Senior Programme Manager, Academic Pillar (Refugee-Led Research Hub) At Refugee Studies Centre

Leave a Comment / United Kingdom / By

Role: Senior Programme Manager, Academic Pillar (Refugee-Led Research Hub)

Grade and salary: Grade 8, £49,119 – £58,265

Hours: Full-time 37.5 hours per week

Location: Oxford, United Kingdom (minimum 3 days in office)

Contract type: Fixed term until 30 September 2028 (with possibility of extension subject to further funding)

Reporting to: Head of Programmes (postholder to be appointed, in the interim you would report to the Executive Director)

Start Date: 1st January 2026 (desired) but flexible

**Closing date:**19th October (midday UK time) 2026

About the Refugee-Led Research Hub

The Refugee-Led Research Hub (RLRH) supports individuals with lived experience of displacement to become leaders in fields related to human rights, forced migration, humanitarian response and development, politics, and law, among other areas. We do so by delivering academic and professional development programming to a global cohort of students who have been affected by displacement—as refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, stateless, and beyond—supporting access to graduate degrees and advanced career opportunities. RLRH also creates opportunities for researchers with displacement backgrounds to lead primary and secondary research studies, from start to finish.

RLRH’s team is comprised of colleagues who are deeply committed to advancing refugee leadership, the majority of whom have lived experience of displacement. Our network of staff, researchers, students, and other affiliates is made up of 1,400+ individuals across 80+ countries. RLRH has six active offices: our first was established in Nairobi in 2020, we have had an office at the University of Oxford since 2021, and we have since developed physical hubs in Kakuma refugee camp (Kenya), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Kampala (Uganda), and in the Oxfordshire community (UK).

From October 2025 RLRH is funded to serve as a technical partner for the Mastercard Foundations Scholars Program network, advancing an ambitious global agenda to support displacement-affected learners to access 1,000+ graduate-level scholarships at partner universities around the world. RLRH provides expert guidance and implements specialised programmes to help these learners enter university, thrive on course, and pursue meaningful and enduring careers on completion of their degrees. A complementary, refugee-led research agenda designed by RLRH colleagues produces insights to help Scholars Program partner universities and other stakeholders accelerate positive, long-lasting systems change.

The Role

Overview of the Academic Pillar:

The Academic Pillar (AP) manages globally accessible education programmes that reach thousands of bachelors degree-holding refugees, asylum seekers, and others affected by displacement to strengthen their academic credentials and preparedness so they can access postgraduate degrees worldwide. A large, though not exclusive, proportion of the Pillar’s efforts are dedicated to recruiting and preparing African displacement-affected students for Mastercard Foundation’s Scholars Program graduate-level courses at 30+ partner universities. The AP team runs three hallmark programmes to support these prospective students:

Graduate Horizons provides learners with comprehensive postgraduate application and admissions support, from selecting right-fit universities and scholarships to crafting compelling personal statements and research proposals. The programme offers hands-on workshops, intensive writing boot camps, one-to-one application feedback, dedicated office hours, and mentorship designed to maximise each student’s academic potential. RLRH actively advocates for students, working directly with universities to eliminate barriers that impede their progress.

A complementary bridging programme that can be completed before or during Horizons is Graduate Admissions Essentials, a three-month self-guided programme designed by RLRH to help learners strengthen their academic and professional profiles across the core admissions areas that universities assess for postgraduate study. A wide range of thoughtfully curated resources are available, meeting learners where they are in their tertiary education journeys.

Finally, RLRH Foundations: Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, is an intensive nine-module online course that supports students to develop academic skills in the Social Sciences. The interdisciplinary curriculum exposes learners to International Humanitarian Law, Anthropology, Political Theory, Gender Studies, International Relations, and more, preparing participants for study across a wide range of fields of interest. In the near future, RLRH will be developing new Foundations courses, catering to a wider range of subject areas of interest as members of our community prepare for postgraduate degrees.

