Head of Education

Head of Education

• Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
• Contract Type: Indefinite Contract
• Pay Grade: 8

Closing date: 23 July at 21:59 UK Time

Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in Ukraine at the time of application. We are unable to support with visa sponsorship and relocation.

About the position:

British Council Impact Categorisation: Top 12

Cultural Engagement Income Category: Accelerate

In January 2025, the UK and Ukraine signed a 100 Year Partnership that symbolically builds the connections between the two countries in a number of priority areas for the next century, including across education, social and cultural ties. Ensuring that Ukraine survives the ongoing war as a sovereign state - and that it emerges successfully from the recovery and reconstruction phase to follow - is of vital importance to the UK and Europe’s security and prosperity.

Ukraine is an attractive market for our Cultural Engagement programme and the postholder is expected to enhance our grant leverage in country through new partnerships and / or new client funded opportunities. In parallel he / she will support the high-quality implementation of existing contracts and projects in their sector of responsibility. While the context is dynamic, the current needs to which the British Council responds in Arts and Culture, Education and English in Ukraine include:

English: We focus on improving the quality of learning, teaching and assessing English language skills, supporting the Ukrainian Government’s ambitious plans for English language reform. We work with British Embassy Kyiv to support for deliver high quality English language training of Ukrainian civil servants. We continue to scale up UK Examination Services and expand face-to-face English teaching where possible.

Education: Our work in Higher Education focuses on the development of leadership capabilities across Ukraine’s top universities, supporting the reform agenda of the Ukrainian Government, and with a particular focus on women’s leadership. With support from UK government we connect hundreds of Ukrainian schools with schools in the UK, connecting teachers and pupils (7-14 year olds) to foster cross-cultural understanding and enhance language and communication skills. We work with the Ministry of Youth and Sport and networks of youth centres to upskill young people and empower them to rebuild their communities. Our ambition is to develop new activities in schools and teacher training, significantly boost our portfolio in Non-Formal Education and increase our reach in the Higher Education Sector.

Arts and Culture: Building on the foundations laid by the UK/Ukraine Season of Culture we build relationships between individual artists and institutions across art forms and to strengthen cultural relations between the two countries. We support the continued development of Ukraine’s creative economy by sharing expertise and experience from across the UK. 2027 will mark the 35th year of bilateral relations between the UK-Ukraine, and the 35th anniversary since the British Council was established in Ukraine – the postholder will support the team in the planning and the launch of a refreshed Arts strategy in country.

Our Ukraine team operates from a new office in Kyiv, though the number of colleagues able to work there each day is capped for safety reasons. Some colleagues also work remotely from other parts of Ukraine.

Role Context - About The Team:

Cultural Engagement (CE) is one of two global strategic departments within the British Council. It brings together our work in Arts, Education, English & School Education and research. With a workforce of approximately 1000 globally and an income in 2024/25 of £200 million, CE delivers impact through research and insights, sector engagement, policy dialogue and a mixed portfolio of commercial and Grant and Partnership Funded (GPF) work globally. CE delivers much of its work through a suite of global programmes/ programmatic frameworks aligned to the British Council’s strategic outcomes.

Our work in Education is organised into three strands:

• Student mobility and internationalisation: We support the Higher Education sector to attract international students to the UK and ensure lifelong engagement with UK alumni through development opportunities. We also enrich the school experience with international perspectives facilitating policy dialogue and partnerships and supporting the teaching and learning of modern foreign language partnerships.
• Tertiary education partnerships: We facilitate Higher Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Science Partnerships between the UK and other countries to develop high-quality, more inclusive and globally connected education systems and contribute the UK’s knowledge to international education.
• Non-formal education (NFE): We empower young leaders and marginalised groups through skills development to contribute to trust building, cohesion and stability in their societies and represent these communities on a local and international stage.

We embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of this work so that our people and partners experience a culture that promotes respect, inclusion and diversity in support of mutual benefit.

This role contributes to the successful delivery of the global Education/Higher Education portfolio and strategy by ensuring strategic alignment and high-quality delivery of projects and programmes, and by contributing to the success of the global Education income generation plan.

Role Purpose - The Job:

Lead on strategy, planning and delivery of the country Education/Tertiary Education portfolio including delivery of British Council global programmes - student mobility and internationalisation, tertiary education and science partnerships, and non-formal education - and client-funded programmes, ensuring they achieve impact targets.

Lead business development and income generation in Education/Tertiary Education, contributing to successful delivery of country and global income targets, with support from the Country Director and the global team.

Manage senior stakeholder relationships and demonstrate expertise on behalf of the British Council and the UK in the sector, positioning the organisation favourably with government representatives, clients, partners, researchers and technical experts.

Build market knowledge and insight about the local education context and share this internally and externally with partners and stakeholders.

Embed Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of this work so that our people and partners experience a culture that promotes respect, inclusion and diversity, and benefits everyone.

Main Accountabilities:

• Strategy and planning
• Leadership and management
• Business development
• Stakeholder management and market positioning
• Market knowledge, research and Insight
• Commercial and/or financial management
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Requirements Of The Role:

Minimum/essential

• In-depth understanding of the education sectors of Ukraine and of the UK, and of bilateral priorities.
• Experience of delivering sizeable externally funded projects or programmes.
• Direct experience of client-funded contract pursuit and delivery.
• Experience of developing and overseeing monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) within projects and incorporating lessons learned from MEL into programmes and strategy.
• Experience of building mutually beneficial relationships with diverse stakeholders, including multilateral agencies, donors, government officials, Education/Higher Education leaders, academics, researchers, alumni and students.
• Knowledge and experience of embedding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in programmes

Desirable:

• Knowledge of international mobility trends of students seeking tertiary educational opportunities.
• Knowledge of transnational educational trends including academic and research partnerships with local public and private educational institutions.
• Ability to analyse relevant equality issues and identify opportunities to address these in the portfolio.