Systems Manager. Job Description. About Teaching Leaders

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1 Systems Manager Job Description About Teaching Leaders Teaching Leaders is an innovative not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to address educational disadvantage by growing a movement of outstanding middle leaders in challenging schools. The programme was developed in partnership with four of the UK s most forward thinking organisations: Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), the National College, Teach First and Future Leaders. We realise our mission by delivering two specific training and development experiences for middle leaders in challenging secondary schools: the Fellows Programme which is focused on retaining and stretching high potential individuals; and Teaching Leaders Teams which is focused on building capacity across groups of middle leaders in one school. The Fellows Programme was launched in 2008 with an inaugural cohort of 30 and has grown to work with over 500 fellows across 240+ schools in the South and North regions. In 2011 the organisation secured 3-year funding from the National College for expansion to all regions of England, and the Midlands launched as the third and final region in March We have just recruited our largest Fellows intake ever there are 330 middle leaders in our 2013 cohort. The Teaching Leaders Teams programmes are active in over 30 schools nationally, and offer a bespoke modular development programme for groups of up to 15 middle leaders in one or more schools. From 2013 schools have been able to choose our licence package, which gives participants the chance to work towards a professional qualification (NPQML) and allows senior leaders access to Teaching Leaders facilitation training and the opportunity to co-facilitate sessions in their school. As the organisation grows, there will be a key focus on ensuring we grow our impact and mission; this will be done by maintaining programme quality and innovation, building an outstanding team who deliver according to the Teaching Leaders values, and building lasting relationships with schools, making Teaching Leaders a rite of passage for all middle leaders in challenging schools, and thereby influencing national policy. More information can be found at

2 The Role Teaching Leaders continues to experience significant success and consequent growth with both its Fellows and Teams programmes. From our foundation in 2008, we have now grown to scale by spring 2014 we will have 80 staff across the country, and be actively working with more than 550 middle leaders through our Fellows programme, and more than 800 through our Teams programme. As a growing charity that is becoming an established feature of the English educational landscape, Teaching Leaders operational approach is now maturing. The appointment of a Systems Manager will ensure we continue to provide the systems and tools required to effectively deliver Teaching Leaders operations, both now and in the future. The System Manager will report to the Associate Director of Systems who is responsible for owning and developing a technology strategy across both infrastructure and application developments. The Associate Director for Systems will act as Teaching Leader s enterprise architect to ensure alignment and integration between different solutions proposed and implemented. The Systems Manager for our external facing applications will set the strategic direction with the Leadership Development team and ensure continuous improvement for, but not limited to, the Platform (custom force.com system for fellows and coaches) and the Leadership Academy (content management system). The role will: work closely with various stakeholders ensuring that system developments are delivered to a high standard; have responsibility over system operations and provide effective training when needed. This role is one of two manager roles and an associate role and therefore more responsibility is expected to be taken on board by the successful candidate until approximately March 2014 when the second manager will be recruited. This System Manager role will then have responsibility over the Platform and Leadership Academy only. The key responsibilities of this role will be: Strategy Work closely with the Leadership Development team to set the vision along with the strategy for the Platform (Fellows Platform) and Leadership Academy (Fellows content management system) Working with Leadership Development team to ensure the direction of the tools are in line with the organisation s strategic priorities Review the process around system training and suggest ideas around improvements Assist in reviewing policies and procedures to ensure that the systems are working according to ITIL best practice Project Management/Business Analysis Lead on requirements building, design, development and implementation on new requests Produce requirements documentation which include workflows and wireframes Produce testing scripts and coordinate /manage UAT and regression testing Work with the organisation to identify the need for new applications Continuously manage stakeholder expectations in systems delivery Train users on new developments and produce relevant training guides

3 Development Project manage system developments for the Platform and the Leadership Academy end to end Assist System AD on Salesforce and Sharepoint developments and changes Positively manage challenges faced during development Ensure the project teams are kept updated with the developments of a project Platform Management Be the main point of contact for Platform changes and issues Prioritise and manage issued raised by users Initiate changes in line with the programme and system operation Improve the user experience Produce reports and oversee usage Plan/lead Platform Ambassador meetings for all cohorts Leadership Academy Management Elearning Be the main point of contact for technical issues around the Leadership Academy Monitor site usage and run reports Work with various teams on improving site usage by exploring and implementing new cost effective ideas Communicate to the team about changes/updates and assist in communicating this to end users Manage and implement Alumni access Review the site and lead further system developments Lead on the development of elearning courses Introduce guidance around creating elearning courses Provide training on developing elearning courses to the team Ensure elearning courses are consistent and professional Contractor Management Create a resources plan for fulltime contractors Oversee all development by contractors ensuring they have understood the brief Challenge contractors ideas and suggestions to ensure we are implementing intelligent technical processes System Operations Maintain ongoing systems (Salesforce, Leadership Academy built on Drupal and the Participant platform built on force.com) and ensure changes are implemented to a high standard in a timely manner and cost efficiently Provide ongoing day to day support to the team and external users on all systems related issues Track bugs and change requests on the Ticket System Lead on training users on the TL systems

4 Data Security Administrative Work with Systems AD, to ensure that all TL applications are secure and abide by the data protection Implement permission sets and a security model for TL systems Raise purchase orders for Systems AD Assist and distribute actions from meetings (when needed) Arrange meetings for stakeholders (when needed) Skills Essential: 2+ years of professional experience, ideally in the education and/or non-profit sectors A strong commitment to education, the non-profit sector and raising the aspirations, achievement and life chances of all children 1+ years of project management with understanding of risks and challenges associated A confident and competent user of IT and with a minimum of 2 years experience in using a core system in previous role Ability to manage change effectively in order to meet the demands of the business Ability to build relationships and work collaboratively across teams within Teaching Leaders and with our partner organisations Passion for technology and awareness of the benefits it can bring to an organisation Keen to develop further knowledge and skills in systems development Effective and confident communicator to internal and external stakeholders Strong organisational skills and attention to detail Able to manage stakeholder expectations and thrive under pressure Ability to organise own workload to ensure work is completed to a high standard and to a deadline Some experience of system developments process (e.g. requirements building, development or testing) Desirable: Previous Salesforce administrator 1+ years of project management in systems development Experience in successfully planning and delivering training to a large audience Experience of matrix working Experience in business analysis, translating unrefined organisation requirements into specifications and requirements for development Qualifications University graduate with a 2:1 degree

5 Reports to Systems Associate Director Location TL office London. National travel maybe required occasionally. Duration Start date: As soon as possible Permanent; full-time contract Occasional weekend and evening work may be required for which you will be awarded time off in lieu. Salary 28,000-30,000 (depending on experience) plus 2,000 London weighting supplement Application and Selection Process Interested candidates should a Cover Letter and their CV to Mehrun Begum (Mehrun.Begum@teachingleaders.org.uk) by Thursday 07 th November Shortlisted applicants will be invited to an interview in the second week of November in London. Successful applicants at interview will then be invited to an Assessment Centre during the third/fourth week of November. Please bear in mind that there may be some flexibility on these dates. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Mehrun Begum on (see contact details below) to discuss the role and organisation before applying. Mehrun Begum Associate Director, Systems Tel: mehrun.begum@teachingleaders.org.uk