Subject Lead for Built Environment in Derby

The University is seeking an outstanding and visionary academic leader to serve as Subject Lead for Built Environment within our dynamic new School Senior Management Team. This is a pivotal and highly influential leadership position that shapes the academic direction, culture, and performance of the subject while contributing to the strategic leadership of the wider College and University.

As Subject Lead, you will play a critical role in delivering our corporate ambitions through strong academic stewardship, people-centred leadership, and a clear focus on excellence across teaching, research, and industry engagement. You will work collaboratively and strategically with the Head of School, fellow Subject Leads, and central University functions to inspire staff, support students, and cultivate impactful external partnerships all underpinned by the University’s values and behaviours.

Derby’s proud heritage in construction, infrastructure, and rail provides an exceptional foundation for innovation in the Built Environment. The city’s forward-looking investment in zero-carbon research and partnerships with globally recognised industry leaders reflect the University’s position at the forefront of regional and national transformation.

In this role, you will exercise delegated leadership responsibility from the Head of School, including line management of academic staff and leadership of the subject’s performance and culture. You will provide clear, supportive, and constructive leadership that enables individuals and teams to thrive. Through active engagement in teaching, research, and scholarly activity, you will model excellence and maintain the highest standards of academic practice, ensuring outstanding student experience and graduate outcomes.

Beyond the core academic remit, you will drive strategic growth by identifying opportunities for industry collaboration, external income generation, curriculum innovation, and research development. You will lead horizon scanning, performance benchmarking, and external engagement initiatives that reinforce the subject’s relevance, agility, and long-term impact.

This is a rare opportunity for an ambitious and strategically minded leader to make a significant contribution to a College that delivers STEM solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges through education, research, and knowledge exchange.

About You

We are seeking a strategically astute, forward-thinking, and inspiring academic leader with a proven record of shaping high-performing teams and driving excellence across teaching, research, and applied industry engagement. You will bring a deep understanding of the Built Environment and its evolving alignment with societal needs, sustainability priorities, and industry demand.

You will demonstrate the ability to translate institutional ambitions into meaningful academic direction, creating clarity, championing innovation, and ensuring delivery through effective leadership and collaboration. Skilled at building trusted relationships internally and externally, you will recognise opportunities for industry partnership, applied research, and knowledge exchange that deliver impactful solutions and enhance the University’s regional and national contribution.

With significant experience in higher education teaching and academic leadership, you will also bring strong commercial acumen, including sound judgment in budget management, resource planning, and performance oversight. Committed to advancing personal research and scholarship, ideally with contributions aligned to REF, you will embody our values of inclusivity, ambition, and social mobility, championing a supportive environment where every learner can succeed.

Your leadership style will be collaborative, motivating, and people-focused, capable of cultivating high engagement, a strong sense of identity, and a positive, high-performing team culture.

About Us

We have one simple promise to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better. The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK, achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research, and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 making us one of the top universities in the country, recognised for our outstanding student experience and outcomes. Financially strong and seriously ambitious, we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career, with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

Benefits

• Generous annual leave entitlement of 42 days, inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
• Access to the Teachers Pension Scheme
• A suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support, including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and a comprehensive employee assistance programme
• Access to a variety of staff discounts at high-street retailers
• Discounted on-site gym
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• A flexible working environment
• A commitment to personal and professional development

For further information and to apply, please visit our website via the Apply button. Closing date: Monday, 27 July 2026. Interview date: Tuesday, 18 and/or Wednesday, 19 August 2026. This role is eligible for sponsorship by the University; however, your individual circumstances must meet the criteria set out by UKVI. Please see the website for further details. The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.