Senior Timetabling Manager

Salary: £47,389.00 - £56,535.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date:  22 April 2026

The Role

Registry and Education Servies are seeking a dynamic, experienced and committed individual to provide leadership for academic timetabling across the University and to develop student-centred strategies, practices and policy.

This pivotal role ensures the effective management of the suite of timetabling and resource management systems and related business processes. Working with partners and stakeholders, you will provide professional system administration services and lead upgrades, procurement and implementation of new systems and requirements to ensure timetabling systems continue to meet the evolving needs of the University.

You will make key strategic contributions to the development and delivery of the University’s exciting Leading Edge Curriculum and Estates Optimisation projects. Working closely with key stakeholders, you will provide specialist guidance on the development of new and existing degree programmes, ensuring alignment with current and future resource/space constraints.

You will lead the University’s Timetable Service to drive the successful delivery of student-focussed academic timetables and resource management. Working collaboratively with colleagues across the institution and key external partners, you’ll play a pivotal role in enhancing the student experience and actively demonstrating the standards and values that define Newcastle University.

You’ll champion innovation and excellence, ensuring that the University’s timetabling and resource management systems and related processes are not only effective and robust – but also student-centred and inclusive.

You will make key strategic contributions to the delivery of the University’s exciting Leading Edge Curriculum and Estates Optimisation projects whilst also helping to lead the upgrades, procurement and implementation of new timetabling systems.

To apply please upload your CV and cover letter evidencing how you meet the criteria as outlined within the person specification of the job criteria.

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please reach out to Graeme Holloway – Head of Registry at Graeme.Holloway@ncl.ac.uk or Rachel Dearlove – Director of Registry & Education Services at Rachel.Dearlove@ncl.ac.uk

Key Accountabilities

• Lead, manage, and develop a high performing timetabling team, fostering a culture of service excellence and continuous improvement.
• Responsible for ensuring the timely annual delivery of a high quality timetable that supports an excellent student and colleague experience. Draw on NSS results and other feedback regarding the student experience to proactively and continuously improve timetabling processes and outcomes. 
• Drive the development, promotion and implementation of strategy, policy and procedures relating to academic timetabling.
• Develop and maintain business processes to ensure that timetable operations are effective, efficient and aligned with University Education Strategy and long-term institutional priorities. Represent timetabling interests in University projects and initiatives, to ensure the timetable is as effective as possible.  
• Provide direction and guidance in specifying, testing and implementing developments of the timetabling software, application upgrades and testing, and integrations with associated applications. Lead future procurement and implementation exercise to ensure timetable software environment meets the future needs of the University.
• Build and maintain collaborative and effective mechanisms with stakeholders involved in curriculum design to evaluate the impact on timetabling of curriculum changes. Support the development and delivery of the University’s transformative Leading Edge Curriculum project. 
• Promote the modelling capabilities of timetabling data to inform University decision making of future space optimisation.
• Provide expert data analysis, management reports and insights to inform Senior Leadership, Faculty and Schools on timetable performance and risk. Work with academic and professional services colleagues to ensure a process of continuous review of timetable operations and discuss/implement annual plans of improvement.
• Responsible for all aspects of the system administration of timetable and resource management systems. Liaise with internal and external service providers to ensure the stability and integrity of the timetabling IT environment and to trouble-shoot system issues and failures to minimise disruption to colleagues and students.
• Provide operational insight to aid IT services in prioritising development opportunities to in-house and third-party applications and interfaces that complement the timetabling process.

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• Demonstrable knowledge of higher education timetabling delivery on a large scale and experience of manging a timetabling service.  
• Demonstrable knowledge of the nature of teaching provision in the Higher Education sector and how teaching delivery impacts on timetable operations, space usage and student/colleague experience.
• Technical aptitude through an in-depth understanding of complex timetabling systems in higher education, student record systems and/or resource management systems
• Experience of system administration and management of timetabling and timetable related systems; working with internal and external IT partners to maintain system resilience and ensure systems are operating optimally. 
• Demonstrable experience in leading a team and staff management, with an ability to motivate self and others to achieve high standards. 
• Excellent interpersonal skills and communication skills, including highly developed verbal and written communication skills. 
• Outstanding planning and organisational skills and a proven track record of delivering activity on a large-scale.
• Experience in leading or contributing to multi-stakeholder university projects and delivering effective change management.  

Attributes and Behaviour

• Embraces and initiates change with a commitment to continuous quality improvement.
• Thinks strategically to contribute to, and develop, strategic plans and successfully influence policy and practice. 
• Demonstrable ability to build strong and positive relationships with a wide range of customers and stakeholders.
• Demonstrates a proactive, creative and positive approach to problem solving and issue-resolution. 
• Uses data to inform decision making and approaches. 
• A clear commitment to delivering equality, diversity and inclusion in higher education.

Qualifications

• A first degree or significant experience in an equivalent post.

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a Gold Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 29236