About the role

Leading a small, committed team of professionals, you will co-ordinate a range of activity with minority ethnic residents and businesses and work closely with employers to garner support for Hub activities and strategies. It’s a rare opportunity to tackle the racial inequality that exists in the employment and business eco-system, and deliver a transformed long-term vision for the City Region.

We want to hear from candidates who have the experience and insights to turn our big aspiration into a humming engine of social justice. You’ll have the personal leadership repertoire, networks and track record to be able to build coalitions of change, and make our vision one that enthuses and attracts collaborators. In the medium term, the model will rely on developing a commercial income stream, so you must be confident in your ability to drum up business and get people on board; but you will also have an ongoing opportunity to act as a public advocate for better practice, taking on the challenge of collaboratively unblocking systems that aren’t delivering for people.

We’re on a complex and ground-breaking journey, and there’s no guidebook – so we want to meet people who are invigorated by the chance to be a pioneer, happy to innovate and not frightened of experimentation. The successful candidate will need an unusually extensive skillset: able to bring our communities with us on the journey, forge strong partnerships with a range of stakeholders and partners, navigate a sensitive political landscape, and integrate a rich range of perspectives in a single, progressive vision. Experience of providing value-adding support to business, particularly L & D programmes, would be a distinct advantage.

Lived experience and knowledge of the particular historical and contemporary challenges faced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities as they relate to employment, business and skills is essential, as is first-hand experience of engaging in challenging conversations around race equality, diversity and inclusion. You’ll also bring the skills to plan, implement and develop race equality strategies, as well as experience of working closely and effectively with an Advisory Board or similar governance structure. A good general management repertoire – finance, budgets, performance and staff development, compliance etc. – is also a must.

We intend to attract staff from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and will act as an exemplar of good practice in strongly encouraging interest from candidates with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and /or lived experience of racism.