Domestic Bursar

The Domestic Bursar is responsible for leading and managing the operational teams providing a wide variety of services to students, staff and fellows living or working in college as well as to alumni, donors, guests and the wider public.

Domestic Bursar candidate pack (PDF)

Working with the Bursar, Principal and other members of the Executive Management Group, this is an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of an ambitious Oxford college. The successful candidate will contribute at both a strategic and operational level. They will engage actively across the entire college community to achieve organisation-wide goals, ranging from bold fundraising ambitions to a revamped estate masterplan. Key responsibilities include to:

• Contribute to the development of the college’s strategy and the delivery of its strategic objectives as a member of the Executive Management Group.
• Lead and manage the college’s operational teams, setting a culture of inclusivity and encouraging collaboration, so that they deliver consistent, cost effective and high-quality services.
• Manage operational risks, and ensure health and safety and wider regulatory compliance.
• Play a key role in building projects as the senior user, specifying operational requirements and ensuring business continuity during the construction phase.
• Drive the college’s events, catering, and accommodation operations as key income-generating activities, ensuring services are financially sustainable, commercially effective, and aligned with the college’s wider strategic objectives.
• Serve as a key ambassador for sustainability, both internally and externally.
• Promote student sport and other social activities.

Job description

Strategy

As a member of the Executive Management Group contribute to the development of the college’s strategy and the delivery of its strategic objectives:

• Play a full and active role in the college’s Executive Management Group and attend the Estates, Risk and Scrutiny, Health and Safety, Sustainability and other committees of Governing Body as required and invited.
• Develop business cases and operational strategies and translate agreed strategic objectives into practical operational plans.
• Work with other Domestic Bursars, both formally as an active member of the Oxford University Domestic Bursars’ Committee and informally, to ensure that the college is aware of practices and trends across the collegiate university and to shape a shared agenda where appropriate.

Management and leadership

Lead and manage the college’s operational teams, setting a culture that is inclusive and encourages collaboration, and delivering consistent, cost effective and high-quality services:

• Provide effective leadership to the operations, catering, accommodation, lodge, and events team leads ensuring that they work as a cohesive team, providing the best possible support for the students, staff, fellows and core academic activities of the college.
• Manage and support the heads of the operational teams, including monitoring service standards and performance, setting objectives and goals, and ensuring that staff are appropriately trained for their roles.
• Drive innovations, efficiency gains and continuous improvements, setting KPIs, monitoring and analysing service delivery levels, and proactively seeking feedback and inputs from operational teams, staff and students.
• Maintain a working culture and environment that fosters professional excellence, mutual respect, fairness and equality at all levels.

Regulatory compliance, and health and safety

Manage operational risks, and ensure health and safety and wider regulatory compliance:

• Develop systems and processes for managing operational risks, consulting with and reporting back to Executive and Governance Committees as required.
• Ensure health and safety compliance and best practice, reducing risk and setting a strong culture within the team.
• Assume overall responsibility for, and ensure compliance with, UUK/GuildHE Accommodation Code of Practice regulations and licensing legislation.
• Maintain oversight of statutory compliance within operational buildings, including fire safety measures, asbestos management coordination, emergency procedures, water hygiene, and accessibility considerations.
• Support emergency response arrangements for major building failures, floods, utility outages, or other incidents.
• Play a key role in implementing the college’s Prevent strategy and be one of the safeguarding leads.

Estates, maintenance, and building works

Play a key role in building projects as the senior user, specifying operational requirements and ensuring business continuity during the construction phase:

• Work closely with the Bursar, estates and project teams on the design, planning and delivery of refurbishment, maintenance, and construction projects across the college estate.
• Coordinate the operational aspects of building works to minimise disruption to students, academic activities, conferences, and college events, monitoring the day-to-day impact of contractor activity within operational areas of the college.
• Oversee operational preparations associated with refurbishment programmes, including decanting accommodation, room inventories, temporary relocations, and communications with affected users.
• Ensure contractors comply with college procedures relating to safeguarding, security, fire safety, access control, and site conduct.
• Oversee standards following project completion, including snagging, reinstatement, cleaning, furnishing, and operational handover.

Income generation and financial management

Oversee the financial and commercial aspects of the college’s events, accommodation and catering activities, increasing profitability and/or managing subsidies:

• In collaboration with the Head of Catering, manage the revenues and costs associated with the provision of lunches and events, including subsidies to staff and fellows.
• Identify opportunities to increase revenue generation through conferences, events, summer schools, guest accommodation, hospitality services, and vacation lettings, while balancing the academic and community priorities of the college.
• Play a lead role in selling and delivering external conferences and events, ensuring excellence in delivery and customer communication and managing key client relationships.
• Collate and analyse financial information from across the operational teams and support the team leads to prepare and manage their budgets and achieve value for money.
• Negotiate, monitor and review suppliers used by operational departments ensuring contracts, SLAs, pricing/margins and spending levels are appropriate.

