Strategic Change Manager - Executive Division - 108284 - Grade 8 in Birmingham

Position Details

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £48,337 to £57,666 with potential progression once in post to £64,878

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to 12 months

Closing date: 26th November 2026

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.

With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries.

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens.

Background

Strategic Programmes & Change is a high-performing team with a critical role at the heart of the University. We work with senior leaders to align stakeholders, set strategic direction and deliver outcomes — helping the University achieve its ambitions as a Global Top 50 institution and long-term financial sustainability. Our portfolio is complex, fast-moving and varied; no two days are the same. Our work typically involves large-scale service areas, significant process change and cultural transformation.

The Strategic Change Manager will lead the organisational change activities required to ensure success, including coordinating change delivery, communications, stakeholder engagement, and embedding sustainable governance, working across professional services, Colleges and frontline operational teams.

Role Summary

We are looking for a Strategic Change Manager to join our highly regarded team. The successful candidate will:

• Have a proven track record of delivering outcomes in complex, fast-paced environments, with the resilience to navigate ambiguity and shifting priorities.
• Think strategically — bringing clarity to ambiguity, identifying paths forward and developing creative solutions to difficult problems.
• Build effective relationships across organisational boundaries, balancing competing interests to collaboratively build consensus and drive results.
• Shape thinking, influence decisions and drive action – using clear, persuasive communication to build confidence, align stakeholders and deliver measurable outcomes.

Main Duties

Change management for individual initiatives:

• To be personally responsible for leading and managing significant and complex University-wide initiatives in collaboration with Programme / Project Sponsors.
• Managing the delivery of the Strategic Programme & Change portfolio of projects, from project initiation through to implementation and evaluation, ensuring that projects are enabling the University’s Birmingham 2030 ambitions and delivering measurable benefits and improvements.
• Working closely with Programme / Project Sponsors (academic and Professional Services) to identify and plan the requirements for change and ensuring that change projects are delivered in accordance with the project charter and plan.
• Undertaking change impact and readiness assessments, identifying adoption risks and support requirements, and developing actions to support successful implementation.
• Utilising excellent negotiation, communication and creativity skills to gain agreement across a broad range of stakeholders to initiatives.
• Managing and coordinating the different strands of the initiatives including ensuring effective communication flows to all stakeholders.
• Implementing change and process improvement methodologies to drive change initiatives, including key tools such as diagnostic exercises, process mapping, rapid improvement events and ensuring implementation.
• Development of benefits realisation plans.
• Development and execution of results yielding engagement plans and strategies for a wide range of stakeholders and audiences, including academic colleagues, professional services staff, and students.
• Preparing and, where appropriate, presenting reports, proposals and papers for stakeholders, project sponsors, College Boards, RLG and other senior meetings.
• Working collaboratively with other teams that are responsible for delivering change, to ensure a coherent and consistent approach to change across the University, in line with our Portfolio and Programme Enabling Frameworks.

Person Specification

The post holder will have the following combined experience and personal qualities:

• Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification (change management, project management), plus substantial relevant experience evidencing the experience required in this role.
• Relevant professional experience in a large and complex organisation.
• Experience of developing effective networks and strong relationships in a complex organisation.
• Strong facilitation skills, including workshops, and face-to-face.
• Outstanding writing skills, with the ability to write/prepare high quality papers, presentations, reports and briefings to Project Board and Executive Board level.
• Highly developed research skills and experience of producing and analysing complex source material, information and data.
• Excellent oral communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent IT, organisational and administrative skills.
• A commitment to promote and adhere to the agreed values of the University and the Executive Division.