Director of Information and Guidance

General information

Reference

001737  

Publication start date

30/10/2024

Post Description

Director of IAG

Closing date

15/11/2024

Vacancy location

Location

South West, Gloucestershire, Rosehill - Hybrid

Vacancy details

Job Profile

Communications and Marketing - IAG

Title

Director of Information and Guidance

Contract Type

Full Time

About us

About UCAS

UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

 

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

 

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

Business Unit description

Led by Dave Penney, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer. This broad business unit and incorporates the following functions: 
•  UCAS Media education and industry Sales  
•  Education and Industry Marketing 
•  Digital Marketing Operations 
•  Events 
•  Partnerships 
•  Apprenticeships 
•  Public Affairs, Press and Communications 
•  Insights

The business unit is set up to deliver against the objectives of UCAS charity and operate UCAS Media (UCAS’s commercial subsidiary) to help fund UCAS’s charitable operations. For the charity, our objective is to provide everyone with the information, advice and guidance they need to make informed decisions on their next steps. We deliver on this via our media ecosystem which consists of information, advice and guidance on ucas.com, our social media feeds across various channels, email, live events and webinars,

For UCAS Media, our business objective is to generate revenue through paid collaborations with higher education providers who wish to improve their position in the market, and commercial brands who want to reach students. All brands wishing to use our media ecosystem and insight services must align with our framework. All profits generated are gift aided to UCAS the charity and in turn fund the charitable objectives, such as our recent announcement that students in receipt of free school meals will no longer need to pay the UCAS application fee.  

About the role

Contractual Hours

35.00

About the role

Reporting directly to the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer, the Director of Information, Advice and Guidance is responsible for the strategic development, delivery, and continuous improvement of UCAS’ information and guidance services to students and schools. The post holder is accountable for UCAS events, partnerships, apprenticeships/early careers, and all IAG social and communications content (UCAS.com, social and email channels), to ensure students, schools, and stakeholders receive accurate, inspiring and accessible advice to decide their post-18 choices. The post holder will ensure all information and guidance services are aligned with UCAS’ organisational goals and industry best practices.

 

As a member of the UCAS extended Executive Leadership Team, the Director of Information and Guidance will support the Chief Officers in the overall leadership of UCAS and formulating its future direction and corporate strategy to optimise the value created for its beneficiaries, customers and stakeholders, and through innovation secure a sustainable future for UCAS.

 

Key accountabilities:

 

• ·Provide strategic and operational leadership and management across the Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) function, ensuring close collaboration with the Commercial, UCAS Media, Product, Digital and Legal teams.

 

For full job description, please see role profile attached.

Skills, qualifications, and experience

• Significant experience of operating at a senior level and leading a sizeable division, with a strong track record of negotiating, influencing, and persuading others at the executive level.

• Substantial experience of using insight, trend analysis, and contextual understanding both organisationally and nationally, to instigate strategic direction.

• Significant experience in leading within a digital and fast-changing environment, with a proven ability to respond calmly and rationally to changing aspirations in a deadline-driven situation.

• Proven record in to holding others to account and evidenced experience in providing both challenge and support to direct reports and the wider teams within the service.

• Extensive experience in career guidance and/or, digital content creation, ideally gained in the education, public service or non-profit sectors.

• Substantial experience of developing successful business and investment cases which demonstrate impact, benefits, costs, and outcomes to enable effective strategic decision-making.

• A deep understanding of how content can drive business/charity goals with a proven track record in developing innovative and engaging content and digital marketing strategies, including SEO, social media and paid advertising

• Comprehensive understanding of compliance and regulatory issues related to information management and public guidance.

• Proven experience of successful staff development, nurturing talent and succession planning.

Package

1st stage interviews to be held at our Head Office in Cheltenham on 29th November with 2nd stages to then take place in Woburn House, London on Tuesday 3rd December.

 

Package:

 

Salary - up to £105,000.

 

• 30 days annual leave (plus 3 concessionary days over Christmas and your bank holidays!)
• Flexibility – UCAS positively supports Hybrid working for its employees, meaning you can work between home and the office in a way that suits you and the business and also has a comprehensive Flexible Working Policy
• A generous pension scheme
• Hundreds of high street discounts and offers with Perkbox
• Internal training and development
• Subsidised gym and café
• Be rewarded for going above and beyond with our ex-gratia bonus scheme and Celebrating U, our quarterly employee recognition scheme
• Dedicated volunteer employee networks promoting wellbeing, awareness and inclusion

Working Arrangements

Is fully remote working an option?

No

Attachments

Attachment

Director of IAG RP Oct 2024 final.pdf (315 Kb) Apply