JOB DESCRIPTION
Reports to: Chief Finance Officer
Programme Directors are responsible for working flexibly and collaboratively with the Chief Executive and Chief Officers to provide corporate leadership to the Education Authority (EA), particularly in relation to progressing EA’s improvement journey and ensuring corporate alignment across the organisation.
These are challenging roles requiring proven skills in leading and working collaboratively with others to lead and ensure delivery of programmes that improve outcomes for children and young people.
CORPORATE LEADERSHIP
In this context, the roles have responsibility for the following.
The above responsibilities apply to all postholders. Whilst you may be initially assigned to a specific portfolio/programme and directorate, this may change according to business need or priorities. This will provide personal development opportunities for a wide-ranging and varied career and enable strategic leadership skills and experience to be maximised.
Key Areas of Focus
The Programme Director holds the following high-level responsibilities, along with overall leadership for the programme, fostering a culture of improvement and engagement.
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Corporate Leadership and Planning. Providing leadership, fostering a culture of improvement, collaboration and engagement.
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Establishment, leadership and management of the programme through to the delivery and realisation of benefits in line with agreed programme goals, resources and governance arrangements. This may include supporting the transition to business as usual.
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Proactive intervention and decision-making to ensure that the programme stays on track and delivers the intended stated outcomes/benefits. This includes proportionate and effective management of risk, issues, change, conflicts, priorities, communications and resources (including staff).
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Working positively and proactively with the full range of individuals and groups involved, particularly the senior responsible owner and any business and sectoral stakeholders.
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Providing expert and strategic business decisions advice to enable decision being made in relation to the transformation programme, migration from legacy systems, business process re-design to maximise delivery of benefits and management of risk.
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Ensuring there is interface between programme ownership and delivery and act as a focal point between service delivery areas, stakeholders, users and the associated programme team(s).
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Guiding the Corporate Leadership Team and EA Board on how the programme delivers transformational change for EA in the aim to improve outcomes for children and young people.
The Programme Director is accountable for ensuring that programme delivery is focused on meeting the needs of children and young people.
Other
Any other duties related to the role which may be required from time-to-time by the Chief Executive and the Board.
In accordance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act (1998), be expected to promote Good Relations, Equality of Opportunity and pay due regard for Equality Legislation at all times.
This job description will be subject to review considering changing circumstances and is not intended to be rigid and inflexible but should be regarded as providing guidelines within which the individual works.
EnAble Programme Background
The Education Authority (EA) has been on a journey to transform and streamline the back-office services it delivers for most of Northern Ireland’s education sector. The first part of that journey was to establish the current EA One ‘Enterprise Resource Planning’ (ERP) solution over the 2016-2024 period.
The EA One technology solution enables service delivery across finance, procurement and human resources (HR) spanning approximately 44,000 EA non-teaching staff (corporate and school based) and 22,000 teaching staff (including the Department of Education’s teacher payroll). Each month the system processes on average 33,000 invoices and 14,000 procurement orders in addition to processing payroll, leave requests, sickness recording and expenses for all staff.
EA One is based on the Oracle E-Business Suite and the managed service contract to support it, is delivered by Fujitsu. The Oracle E-Business Suite is now a legacy platform, being supplanted by the ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) Oracle Fusion platform. Oracle will be withdrawing support for its E-Business Suite globally in March 2034. The original managed support contract runs from 2017-27 but can be extended at a maximum to March 2032. As large-scale IT projects take on average 6+ years to implement , the EnAble Programme has been recently mobilised to ensure that EA One is fully replaced by March 2032.
The strategic drivers for the EnAble Programme can be summarised as follows:
- Legacy system commercial milestones present significant risks to the EA and wider education sector.
The ongoing support and licensing of EA One is due to expire in 2027, with a maximum extension to 2032. Premier Oracle support is then due to be withdrawn in 2034. Extending the current EA One solution beyond these milestones presents significant risks in terms of cost inflation, system stability/continuity and cyber security.
- There are significant opportunities to further improve processes and ways of working for the EA through the adoption of new cloud ERP technology.
The existing EA One system has functional limitations across finance, HR, procurement and payroll. Future solutions offer significant potential to better deliver on EA strategic priorities, including further automation of manual work, greater data analytics capabilities and intuitive user-centric interfaces.
- System implementation time pressure.
As noted above, ICT programmes of this scale typically require 6+ years to implement. This underlines the immediate time pressure in terms of meeting the 2032 deadline.
The strategic vision for the EnAble Programme is:
To redefine our service delivery through a seamlessly integrated solution that elevates our services to schools, empowers our people and customers, optimizes processes and provides trusted data to support strategic decisions.
The objectives of the EnAble Programme are:
1) To Enhance User Experience - Improve the user experience for schools and staff by implementing intuitive solutions and seamless processes across all core service delivery functions.
2) To Improve Data Quality and Accessibility for Decision-Making - Implement an integrated data architecture within the ERP system to provide a single, trusted source of rich, connected, and accessible information for strategic decision-making.
3) To Optimise Operational Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness - Streamline and automate core business processes to enhance operational efficiency and reduce associated costs.
4) To Enhance System Resilience and Adaptability - Implement a resilient and scalable ERP platform that supports continuous improvement and adapts to emerging technological and business requirements.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Candidates must demonstrate on their application form that they meet the following essential criteria.
Factor
Essential Criteria
Method of Assessment
Experience
A minimum of three years’ experience in a senior management role* successfully leading strategic projects or programmes of work on a significant and challenging scale**
Experience of working collectively across a senior team to align goals, resources, policies and processes to optimise use of the organisation’s resources to deliver maximum value for the public/customers.
Experience of leading and championing continuous improvement in complex** service delivery that has delivered improved outcomes for the public/customers.
Strong communicator with proven skills to engage across a range of stakeholders, demonstrating successful impact.
- Senior management role includes providing advice or being party to decisions affecting strategic issues concerning the organisation in which the individual is working.
**Significant/challenging/complex: defined as cross-cutting across a number of business areas, involving internal and external stakeholders, and having an impact on multiple people/groups.
Application Form
Presentation
Interview
Other
The successful candidate will be required:
to have access to a suitable vehicle (appropriately maintained and insured for Education Authority business) that will enable them to carry out the mobility requirements of the post in an efficient and effective manner and thus meet this essential criterion;
OR
be able to provide sufficient information on the application form that will satisfy the employer that he/she has access to an appropriate alternative form of transport that will enable them to carry out the mobility requirements of the post in an efficient and effective manner and thus meet this essential criterion.
Our Values
Through the selection process we will also seek evidence that the personal values of candidates align with those of the EA. This will include evidence of commitment to equality and excellence in service delivery. These reflect our aim which is to meet the needs of all our children and young people equally, removing barriers to learning and ensuring equality of access to excellent education services so that every child can develop to his or her full potential.
DISCLOSURE OF CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups (Northern Ireland) Order 2007 defines working directly with children or young people or in specified places as ‘regulated activity’.
In the event that you are recommended for appointed to a post that involves ‘regulated activity’, the Education Authority will be required to undertake an Enhanced Disclosure of Criminal Background. Please note that you WILL be expected to meet the cost of an Enhanced Disclosure Certificate. Details of how to make payment will be sent to you at the pre-employment stage.
Further information can be accessed at NI Direct or the Department of Justice.
