Senior Project Manager

Salary: £47,389.00 - £56,535.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 31 August 2026

The Role

This is a dynamic and exciting opportunity to lead a high-profile national widening participation and fair access collaborative project. The role will focus exclusively on managing the Realising Opportunities (RO) Partnership, a national collaboration of nine research-intensive universities led by Newcastle University.

Newcastle is a sector leader in widening participation, and this role offers the chance to work closely with senior colleagues at Newcastle and across the other RO Partner universities, as well as with key sector organisations. You will provide strategic leadership and expertise in partnership working and widening participation- within the University, the Partnership and across the national access landscape.

A substantial part of the role will involve managing the Realising Opportunities Central Team and overseeing delivery of the RO programme, which aims to improve access to research-intensive universities for underrepresented students.

We are seeking an experienced and motivated professional to lead a high-profile national collaboration focused on widening participation and fair access in higher education. This is a dynamic opportunity to manage the Realising Opportunities (RO) Partnership, a prestigious Partnership of nine research-intensive universities, led by Newcastle University.

Newcastle University is a sector leader in widening participation, and this role offers the chance to work closely with senior colleagues across the RO Partner institutions and key national organisations. You will provide strategic leadership and expert guidance in partnership working and widening participation—within Newcastle, across the RO Partnership, and throughout the national access landscape.

This is a fixed-term, part-time (0.8 FTE) maternity cover position, commencing from 24 October 2025, or as close to this date as possible, for approximately 11 months.

Application Process: Please submit an online application including your CV and a cover letter. Your cover letter should provide a detailed supporting statement outlining your suitability for the role.

Additional Information: An Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is required for this post.

For further information, please contact: Kate Murray, Deputy Director (Fair Access and Widening Participation): Kate.Murray@ncl.ac.uk  or Sarah Beech, RO Senior Project Manager: Sarah.Beech@ncl.ac.uk

Interview Date: Scheduled for Wednesday 17 September 2025 . Online interviews can be arranged if needed.

Key Accountabilities

• Lead the ongoing development and delivery of Realising Opportunities (RO), a supported entry route offered nationally by a partnership of nine leading universities across England. Take oversight of the governance structures, partnership working and project reporting requirements. This will involve:

  • • Providing strategic direction to the partnership by:

    • Overseeing the RO governance structure and planning cycles, taking overall responsibility for the two-year Strategy and Operational Plans

    • Overseeing a framework for monitoring progress against targets, including risk management

    • Facilitating the efforts of the Project's Governance Groups by providing timely and relevant reports, preparing documentation to aid decision-making, and implementing their recommendations.

    • Overseeing the use of socio-economic and educational indicators to develop common targeting guidance and protocols to support the identification of appropriate schools and students for RO interventions.

    • Enabling partners to agree on, and monitor, a core set of interventions, implemented both nationally and locally, to support students in developing skills and accessing higher education, especially at research-intensive universities.

    • Working with partners to ensure the application and implementation of an agreed framework of recognition for students’ participation in RO.

    • Planning and managing the RO budget, overseeing the appropriate financial monitoring systems and reporting to the Partnership.

• Ensuring the partnership has effective collaboration and data sharing agreements in place and is compliant with GDPR.
• Leading the RO Central Project Team at Newcastle University to ensure the effective development and delivery of national-level activities, project management, and communications, all guided by an evidence-based approach.
• Overseeing the implementation of robust evaluation and tracking processes to ensure Realising Opportunities is rigorously evaluated to monitor progress against targets and to give evidenced-based recommendations for development.
• Working with the Chair of RO to raise the profile of Realising Opportunities within the sector and representing the interests of the Project and its partners at relevant meetings, round table discussions and conferences to maximise the profile of the project and disseminate good practice to the sector.
• Provide professional support and expertise to the Director of Student Recruitment and Admissions, in conjunction with the Deputy Director for Fair Access and WP at Newcastle University, for the development and delivery of the Universities strategies for fair access and widening participation. Contribute to the preparation of monitoring reports, case studies and good practice examples for external (OfS, UUK, the Russell Group, partners and stakeholders) and internal (Executive Board, Senate, University Student Recruitment Strategy and Management Committees) audiences.
• Work with the Deputy Director for Fair Access and WP to ensure join up with other high profile collaborative widening participation projects led by Newcastle University (for example NERAP and North East Uni Connect) to manage and minimise risk for Newcastle University as lead institution. Ensure that expertise and knowledge is shared across colleagues and work together to identify and implement economies of scale and shared working. Identify, scope and assess potential additional funding opportunities.
• Lead, line manage, motivate and champion colleagues ensuring they are well supported to achieve their objectives and have timely and effective development reviews. Provide support for Managers to in turn effectively lead and manage their line reports. Oversee People Services and management functions for projects in line with wider External Relations Directorate approaches.
• Work with partners, key stakeholders, educational networks and school staff to ensure integration, alignment and added value of project activity with existing activity, and national and regional priorities.
• Maintain oversight of a robust approach to Child Protection and Safeguarding for collaborative projects, aligning to Newcastle University policies and ensuring project staff undertake regular and appropriate training.

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Authoritative knowledge and understanding of the issues, policies and complexities of UK (national and regional) undergraduate student recruitment and widening participation agendas
• Substantial experience of partnership working, including managing potentially conflicting institutional priorities. Ideally, this will include previous direct experience of working with or on the Realising Opportunities project, demonstrating familiarity with its collaborative structure and strategic objectives.
• Understand the undergraduate student life cycle including enquiry, application, conversion, registration and factors affecting the choices and decision-making of undergraduate applicants
• Demonstrable experience of managing large and complex projects and overseeing their operational implementation and delivery
• Experience of developing and implementing a monitoring and evaluation process to ensure impact and continuous improvement
• Analytical skills to consider complex information and policy to inform effective, data led project development.
• Experience of financial reporting and budget management
• Ability to influence key external agencies and individuals to ensure strategic and operational alignment of activity
• Experience of leading, managing and motivating a team
• Well-developed planning and organisational skills
• Ability to work accurately with meticulous attention to detail
• The ability to deal with complex and sensitive matters in a professional and effective manner
• Customer service skills including the ability to negotiate and interact tactfully with a wide range of people
• Excellent IT and digital skills
• Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is required for this post
• Willingness to work outside of regular hours and to travel across the UK for meetings, including overnight stays, as required.

Attributes and Behaviour

• Works effectively in a complex and dynamic operating environment
• Motivates and inspires others, working effectively both as a team member and a leader.
• Thinks strategically, making sense of complex or conflicting data and different priorities of stakeholders
• Builds relationships with key stakeholders and audiences internally and externally to gain support and can use a variety of influencing styles to suit the audience
• When communicating, understands how best to appeal to another person or group and correctly finds the best way to approach a situation

Qualifications

• A degree or equivalent qualification or substantial relevant experience.
• A project management or postgraduate qualification.

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver  Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28499