Chief Executive Officer Education Partnership North East
Education Partnership North East seeks a values-driven Chief Executive Officer to be our lead changemaker — inspiring transformation through education across one of the country’s most successful college groups.
* Location: Hartlepool, Sunderland, and Northumberland
Who we are
Education Partnership North East (EPNE) is one of the North East’s largest college groups, bringing together Sunderland College, Northumberland College, Hartlepool Sixth Form College, and EPNE Training. Across seven campuses, we serve more than 21,500 learners through a broad curriculum spanning academic and vocational programmes, higher education, apprenticeships, adult learning, and high-needs provision.
With roots stretching back to the late 19th century, EPNE is now recognised as a sector leader for inclusive and transformative education, playing a vital role in improving life chances across the North East, from Berwick‑upon‑Tweddle to the Tees Valley. We work in partnership with employers, civic leaders, and local authorities to ensure our provision aligns with the needs of learners, labour markets, and communities.
Since 2017, we have invested more than £90 million in world‑class facilities, with further development underway, including the flagship Ashington Campus, which is due to open in 2026. These investments have been delivered while maintaining strong financial health, ensuring long‑term sustainability and capacity for innovation.
Our success was externally validated in October 2024 when Ofsted judged EPNE to be ‘outstanding’ in every category, and our achievement rates now place us in the top three nationally for 16–18 provision. Recently, Sunderland College was named as one of ten Construction Technical Excellence Colleges by the Department for Education.
As we look to the future, we are ambitious to build on our outstanding platform and to deepen our impact. Our place‑based leadership approach ensures each campus is embedded in its community while sharing in EPNE’s collective culture of ambition and excellence. The next chapter of our journey will be marked by flourishing partnerships, bold innovation, and continued investment — all with the aim of transforming lives and strengthening the prosperity of the North East region.
To achieve this, we seek a Chief Executive Officer who is both values‑driven and visionary — a true changemaker to lead EPNE into our next exciting phase.
About the role
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EPNE is the accountable officer of one of the UK’s most ambitious college groups. The CEO is accountable to the Board and receives direct line management from the Chair.
As CEO, you will lead a team of highly skilled and passionate professionals — experts in their fields who deliver exceptional education and training across the region. Your role is to empower, inspire, and hold to account these leaders, ensuring that our collective expertise drives a shared vision of unlocking potential, creating opportunities and transforming lives.
You will work in close partnership with a committed and expert Board of Governors to deliver EPNE’s Strategic Plan 2025–2030. The Board provides challenge, support, and oversight, while you provide the vision, drive, and leadership needed to bring our ambitious goals to life.
The CEO must be deeply committed to the North East, confident in knowing EPNE’s place within the region, and clear about our responsibility to help address community‑based challenges. This includes leading bold partnerships with employers, civic leaders, and local authorities to promote economic prosperity, tackle inequalities, and inspire communities to achieve their potential.
This role requires balancing strategic foresight with operational excellence — ensuring that EPNE remains financially resilient, continues to invest in world‑class facilities, and sustains its reputation as a standard bearer for the further education sector. At the same time, you will act as lead ambassador and influencer for EPNE, championing the organisation nationally and regionally while ensuring our work makes a lasting impact locally.
If you share our ambition and values, we invite you to step forward and lead EPNE into its next exciting chapter.
Who we are looking for
We are seeking a strategic leader who possesses the ability, confidence, and resilience to take EPNE into its next chapter. You will bring a proven record of delivering impact in the further education sector, and an ability to evidence social impact in previous leadership roles. You will have the vision to drive innovation, the courage to take bold decisions, and the commitment to transform communities across the North East.
As our next CEO, you will demonstrate excellence in strategic leadership, with experience in shaping and delivering organisational vision and long‑term impact. You will be confident in driving curriculum innovation and making bold decisions that respond to student aspirations, labour market needs, and the challenges faced by local communities. Equally, you will be skilled in identifying and sustaining commercial and community partnerships, building productive relationships with employers, local authorities, and civic organisations to deliver shared success and regional transformation.
Strong financial leadership will be essential, and you will bring experience of stewarding multi‑million‑pound budgets with accountability for public money, delivering value for the taxpayer, and ensuring financial resilience while enabling growth and innovation. At the same time, you will be an inspiring leader of people and teams — able to motivate, coach, and mentor colleagues while also inspiring confidence and ambition among external partners and stakeholders.
This role calls for a leader with presence, influence, and clarity of judgement. You will act as a compelling ambassador for EPNE at local, regional, and national levels, representing the voices of our students and communities, while also having the courage to take tough but principled decisions guided by EPNE’s values and responsibility to the region.
Above all, we are looking for a leader who is deeply committed to the North East region and confident in knowing EPNE’s place in the region — recognising our responsibility to help solve community‑based challenges, raise aspirations, and transform lives through education.
