JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Permanent, full time or part time (please specify your preferred working hours on your application).

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00. The working pattern for part time hours can be discussed at interview.

Place of work flexibility

The working location for this role is flexible and can be discussed at interview. Occasional travel to the Horizons head office in Reading and the London School of Architecture will be required as part of your job role. Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable.

High level summary of job role

As a senior leader within our academic community, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the direction, breadth, and depth of our research and knowledge exchange activity.

With a thematic focus on Societal Wellbeing and Transformation, you will make a significant contribution to teaching, learning, and assessment across our undergraduate, postgraduate taught, and postgraduate research programmes. You will ensure the delivery of high‑quality, research‑informed education aligned with our vision to become the Centre of Excellence for Built Environment Education.

We welcome applications from candidates across a broad range of disciplinary backgrounds, including built environment fields; the social sciences (such as sociology, public health, geography, anthropology, political science, and economics); and technical disciplines (including computer science, artificial intelligence, software engineering, and data science).

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

• Lead, develop, and sustain an internationally excellent research and/or knowledge exchange portfolio, aligned with the University’s Research Strategy and thematic priorities. Demonstrate leadership through high‑quality and impactful research outputs, success in securing external research income, and active contribution to the University’s preparations for REF 2029 and beyond.

• Provide strategic research leadership, fostering a vibrant research culture, supporting colleagues to develop their research trajectories, and contributing to interdisciplinary initiatives that enhance the University’s research capacity and reputation.

• Support, supervise, and develop postgraduate researchers, ensuring high‑quality supervisory practice, timely progression, and contributions to a thriving research student community.

• Act as a mentor and academic leader, supporting the development of early‑career researchers, contributing to staff capability-building, and modelling excellence in research practice.

• Engage proactively with external partners, including industry, policy bodies, funders, and professional associations, to deepen research impact, support knowledge exchange, and strengthen the University’s external profile.

• Deliver outstanding learning, teaching, and assessment within a relevant discipline of Built Environment education, ensuring that pedagogy is research‑informed, inclusive, and aligned with the University’s ambition to be a Centre of Excellence.

• Lead and contribute to the design, delivery, and enhancement of modules and programmes, ensuring alignment with emerging research, sector trends, and the needs of professional practice.

• Play a central role in School and University governance, including membership of deliberative committees, leadership of research groups or centres, and contribution to strategic decision‑making.

• Collaborate with programme teams to maintain and enhance portfolios, ensuring high teaching quality, strong student engagement, and sustained student satisfaction.

• Lead innovation in curriculum development, assessment design, and pedagogy, ensuring that programmes reflect current developments in the built environment, higher education, and relevant research fields.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: To be agreed.

Budget responsibility: None.

In this role you will liaise with the following: Academic colleagues across the academic specialisms; Academic Operations team; Digital Education team; Professional Services; Apprenticeships team; Admissions team; Business Development team; Marketing team; External Professional Practitioners; Professional Bodies

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement

How the person requirement will be assessed:

A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment

Please be aware that as part of onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure), and three years employment history.

Qualifications and training

Postgraduate/research degree or higher in the built environment discipline (E, A).

Professional teaching qualification such as Post-Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) and/or HEA fellowship (if you do not hold this you will be required to achieve this within 3 years of appointment) (E, A).

Chartered membership or eligibility of membership for a relevant professional body (e.g., RIBA, RICS, CIOB, CIAT, RTPI, or equivalent) (E, A).

Undergraduate degree in a built environment or cognate discipline (E, A).

PhD in a relevant discipline (D, A).

Previous experience

Proven track record of research excellence, evidenced through high-quality publications, successful grant awards, and/or effective supervision of postgraduate researchers. (E, A, I).

Clear and sustainable research trajectory, demonstrating defined short-term outputs (e.g., current projects, publications in progress, active funding bids) and medium-term goals (e.g., developing new research themes, expanding collaborations, or securing major funding) (E, A, I).

Experience within the built environment and higher education, with a proven ability to integrate academic expertise into teaching and professional practice. (E, A, I).

Evidence of leadership and development in high-quality teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including curriculum design, innovation in pedagogy, and student support (E, A, I).

Active contribution to the administration and wider academic life of the institution, including committee membership, programme leadership, and engagement in cross-university initiatives (E, A, I).

Management of modules including familiarity with the experience of administering relevant quality assurance procedures and practice (E, A, I).

Teaching experience and a proven ability to effectively communicate and deliver teaching in a variety of modes through the ongoing development of rigorous and innovative teaching methods (E, A, I).

Technology Enhanced Learning/online teaching in Higher Education (D, A, I).

Demonstrated experience in postgraduate research (PGR) supervision and examination, supporting the development of doctoral and master’s researchers through to completion (D, A, I).

Skills, knowledge, and aptitudes

Familiarity with the requirements of professional bodies, practice and potential employers (E, A, I).

Ability to produce innovative module material to enthuse students and to integrate your specialist subject area holistically within the teaching of the wider discipline (E, A, I).

Ability to work effectively as part of a team, both communicating and collaborating with colleagues (E, A, I).

Strong and effective all-round communication skills, including presentation skills, with an ability to communicate with people of all ages and levels (E, I).

Digital skills confidence: We use MS Office which includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and several other systems/technology (E, I, T).

A passion for and a keen interest in using technology to enhance learning (E, A, I).

Other requirements or special requirements

Alignment to the University’s core values of Passion, Integrity, Excellence and Support; all employees are expected to demonstrate our values at work (E, I).

Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students; we want our students to be successful (E, I).

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed including Data Protection, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Prevent, and EDI (E, I).

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: To be confirmed on appointment depending on experience, up to £82,000 per annum Full Time Equivalent.

Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.

Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the Universities Superannuation Scheme which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether.

Family-friendly policies: Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types. Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).

Wellbeing: Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.

Sustainable travel: Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.

Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.

Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).

Other valuable benefits:

• Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.

• You will have access to Microsoft Office 365 applications for personal use.

• You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.

• We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

On the Join the team page of our website, you will find the full list of employee benefits.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Dr Alan Hill, Dean on 01184672009 or email a.hill@ube.ac.uk or Professor Angela Lee, Associate Dean (Research) on 0118 467 2494 or email a.lee@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk.

Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.

We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.

Closing date and next steps

We will receive applications until the advert closes on Wednesday 15 April 2026 at 17:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.

Interview details

First stage interviews will be held on Tuesday 28 April 2026 at our Horizons Head Office in Reading.

Dates for second stage interviews will be confirmed later in the process.

We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.

Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Note for internal candidates

If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.