JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Permanent, full time.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00, with some flexibility in start/finish times.

Organisation structure

Education and Students, Academic Performance.

Your line manager will be Dr Boryana Peevska-Cutting, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic Performance).

Place of work flexibility

Your time will be split between the Horizons, Reading office and your home*. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of two to three working days each month in Horizons on (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). The office closes on Fridays. *Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable – please see the ‘Working from home’ section on our Careers Site for further information.

Background

At the University of the Built Environment, the majority of our teaching and learning happens online through our digital campus, comprising the digital tools and platforms that enable our students to learn and our staff to teach and support them. Over the next five years, the University is making a strategic investment in its digital campus to ensure it supports our continued growth, further enhances our student experience, and positions us as a best-in-sector digital and online learning provider with a strong external recognition and validation.

High level summary of job role

As the Digital Capabilities Lead, you will be accountable to the Associate Pro Vice Chancellor (Digital Campus), and you will work with and support our Academic team and Professional Services teams. You will lead the development of the digital skills and competencies our people need to maximise the benefits of the digital campus investment and support our Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) agenda. You will be a key member of a team of digital learning specialists and will contribute to the development of a University-wide centre for educational excellence. Here, you will build close partnerships with both Academic and Student Support teams and plan, create and deliver the resources, activities and events that take their digital skills and practices to the next level.

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

Leadership

• Lead initiatives that enhance digital confidence, competence and innovation across academic and professional services functions, in line with the University’s Competency Framework.

• Ensure digital capability development activities support excellent student outcomes, online learning experiences, operational effectiveness and organisational resilience.

• Provide expert advice to senior leaders on digital capability development requirements, emerging technologies and sector best practice.

• Contribute to institutional digital transformation programmes and change initiatives.

Training and development

• Design, commission and deliver an engaging programme of digital skills training, workshops, webinars, resources and development opportunities that align with recognised digital capability frameworks (e.g. Jisc).

• Develop learning pathways tailored to different staff roles, professional groups and levels of digital maturity.

• Support staff in the effective use of learning technologies, digital collaboration tools, artificial intelligence, digital assessment methods and other technologies relevant to their work.

• Establish communities of practice and peer-support networks to encourage knowledge sharing and innovation.

• Promote a culture of continuous professional development in digital practice across the University.

Capability assessment and improvement

• Undertake digital capability assessments and skills audits to establish baseline measures and development priorities.

• Monitor participation, engagement and progression in digital development activities.

• Use qualitative and quantitative evidence to evaluate impact and inform continuous improvement.

Stakeholder engagement

• Build strong relationships with academic schools, professional services teams and key institutional stakeholders.

• Work collaboratively with colleagues responsible for learning and teaching enhancement, educational development, organisational development, human resources and technology services.

• Act as a trusted adviser and champion for digital capability development across the University.

Evaluation and reporting

• Establish meaningful performance indicators and success measures for digital capability development initiatives.

• Produce regular reports demonstrating participation, capability improvement and organisational impact.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of programmes and interventions using evidence-based approaches.

• Make recommendations for future investment and development priorities based on emerging needs and impact data.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: None.

Budget responsibility: None.

In this role you will liaise with the following: all University departments and teams.

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 safer recruitment and 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 unless specified otherwise), and three years employment history. This is all part of our commitment to safeguarding our students. Keeping our students safe is a responsibility shared by everyone within the University.

Qualifications and training

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience (E, A).

Evidence of ongoing professional development in digital learning, educational and learning technologies or a related field (E, A).

Learning development professional certification (e.g. CLDP) (D, A).

Previous experience

Extensive use of educational technologies, digital and online learning environments to support learning and learners (E, A, I, T).

Designing and delivering staff development, training or capability-building programmes within a complex organisation (E, A, I, T).

Planning, developing and delivering learning interventions using a range of face-to-face, online and blended approaches (E, A, T).

Evaluating learning and development activities and measuring impact against agreed outcomes (E, A, I).

Working collaboratively with diverse stakeholder groups and building effective partnerships through participation (D, A, I).

Supporting digital transformation and organisational change through professional development initiatives (D, A, I).

Using recognised digital capability frameworks (e.g. Jisc Digital Capabilities Framework) and discovery tools to inform digital capabilities and skills development (D, A, I, T).

Working efficiently and effectively with remote teams (D, I).

Experience of working within a higher education environment (D, A).

Experience of supporting the adoption of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies to support professional practice and/or teaching and learning (D, A, I).

Behaviours and attitudes

Alignment to the University’s core values and growth mindset approach, which reflect our culture. Refer to the specific behaviours within the Competency Framework (E, I) – summarised within the careers site.

Skills, knowledge, other requirements

A solution focussed mindset that underpins excellent problem-solving and decision-making abilities (E, I).

The ability to use online pedagogy, digital assessment and learning design principles to inform professional development practices (E, A, I).

Advanced digital skills, including strong expertise in the use of Microsoft 365, AI, and specialist digital learning and assessment platforms (E, A, I).

Strong quantitative and analytics skills and the ability to interrogate data and use it as evidence to inform decision-making and demonstrate effectiveness (E, A, I).

Demonstrable ability to plan and design professional development programmes including the creation and curation of resources needed to support them (E, A, I, T).

Demonstrable ability to tailor digital training and support to groups with a diverse range of prior knowledge and experience (E, A, I, T).

Strong understanding, and demonstrable expertise using digital skills capability frameworks to assess and elevate others’ digital capabilities (D, A, I, T).

Excellent communication and negotiation skills and the ability to use them to enhance the agency of others through participation and community-building (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).

Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students regardless of your area of work within the University; we want our students to be successful (E, I).

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed. The University is regulated by the Office for Students and Ofsted, and we have specific requirements and expectations around safeguarding, Prevent, and anti-harassment and bullying. This is all part of our Competency Framework requirements (E, I).

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: Salary range £40,000 to £45,000 per annum.

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 People’s Pension 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. We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.

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 range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.

• We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Professor Nick Mount on 0118 467 2131 or email n.mount@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 14 October 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 are scheduled for Thursday 29 October 2026 via Teams.

Second stage interviews are scheduled for Thursday 05 November 2026 and will take place at our head office in Reading.

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.