Management Head, Program ​/ Project Manager

Role Title and Employment Details

Role

Title:

Head of Change

Grade and Salary: Grade 9, Competitive Salary

FTE and working pattern: Full-time, 35 hours per week;
Open-ended

Reward and Benefits: 33 days annual leave, plus 9 buildings closed days for all full-time staff.

Heriot-Watt University is a leading UK university recognised for world-class teaching and impactful, industry-relevant research, with a strong reputation for innovation and enterprise. The University operates across five campuses in the UK, Dubai and Malaysia, offering specialist programmes in science, engineering, design, business and languages, and is Scotland’s most international university by student cohort.

The University operates within a complex and dynamic Higher Education environment, managing a diverse portfolio of strategic, regulatory, digital, academic and capital change initiatives. The Global Project Management Office was established in 2022 to centralise delivery of a range of university projects, providing robust and consistent project management and delivering priority projects in support of the University’s strategic objectives. The team is based at our Edinburgh campus and is part of the Strategic Planning, Performance & Projects directorate.

The Head of Change is responsible for establishing, leading, and embedding the University’s central change function and change ecosystem in support of Strategy 2035.

This role will oversee the delivery performance of the University’s strategic and operational change portfolio, including capital projects and business change initiatives. The role owns the end-to-end change system: from intake and prioritisation of demand, through portfolio planning and governance, to delivery oversight, benefits realisation, and transition into business as usual.

Acting as the University’s senior authority on change, the postholder ensures that change investment decisions are aligned to strategy, capacity and risk appetite, and that change is delivered consistently, sustainably and with measurable value for all stakeholders.

Change Portfolio Ownership & Prioritisation

• Own and operate the University’s change portfolio, providing a single authoritative view of demand, priorities, sequencing and capacity.
• Lead portfolio shaping, prioritisation and balancing of change against BAU capacity.
• Establish portfolio level decision support for executive governance (value, risk, benefits confidence, readiness).

Change Ecosystem Design & Governance

• Define, design and continuously improve the University’s change ecosystem, including:
• change lifecycle processes and standards for multi-category, multi-speed, and multi-method delivery (scaled by risk and size).
• portfolio, programme and project governance
• assurance and stage gate controls
• Establish new change governance structures, up to and including University Executive and Committees of Court.
• Establish clear decision rights, delegated authorities and escalation routes across the change lifecycle.
• Provide process, planning, and governance enablement and assurance for the University’s Strategy 2035 programme and Transformation Office, working in partnership with the Transformation Office leadership.

Delivery Oversight

• Provide senior oversight (excluding day-to-day delivery management) of major programmes and high-risk change initiatives.
• Ensure delivery approaches are appropriate (waterfall, agile or hybrid) and consistent with university standards.
• Intervene where delivery confidence, benefits or adoption are at risk.

Benefits Realisation & Outcomes

• Establish and own the University’s value and benefits management framework and ensure robust business case management for all major initiatives.
• Use benefits confidence to inform portfolio prioritisation, continuation or closure decisions.

Capability, Capacity & Professional Leadership

• Provide leadership and line management across all change disciplines (programme / project management, business analysis, change management, PMO).
• Lead strategic workforce planning, recruitment, and capability development for change capability, including competency frameworks and communities of…