Sustainability, sport and community engagement

Serve as a key ambassador for sustainability and promote student sport and other social activities:

• In collaboration with the Operations Manager, play a full and active part in setting and implementing the college’s strategies and plans to reduce carbon emissions, increase biodiversity and become more sustainable.
• Develop, manage and monitor systems for measuring, monitoring and reducing embodied carbon via procurement, menu planning, waste management and other activities.
• Communicate to staff, fellows and students the importance of sustainability and the impact of their actions and develop appropriate mechanisms for holding each and every member of the community accountable.
• Foster a positive and supportive experience for the students and wider community.
• Oversee the college’s sports facilities, staff and purchases and support the Graduate Common Room Committee to promote sport, music and other social activities throughout the community.

Organisation chart

Person Specification

Essential

The successful candidate will have:

• Significant leadership experience at senior, strategic and operational levels
• The ability to lead with empathy, build consensus and manage change sensitively
• A Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent professional qualifications and/or experience)
• A commercial awareness and an ability to translate that to an educational setting
• A service ethos and customer focus with a commitment to the provision of first-class service to a diverse constituency of students, fellows and conference guests

The postholder will be:

• An outstanding communicator, with diplomacy and influencing skills
• Analytical and able to juggle conflicting priorities
• A ‘people person’, an excellent listener who demonstrates compassion and empathy whilst setting clear targets and holding others accountable
• Able to build productive working relationships at all levels
• Pragmatic, able to both see the bigger picture and engage with the detail
• An empowering and enabling leader of staff
• Able to formulate policy and implement decisions, building consensus across the college community, particularly when changes are proposed
• Numerate with the ability to produce clear, considered, informative papers for college meetings that contribute to transparent and effective decision making
• Experienced at managing complex budgets
• An effective, creative and pragmatic problem-solver
• Naturally well-suited to the egalitarian ethos of the college and able to work with students as partners, while prepared to take hard decisions when needed

Desirable

• Experience managing teams and operations in an Oxbridge college or educational institution.

Green Templeton welcomes applications from people from all sections of the community and is particularly keen to encourage those from diverse groups, such as LGBTQ+ and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates, who currently are under-represented in the college staff team.

Green Templeton recognises that the actions and choices of our community have a huge impact on the college’s environmental footprint, and is committed to embedding sustainable thinking throughout its operations.

Terms and conditions of employment

Salary

Competitive

Reporting

Bursar

Hours

37.5 hours per week although sometimes longer hours may be required. The post holder will be expected to attend meetings and events at evenings and weekends.

Holiday

38 days per annum (including eight Bank Holidays and college closure days). Additional long service holidays apply after five years.

Pension

The post is pensionable and the postholder is eligible for membership of the USS pension scheme.

Duration

Permanent position available immediately. The position is subject to a six-month probationary period.

Relocation

Relocation expenses could be available in line with UK government rules.

Employer

Green Templeton College. The college is an independent employer and does not automatically apply University of Oxford employment terms and conditions or policies.

Other benefits

• Eligibility for Oxford Colleges Healthcare Scheme (paid by employee through salary deduction)
• Enhanced maternity pay
• Sick pay, related to length of service, rising to six months full pay and six months half pay after five years
• Interest-free travel to work loan
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Parking is currently available on a first-come first-served basis
• Free lunches are provided when the kitchens are open
• Use of college sports facilities including squash, punt and gym
• University Card giving free access to the various university facilities including Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum, libraries, sports and other college gardens (by appointment)

Hybrid working

Green Templeton College has a flexible working policy and is positive about staff maintaining a healthy work-life balance. While this role will be primarily based in college, consideration will be given to flexible working patterns, if desired, after successful completion of the six-month probationary period.

Recruitment timetable

Closing date for applications

Monday 7 September at 12:00

First interview

Week commencing Monday 21 September

How to apply

The college is being supported in this appointment by executive search firm, Minerva. To apply for this vacancy, please send a covering letter and CV to GreenTempleton@minervasearch.com.

The closing date for this role is Monday 7 September 2026 at 12:00.

Data Protection

All data supplied by applicants will be used only for the purposes of determining their suitability for the post, and will be held in accordance with the principles of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the College’s Data Protection Policy.

Travel Expenses

Reasonable travel expenses will be reimbursed