Head of Programme Support

The rundown:

The Programme Delivery directorate delivers Teach First's programmes across all areas of England. This leadership role will oversee a portfolio of support roles working in selected regions, towns and communities across the country.

In Programme Support we teach and develop programme members and trainees through teacher development and leadership programmes. This leadership role will oversee a portfolio of support roles and the programme delivery of Teach First Programmes working in communities across the country.

The detail: day-to-day work

• Lead the effective delivery of Teach first’s programme support, through the deployment of support roles in your portfolio, to agreed retention, satisfaction and quality targets and associated deadlines

• Manage retention of trainees and programme members through delivering effective high impact support and meaningful interventions

• Building alignment and maximising the strengths of all support roles to increase teacher and leader effectiveness

• Flexibly deploy teams in your portfolio to develop local networks and meet trainee and programme member need

• Building a strong relationship with requisite university programme lead(s) to support improvement planning and to drive trainee outcomes

• Manage escalations within your portfolio in line with established policies and procedures

• Sharing insights about partner schools with the School Partnerships function to enable alignment and improved customer experiences

• Engaging in organisation wide governance, serving as directorate lead for particular programme(s)

• Line managing direct reports achieving high levels of employee retention and satisfaction

You’ll take ownership for:

• The retention and satisfaction of trainees and programme members across your portfolio and quality of delivery of all Teach First programmes in your portfolio and quality and fidelity of delivery of all Teach First programmes in your portfolio

• Working collaboratively with partners and other functions drive continuous improvement in our programme delivery.

• Championing governance processes within the directorate, particularly for programmes where you are serving as directorate lead

• Driving continuous improvement within your teams to ensure strong consistency and increased impact

• Embedding the Networks approach into the areas responsibility or work you own • Contributing to new bids or contract opportunities in line with directorate strategy

• Embedding the organisation’s people strategy into the Programme Support function, including working towards Diversity and Inclusion priorities

About you

The essentials:

• Knowing the market: You have direct experience of working in the education and/or social sector in leadership roles

• Managing and Developing Others: You are skilled in leading and managing teams, especially large scale geographically dispersed teams. You have experience of people management and development at a senior level. You are confident in your leadership and provide direction to the team and to individuals.

• Delivering Results: You have experience of formulating and delivering on plans to achieve targets and identifying course correcting actions

• Relationship Management: You form and maintain impact focused professional relationships across teams, internal and external stakeholders

• Problem-Solving and Decision-Making: You take effective, considered and timely decisions by gathering and evaluating relevant information

The nice to haves:

• Managing change: You have experience of supporting implementation and management of organisational changes

• Networks: You have experience growing and cultivating networks through delivery of programmes and in support of schools

• You should have a commitment to and knowledge of advancing diversity and inclusion’.

The main responsibilities of this role are described here. As our needs as a charity change, we may need to make reasonable changes from time to time. We succeed when we work together.

Here’s who you’ll be working with regularly:

• The Programme Support Leadership team: including other Heads of Programme Support

• Programme Support Managers (formerly Regional Managers for Programmes) and their teams of Support Roles working across all Teach First programmes

• Programme teams/governance groups comprised of colleagues from across the charity, particularly that (those) for which you serve as functional lead

• The Delivery Directorate: School Partnerships, Operations and Events teams More info on how the role fits in with the rest of the team and charity: You’ll report to the Director of Programme Support You’ll manage a team of Programme Support Managers (formerly Regional Managers Programme) and Achievement Partners

This position is a level [4] role. Take a look at our role levels and where you’ll fit in on our Working for us webpages (under Pay and Benefits).

More about working for us:

There’s lots of great stuff about working here. For full details pop over to our webpages.

Our culture: We live by our principles. They underpin our culture and identity. And inform everything we do.

Diversity and inclusion: We want to be a place where everyone can perform, learn and contribute with the confidence to be themselves. We particularly welcome applications from candidates who are disabled; Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic; Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans including non-binary, and related communities; and candidates whose socio-economic background reflects that of the pupils we work with. We’re committed to better representing the communities we serve. Find out more about what we’re doing to improve our diversity and inclusion. This role is suitable for agile and flexible working Our agile way of working gives you flexibility. Need to start late, finish early or fancy a change of scenery? That’s fine, our Agile Working policy focuses on what you achieve, not presenteeism. If you need a set and regular working pattern to support your life have a chat with us about flexible working options. Over 100 of us already have a flexible working agreement, with more than 70 different working patterns in place. We’re ready to hear your request. Find out more via our flexible working policy on our webpages.

Our benefits: Our mission is critical and the work’s important, but so’s your life. We’ve put together a benefits package that means you can live and work well. Find out more on our Working at Teach First webpages.