Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead

Permanent

Manchester: £55,921 – £63,050 / Milton Keynes: £58,227 – £65,650.

Hybrid

Purpose

The purpose of the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Lead role is to drive our organisation towards a more inclusive and equitable future. By drawing on external best practices in ED&I, this role will lead strategic initiatives to position AQA as an equitable and inclusive workplace, resulting in better outcomes for our customers, enhanced employee engagement, and sustainable business performance.

Landscape

This role will report to the Head of Resourcing, Talent and ED&I, and work closely with the Director of People, who is AQA’s sponsor for ED&I for colleagues and associates. The role will work collaboratively with others within and across the organisation, as well as externally, to drive forward our ambitious programme of change.

Repsonsibilities will include:

• Thought leadership and benchmarking: stay at the forefront of thought leadership in ED&I and continuously benchmark our practices against industry standards, ensuring our approach remains cutting-edge and value-driven.
• ED&I strategy: input to, implement, and refine our ED&I strategy to achieve our goals.
• Create and implement an ED&I roadmap to systematically close existing gaps and drive continuous improvement.
• Assessment and advice on diversity of AQA people practices: assess and provide guidance on how our people practices can better reflect and support diversity, enhancing the value of our workforce.

• Manage the ED&I budget on behalf of the business for investment in significant initiatives that will enable us to achieve our ambitions.
• Lead efforts to create an inclusive and diverse organisational culture.
• Stakeholder engagement: cultivate relationships with external organizations and community partners aligned with our ED&I goals.
• Affinity network acceleration: enable employee-led network groups through the provision of tools, communication, advocacy and resources.
• Positive action interventions: collaborate to create interventions that support under-represented groups.
• Coach and upskill: coach managers and employees on the value of diversity and inclusion.

• ED&I reporting: Prepare regular reports and communicate progress to the leadership team and externally.

To be successful in this role, you will need:

• A track record of significant ED&I impact in comparable organisations
• Cultural competence
• Demonstrates resilience
• Stakeholder engagement and influencing
• Data and analytics proficiency
• Social and economic trends awareness
• Leadership
• Change management to encourage adoption and behaviour change
• Effective communication and storytelling
• Project management
• Strong external network with ED&I related groups and individuals

What’s in it for you:

At AQA we recognise our employees’ contribution and in return we are proud to offer an extensive reward and benefit package.

This includes:

• 25 days’ annual leave rising to 30 days with service, plus all Bank Holidays and additional Christmas office closure
• Flexible working environment and professional and personal development at your fingertips.
• 35 hour working week
• Excellent contributory pension (6% – 11.5% dependent on employee contribution)
• Life assurance, BUPA PMI and Health Cash Plan
• Enhanced maternity/paternity scheme

What next?

If the role looks of interest and you would like to apply, please do so by following the link provided.

We are reviewing applications as they come through and reserve the right to close this role early.

Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.

Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

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