Lancaster University is a globally engaged institution located within a 578-acre campus, home to a dynamic community of 24,000 students. We are proud to be a TEF Gold institution, consistently ranked in the top 10 in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2025, with almost half of our REF 21 applications receiving a 4* rating. Alongside a growing international presence, including our new campus in Indonesia, Lancaster continues to expand its global reach and deliver world-class research and teaching.

We are now looking for an exceptional Chief People Officer to take on a pivotal role in shaping Lancaster’s future. This is a demanding and rewarding position, requiring a leader who can guide the University through a period of profound change with sensitivity, ensuring that new models and ways of working are incorporated and refined and achieve positive long-term impact.

As a Chief Human Resources Officer, you will have the wisdom, flexibility and confidence required to lead across a broad range of people matters. In the near term, you will navigate demanding and sensitive employee relations, balancing fairness and assertiveness and managing complex negotiations with credibility and strength. Over time, your focus will shift to fostering change, embedding new approaches, ensuring sustainable results, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. You will combine design and creativity, challenging established practices, inspiring colleagues to think differently and supporting them to adapt with confidence.

We are looking for an accomplished HR leader with a strong record of working at a strategic level in complex organizations. You will have deep experience in transformation, employee relations, organizational development and talent strategy. Above all, you will combine professional strength with imagination and creativity, bringing the courage to make difficult decisions in times of change and the vision to shape and embed new ways of working that last.

This is a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact on one of the UK’s leading universities, supporting our local community and our expanding global presence. If you are motivated by the challenge of guiding your workforce through change and then shaping a progressive, high-performing and resilient organization for the future, we would love to hear from you.

For more information, please visit www.andersonquigley.com/lancaster-cpo.

The deadline for applications is noon November 17, 2025.

Interviews will take place in Lancaster in mid-January 2026.