Chief of Strategy

Job Title: Chief of Strategy

Reports To: Executive Chair

Location: Bristol (with flexible/hybrid working options)

Contract Type: Secondment or Fixed Term Contract (minimum two years, with potential to extend)

Band X: £110,000 dependent on skills and experience.  

About Research England

Research England is a council of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), responsible for funding and supporting research and knowledge exchange in higher education institutions across England. We shape the conditions for a vibrant, globally competitive research and innovation system that supports national prosperity, societal advancement, and the public good.

We work in close partnership with UKRI, government, universities, and other stakeholders to ensure the sector is equipped to address national priorities, respond to emerging challenges, and drive long-term impact.

About The Role

This is a newly created, senior executive leadership role, designed to enhance the strategic capacity of Research England and position the organisation for the future and to support a number of high priority projects and programmes to support Research England’s response challenges facing the higher education institutions in England.

As Chief of Strategy, you will work closely with the Executive Chair, Research England’s Council, and Senior Leadership Team to lead the development and embedding of Research England’s long-term strategic direction as well as where necessary to support key projects in support of Research England’s response to sector issues. This role goes beyond high-level vision-setting - it is about shaping the system we operate in, aligning internal and external agendas, and enabling strategic delivery at scale.

You will lead strategic planning, build organisational capability, and ensure that evidence, insight, and foresight underpin every aspect of our work. You will represent Research England with authority across government, UKRI, and the wider research and innovation ecosystem.

This role combines thought leadership with practical delivery. It is designed to embed strategic thinking into the core of the organisation, connect it to real-world execution, and strengthen our voice and influence across the sector.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Organisational Direction

• Lead the development and implementation of Research England’s long-term strategy, ensuring clarity of purpose and alignment with the wider UKRI mission.
• Shape the organisation’s strategic posture and evolution - enabling us to operate with agility, foresight, and long-term impact in a changing environment.
• Work with the Executive Chair, Senior Leadership Team and Council to ensure strategic priorities are coherent, credible, and forward-looking.
• Translate strategic direction into organisational planning and delivery frameworks that support sustained impact and accountability.

Execution and Organisational Alignment

• Drive strategic coordination across directorates to ensure alignment between strategic intent and operational activity.
• Identify and remove barriers to progress across teams, ensuring clarity of decision-making and consistency of delivery.
• Lead the governance of major strategic programmes and transformation efforts, supporting colleagues to deliver with purpose and pace.
• Foster a culture of outcome-focused leadership and shared responsibility at the senior level.

Strategic Insight, Evidence and Foresight

• Build Research England’s strategic insight functions across directorates that draw on data, research, and foresight to inform decisions, shape policy, and strengthen funding strategies.
• Develop and oversee a comprehensive approach to strategic intelligence, including horizon scanning, scenario planning, and impact evaluation.
• Oversee the coordination of strategic investment planning to ensure all funding programmes are aligned with Research England’s mission and goals
• Ensure Research England has the internal capability and external partnerships needed to operate as an evidence-led, insight-rich organisation.
• Embed strategic thinking and the use of evidence into business planning and decision-making at all levels.

External Influence and System Engagement

• Represent Research England at the highest levels - across UKRI, government, funding bodies, and the wider research and innovation community.
• Shape and maintain influential relationships with senior stakeholders, ensuring alignment between organisational goals and wider system priorities.
• Ensure Research England’s voice is connected, credible, and influential in national and sector-wide forums.
• Champion collaboration and coherence across institutions, agencies, and departments to drive collective impact.

Data and Evidence Strategy

• Strengthen the organisation’s ability to generate, analyse, and apply data and evidence to inform strategic decision-making, investment planning, and policy development
• Integrate data and evidence functions across directorates and enhance the organisation’s ability to demonstrate impact and value to stakeholders.

Leadership Support and Delegated Authority

• Represent Research England in senior strategic and leadership forums - including UKRI governance, government engagements, and high-level sector discussions - with delegated authority from the Executive Chair
• Oversee priority projects and issues requiring cross-organisational coordination, enabling the Executive Chair to focus on system-wide leadership.
• Oversee the full lifecycle of these initiatives—from concept development through to deliver ensuring alignment with organisational strategy, stakeholder expectations, and sector needs
• Provide executive leadership on high-impact initiatives and organisational priorities, supporting decision-making and timely execution.
• Strengthen the cohesion and effectiveness of the Senior Leadership Team through strategic alignment and operational oversight.

