The Role

At Unite Students our aim is to create a Home for Success for our students, using technology and data to empower them to find their home and have a great stay with us, and a great experience throughout their student life.

Our ambition is to run the best platforms and experiences in the sector and that`s why we are running a multi-year business led, tech enabled transformation programme covering virtually all elements of front and back office technologies as well as customer facing channels which will result in significant changes for our employees, partners and students.

Reporting into the Head of Transformation we see the Change Management function as critical to help support the complex Programme deployment, but also recognise that this is just the start and that change will continue to be required to continue to grow and develop our business in the years to come.

To this end we are looking for a highly experienced Change Management Lead to build and develop a Change function in Unite. The candidate should be passionate about change and have experience in building and coaching such a team, while also bringing best practices, thought leadership and learning to help us develop best in class ways of working with proven methodologies and tools.

What You`ll Be Doing

Change Management

• Responsible for leading the change workstream across multiple complex projects.
• Be a model of the mindset, behaviour and cultural change required and passionately advocate the benefits of Change Management across Unite
• Work with the Head of Transformation and Programme Director to ensure that prioritised change activities are fully aligned to the business goals and objectives and have clearly define outcomes
• Leveraging your experience and established change management methodologies e.g. PROSCI, define the change toolkit, templates and ways of working to consistently deliver change initiatives across Unite
• Develop the change management Strategy and plans to support the business objectives and change initiatives
• Define capabilities required in the Change Management team and provide leadership, coaching and guidance to team members
• Take a hands-on, quality assurance role in ensuring that change activities are being managed consistently across projects and team members
• Actively define and manage stakeholder mapping and engagement to ensure that senior leadership are fully engaged in supporting the deployment and adoption of change across the business and IT
• Define and develop a change network of interested and engaged participants from across the business to embed effective change principles in everything we do
• Evaluate and support the business readiness for change through Change impact assessments and measurement of employee satisfaction, solution adoption rates, etc.
• Ensure handover from Programme/Project deliverables into BAU and continuous improvement. It`s critical that change is seen as an ongoing consideration for continually developing, improving and embedding solutions and ways of working
• Identifying and managing any risks to adoption and driving actions to mitigate them
• Working with the PMO to oversee the change calendar - having the confidence to challenge our business leaders to prevent change saturation and fatigue

Communications

• Work with the communications team to create/review communication deliverables and recommend channels to communicate with the business and engage employees at different levels
• Execute communications plan, measure effectiveness of communication and report findings to Programme leadership

Training

• Work closely with the Unite Learning Academy team to:
  • Conduct user Training Needs Analysis
  • Support creation of the Training Strategy and plans (including decisions on training media, management and delivery mechanisms)
  • Ensure that materials are kept up to date and in-line with continuous improvement/changes (utilising the internal Change Network to support where applicable)
  • Develop a training curriculum and capability development plan
  • Co-ordinate Training delivery and support delivery of the end/super-user training
  • Measure Training effectiveness, identifying gaps and defining follow-up activities

What We`re Looking for in You

• Experience in setting up and managing Change Management teams ideally in a PBSA environment
• Ideally experience in technology led/enabled change (e.g. Salesforce, Oracle Fusion, etc.)
• Deep expertise in one or more Change Management topics, with good overall experience
• Ideally should have Change Management certification (e.g. Prosci)
• Experience in developing internal Change Toolkits and implementing change ways of working across the business (to support future activity, not just programme)
• Experience and love of coaching more junior team members
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills
• Good project management skills
• Very good senior stakeholder management skills
• Excellent listening skills and an ability to empathise
• Ability to influence others to move towards a common goal

What You`ll Get in Return

• An annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday
• Pension - based on how much you save, we`ll contribute 1% more
• Flexible working opportunities
• Shared Parental Leave - 18 weeks full pay
• Other benefits include, ShareSave, Bike to Work, Charity Match, amazing discounts and more!

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is a FTSE 100 business and the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 25 leading university towns and cities, with over 70,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.

Instinctive inclusion. We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.

People make Unite Students. Employees, students, and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.

Room for Everyone

We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.

We are US.