Peridot Partners and Education Partnership North East are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and our client expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check and satisfactory references before any final offer can be made.
For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultants at Peridot Partners.
If you would like to know more about this role please contact Sarah Atkins-Boal.
Welcome from James Stuart, Chair of the Board of Governors.
About Education Partnership North East
Education Partnership North East is a dynamic and place‑focused provider that materially contributes to regional socio‑economic progress. We deliver across all types of provision, including technical education, apprenticeships, sixth form, higher education and adult skills. Our reach spans from Berwick‑upon‑Tweddle to the Tees Valley with specialist delivery centres including SEND, Animal and Land, Construction Skills, Technical and Academic.
As a leading academic, technical, further and higher education provider, our work extends beyond the delivery of qualifications and skills to the local community and socio‑economic generation. We are proud to be rated Outstanding across all areas in our latest Ofsted inspection (2024), marking a significant milestone in our remarkable journey.
Our Purpose is to “unlock potential, create opportunities and transform lives through outstanding education, skills and training”. Our Purpose is our North Star: it is what we do every day. Rooted in our power as changemakers, it communicates our work in tackling inequalities, removing barriers and improving the life chances of the people and communities we serve.
Our students and our communities are the reason we do what we do. Whilst we serve diverse urban and rural communities facing complex socio‑economic issues, our ambition for our students and our communities is vast and unwavering. Our student achievement spans beyond our classrooms and workshops and into areas including sporting arenas, skills competitions and social‑justice activities. Social cohesion is a key priority in our Strategic Plan 2025‑2030 and was the theme of the Department for Education Just One More Thing Event hosted by the college recently.
In 2024‑25 we were proud to announce:
* We received ‘outstanding’ across all categories in a full Ofsted Inspection for all colleges in the group
* We received ‘outstanding’ in the Ofsted inspection of our Residential Accommodation
* EPNE co‑developed and launched Colleges for North East England, a partnership of 8 colleges forming the largest skills alliance within the North East Combined Authority
* The new Housing Innovation Construction Skills Academy was built and handed over to Sunderland College, where hundreds of students will study modern construction in a state‑of‑the‑art building from 2025/26
* We agreed key strategic partnerships with the NHS, VELUX and Northumbria University
We have nurtured a very special culture, which is something we are proud of. Our unifying, dual values framework is grounded in the belief that every action, by every individual, contributes to our success. This is why we encourage empowered individuals, personal accountability and growth. We are ready to face the future, with bold ambition and determination, and are looking for an individual who can demonstrate our values: courage, authenticity, respect and excellence.
At Education Partnership North East, we believe that diversity strengthens our communities and enriches our organisation. We therefore encourage applications from people who are under‑represented in leadership within further education.
As a values‑driven organisation, we recognise that different perspectives drive innovation, creativity, and stronger decision‑making. We are proud to be an inclusive employer, and we will provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process and in the workplace to ensure everyone can thrive.
If you share our ambition to unlock potential, create opportunities, and transform lives across the North East, we warmly welcome your application.
Learn more about Education Partnership North East:
We understand that different members of the community have different access needs and have made some modifications to the way we do business to accommodate people from diverse communities and abilities.
We offer the following amenities:
* Step‑free access to the building, all key meeting rooms and bathrooms, and an accessible workstation.
* Accessibility dogs are welcome.
* Papers and materials can be presented in different formats.
* Working patterns and locations can be adjusted.
We use a tailored adjustment plan for employees and you can find our EDI published data here.
We are also part of the Disability Confident Employer scheme.
Applicants with a disability are invited to contact us in confidence at any point during the recruitment process to discuss steps that could be taken to overcome operational difficulties presented by the role, or if any adjustments or support are required regarding the recruitment process.
If you require any job information in an alternative format (e.g. large print), please contact Sarah Atkins-Boal. Please also let us know if you would like to submit your application in an alternative format.
Recruitment selection processes are based on evidence of competence stated in the person specification and in relation to our values.
Timetable
Closing date: 12 p.m. (midday) Wednesday 15 October 2025
Candidates informed of outcome: Wednesday 22nd October 2025
First stage Interviews: Wednesday 5th November 2025
Second stage Interviews: Thursday 6th November 2025
Peridot and Education Partnership North East are committed to promoting equality and diversity. To help us raise awareness and support a culture that is diverse and recognises and develops the potential of all, we need to appreciate the profile of candidates who apply for positions. We will send you an equality monitoring survey at the point of receiving your application and at the time of placement. This ensures that our processes remain inclusive and equitable throughout, and provides us with important data to help us showcase our impact.
The information will be treated confidentially and anonymously and will help us to support our commitment to fair recruitment practice. All information provided will be held in the strictest confidence and will not be shared with anyone, in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 launched on 25 May 2018.
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