Chief Executive Officer

at  Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council

JOB SUMMARY

The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, known as the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is Scotland’s tertiary education and research authority. We invest £2 billion annually of public money in tertiary learning and teaching, skills and apprenticeships, student support and participation, research innovation and knowledge exchange.
Directly accountable to Scottish Government Ministers and the Scottish Parliament, our purpose is to sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity.
The tertiary education sector is undergoing significant change. SFC has a strong track record of delivering reform, building trusted relationships with government, funded bodies and a range of partners to secure a more sustainable system for the future. The Scottish Government has recently published a consultation paper seeking views on further change in the post-16 funding body landscape. Each of the options places SFC at the heart of future delivery and we look forward to building on the strong foundations we have with our partners to shape and deliver the government’s reform ambitions.
More information on the consultation is available on the Scottish Government website:
Post-school education and skills reform legislation: consultation - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Our current Chief Executive, Karen Watt, retired in early July 2024, and we seek an exceptional strategic leader to build on her transformative impact. We are looking for a leader who will combine proven analytical and financial skills with the ability to influence effectively at the highest levels of government, while leading a culture of continuous improvement and inclusion internally.
This role offers a unique opportunity to steward significant parts of the reform agenda and have lasting impact on tertiary education in Scotland.
For more information and to apply please click https://join-sfc.com/ and our advising consultants, Gatenby Sanderson can also provide a confidential and informal opportunity to discuss the role. Please do feel free to contact Rosemary Baylis-West, or Khadeeja Khalid on khadeeja.khalid@gatenbysanderson.com

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Set a culture of collaborative leadership and teamwork to deliver SFC’s mission and plans with creativity, pace, impact and rigour, and with a clear sense of purpose.
• Provide high quality advice and guidance to SFC’s Board to support good governance, effective oversight and strategic direction-setting.
• Take a key leadership role across the tertiary education, skills and research system, building trusted relationships with government, funded bodies, and a range of partners, including employers and wider industry. This will include working across boundaries in a complex environment, in order to secure change, reform, impact and a more sustainable system for the future.
• Secure SFC’s position as the expert, authoritative source of information, insight, advice and evidence to inform policy-making, funding and budget decisions, the development of funded bodies, performance reporting and system change across tertiary education, skills development, research and innovation.
• Be a role model for the organisation’s ambition and values, to lead and inspire a culture of inclusive management, diversity, continuous improvement, good employee engagement and union relations, and workforce development.
• Lead and manage change within SFC to shape and deliver the government’s reform ambitions as outlined by the Post-school education and skills reform legislation consultation.
• Be the Accountable Officer, accountable to the Scottish Parliament and the Board for SFC’s expenditure, ensuring that effective governance, systems, processes and people are in place to demonstrate the effective stewardship of public funds and the impact of SFC’s investment in delivering national priorities and a highly functioning tertiary education and research system.
• Ensure robust performance and risk management arrangements are in place that support the achievement of SFC’s aims and objectives and that facilitate comprehensive reporting to the Board, the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament, and the wider public.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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