Person Specification

We understand that individuals might hesitate to submit an application if they don't meet each of the criteria. If you're enthusiastic about joining our organisation and possess a majority of the skills or experience, we encourage you to proceed with an application. We recognise that a variety of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences enriches our work environment and therefore actively welcome applications from a diverse range of candidates.

Candidates will be assessed against the following criteria throughout the recruitment process:

Experience And Knowledge

• Extensive experience in a senior leadership role within a complex, mission-driven or policy-influencing organisation.
• A strong track record of shaping and delivering organisational strategy, ideally with exposure to system-wide transformation.
• Deep understanding of the UK research and innovation landscape, including the role of funding, policy, and public value.
• Demonstrated experience operating at the interface of policy, evidence, delivery, and stakeholder engagement.
• Deep understanding of the role of Research England and how it fulfils this in context of HERA 2017 and UKRI to apply this to Research England’s future strategy development and to rapid change programmes for delivery.
• Deep specialist understanding at senior and strategic level on how universities are responding to current fiscal environment and experience of organisational change management in this context. 
• Specialist senior and deep strategic expertise on how the university sector manages various requirements set by Research England within administration, finance and research management areas from large and complex research-intensive environments.
• Specialist knowledge of institutional management of requirements of the Research Excellence Framework
• Deep understanding of how sector data is compiled and used at university level and at national levels and is able to turn this knowledge into RE strategy for system level data on the R&I system
• Strong experience and knowledge of national research capabilities and assets and strategic experience of leading and directing shaping these for the future

Skills And Capabilities

• Outstanding strategic thinker, with the ability to navigate complexity and distil it into clear direction.
• Experienced in organisational development and governance, with a focus on alignment, culture, and performance.
• Highly skilled at building relationships and trust at senior levels - across government, academia, and funding bodies.
• Politically astute, intellectually curious, and able to operate with credibility across sectors and disciplines.
• Strong judgement and decision-making capability, informed by evidence and long-term perspective.

Leadership Style and Attributes

• Visionary yet grounded - able to set ambitious goals while ensuring they are credible and deliverable.
• Collaborative and empowering - works through relationships, influence, and shared purpose rather than hierarchy.
• Resilient and adaptable - thrives in complexity, remains composed under pressure, and leads change with confidence.
• Mission-aligned - committed to public service, societal impact, and the central role of research in shaping the future.

Why Join Us?

• Take on a newly created executive role at the heart of the UK’s research and innovation system.
• Work alongside the Executive Chair and senior colleagues to shape the future of Research England and the wider sector.
• Lead strategy, transformation, and insight in a nationally significant organisation that values integrity, impact, and collaboration.
• Operate at the interface of research, policy, and investment - with real influence on the direction of public funding and national capability.
• Be part of a values-led leadership team committed to excellence, equity, and public good.

Application Guidance:

How To Evidence The Criteria:

We encourage you to use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in your cover letter to clearly demonstrate how your experience meets each of the ‘person specification’ criteria outlined in the job description. For examples of the STAR method, please visit: The STAR method | National Careers Service’.

Please ensure your CV and cover letter are no longer than two A4 pages each, using a minimum font size of 11. Once submitted, your application cannot be edited via your careers website; however, if you encounter any issues or need to update your documents, please contact us at SeniorRecruitment@ukri.org.

Other Information

If you'd like to have an informal chat about the role before applying, you're welcome to get in touch with us at seniorrecruitment@ukri.org

UKRI - UK Research and Innovation

UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.

Supporting some of the world’s most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation.

More information can be found at www.ukri.org.

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme.  For more details, visit benefits of working for UKRI.

How we support EDI in the workforce

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’.

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all applicants with a disability who opt into the disability confident scheme and meet the minimum criteria for the role. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

How To Apply

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.

The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role.  UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.