Chief Financial Officer

We are dedicated in everything we do to being a university of social purpose, with a strong emphasis on principles of academic excellence and inclusion. This commitment is threaded through our education, our research and the ways in which our students and colleagues engage with wider society in local, national and global contexts. Our students are at the heart of our thinking and we are also proud to be one of the country’s leading research-intensive institutions, assessed to be in the top 25% in the UK in REF2021. Through the dedication of our academics to teaching and learning, discoveries that change the world, and the distinctive feel of the Royal Holloway experience, we have built a diverse and supportive community that inspires students and colleagues to succeed.

Under the leadership of our Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Julie Sanders, we are now seeking to appoint an exceptional new Chief Financial Officer. A key member of the Executive Team, reporting to the Vice-Chancellor, with influence at the highest levels of the University, including the governing body, the post holder will play a critical role in shaping our new vision and delivering our strategic objectives. We are seeking a role-model for a values-driven approach, not least through the championing of and implementation and monitoring of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles throughout the workings of the organisation. Through strong and sustainable financial management, the Chief Financial Officer will deliver a resilient financial base, at the same time ensuring we work creatively and commercially to maximise new opportunities, embrace new partnerships and enter new markets.

The successful candidate will possess an outstanding track record of financial leadership in organisations of comparable scale and complexity. They will be a qualified accountant, combining a strong technical background with sustained experience of levying strategic financial support and challenge to executive teams. The Chief Financial Officer will have outstanding advisory and influencing skills and the intellectual agility to support of the University’s ambitions in a rapidly evolving policy environment. Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity, they will have well-developed diplomacy, communication and relationship building skills and a proven ability to deal with multiple internal and external stakeholders.

This is a significant moment in the history of the university. It is one in which, as a community and as a senior leadership team, we are seeking to shape a future that is as brave, bold and future-facing as the principles which were at the heart of our two founding colleges, Bedford and Royal Holloway, which opened to enable women’s education in 1849 and 1886 respectively. If you have the right experience, skills and track record of success and share our passion and ambition, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Further information, including a full candidate brief, can be found at: www.odgers.com/90744  

Applications are invited by close of business on Friday 16^th February 2024.