Deputy Chief Executive

Deputy Chief Executive

Salary: £49,045 to £60,274
Location: Hybrid with an assumption of work from Dunelm House, DH13AN as necessary
Contract: Permanent 35 hours a week full time
Benefits: 30 days annual leave, 8 bank holidays and 4 closure days over the Winter break, 6% employer pension contribution, 28-hour week over 10 week summer vacation period and non-contributory membership to HSF scheme.

Are you interested in being the Deputy Chief Executive of an ambitious, values-led charity working to ensure students have the best possible experience? If so, our client looking for a leader who believes in the power of education to change people and society, with a strong track record in building alliances, leading people, managing quality outcomes, creating opportunities and making change.

About The Organisation

They are a student-led and student-inspired organisation with hundreds of volunteers and elected student leaders, supported by a team of professional staff. They are driven by the decisions and opinions of students and each year they elect a team of student Sabbatical Officers, who are responsible for supporting and representing students interests in various aspects of campus life.

They are a charity who exist as a separate organisation and their charitable governance is overseen by a Board of Trustees made up of both student and external volunteers who contribute their expertise and experience to ensuring they are a well-run organisation.

They ve committed to a four-year plan focused on bringing students across Durham together, building confidence in the purpose and value of the Union, and tackling the big issues that hold students back. The strategy has emerged from listening to students talk and inviting their input on the challenges they have faced over the last few years, what matters to them, and what they need from their students union.

They have recently undergone changes to their elected student leadership structure and the make up of their leadership team, making it a very exciting times for the new Deputy Chief Executive to help shape their future for students.

About the role:

The Deputy Chief Executive role is a brand new role created through some of the recent changes to their leadership team. The role holder will work across the Union to advance the students union s mission to be the champion of students at the University, leading student-facing services including independent advice, support for student-led sports clubs, societies and interest groups, and democratic services.

Their new Deputy Chief Executive will be responsible for the performance, development and sustainability of the professional staff team and volunteers. They will lead effective and efficient services, and both model and inspire behaviours consistent to their values. This role will also provide advice and make recommendations to student leaders, the Chief Executive and the Trustee Board on policy development within their area of responsibility, support the Chief Executive with policy and strategy development, and create and maintain productive relationships with their Students Union partners across the University, the North East of England, and the voluntary and students union sectors.

They re looking for a good combination of skills and experiences, but they do not expect you to have all of the ones they ve outlined in the job pack, nor do they expect you to be equally confident or strong in all of them.

They expect that all of their volunteers and staff behave in line with their principles that they champion students, they are proud of Durham and they make the future better.

They expect their values and your values to complement each other with ours being:

• They value care and responsibility, because thier students matter more to them than anything.
• They value imagination and collectivism, because they re grounded in their distinctive collegiate community.
• They value ambition and optimism, because they believe their students can and do change the world.

They offer an inclusive work environment and a very good overall benefits package. They re a flexible employer and believe passionately in caring for their people. They re also committed to ensuring that their team reflects the diversity of the world and the student community they serve. They respect everyone s individual identity and celebrate difference and particularly welcome applications from candidates from Global Majority backgrounds and those who are disabled. They offer a guaranteed interview for candidates who are disabled and who meet all the main criteria.

How to Apply

Please download the candidate pack for more information about the role.

Key Dates

Closing date: 5pm, Friday 28th February 2025
Longlist interviews (remote): Monday 17th March 2025
Shortlist interviews (in person): Tuesday 25th March 2025

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