Internal Applicants Only - Senior Team Manager (Student Systems)

We want to make Cardiff University an institution that is respected the world over. Our vision is to be a world-leading, research-excellent, educationally outstanding university, driven by creativity and curiosity, which fulfils its social, cultural and economic obligations to Cardiff, Wales, the UK and the world. We expect to improve our standing as one of the top 100 universities in the world and the top 20 in the UK. Ensuring the security of our research, teaching and administrative systems and their data from theft, compromise and corruption is of crucial importance to enable us to achieve our vision. University IT provides critical support to c7,000 staff, 30,000+ students, and 38 academic and professional service schools and departments. The needs of learning and teaching, research and core services present an ever-changing set of challenges in an organisation that is constantly evolving. We support the University to deliver its strategy. Opportunity The successful candidate will strategically and operationally lead and manage the university's Student Facing Systems and Reporting product stacks. You will be a skilled and passionate individual to drive the development and implementation of these product stack, ensuring the University obtains best value from its investment. The successful candidate will develop and lead high performing teams, driving performance, knowledge growth and ongoing development of university strategic priorities. As a Senior Manager within University IT you will report directly to a Board member and will be responsible for a number of teams led by team mangers spanning several technology or functional areas. You will need to establish and deliver a clear vision for your area that will align to the main IT strategy and the broader University strategy. You will be expected to develop beneficial working relationships with other teams in IT and the broader University. You will have significant responsibility and autonomy in your area of responsibility and will be accountable for actions and decisions taken by self and team members.

You As a passionate and knowledgeable student systems specialist, you will provide specialist and expert advice to colleagues within university IT and the wider university. You will support the senior leadership team by providing advice, insight and guidance in product stack trends and developments. You will need to demonstrate a commitment to driving forward service and delivery improvements, have excellent business stakeholder and supplier management skills and instil a culture of continuous service improvement. As a member of the University IT Operational Management Team, you will support cultural change within the department, explaining the need for and importance of adhering to technical controls and processes to protect the integrity of the university's data, infrastructure and systems.

The post is full time and open ended., You will have defined authority and responsibility for an area that is of significant importance to the delivery of the IT service within the University, including technical, people management, financial and quality aspects. This role will focus on the Student Facing Systems including the Student Record System, VLE, Timetabling and the University BI and Operational Reporting Solutions. As the senior manager responsible for multiple teams, including other team managers, you will be responsible for team development and pastoral care & welfare of those staff. Specifically, you will:

• Establish team objectives and delegate responsibility for delivery of these, conducting appraisals and performance reviews to track achievement, identify training and development activity and performance manage staff.

• Be a point of contact for team welfare issues, ensuring University procedures and policies are followed, dealing with issues relating to discipline, grievance, and capability, offering staff guidance and support and being capable of dealing with complex issues where there are no set guidelines or procedures.

• Take responsibility for the management culture in your teams, ensuring that any direction from the IT Director or your manager is followed and cascaded as appropriate.

• Be responsible for ensuring your teams are fully equipped for their work environment, including having appropriate risk assessments, operating procedures, equipment and training to ensure they can work safely wherever required.

• Ensure you and your team are compliant with university procedures and guidelines. You will set the overall standards in your teams to carry out all tasks and procedures efficiently and effectively to meet agreed levels of service or specific requirements for Service or Operational Level Agreements.

• You will gather and record service level information and produce statistics for use in measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) and ensure that you team meets the required targets.

• You will ensure that the needs of customers are both met and future requirements anticipated, such that University colleagues have the support they need from IT service to fulfil their roles.

• You will be expected to receive, understand and convey complex issues and information about IT solutions and strategies and communicate both verbally and in written form to effectively inform and influence a diverse range of both technical and non-technical audiences to a common aim. This will involve the production and delivery of presentations, reports and other documentation including guidelines, procedures, business cases and budget proposals., You will contribute to the overall IT strategy, owning specific areas of this that relate to your team's areas of expertise. You will ensure that the strategic roadmap is clearly identified and leveraged against appropriate University needs by embedding it in overall actions plans. You will plan, organise and track people and financial resource within your area including:

• Development of appropriate long-term action plans to deliver solutions and services critical to both the day-to-day operation of the University and achievement of its strategic goals and objectives.

• Operational resource plans and timelines for delivery of the team workload in accordance with programme and business as usual demand.

• Budget submissions, input to business cases for new developments, tracking and monitoring of actual expenditure against plans

• You will respond to escalated, complex and high impact problems in a timely fashion, leading your teams in problem solving including investigations into service issues, complaints, ineffective areas of working and to identify and propose solutions to fill gaps in existing IT service.

• You will ensure that solutions proposed take into account strategic implications for the University and IT technology and do not limit future choice.

As an employee of Cardiff University the post holder will:

• Ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in respect of equality and diversity, data protection, copyright and licensing, security, financial and other University policies, procedures and codes as appropriate.

• Take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and of other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions at work in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, EC directives and the University's Safety, Health and Environment Policies and procedures and to cooperate with the University on any legal duties placed on it as the employer.

1. Degree level education in technology and / or business management (or qualified by experience to run large scale technology centric operation)

2. Significant Information Technology Senior Management level experience gained in a complex IT environment with a clear track record of successful delivery.

3. Specific management experience of delivering and continuously enhancing business critical corporate systems within a complex environment to industry standards with best practices

4. Specific management experience of managing multiple technical teams and introducing consistent standards and approaches that facilitate cross training and support/development arrangements.

Expertise/Competence/Skills

5. Excellent communication skills including written, verbal and presentation. Advanced interpersonal skills and the proven ability to build relationships within and outside of the organisation that foster success.

6. Clear track record of managing, motivating and securing individual and collective performance

7. Advanced professional understanding of modern IT technology and its application in a University / IT services type environment including awareness of current and future trends

8. Equipped to take leadership of major incident / crisis management scenarios including IT disaster recovery and business continuity

9. A skilful and confident problem solver, capable of applying existing frameworks and operating where

none exist. Able to operate on own initiative and recognising boundaries for escalation. Capable of leading an outcome focused group of technical specialists to deliver against shared objectives.

Specific Qualities (e.g. attitudes)

10. A resilient, determined and confident team player, comfortable with making decisions and highly customer focused coupled with excellent people management skills.

Desirable Criteria

11. Direct University IT experience and / or other public sector experience but ideally with some non public service sector exposure.

12. Qualification in ITIL management or similar.

13. Welsh Speaker

Salary: £61,759 - £67,468 per annum (Grade 8). Appointments at Cardiff University are made at bottom of scale except in exceptional circumstances.

Cardiff University is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing, and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, or age. In supporting our employees to achieve a balance between their work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements., Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.