Overview of Position:

RLRH is in an exciting phase of strategic growth. . As the organisation expands its global reach, programme portfolio and operational capacity, we are seeking an experienced senior leader to oversee and further develop our Academic Pillar. The Senior Programme Manager, Academic Success will oversee a team of 8+ colleagues across multiple locations, with responsibility for achieving RLRH’s sector-leading objective of supporting 1,000 refugee and displacement-affected learners to enrol in master’s degrees worldwide by 2028.

The Senior Programme Manager will provide strategic, operational and people leadership for RLRH’s Academic Pillar, ensuring that its programmes are coherent, high-quality, inclusive, scalable, data-informed, and delivered with measurable impact. The post-holder will oversee the planning, delivery, governance and continuous improvement of complex academic access programmes, ensuring objectives are achieved on time, within budget and in line with RLRH and University standards.

Working closely with the Head of Programmes, Academic Pillar staff, hub-based colleagues, the MEL team, and other RLRH pillars, the post-holder will lead the operational scaling and strategic development of RLRH’s academic access portfolio. This includes overseeing the effective delivery and expansion of Graduate Horizons, RLRH Foundations, and Graduate Admissions Essentials, with a particular focus on supporting African displacement-affected learners to access postgraduate opportunities across Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program partner universities.

The role will directly manage four Academic Pillar staff: the Mentoring and Student Success Manager, Academic Partnerships and Outreach Manager, Academic Content and Facilitation Manager, and Senior Academic Project Officer. Through these colleagues, the Senior Programme Manager will oversee the full Academic Pillar learner journey, from outreach and recruitment through academic preparation, mentoring, application support, admissions, transition into study, and longer-term academic progression.

The post-holder will be responsible for strengthening the systems, structures, and ways of working that enable Academic Pillar programmes to operate effectively at scale. This includes ensuring robust programme planning, financial oversight, risk management, data governance, reporting, stakeholder coordination, and quality assurance. The role will be instrumental in embedding a culture of accountability, transparency, collaboration and continuous improvement across RLRH’s academic portfolio.

Responsibilities

Programme Planning, Delivery and Quality Assurance (35%)

  1. Provide end-to-end leadership for the planning, delivery and continuous improvement of RLRH’s Academic Pillar programmes.
  2. Ensure that Academic Pillar programmes are delivered on time, to a high standard, within agreed resources, and in line with RLRH’s strategic objectives and University standards.
  3. Oversee the full learner journey across the Academic Pillar, from outreach and recruitment through onboarding, academic preparation, mentoring, application support, admissions, transition into postgraduate study and longer-term academic progression.
  4. Identify and resolve cross-programme delivery challenges, including timeline clashes, learner engagement risks, communication gaps, capacity constraints and operational bottlenecks.
  5. Ensure that programme delivery is coherent across the Academic Pillar’s core areas: outreach and recruitment, academic facilitation, and mentoring.
  6. Develop and maintain quality assurance processes across Academic Pillar programmes, including programme reviews, learner feedback loops, delivery check-ins, and mechanisms for continuous improvement.
  7. identify opportunities for innovation and future programme development.

People Management and Coordination (25%)

  1. Line-manage and support a team composed of the Mentoring and Student Success Manager, Academic Partnerships and Outreach Manager, Academic Content and Facilitation Manager, Senior Academic Project Officer and additional support staff based across RLRH’s global hubs, setting clear expectations, monitoring performance and providing regular supervision and feedback.
  2. Set clear expectations, objectives, and priorities for direct reports, ensuring each colleague has the guidance and support needed to lead their area of work effectively.
  3. Convene regular one-to-one and team meetings to support decision-making, resolve challenges and maintain shared accountability across the Academic Pillar.
  4. Foster a supportive, inclusive and reflective team culture that values lived experience, professional development, collaboration, mutual accountability and learner-centred practice.
  5. Support staff development by identifying learning needs and strengthening colleagues’ skills in programme management, data use, facilitation, partnership management, team coordination and strategic planning through regular performance reviews and professional development conversations.
  6. Lead workforce planning for the Academic Pillar, overseeing recruitment, onboarding, succession planning and team development to ensure sustainable organisational growth.

