• To build strong supportive working relationships with colleagues at all levels, encouraging a culture of openness and proactive intelligence sharing across the organisation
• To work closely with colleagues within SIE to ensure alignment and coordination between the design and delivery of organisational strategy and stakeholder engagement
• To represent AHRC on cross-UKRI groups relating to strategy, impact and spending reviews, sharing intelligence and advocating for the organisation, as appropriate

Shortlisting and Interview criteria

Essential:

• Strong experience in a strategic role, with demonstrable ability to work at pace while maintaining accuracy, advocating persuasively and developing and sustaining positive professional relationships
• Excellent numerical literary, including financial management and forecasting knowledge, with Excel proficiency and the ability to work with partial or incomplete scenarios(S&I)
• Exceptionally strong communication skills with the ability to produce clear, concise and accurate briefings and presentations and to explain complex ideas to a range of audiences (S&I)
• An ability to tolerate ambiguity, changing horizons and quick pivots, particularly in the context of UK fiscal events (S&I)
• Demonstrable familiarity with UKRI strategic context and AHRC's place within the UK's R&I landscape (S)
• Demonstrable experience of developing and implementing integrated plans for developing evidence portfolios (S&I)
• Knowledge and understanding of the arts and humanities research landscape, including emerging challenges, intersections with government policy priorities and changes on the horizon (I)
• Excellent planning, organisational and time management skills, including the ability to design, initiate and manage successful projects and to manage competing priorities. Able to work independently and manage own workload, and to co-ordinate the work of others (S&I)
• A commitment to working collaboratively with colleagues at all levels, within and across teams; and an ability to initiate and sustain productive working relationships with external contacts (I)
• An enthusiastic, pro-active and flexible approach, and a willingness to take on new challenges (S&I)

Desirable:

• Experience realising positive and inclusive change, and supporting others to do the same (S&I)
• A proactive approach to managing risk, with experience treating and controlling for impacts (S&I)
• Visual design skills, including producing infographics and knowledge of data visualisation tools (I)

(S) Shortlisting / (S&I) Shortlisting and Interview

Additional information

Developing talent:

We are committed to developing employees in their roles throughout their career. Learning and development plans enable employees to continue their professional development through training and development opportunities such as e-learning, classroom training and on-the-job experiences. We encourage our employees to share their learning across teams and organisations.

Benefits:

UKRI can offer the successful candidate:

• Flexible Working
• 30 days annual leave + Public Holidays
• Access to Civil Service Pension Scheme
• Various everyday discounts through our dedicated provider

SOC Granted

Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager.