The Role
Newcastle University is looking to appoint an experienced Risk & Resilience Officer to join the Legal Services team and strengthen the University’s approach to risk, resilience and business continuity.
Reporting to the Head of Risk & Compliance you will play a key role in ensuring that the University has effective mechanisms in place to identify and respond to emerging risks or interruptions to its operations. Working with a wide range of stakeholders you will strengthen the University’s risk and business continuity arrangements and frameworks.
The ideal candidate will have worked in a risk or resilience role previously, preferably in the Higher Education Sector or another large complex organisation. You will be approachable and efficient, remaining calm under pressure, prioritising your own workload and at times working to tight deadlines. Excellent verbal and written communication skills are essential in order to successfully build relationships across the institution with a strategic and analytical approach you will be capable of driving continuous improvement, change and operational excellence, is essential.
This is an exciting role that cuts across the whole University, you will have the opportunity to work closely with senior leaders, ensuring that risk and resilience arrangements are robust and aligned with best practice across the Higher Education sector.
There will be a requirement to be on site in Newcastle for part of the week and there may be occasional work required outside of normal office hours.
For informal enquiries, please contact Kelly Oliver, Head of Risk and Compliance at. To apply, please upload an up-to-date CV and letter of application outlining specific examples around how you meet the requirements set out in the Job Description.
The post is full time, permanent.
Reporting to the Head of Risk and Compliance, you will take the operational lead in the implementation of the University’s risk and resilience framework.
You will strengthen the University’s risk and resilience arrangements, contributing towards a risk-informed organisation that is able to consider, assess, and respond to risk or business interruptions across all activities. Working with a wide range of stakeholders from across the University, you will facilitate high-quality and high-impact risk information, to support decision-making and ultimately the successful achievement of strategic objectives.
Key Accountabilities
1. Support the Head of Risk and Compliance with the facilitation and coordination of risk management across the organisation providing professional advice when required
2. Champion a positive risk culture by ensuring that risk registers and key aspects of the risk management framework (risk policy and risk appetite statement) are regularly reviewed and maintained
3. Ensure that the University has effective mechanisms to identify emerging risks to its strategy and operations. Take responsibility for the coordination of activity to review, develop and maintain top level risk registers and risk reporting to support the delivery of the University Strategic Plan
4. Contribute to the facilitation and coordination of business continuity activity across the University
5. Ensure key aspects of our business continuity management framework (business continuity policy, resilience plans, and incident management plans) are regularly reviewed and maintained
6. Lead continuous improvement of the University’s risk, resilience and business continuity activities, ensuring that systems and processes are fit for purpose
7. Liaise with colleagues across the University to ensure risk and resilience arrangements are effectively aligned and embedded within key processes
8. Take the lead in ensuring that business continuity and local incident plans are up to date, tested, and exercised. Work closely with colleagues to ensure critical activities are identified, business impact is understood, risk/threat assessments are undertaken and recovery plans are developed and implemented which align with the needs of the University
9. Ensure that the University Emergency Management Plan resources are maintained and that the responding teams and Incident Officers have suitable training
10. Support senior teams in coordinating the response to a major emergency or incident
11. Lead continuous improvement of the University’s risk management framework, ensuring that systems, processes and actions are fit for purpose
12. Research best practice and maintain an up to date knowledge of risk management and compliance issues and a network of contacts
13. Establish and manage effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders communicating relevant information within the University and externally when appropriate
14. Represent the University externally including on regional and national risk and resilience networks and similar groups as required
15. Where appropriate, report to the University Executive on areas of responsibility, including identifying and reporting on emerging issues and proposing solutions
16. Maintain memberships of relevant professional bodies and undertake CPD to ensure remain current with developments in the profession
The Person
Knowledge, Skills and Experience
17. Experience of working in a risk and resilience role
18. In-depth knowledge of risk and resilience issues and emerging threats relevant to the higher education sector
19. Experience of developing and implementing risk and resilience management systems and frameworks
20. Experience of training colleagues and delivering effective presentations
21. Experience of developing and implementing policy and guidance
22. The ability to deal with and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders
Attributes and Behaviour
23. An ability to effectively persuade and influence
24. Excellent communication skills, ability to deliver advice in an appropriate and professional manner
25. The ability to build effective working relationships internally & externally
26. The ability to work alone or as part of a team
27. The ability to think strategically and critically
28. Horizon-scanning and working proactively to support the development of University policy and emergency preparedness.
29. A knowledge of change management techniques and experience of delivery
30. An ability to prioritise workload, deliver on time and to tight deadlines
31. A high level of tact and discretion.
32. Willing to occasionally work outside normal hours when the need arises
Qualifications
33. Educated to degree level or equivalent
Desirable
34. Membership of the Institute Risk Management/Business Continuity Institute or equivalent
Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution. We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population. At Newcastle University we hold a Gold award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme. In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. Requisition ID: 29114