Quality Lead & Course Leader

Hours

Full Time. Approximately half the role is Quality Lead work and half is Course Leader Work

Head of Faculty (Bristol), working closely with the Head of Campus (Manchester)

The Course Leader element may be in any one of:
Electronic Music Production;
Music Performance / Vocal Artistry;
Songwriting;
Music & Sound for Film & Game / Sound Design;
Event Management. Electronic Music Production and the Performance / Songwriting area are the most likely. Specialism confirmed at offer stage.

This descriptor sets out a single full-time post at dBs Manchester combining two established academic roles:
Quality Lead and Course Leader. Full details of each role are provided in the accompanying Quality Lead Job Description and Course Leader Job Description. This document explains how the two functions are combined so candidates can clearly understand the scope of the post.

dBs Institute of Music is a specialist higher education provider working at the intersection of creative practice and contemporary industry. We teach electronic music production, music production and sound engineering, sound design, music and sound for film and games, music performance, songwriting, vocal artistry, live sound and event management. Our teaching staff are practising professionals; our curriculum is shaped by the industries it prepares students for.

Our three campuses in Bristol, Manchester and Plymouth operate as a single faculty. Academic quality, curriculum design, and student experience are developed through cross‑campus collaboration including weekly meetings, discipline working groups, and faculty governance. Course Leaders, Module Leaders and lecturers work across campuses to ensure consistent, high‑quality provision for all students.

This is one full-time post, held by one person. Approximately half the role is Quality Lead work, the campus‑level academic quality function for dBs Manchester, and approximately half is Course Leader work, leading one course in the postholder’s area of disciplinary specialism.

As Quality Lead, you are the local academic steward for quality at Manchester: implementing the institutional quality framework on the ground, monitoring academic quality indicators across all courses at the campus, including module delivery quality, assessment practices, and student feedback, supporting Course Leaders and Module Leaders, and ensuring the campus is well connected into faculty‑wide processes. You line manage the campus Course Leaders.

As Course Leader, you lead one course in your specialism: holding the academic coherence of the student journey across all years, line managing the Module Leaders for that course, and contributing teaching in your discipline.

The Course Leader specialism is open and will be confirmed at offer stage in line with confirmed student numbers and specialist area of the successful candidate;
Electronic Music Production and the Performance / Songwriting area are the most likely. In the first year the postholder may lead a course for first‑year students only, depending on the course area.

This is not a role where the postholder carries the campus alone, and it is not two full jobs in one. It is one full‑time hybrid post, set within a well‑established cross‑campus system and a clear support structure. Three relationships sit at the heart of how the role works:

• Head of Faculty (line manager, based in Bristol) owns the faculty‑wide academic system, including quality frameworks, the CPD programme, faculty governance, Assessment Boards, and parity of standards across campuses, and provides direction and supervision.
• Head of Campus (Manchester) holds operational responsibility for the campus, including timetabling, student feedback processes, and the joined‑up student experience. The postholder works alongside the Head of Campus as the academic counterpart to those operational responsibilities.
• Cross‑campus colleagues, namely Quality Leads, Course Leaders and Module Leaders at Bristol and Plymouth, collaborate through standing governance meetings and discipline‑based working groups. Manchester is not expected…