Right to work: Please note that it will not be possible for the University to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship to the successful candidate for this position. Therefore, the appointable candidate will need to be eligible to work in the UK or have leave to remain in the UK and associated right to work for the duration of their employment with the University, in accordance with the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006.
Full-Time, Permanent
Egham, Surrey, with travel to our Central London campus
Hybrid working, with an expectation of 3 to 4 days each week on campus
Shape the people and culture foundations for lasting transformation
Royal Holloway, University of London is seeking an exceptional Director of Organisational Development, Culture and Transformation to play a central role in delivering our ambitious RH2030s strategy.
Reporting to the Chief People Officer, you will lead our approach to organisational development, culture, leadership effectiveness, organisation design and the people-centred dimensions of transformation.
This is more than a traditional OD role. Working with Executive and senior leaders, you will diagnose complex organisational challenges, shape practical solutions and ensure that change is designed and delivered with people, culture and successful adoption at its heart.
What you will do
You will:
- Lead the University’s OD, culture and people-centred transformation agenda.
- Shape organisation design and improve organisational effectiveness, collaboration and accountability.
- Develop consistent approaches, frameworks and tools for sustainable change.
- Build leadership and management capability to lead through complexity and change.
- Help leaders engage their teams, address cultural barriers and embed new ways of working.
- Use organisational insight, workforce data and evidence to prioritise activity and evaluate impact.
- Lead and develop a high-performing OD and Change team with strong internal consultancy capability.
About you
You will be an experienced OD, culture and transformation leader with a track record of achieving sustainable change in a large and complex organisation.
You will bring:
- Significant senior-level experience across organisational development, culture and transformation.
- Expertise in organisation design, leadership effectiveness, culture change and change adoption.
- Experience of leading the people-centred dimensions of major organisational change.
- Strong diagnostic, analytical and systems-thinking capability.
- The credibility to influence and challenge Executive and senior leaders.
- The ability to navigate ambiguity and turn strategic ambition into practical action.
- Experience of building high-performing specialist teams and internal consultancy capability.
You will combine strategic perspective with pragmatism, curiosity and a clear focus on outcomes. Higher education experience is welcome but not essential. Your background may be in the public sector, healthcare, not-for-profit, professional services or another complex, people-centred organisation.
Why Royal Holloway?
Royal Holloway combines excellent education and research with a strong sense of community, belonging and social purpose.
This is a rare opportunity to influence how our organisation develops, how our leaders lead and how our people experience change. You will join an ambitious People, Culture and Transformation Directorate and help create the culture, capability and organisational conditions needed for lasting success.
If you understand that sustainable transformation must be designed around people, culture and organisational reality, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Please quote the reference: 0926-317
Closing Date: 23:59, 4 November 2026
Interview Date: 11 November 2026
Royal Holloway is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and encourages applications from all people regardless of age, disability, gender, marital status, parental status, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or trans status or history. More information on our structures and initiatives around EDI, including information on staff diversity networks, can be found on our Equality and Diversity Intranet page.
Job Details
- Location: Egham
- Salary: £84,000 per annum - including London Allowance
- Post Type: Full Time
- Hours per Week: 35
- Weeks per Year: 52
- Closing Date: 23.59 hours GMT on Wednesday 04 November 2026
- Reference: 0926-317
The university has adopted hybrid working for some roles therefore some remote working may be possible for this role.
