Head of Change

Role Title and Employment Details Role Title: Head of Change

Grade and Salary: Grade 9, Competitive Salary

FTE and working pattern: Full-time, 35 hours per week; Open-ended

Reward and Benefits: 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full-time staff.

About the Team Heriot-Watt University is a leading UK university recognised for world-class teaching and impactful, industry-relevant research, with a strong reputation for innovation and enterprise. The University operates across five campuses in the UK, Dubai and Malaysia, offering specialist programmes in science, engineering, design, business and languages, and is Scotland's most international university by student cohort.

The University operates within a complex and dynamic Higher Education environment, managing a diverse portfolio of strategic, regulatory, digital, academic and capital change initiatives. The Global Project Management Office was established in 2022 to centralise delivery of a range of university projects, providing robust and consistent project management and delivering priority projects in support of the University's strategic objectives. The team is based at our Edinburgh campus and is part of the Strategic Planning, Performance & Projects directorate.

Purpose of Role The Head of Change is responsible for establishing, leading, and embedding the University's central change function and change ecosystem in support of Strategy 2035.

This role will oversee the delivery performance of the University's strategic and operational change portfolio, including capital projects and business change initiatives. The role owns the end-to-end change system: from intake and prioritisation of demand, through portfolio planning and governance, to delivery oversight, benefits realisation, and transition into business as usual.

Acting as the University's senior authority on change, the postholder ensures that change investment decisions are aligned to strategy, capacity and risk appetite, and that change is delivered consistently, sustainably and with measurable value for all stakeholders.

Key Duties and Responsibilities Change Portfolio Ownership & Prioritisation

• Own and operate the University's change portfolio, providing a single authoritative view of demand, priorities, sequencing and capacity.
• Lead portfolio shaping, prioritisation and balancing of change against BAU capacity.
• Establish portfolio level decision support for executive governance (value, risk, benefits confidence, readiness).

Change Ecosystem Design & Governance

• Define, design and continuously improve the University's change ecosystem, including:
• change lifecycle processes and standards for multi-category, multi-speed, and multi-method delivery (scaled by risk and size).
• portfolio, programme and project governance
• assurance and stage gate controls
• Establish new change governance structures, up to and including University Executive and Committees of Court.
• Establish clear decision rights, delegated authorities and escalation routes across the change lifecycle.
• Provide process, planning, and governance enablement and assurance for the University's Strategy 2035 programme and Transformation Office, working in partnership with the Transformation Office leadership.

Delivery Oversight

• Provide senior oversight (excluding day-to-day delivery management) of major programmes and high-risk change initiatives.
• Ensure delivery approaches are appropriate (waterfall, agile or hybrid) and consistent with university standards.
• Intervene where delivery confidence, benefits or adoption are at risk.

Benefits Realisation & Outcomes

• Establish and own the University's value and benefits management framework and ensure robust business case management for all major initiatives.
• Use benefits confidence to inform portfolio prioritisation, continuation or closure decisions.

Capability, Capacity & Professional Leadership

• Provide leadership and line management across all change disciplines (programme / project management, business analysis, change management, PMO).
• Lead strategic workforce planning, recruitment, and capability development for change capability, including competency frameworks and communities of practice.

Change/Technology Partnership

• Establish an effective operating partnership with Technology leaders to align digital transformation and change delivery.

Management Information & Reporting

• Own the University's change reporting and MI, including portfolio, delivery, risk, benefits and capacity views.
• Provide trusted, timely reporting and MI to executive leaders and governance forums.
• Use reporting and MI to drive decision-making, transparency and continuous improvement.

Key Stakeholders, Authorities & Decision Rights

Key Relationships

• Director of Strategic Planning, Projects & Performance - Line Manager accountable executive
• Executive Director of University Operations - Senior Executive Leader (matrix)
• University Secretary & Vice Principle (Governance & Operations) - University Executive Leader
• Vice Principle & Provost - University Executive Leader
• Programme / Project Managers, Business Analysts and Project Support Analysts (PMO) - Direct Reports
• Professional Services Directors - Sponsors / stakeholders / peers
• Academic School and Global Research Institute Directors - Sponsors / stakeholders

Decision Rights & Authorities

• Recognised functional owner for change across the University.
• Authority to define, implement and maintain University wide change standards, governance frameworks and assurance requirements.
• Accountable for developing and maintaining enterprise change portfolio prioritisation recommendations for Executive consideration.
• Authority to provide independent challenge, assurance and escalation on high risk or underperforming change initiatives.
• Responsible for escalating material change risks, delivery concerns or governance breaches to University Executive and Court level governance as appropriate.

Accountability & Budgetary Responsibility

• Operational budget responsibility; matrix responsibility for the enterprise change portfolio budget: c.£20m.
• Accountable for authoring, maintaining and baselining the enterprise change portfolio and associated management information.
• Accountable for evolving and approving change processes, artefacts, templates and governance designs.
• Accountable for defining role profiles and recruiting change capability across the central change function.
• Accountable for delivery performance of large-scale strategic initiatives only where explicitly assigned by the Executive.

This job description is intended as a flexible framework which outlines the key general areas of activity in your position. Other activities may be required which are not outlined above but which are appropriate to the position and grade. Your personal objectives (PDR) will also set out specific tasks and objectives for you to achieve, including objectives to help your career development.

Education, Skills & Experience Education

• Postgraduate qualification or equivalent experience in change, organisational development, higher education management, or related field.
• Professional qualifications in change management (e.g. Prosci, ACMP) and/or portfolio, programme or project management (e.g. APM, MoP, MSP, PRINCE2, Agile).
• Evidence of continued professional development in leadership, governance, and/or finance.

Skills

• Strategic leader with a clear vision for establishing, embedding and maturing enterprise wide change functions.
• Strong enterprise portfolio leadership capability, including prioritisation, sequencing and balancing change against organisational capacity and risk appetite.
• Expertise across portfolio, programme and project management in complex, multi method change environments.
• Advanced governance, assurance and control capability, with confidence operating in regulated, committee driven contexts.
• Strong financial acumen, including capital planning, benefits realisation, value management and business case governance.
• Benefits led, outcomes focused decision maker, able to use incomplete or ambiguous information to support timely executive decisions.
• Ability to build, lead and develop multidisciplinary change teams and professional communities of practice.
• Clear, confident communicator, able to operate across academic leadership, professional services and executive forums, and to simplify complex change for diverse audiences.
• Strong partnership building skills with Technology and Finance leaders.
• Advanced analytical, critical thinking and problem solving skills, with sound judgement in high ambiguity contexts.

Experience

• Senior leadership experience owning or operating an enterprise change, portfolio or transformation function, with accountability for standards, governance and outcomes (not solely programme delivery).
• Demonstrated ability to design and embed organisational systems (governance, standards, capability).
• Experience operating effectively in complex, regulated and committee driven environments (e.g. higher education, public sector, research intensive or similarly complex organisations).
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