We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide.
We work directly with individuals to help them gain the skills, confidence and connections to transform their lives and shape a better world in partnership with the UK. We support them to build networks and explore creative ideas, to learn English, to get a high-quality education and to gain internationally recognised qualifications.
Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.
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English Language Research Operations Manager
Pay Band: 8
Salary: £38,820 - £46,203 (+ £3,300 market allowance if based in London)
Contract Type: Indefinite
Role Type: Business, Partnership and Programme Product Development
Location: UK; London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast.
Successful applicants must be within a commutable distance to a British Council office.
Requirements: Candidates must have the pre-existing (permanent) right to work in location.
Mobility / relocation / visa sponsoring support will not be provided.
Benefits include, but are not limited to:
- 32 days annual leave, in addition to public holidays
- 3 days volunteering leave
- Career average defined benefit pension scheme
- An unrivalled opportunity for you to get to use all the experience you've built up working in and / or leading global organisations to support us in building trust across the world!
Closing date: 29th April, 11:59pm UK time.
Role Purpose
The main purpose of the role is to strengthen the British Council’s research and development potential by managing operations and projects across English language teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) within BCELR.
The role holder will contribute to the British Council’s thought leadership and innovation agenda in TLA through strategically managing all operations associated with BCELR work. The role will actively track and manage projects and other work, establish, and oversee operational management systems and procedures, and manage support functions in the areas of procurement, recruitment and compliance. The role will work closely with the Heads of RED, Data Science and Insight (DS&I), Assessment Research (AR), Future of English (FoE), and Teaching and Learning (T&L) hubs to provide robust and strategic operational support to the work of BCELR.
The role is designed for an experienced operations manager with a strong background in project management and experience establishing systems and procedures across diverse workstreams.
Context
This position is a key role within the Research Engagement and Dissemination (RED) hub within the ELR. The RED hub contributes to ELR work by informing strategy, supporting engagement and dissemination, and enabling key activities across the five research hubs within the ELR: the Data Science & Insights (DS&I) hub, the Assessment Research (AR) hub, the Future of English hub, the Teaching and Learning hub, and the RED hub itself. Activities carried out in these hubs include innovative language product design and development, Language Assessment Literacy engagement aimed at teachers, policy makers, and other stakeholders, and research and expert advisory work supporting assessment and language education reform projects in education systems.
The RED hub drives the engagement and dissemination strategy for the ELR and supports the operationalisation of this strategy through proactive management and practical support initiatives. The RED hub manages research grant programmes, leads on the British Council New Directions conference series, plans and manages conference participation, engages with professional associations and communities around the world, and manages the ELR publication strategy. Broader ELR works with teams across the British Council, including E&E and English Programmes (EP).
Main accountabilities
Product or programme/management or development
- Provides strategic oversight of all projects and work streams across BCELR, maintaining a detailed understanding of both current and prospective projects/programmes/services and uses these insights to inform effective delivery of BCELR activities.
- Establishes and implements tracking systems to monitor the progress of all BCELR activities, identifying potential risks and delays, proactively working with hub leads to manage and mitigate these.
- Maintains oversight of and proactively manages BCELR resourcing, working closely with hub and project leads to ensure that projects, programmes and services are effectively delivered to deadline and that capacity and workload are aligned.
- Proactively participates in internal working group/peer networks to maintain a detailed understanding of both current and prospective projects, programmes and services, and uses these insights to inform effective delivery of BCELR activities.
- Provides formal specialised operational insight to proposed global and local projects, programmes and services across workstreams to enable effective delivery of BCELR activities.
Leadership & management
- Oversees operational systems and procedures to enable delivery of activities within the BCELR strategic portfolio, leading on communication of these systems and procedures to the wider team.
- Manages budgets and undertakes resource planning to enable cost effective, high quality delivery of operational activities in the team.
- Negotiate, procure and authorise (to designated sign-off levels) agreements and contracts with partners/sub-contractors/clients relating to delivery of the product or service, to meet optimal cost efficiency measures.
- Provides formal line management to individuals or small groups within BCELR, which might consist of geographically dispersed staff.
- Identifies requirements and recommends training and development provision to build improved expert knowledge and capability within BCELR.
Relationship and Stakeholder management
- Leads on engagement internally and externally with platform staff (e.g. procurement, GIS, HR, etc.) to ensure effective operational management of BCELR activities, as well as full compliance across different areas, e.g. GDPR, JEDI, etc.
- Works closely with the Director BCELR to ensure operational systems facilitate the achievement of higher level strategic goals.
- Works closely with BCELR hub leads to implement tracking systems and monitor progress of and risks to the delivery of projects, programmes and services, introducing effective interventions where necessary.
- Participates with other SBUs, product owners and regional colleagues in working groups and other collaborative forums to develop strategic relationships to enable the smooth operational management of BCELR activities and workstreams.
Consultancy, analysis and problem solving
- Provides consultancy to internal stakeholders within BCELR on areas of sector expertise.
Sector/subject expertise
- Demonstrates a background in operational management and practical implementation of operational systems and processes at different levels across products and projects or programmes.
- Maintains an authoritative and up-to-date knowledge of enabling systems and processes such as contract management, procurement, GDPR, recruitment and other necessary areas to enable BCELR to demonstrate their expertise in language assessment, learning and educational reform through effective delivery of projects, services and programmes.
- Demonstrates a background in streamlining enabling systems, processes and procedures to support the wider work of BCELR.
- Working closely with hub and project leads, can oversee and be accountable for all compliance requirements associated with wider BCELR initiatives.
Qualifications
Operational management and/or project/programme management qualification.
Role specific knowledge and experience
- Experience of managing a range of projects or programmes across diverse workstreams.
- Experience of working with a range of internal and external stakeholders to establish and run operational systems, processes and procedures.
- Experience of operational management in the field of language teaching, learning and assessment or broader educational reform.
Closing date: 29th April, 11:59pm UK time.
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A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.
Equality , Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Statement
The British Council is committed to policies and practices of equality, diversity and inclusion across everything we do. We support all staff to make sure their behaviour is consistent with this commitment. We want to address under representation and encourage applicants from under-represented groups, in particular, but not exclusively, on grounds of ethnicity and disability. All disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria are guaranteed an interview and we have Disability Confident Employer Status. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.
The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with.
We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989.
Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed; these will include qualification checks, reference checks, identity & criminal record checks in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.
If you have any problems with your application please email askhr@britishcouncil.org
Please note: Applications to this role can only be considered when made through the Apply section of our careers website. Our ‘ASK HR’ email is only to be used in case of a technical issue encountered when applying through the careers website. Emails with supporting statements and CV/Resumes sent to this email address will not be reviewed and will be deleted.
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