The Role

At Unite Students we empower our Platform and Product teams to solve both customer and business problems and in turn, we create technology-powered experiences that our end users love. Our Platform team is full of skilled people who enjoy enabling our business and customers by delivering platform solutions (predominantly Salesforce; Oracle EBS and PeopleXD) with PACE (solutions that are: Prized - Applicable - Clever - Expedient).

This is a senior technology role at Unite Students, where you will be leading a Platform team of c20 people with the objective of understanding how our CRM, Marketing Communications; Finance and HR SaaS platforms can be applied across the business, delivering digital solutions to address user needs. You will establish strong cross-business relationships with stakeholders acting as their trusted `business partner` for digital platforms and experiences under your care.

As a Lead Platforms Manager, you will have a deep understanding of the application of Product leadership in large organisations. You will provide technical leadership, guidance, and expertise in the development, implementation, and optimisation of our Customer, Finance and HR platforms. This role ensures that the platforms align with Unite Students objectives, is efficient and well run, and is equipped with the latest features and functionalities to support Unite Students Customers and our Support, Operational and Central teams.

Managing and coaching three Platform Leads (CRM; HR; Finance) you will support them in creating a Platform vision, strategy and roadmap that is clearly articulated to the wider business. You will have a real passion for our customers (both external and internal), understanding the importance of using insights about how our users engage with our platforms and products to drive continuous improvement and innovation.

As a senior member of the team, you will be passionate about people and creating a supportive and high-performing environment to help develop and motivate team members towards a shared purpose and outcomes.

What You`ll Be Doing

• Accountable for the overall strategic direction of our platform portfolio; enabling each Platform Lead to align their individual Platform strategies with both our business objectives and user needs.
• Act as an ambassador for Digital thinking across the business, defining what `digital` means for the business both present and future.
• Build and grow a high performing team with the skills to deliver digital-enabled value through our current and future platforms. Empowering the team to make decisions, creating phycological safety for them to develop, test and learn at speed.
• Working closely with the business to set priorities, manage dependencies and maintain alignment to both the digital platform and business strategies.
• Accountable for in-life platform performance, defining and reporting on the success.
• Create and nurture a culture of innovation and continuous improvement, encouraging all colleagues to identify opportunities for digital platform growth. Define the value of initiatives and work closely with stakeholders and senior sponsors to ensure buy-in.
• Develop and support relationships with leading stakeholders, keeping them involved from ideation through to deployment.
• Create investment cases to support digital initiatives, communicating across all levels of seniority to achieve Exec sponsorship.
• Proactively seeking ways to improve ways of working across the Digital and IT Function.
• Ensure that our Digital Platform initiatives are reflected in strategic plans and annual budget cycles.
• Build partnerships with our Platform Partners (e.g. Salesforce, Oracle) ensuring a two-way learning process, driving optimal value from those relationships.
• Keep up to date with emerging technologies and market trends, feeding these back into the Platform team.

What We`re Looking for in You

• Significant experience working on development, leading teams and maintaining Digital platforms.
• Experience of Platform / Product leadership in a large organisation.
• Knowledge and experience in one or more of the following systems: Salesforce; Marketing Cloud; Oracle EBS)
• A track record of leadership to engage with the Business, Platform/Product teams and Third-party SaaS Suppliers creating and driving a collaborative, high performance relationship.
• Significant experience and results in building and coaching high-performing, collaborative and fulfilled teams.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills with the ability to quickly gain the confidence of the business and team members.
• Ability to understand and use data to drive decisions and prove or dis-prove hypothesis.
• Understanding of complex business problems to apply technology and the "art of the possible" to solving these problems for the business and our customers.
• Proven ability to respond to and prioritise changing demands effectively.
• Strong business instinct and judgement, with a desire to challenge the status quo.

What You`ll Get in Return

• A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service
• A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save
• Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends
• Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
• Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal 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 74,000 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.