Impact and Partnerships Director in Cambridge

Overview

This is an exciting opportunity to join our team and play a key role in helping Hughes Hall deliver on its ambition to be an outward-facing Cambridge college that connects academic excellence, professional expertise and external engagement to address real-world challenges.

About us

Hughes Hall is a College of the University of Cambridge with a vibrant, international and inclusive community.

We aspire to combine academic excellence with a practical, outward-facing approach, working across disciplines and with partners beyond academia.

As one of Cambridge’s most international colleges, Hughes Hall is distinctive in bridging the academic and external worlds through an open, collaborative and non-hierarchical culture.

Our students and Fellows bring an extraordinary breadth of experience and perspective, creating a community well placed to generate impact through education, research, partnership and convening.

About the role

Working across the College and with external partners, the Impact and Partnerships Director will develop and deliver Hughes Hall’s approach to impact and partnership.

They will identify opportunities where the College can make a distinctive contribution, build productive relationships, and translate ideas into practical programmes, partnerships and activities that benefit students, Fellows, partners and wider society.

The role spans a broad range of activity, including partnership development, convening, civic engagement and the College’s external profile.

Working closely with the President and College Officers, the postholder will help shape and focus this work, ensuring it is aligned with College priorities and delivers meaningful outcomes.

As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, the Impact and Partnerships Director will contribute to the strategic direction of the College and help strengthen Hughes Hall’s position within Cambridge and beyond.

The role requires someone who combines strategic thinking with practical delivery, enjoys working collaboratively across organisational areas, and is able to turn opportunity and ambition into tangible results on a realistic scale.

The successful candidate will have a genuine commitment to the College’s purpose, ethos and values.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and delivery of the College’s impact and partnerships strategy, ensuring that activity is focused, distinctive and aligned with Hughes Hall’s strengths and strategic priorities.
• Build and activate a connected College community, bringing together Fellows, students, postdoctoral researchers and staff to apply their expertise to real-world challenges and create impact beyond academia.
• Support the design and delivery of the Pathways+ programme, working closely with the Tutorial team to equip students with the skills, experiences and networks needed to thrive in their future careers.
• Ensure existing impact activity is strategically prioritised and effectively managed, supporting decisions to develop, embed, scale, spin out or close initiatives based on impact, sustainability and alignment with College priorities.
• Develop and manage a small number of high-value strategic partnerships that advance the College’s impact priorities and deliver meaningful outcomes for students, partners and wider society.
• Position the College within the wider Cambridge innovation and impact ecosystem, building relationships across the University and ensuring active engagement with relevant initiatives, networks and emerging developments.
• Develop the College’s approach to civic engagement, identifying how Hughes Hall can contribute to wider civic life by capitalising on its existing strengths, people, partnerships and assets.
• Lead a focused programme of convening activity, bringing together academic, policy, industry and practitioner communities around priority themes and demonstrating the College’s distinctive contribution.
• Shape the College’s external-facing communications and events activities to support a coherent and credible impact narrative.
• Work collaboratively with Development, academic leadership and professional services colleagues to align impact activity with wider College priorities and support a compelling case for philanthropic investment and external support.
• Contribute as a member of the College’s Senior Leadership Team, helping to shape the strategic direction, culture and external profile of Hughes Hall.
• Undertake such other duties as may reasonably be required by the President.

Essential Experience and Personal Attributes

• Educated to degree level or equivalent by practical and professional experience or ability.
• Experience of delivering impact or influence beyond an academic or organisational setting, for example through partnerships, policy or convening.
• Experience of developing and sustaining effective partnerships and networks, with the ability to build relationships, influence and engage credibly across academic, policy, industry, practitioner and philanthropic communities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to create clear narratives for different audiences.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to assess options, prioritise activity, manage multiple workstreams and translate ideas into practical outcomes.
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex and collegiate environment, exercising sound judgement and political sensitivity.
• A genuine commitment to the College's purpose, values and ethos.

Desirable Experience and Personal Attributes

• Postgraduate education or equivalent professional experience.
• Experience working in the collegiate Cambridge environment, higher education, or a comparable knowledge-based organisation.
• Experience engaging with external ecosystems, such as policy, industry, innovation, civic or non-academic partners.
• Experience supporting research translation, innovation, convening or outward-facing programmes.
• Understanding of how impact and engagement activity can contribute to institutional reputation, fundraising and external support.
• Familiarity with evaluation, reporting or impact measurement approaches.
• Our Benefits
• 27 days of annual leave plus 8 public holidays, pro-rated for part-time hours.
• USS pension scheme.
• Healthcare cash plan.
• Flexible working arrangements to help balance professional and personal commitments.
• Parents and carers support with access to family-friendly policies and the University of Cambridge Holiday Playscheme.
• Life Assurance, enhanced sick pay and access to wellbeing support.
• Opportunities for training and development to support your professional growth.
• Travel benefits, including Cycle to Work scheme, annual season ticket loan and free parking on site, subject to availability.
• Complimentary meals during working hours and access to selected University of Cambridge benefits.
• Disability Confident Employer

As a proud member of the Disability Confident scheme, Hughes Hall welcomes applications from individuals with disabilities.

We will ensure fair treatment throughout the recruitment process, and adjust the process wherever reasonable, to enable applicants to compete to the best of their ability – and continue to support you through your employment.

We do not provide our recruiting teams with any information about a candidate’s protected characteristics, including disability.

If you would like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme, we encourage candidates to state this under the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of the application.

This information is only available to recruitment administrators.

We encourage applicants to disclose their disabilities in the ‘Equal Opportunities Monitoring’ section of the application.

Applicants or employees can disclose a disability at any time.

If you wish to discuss any reasonable adjustments, you can contact HR Recruitment at any point in the process hr@hughes. cam. ac. uk.

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