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About the Role

The Programme Governance & Operations Manager provides senior operational and assurance leadership for the PGCE Wales programme, with responsibility for governance, regulatory compliance and end‑to‑end operational oversight across the student lifecycle. Operating at Grade 7, the role leads defined portfolios with a high level of autonomy, managing complex regulatory activity and exercising professional judgement in areas of institutional and reputational risk.

Working across a complex, partnership‑based environment, the postholder establishes and maintains robust planning, reporting and monitoring arrangements to ensure proactive compliance, inspection readiness, and assurance of academic and operational standards. The role provides clear operational leadership across the team, ensuring systems, processes and data are reliable, timely and fit for purpose.

By strengthening operational governance and assurance, the role enhances programme resilience and continuity, enabling the Grade 8 Senior Manager to focus on strategic leadership and long‑term programme development. The post also retains flexibility to support wider programme delivery and cross‑team coordination in response to emerging priorities and capacity needs.

What is the Open University’s ‘PGCE’ programme?

The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) at The Open University in Wales offers a flexible route into teaching that combines online learning, live seminars, and school‑based experience leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Delivered on a pan‑Wales, part‑time and employment‑based model, the programme is available in both English and Welsh and is supported through a strong network of partner schools. With a clear mission to widen access, diversify the teaching profession, and increase the supply of Welsh‑medium teachers, we support new learners and work closely with partner schools across all regions of Wales.

Key Responsibilities

The role holder will need to apply strong project management discipline ensuring clear planning, stakeholder coordination, risk management, delivery oversight, and timely completion of all regulatory, governance and QA requirements.

The role holder will develop a range of monitoring and quality assurance systems that work to ensure an effective partnership that meet the needs of external stakeholders.

Regulatory & Inspection Readiness

• Lead inspection readiness and accreditation activity, ensuring continuous compliance through effective planning, evidence management and action tracking.
• Hold end‑to‑end ownership of the accreditation cycle, maintaining a live evidence base aligned to EWC expectations.
• Interpret regulatory and inspection frameworks, providing authoritative advice and coordinating high‑quality submissions for external review and inspection.

Governance

• Manage PGCE governance arrangements, including committees and working groups, ensuring effective agendas, high‑quality papers, clear action tracking and decision‑focused meetings.
• Lead programme‑level quality assurance cycles, coordinating planning, evidence and reporting in line with University and programme standards.
• Analyse data to identify risk, inform decision‑making and support continuous improvement, producing internal and external reports as required.

Programme Operations and Assurance

• Provide operational oversight of programme QA and assurance activity, coordinating planning, evidence, reporting and information management processes.
• Analyse data and contribute to reporting to support delivery of targets and outcomes within the PGCE Wales five‑year strategy.

Partnership, Stakeholder and Senior Manager Support

• Work collaboratively with academic colleagues, professional services and external partners to ensure effective programme delivery and clarity of roles and responsibilities.
• Represent the programme in governance, operational and partnership meetings as required.
• Provide proactive governance and operational support to the Grade 8 Senior Manager, anticipating risk and capacity pressures and contributing to programme planning, improvement and long‑term sustainability.

About You

Essential:

• Experience managing complex operational, governance or regulatory processes within higher education, the public sector or a partnership‑based environment.
• Experience working within the public or education sector in Wales, with an understanding of its regulatory and partnership context.
• Strong project and programme management capability, including planning, risk management, prioritisation and cross‑team coordination.
• Experience of governance, compliance, quality assurance or regulatory‑aligned work.
• Experience of producing, coordinating or assuring high‑stakes documentation (e.g. inspection, accreditation, audit or regulatory submissions).
• Ability to analyse information and use data and evidence to support operational decision‑making and continuous improvement.
• Excellent organisational and problem‑solving skills, with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities under pressure.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to interpret policy and convey complex information clearly to a range of audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills, with the capacity to influence, challenge and support colleagues at all levels.
• Ability to work with a high level of autonomy, while contributing effectively to wider team and programme priorities.
• Ability to carry out the role in a way that is consistent with equality legislation and University policies.

Desirable:

• Fluent Welsh (oral and written) or experience working in a bilingual environment.
• Experience of working with inspection, accreditation or regulatory frameworks (e.g. Estyn, EWC or similar bodies).
• Experience in quality assurance, governance or regulatory roles within similar bodies. 
• Experience managing data, evidence packs or document control systems.
• Experience writing reports or analyses for internal governance and external stakeholders.
• Experience of working within initial teacher education, professional programmes or partnership‑based provision.
• Experience of leading or contributing to process improvement or organisational change activity.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email careers@open.ac.uk quoting the advert reference number.

Applications may be submitted in Welsh, and an application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Working Location: It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where the successful candidate can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Cardiff Office, it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We would expect this to be around one day per week, with additional days as required to support operational priorities, meetings and programme delivery. Full-time working based from our Cardiff site is also supported if this is preferred by the candidate.  Expenses associated with travel to our Cardiff site are not reimbursable. The postholder will also be expected to travel across Wales to attend partnership, governance, and stakeholder meetings.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

Interview dates are still to be confirmed.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications has been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.

If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit the following documents:

• CV
• A Supporting Statement of up to 1000 words. You should set out in your statement why you are interested in the role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the essential criteria for this role as detailed above.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system.  Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.