Organisational Development Lead

Salary: 48,337 to 51,258 with progression to 57,666 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: 11 October 2026

The Role The University’s Vision and Strategy sets out an ambitious and exciting journey, to be a people focused, world-leading university that harnesses academic excellence, innovation and creativity to advance knowledge and provide benefits to individuals, to organisations and to society as a whole.  In order to achieve this vision, we recognise that our people, and our culture are critical to our success.  

Our ambition for this role is to ensure we build the capability and capacity of our people in line with our Vision and Strategy. You will lead and shape a wide range of University-wide organisational development projects that will enhance the University’s ability to deliver excellence, creativity and impact through its people.  You will have strong organisational and project management skills and excel at building strong working relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders.  

You will be able influence across all levels, bringing ideas and new thinking to generate enthusiasm and commitment for change.
To be highly successful in this role, you will work closely with key internal stakeholders to design, deliver and evaluate organisational development initiatives covering the breadth of the colleague lifecycle. You will develop and implement strategic OD plans which are data-informed, will unlock potential, build capability and embed the University’s values in everything we do. We are looking for someone who can influence across all levels, be passionate about collaboration and be committed to delivering results for the multiple teams you work with.

We are particularly keen to hear from those who can bring ideas and new thinking to generate enthusiasm and commitment for change as well as being willing to share knowledge and expertise. We are happy to discuss flexible working requirements for this role and we are currently working with a hybrid model of some campus and home working.  We can support with relocation for applicants outside of the North East region.

Please do reach out to Sarah Anderson at sa to have a chat about this opportunity.

To apply , please upload a CV and cover letter outlining your unique fit to the criteria set out in our person specification below.

Interviews will be held on our Newcastle campus.

Key Accountabilities Partner with key stakeholders to scope, design, deliver and evaluate a wide range of organisational development initiatives to meet the critical people needs of the University Lead on University-wide OD projects, working collaboratively and flexibly with colleagues in People Services and across the University to deliver OD and learning requirements across the range of strategic plans and enablers

Support the delivery of the strategic leadership, talent and succession approach

Build and oversee key strategic partnerships to ensure the highest standards of service delivery, cost efficiency and delivery of outstanding value

Articulate measures of success and evaluate actvities and interventions to  understand whether objectives and outcomes have been achieved

Design ways to articulate the University’s strategic narrative that are compelling and engaging

Scope, design, deliver and evaluate OD and learning projects that seek to embed the values within the culture of the University Support colleagues to ensure that our processes are fully aligned with our employer brand and University Values Ensure all interventions are…