Business Development Unit
2 year fixed term contract
About the Role
The Business Management team is a recently developed team that acts as a core enabling function, sitting at the heart of the Business Development Unit (BDU). Working in a fast-changing environment the Business Management team cover a broad range of activities to support the shaping and delivery of key business objectives.
- The Business Management Team are responsible for supporting the BDU across the following key areas;
- through the generation of research and business insights and analysis to inform and contribute to the Unit’s commercial strategy and business planning process, and,
- the development and maintenance of sustainable operational business models and processes that can be managed within University capabilities
- through the generation, maintenance and analysis of data, creation and development of reports, production of management information and performance indicators and dashboards
- Business systems support, including maintenance, development, customisation and integration of business systems
The Business Management Technical Lead will be responsible for leading the development, application and integration of business systems and tools that facilitate and drive growth of BDU business lines.
The post holder will also play a key role identifying and representing the BDU’s technical requirements in wider University change initiatives and ensuring that these are embedded into business as usual practices.
The post holder will also play a key bridging role, engaging with University stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions as well as proactively identifying areas for improvement, based on knowledge of the business areas.
The Business Management Technical Lead will also support the Head of Business Management in leading key strategic and IT related business development projects. This will include the planning and management of projects, conducting research and analysis, the production of briefs and plans, together with the effective handover of projects back to the business.
This opportunity would suit an ambitious candidate with leadership capabilities, excellent communication and relationship building abilities, who is looking to develop and expand their knowledge of the dynamics of the UK and International Higher Education sector, as well as an interest in understanding the Open University’s business model and value proposition to support commercial objectives.
Key Responsibilities
- To lead the development, application and embedding of the business systems, tools and applications to provide the Unit with an integrated and customer-centric operational management platform that supports the development and growth of each of the BDU’s business lines.
- To lead on identification, definition and implementation of technical solutions to support BDU business needs. This includes providing lead representation for the BDU in relations to technical
requirements and implementation, as part of a University-wide systems replacements programme. Ensure integration with technical infrastructure of the wider University. - Provide technical solutions to support development and improvement of analytical tools and best practice methodologies to support data and business performance analysis in a commercial context.
- Proactively identify technical improvements that deliver business efficiencies and automation to improve business processes.
- To take on responsibility of the Unit’s compliance with the legal requirements of the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts and to manage the contracts and licence agreements with third-party suppliers.
- To act as a key point of information and support within the Unit on the implementation of requirements around Data Protection and other legislation, in liaison with relevant Units. This includes design and provision of training where required.
- Lead on the definition of the BDU’s Data Warehouse SLA’s and a development schedule. Review the BDU’s Data Warehouse to prioritise and implement developments. Communicate plans to key stakeholders, covering the ‘big picture’ and specific details where appropriate.
- Manage resources for supporting ad hoc requests for technical support within the Unit.
- Cultivate and manage successful relationships within the University (e.g. BDU business lines, faculties, project teams) as well as with external organisations and other stakeholders
Skills and Experience
- Significant and relevant experience of the analysis, development, application and embedding of business systems, tools and applications
- Experience, confidence and industry knowledge to deliver and lead on appropriate and strategic technical solutions to facilitate the Unit’s key business objectives
- Experience of developing protocols for testing and evaluation of system changes
- Experience of operating at a senior level to communicate across business lines and Units between technical and non-technical stakeholders to facilitate the Unit’s objectives
- Knowledge, understanding and application of data Extraction, Transformation and Load
- Experience with working and developing a data warehouse
- Experience of stakeholder engagement, influencing and negotiating skills
- Experience of working within a challenging, dynamic environment or on a complex project with multiple stakeholders
- Knowledge and experience of the application of a range of tools and systems, i.e. SAS (Enterprise Guide), Tableau, Salesforce, Maytas, Pardot, SAS Data Integration (DI) Studio, SAS Visual Analytics, Microsoft data tools, azure data tools, Power BI (or other similar systems)
- Knowledge and experience of web development
- Experience of working in Higher Education sector or sector-related knowledge
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