Director, Programmes

This is an exciting and high-profile role that will allow you to have system-wide impact through the successful delivery of teacher development programmes. As Director, Programmes you’ll be a key member of the senior leadership team within our Programmes Division. You will be accountable for the successful delivery and oversight of high-profile educator development programmes, and specifically our Early Career Teacher programme. You will hold a clear vision for the purpose and impact of the programme and will ensure it remains of the highest quality, meets key performance indicators and is financially sustainable for us and our delivery partners. Building strong relationships with key stakeholders, you will act as an external voice for the organisation in several fora and deputise for your Executive Director when required.

At Ambition Institute we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time. That’s how we’ll make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life. We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive. We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice. We champion every teacher and school leader’s potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

We would like you to:

• Take end to end responsibility for the successful delivery of large-scale teacher development programmes
• Build strong relationships and develop deep knowledge of our delivery partners, ensuring effective programme delivery across the national network
• Lead a programme team, building capacity and capability
• Take responsibility and oversight of the budgets of delivery teams and delivery costs
• Act as an external voice for the organisation in relation to our programmes, and advocate for professional development

Ambition Institute works in a hybrid way and you’ll be attached to either our Birmingham, London or Manchester office. In this role, working closely with external partners, you will need to travel and be with your teams and our partners regularly.

To excel in this role, you will understand the principles of high-quality professional development and be able to work strategically to translate these into successful development programmes at scale. You will be strongly focussed on partners and participants, with the ability to respond effectively to participant feedback and to oversee effective communications strategies. You will have experience of managing a large multifaceted team and its budget and overseeing end to end delivery. You will be able to effectively influence and build strong strategic relationships. If you are someone who will think and act innovatively and collaboratively in the development of the ECT programme and our wider product suite, we would love to receive an application from you.

What’s in it for you?

• Competitive annual salary
• Professional development for all staff
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays and 'winter shut down’ at the end of December/beginning of January
• Employer pension contribution of 11%
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year’s service
• Shared parental leave package
• Access to free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London
• Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
• Interest free season ticket / bike loans

We don’t expect the person we hire to have all of the following, but this should give you a sense of what would enable you to thrive in this role and in our organisation:

• You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality
• You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do
• You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants
• You always have a great attitude so we “can do” for all our colleagues, partners and participants
• You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better
• You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective
• You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact
• You want a career with a person-centred organisation with a cause at its heart.
• You have a collaborative work ethos, bring warmth and good humour to work and constructive outlook to every situation
• You enjoy working in a fast-moving workplace, with a great support structure around you
• You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time
• Want flexibility in how you work – splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done.

Applications will be accepted for all office locations. All applications must be received by the closing date 23:59 on 30 April 2025. First stage interviews are expected to take place on Wednesday 14 May. There will be a second round week commencing 19 May.