Assistant Director, Insight and Improvement (Service Improvement)

This is a senior leadership opportunity within RIS, reporting to the Director of Insight and Improvement. You will lead strategic analysis, business planning and service improvement activity across the function, helping to shape how we respond to emerging challenges, opportunities and regulatory change. You will take ownership of priority improvement workstreams, translating insight into action and delivering measurable benefits. This includes building robust business cases, securing investment, and applying structured change and continuous improvement methodologies to drive successful outcomes. A key part of the role is acting as a central connector across RIS and beyond. You will work closely with stakeholders to ensure priorities are informed by evidence and aligned to institutional needs, while strengthening engagement and communication across the service. You will also act as the custodian of the research and innovation policy framework, ensuring policies and guidance remain current, relevant and effective. Alongside this, you will take on a product owner role for RIS digital systems, working with colleagues in Information Services and across the leadership team to shape and prioritise system improvements. Leading the Service Improvement team, you will coach and develop colleagues, foster a collaborative and customer-focused culture, and play an active role within the RIS leadership team.

You will bring strong experience of leading business change and service improvement in a complex organisation, ideally within a research-intensive higher education environment. You will be confident navigating ambiguity, identifying strategic opportunities and risks, and translating these into clear, actionable plans. You will have experience delivering multi-workstream change programmes in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders, alongside well-developed business planning and change management capability. You will take a collaborative and credible approach, with the ability to build trust, influence and provide effective advice at senior levels. You will also bring experience of leading and developing teams, creating an environment that supports growth, accountability and high performance. A data-informed mindset is essential, with the ability to use insight to anticipate challenges, inform decision-making and drive continuous improvement. A professional qualification in business change or continuous improvement, such as Lean Six Sigma, Prosci or similar, or equivalent experience, is essential.

At University College London, we are a world-leading, research-intensive university, consistently ranked among the top institutions globally. With a thriving research community and an increasingly complex and ambitious research portfolio, we continue to grow our impact across disciplines and around the world. Research and Innovation Services (RIS) plays a critical role in supporting our academic community across the full research lifecycle - from securing funding to managing awards, ensuring compliance, and enabling impactful collaborations. Within RIS, the Planning, Insight and Improvement team brings together data, strategy and service improvement expertise to drive better outcomes, embed best practice and ensure our services are responsive, efficient and sustainable.

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents we also offer some great benefits some of which are below:

• 41 Days holiday (including 27 days annual leave 8 bank holiday and 6 closure days)
• Defined benefit career average revalued earnings pension scheme (CARE)
• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan
• On-Site nursery
• On-site gym
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay
• Employee assistance programme: Staff Support Service
• Discounted medical insurance
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion As London's Global University, we know diversity fosters creativity and innovation, and we want our community to represent the diversity of the world's talent. We are committed to equality of opportunity, to being fair and inclusive, and to being a place where we all belong. We therefore particularly encourage applications from candidates who are likely to be underrepresented in UCL's workforce. These include people from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds; disabled people; LGBTQI+ people; and for our Grade 9 and 10 roles, women. You can read more about our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion here : https://www.ucl.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/ Available documents