About Us
West Dean is truly distinctive. We bring together internationally recognised education across arts, craft, conservation, design, and horticulture, delivered across our campuses in Sussex and Bloomsbury, London. Alongside this, we steward an historic estate and gardens that welcome tens of thousands of visitors each year, as well as the remarkable legacy and collections of our founder, Edward James.
We are now advancing an ambitious strategy to 2031, designed to focus our priorities and drive long-term success. Estates and Campus Services will play a central role in delivering this vision—conserving and enhancing the estate, supporting outstanding student, visitor and staff experiences, embedding environmental sustainability, and strengthening operational resilience.
About the Role
This is a pivotal 12-month interim leadership role at the heart of West Dean’s Estates and Campus Services function.
As Interim Deputy Director, you will act as the operational lead across a diverse and highly visible portfolio, including campus services, hospitality, events, gardens, residential accommodation, property, and facilities. Working closely with the Director, you will provide day-to-day leadership to a team of experienced Heads of Department, ensuring the safe, consistent, and high-quality delivery of services across the estate.
A key focus of the role will be to strengthen operational performance and integration, embed robust governance, and develop a more data-driven approach to decision-making. You will enhance performance visibility, improve financial and operational oversight, and help deliver a more joined-up customer journey across student, visitor, and commercial activities.
You will also lead priority improvement projects and programmes, ensuring these translate into sustainable operational change and long-term impact.
As part of the senior leadership team, you will contribute to organisation-wide planning and decision-making, working collaboratively with colleagues across academic, commercial, and operational functions. This is a unique opportunity to make a tangible impact, shaping how a complex estate operates and delivers value during a period of continued development and growth.
About You
The successful candidate will be an experienced senior leader with a strong track record in complex, customer-facing environments such as estates, facilities, hospitality, visitor attractions, or similarly diverse operational settings.
You will bring a strong track record of delivering operational transformation, driving measurable improvements in performance and service quality, and leading end-to-end service redesign. This will be underpinned by a relentless focus on continuous improvement and service excellence, ideally demonstrated within an interim or fixed-term role.
Comfortable operating at pace, you will combine strategic thinking with hands-on delivery, establishing credibility quickly and driving measurable improvements. You will have proven experience of leading multi-disciplinary teams through senior managers and working across organisational boundaries to align priorities, enhance performance, and deliver consistently high-quality services.
Your leadership style will be collaborative, visible, and pragmatic, underpinned by sound judgement and the ability to make informed decisions in a fast-moving environment.
You will bring a strong focus on operational excellence, governance, and continuous improvement, alongside the ability to use data and insight to drive performance. Financial and commercial awareness, together with a clear understanding of compliance, risk, and health and safety, will be essential.
Above all, you will be motivated by the opportunity to contribute to an organisation that uniquely combines education, heritage, and visitor experience.
How to Apply
West Dean is being supported on this appointment by the search consultancy MRG.
To arrange an initial confidential conversation, please contact our retained advisors, Sian Gardiner and Michael Hewlett.
Applications should be sent to Sian Gardiner and should include:
A comprehensive CV
A supporting statement outlining your suitability for the role
Closing date for applications: Sunday 28th June 2026