Strategic Growth and Cross-Pillar Integration (20%)

  1. Translate RLRH’s organisational strategy, Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program commitments and 2028 objective into clear Academic Pillar priorities, annual plans, delivery models and growth pathways.
  2. Lead the strategic development and scaling of the Academic Pillar’s programme portfolio, ensuring that growth is realistic, well-sequenced, properly resourced and aligned with learner needs.
  3. Advise the Head of Programmes on Academic Pillar priorities, risks, strategic opportunities, partner developments and resourcing needs.
  4. Collaborate with peer programmatic leaders across RLRH’s Research and Professional Pathways Pillars to ensure that Academic Pillar programmes connect effectively with research, professional development, alumni and career pathways.

MEL, Operations, and Budget Management (15%)

  1. Contribute to the development of RLRH’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) portfolio, supporting data-driven insights from pillar activities that improve internal programming and contribute to MEL objectives.
  2. Lead financial planning, resource allocation and budget oversight for the Academic Pillar, ensuring resources are used responsibly, strategically and in line with grant commitments and organisational procedures.
  3. Strengthen operational systems, documentation and knowledge management across the Academic Pillar, including templates, guidance documents, process notes, and playbooks.
  4. Ensure that Academic Pillar operations comply with relevant organisational and University policies, including safeguarding, data protection, accessibility, financial management and ethical practice.

Organisation-wide strategy, learning, and documentation (5%)

  1. Coordinate with Head of Programmes, Director of Operations and Strategy, and Executive Director to input on annual organisation planning.
  2. Participate in weekly leadership convenings to influence the strategic direction of the organisation.
  3. Represent RLRH at meetings, conferences, partnerships and external stakeholder forums.
  4. Contribute to organisation and pillar fundraising and wider grant management needs, as relevant.

Selection criteria

Required qualifications:

  1. A postgraduate degree (or equivalent professional experience). No particular field is expected, but familiarity with (Refugee and Forced) Migration Studies, Education, International Development, and related disciplines can be an advantage.
  2. Substantial experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder education, higher education access, widening participation or refugee education programmes, with demonstrated experience managing programme delivery and influencing multidisciplinary teams through line management and/or matrix structures.
  3. Demonstrated experience translating organisational strategy into operational delivery through programme design, organisational planning, resource allocation and performance management.
  4. Significant experience leading and developing high-performing multidisciplinary teams across multiple geographical locations.
  5. Experience working with data, monitoring, and evaluation systems, reporting processes and programme improvement cycles.
  6. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear reports, guidance documents, plans and external-facing materials.
  7. Experience building strategic relationships with universities, scholarship providers, NGOs, funders and other senior stakeholders that translate into sustainable programme outcomes and institutional partnerships.
  8. Experience supporting programme operations, financial planning, budget management, grant delivery and organisational governance.
  9. Commitment to refugee leadership, equity, inclusion and ethical practice.
  10. Excellent cultural competence and cultural humility, with experience working effectively across cultures, institutional settings and international teams.
  11. Experience working with a high degree of autonomy, exercising sound judgement and accountability within specialist programme areas.

Desired qualifications:

  1. Familiarity with the African education ecosystem and the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.
  2. Fluency in additional languages spoken by RLRH learners and affiliates, such as Kiswahili, Arabic, or French.
  3. Working comfort with Google Suites, Microsoft Outlook, Slack, WhatsApp Business, Project Management tools, and/or CRM platforms.

How to apply

Applications for this vacancy are to be made online. As part of your online application, you will be asked to upload:

  1. CV (no more than 3 pages)
  2. Cover letter addressing the following points
    1. Why this leadership role with RLRH is the right fit for you at this stage in your career.
    2. How your experience aligns with the key responsibilities and selection criteria.
    3. Confirmation of your availability to work from the Oxford office for a minimum of three days per week.
    4. A note contextualising your submitted work sample (see below)
  3. One work product – in part or in full – that you led the development of and that is relevant to the responsibilities of the role. Where appropriate, this work product could also take the form of a writing sample.