This is an exciting time to join an organisation with an important role in the UK’s world-class higher education sector. Over the last year, the UK higher education landscape has adapted rapidly in unique circumstances and QAA's priority has been to support providers as they meet these challenges.

We are the UK's independent quality body for higher education with a mission to safeguard and improve the quality of UK higher education, wherever it is delivered in the world. QAA acts as the designated quality body for higher education in England, and works closely with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our new membership scheme was launched in August 2019. We're changing the way we work and introducing new services to benefit universities and colleges throughout the UK and support their operation globally.

The Executive Director of Operations and Deputy Chief Executive is a key leadership role within QAA’s Executive team, critical to delivery of the Agency’s vision and operations. The vacancy has arisen because the current postholder has been appointed as Chief Executive. The postholder will have a national profile, deputising for the Chief Executive as required. They will operate at senior levels within governments, the HE sector and, ideally, the professional and regulatory sector.

Leading a team of operational directors, they will be responsible for delivery of QAA’s services nationally and internationally. They will ensure the smooth delivery of systems and processes, build key strategic partnerships, and take responsibility for the development and delivery of overall organisational strategy for QAA’s Board.

We are looking for someone who has extensive experience of working at a strategic level and has a successful track record in implementing business transformation in an operational context. The postholder will need to be a leader with gravitas who is confident and credible at Executive level, and an exceptional relationship manager.

More information can be found in the job description.

Location: We have offices in Gloucester, Cardiff, Glasgow and London, as well as offering employees the opportunity to work flexibly from home

Job type: Full-time, permanent

Hours: 35 hours per week, flexible working available

Salary: £87,231-£108,616 per annum, dependent upon knowledge, skills and experience, plus excellent benefits

Closing date: Tuesday 6 July 2021, 5pm

To apply for this role, please submit your CV with a short covering letter. Many of our employees work flexibly in different ways, including part-time and compressed hours. Please let us know about the flexibility you need in your application.

QAA values equality and diversity and recognises the benefits this brings. We welcome applications from all qualified people and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills.

If you have not heard from QAA within three weeks of the closing date for this vacancy, then your application has not been successful. Please be aware that we are unable to provide feedback on individual job applications.