Conference & Events Manager

Advert Reference Number

2049

Job Location

Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid

Department

Validation Partnerships

Salary

£39,560 to £46,970 pro rata

Closing Date

10 November 2026

Weekly Working Hours

18.5

Contract Type

Fixed Term Contract

Fixed Term Contract: End Date:

31 July 2027

Welsh Language

Not Applicable

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK's largest university, a world leader in flexible part-time education, combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

About the Role

Working within OU Validation Partnerships (OUVP), the Conference and Events Manager will report to the Head of Validation Partnerships and will provide event management support for the planning, organisation and delivery of the 2027 OUVP conference, alongside other OUVP partnership engagement and growth activities.

The purpose of this role is to support the effective planning and coordination of the conference, ensuring that key activities, timelines, communications, resources and stakeholder inputs are managed in a structured and timely way.

You will be expected to communicate and work collaboratively with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, including OUVP colleagues, partner institutions, faculties, professional services teams and external contributors.

With excellent attention to detail and strong organisational ability, you will support OUVP to deliver high quality engagement activity. You will be confident in managing project plans, monitoring progress, coordinating actions and ensuring that work is delivered to agreed deadlines and standards.

Key Responsibilities

• To develop, maintain and monitor a detailed project plan for the 2027 OUVP conference, ensuring that key milestones, dependencies, risks and actions are clearly identified and managed.
• To coordinate the practical planning and organisation of the conference, including scheduling, logistics, venue arrangements, delegate communications, social media campaigns, accessibility requirements, resources and supporting materials.
• To liaise with OUVP colleagues, partner institutions, faculties and other internal and external stakeholders to support the development and delivery of the conference programme.
• To support the coordination of conference content, including calls for contributions, speaker liaison, programme development, briefing materials, presentation requirements and post-event outputs.
• To coordinate conference-related communications, including drafting, coordinating and tracking communications with contributors, delegates, partners and internal stakeholders.
• To manage and maintain accurate records, action logs, risk registers and issues logs for the conference.
• To coordinate budget monitoring, procurement activity and value-for-money considerations relating to the conference and associated engagement activity.
• To ensure that conference materials and communications are accurate, accessible, aligned with OU brand requirements and appropriate for the intended audiences.
• To support the evaluation of the conference, including the collection and analysis of feedback, preparation of summary reports and identification of learning to inform future OUVP engagement activity.
• To service conference planning meetings or working groups, including preparing agendas, papers, minutes, action notes and follow-up communications.
• To support other OUVP partnership engagement activities as required, including webinars, and communities of practice events.
• To undertake such other duties as may from time to time be assigned by the Senior Management Team, within the nature of the role.

About You

Essential

• Event or project management experience, including developing and monitoring schedules, managing risks and issues, coordinating actions and delivering work to agreed deadlines.
• Excellent organisational skills, attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple tasks, priorities and deadlines with minimal supervision.
• Strong numeracy and ICT skills, including experience of using Microsoft Office applications and digital tools to manage information, track progress and produce reports.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to prepare clear, accurate and audience-appropriate communications and briefing materials.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiating skills, with the ability and confidence to build relationships, influence, advise and support internal and external stakeholders over whom there is no formal authority.
• Proven ability to work proactively, use initiative, solve problems and reach negotiated solutions in a changing environment.
• The ability to work co-operatively and flexibly in a variety of team settings.
• Ability to carry out the role in a way that is consistent with equality legislation and University policies and those of partner institutions.

Desirable

Experience of working in higher education, further education or a similar partnership-based environment.

Awareness of quality assurance, compliance or partnership management in higher or further education.

Support with your application

If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on 01908 541111 or email [email protected] quoting the advert reference number.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

Flexible working

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Work Location

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, allowing you to work both from home and from the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office, some office attendance will be required in response to business needs.

We anticipate that this will be approximately one day per fortnight, with increased attendance required as we approach the OUVP Partnership Conference in May 2027.

The conference will take place at our Milton Keynes campus (Walton Hall) on 18 and 19 May 2027, and attendance will be required on both days. Additional working hours may also be required during this period to support conference delivery.

Please note that annual leave will be restricted during May 2027.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

It is anticipated interviews will take place at the end of November.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications have been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.

If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

How to apply

To apply for this role, please submit the following as separate documents;

CV

Supporting statement of up to 1,000 words. You should set out in your statement why you’re interested in this role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job and person specification.

You can view your progress and application communications when you are logged into our recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folders if you do not receive associated email updates.