Head of Education

Head of Education

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

Closing date: 02 August 2026 at 21:59 UK Time

Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in Ukraine at the time of 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 a100 Year Partnershipthat symbolically builds the connections between the two countries ina number ofpriority 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 itemergessuccessfully from the recovery and reconstruction phase to follow - is of vital importance to the UK and Europes security and prosperity.

Ukraine is anattractivemarket 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 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 Governments 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 Ukraines top universities supporting the reform agenda of the Ukrainian Government and with a particular focus on womens leadership. With support from UKgovernmentwe 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 Ukraines creative economy by sharingexpertiseand experience from across the UK. 2027 will mark the 35thyear of bilateral relations between the UK-Ukraine and the 35thanniversary since the British Council wasestablishedin Ukraine the postholder will support the team in the planning and the launch of a refreshed Arts strategy in country.

Our Ukraine teamoperatesfrom 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 - AboutTheTeam:

Cultural Engagement (CE) is one of two global strategic departments within the British Council. It brings together our work in Arts Education English & SchoolEducationand 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 policydialogueand 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 Councils 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 perspectivesfacilitatingpolicy 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 UKs 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 EqualityDiversityand Inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of this work so that our people and partners experience a culture that promotes respectinclusionand 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 ofthe country Education/Tertiary Education portfolio including delivery of British Council global programmes - student mobility and internationalisation tertiary education and sciencepartnerships and non-formal education - and client-funded programmes ensuring they achieve impact targets.

Lead business development andincome 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 seniorstakeholder relationships anddemonstrateexpertiseon behalf of the British Council and the UK in the sectorpositioningtheorganisation favourablywith government representativesclientspartnersresearchersand technical experts.

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

Embed EqualityDiversityand Inclusion (EDI) into all aspects of this work so that our people and partners experience a culture that promotes respectinclusionand diversity and benefits everyone.

Main Accountabilities:

Strategy and planning

• Lead on development of the country Education/Tertiary Education strategy and annual plan aligned with the global Education/Tertiary Education strategy and with the Cultural Engagement plan for the country.
• Ensure that country Education/Higher Education strategy meets the needs of local stakeholders and partners and aligns with the HMG country plan working with the Country Director and the local British Embassy/High Commission.
• Develop and nurture internal relationships across Cultural Engagement in-country and across the wider organisation to ensure that the Education/Tertiary Education strategy is alignedunderstoodand achieved.

Leadership and management

• Develop and own the country project/programme management plan for Education/Tertiary Education.
• Deliver the Education/Tertiary Education programme ensuring compliance with British Council programme standards across delivery planning reporting evaluation and EDI.
• Contribute technicalexpertise to the design of Education/Tertiary Education programmes and contracts assuring quality and impact and managing issues and risks.
• Use digital platforms and technological advancements to improve the efficiencyimpactand quality ofproject and/or programme design and delivery.

Business development

• Lead on business development and income generation with support from Country Director and the global business development team.
• Use networking opportunities to develop contacts with potential funders clients and partners in the country/multi-country/regional context.
• Identify specific business development opportunities aligned with the country and global business development plan.

Stakeholder management and market positioning

• Manage and build mutually beneficial relationships with a set of key stakeholders agreed with the Country Director to understand the context better and explore partnerships.
• Demonstrate expertise on behalf of the British Council and the UK in the sector by networking effectively speaking at events and publishing articles positioning the organisation favourably with government representatives clients partners researchers and technical experts.
• Ensure that the British Councils reputation for quality and as a valued partner remains high and contributes to our organisational mission of building trust between people in the UK and other countries.

Market knowledgeresearchand Insight

• Build market knowledge and insight about the local education context and share this internally and externally to support the UK sectors engagement with the country and with the region where relevant.
• Commission relevant new research to contribute to the British Councils Tertiary Education research strategy.
• Use sector expertise to provide insight and content for corporate responses to public consultations representing the British Councils perspective and demonstrating our thought leadership in relevant external fora.

Commercial and/orfinancial management

• Produce business performance reports including income cost management results and impact of portfolio.
• Manage the Income and Expenditure accounts for programmes/individual projects and contribute to business planning exercises.

EqualityDiversityand Inclusion

• Actively contribute to an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture being aware of their own biases and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensure that people feel valued and are treated equitably with support for peoples well-being and mental health.
• Understand the British Councils approach to EDI and how it applies to their role making time for learning and development relating to EDI and anti-racism.
• Embed good practice in EDI across all projects and programmes ensuring design and delivery contribute positively to improved gender equality disability and social inclusion.

Requirements OfTheRole:

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.