Director of Music Education
The Music Works are seeking a visionary leader for an exciting new role that has the potential to revolutionise music education across the UK and beyond.
A Transformative Role in Music Education
As the Director of Music Education, you will have the rare opportunity to shape and drive forward three interconnected areas of our work, each with its own unique impact on the music education landscape:
- Music Leaders UK (MLUK) – TMW’s newly launched national awarding organisation using music to develop leadership skills in young people
- The Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire (GSW) Music Hub inclusion and youth voice lead providing strategic leadership and supporting schools and community partners across the region to provide inclusive, youth-led music education
- The Music Works (TMW) schools delivery in Gloucestershire – operating as an R and D base, feeding into both MLUK and GSW Hub work
This role offers a unique vantage point to influence and develop music education at local, regional, and national levels. For a strategic thinker with drive and ambition, this position provides the platform to:
- Draw insights from on-the-ground local delivery and development in Gloucestershire educational establishments
- Influence and cultivate a youth-led, inclusive approach to music education across Swindon, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire
- Drive transformative change across the UK (and potentially globally) through Music Leaders UK
The Context
The Music Works (TMW)
The Music Works is a Gloucester-based charity that uses music to empower young people aged 8-30, with over 80% coming from challenging circumstances. We engage over 8,000 young people annually through innovative music programmes and events, placing youth voice at every level of our work.
Music Leaders UK (MLUK)
MLUK is a groundbreaking, UK-wide Level 1, 2 and 3 awarding organisation (currently going applying for Ofqual registered status) committed to revolutionising music education across the UK. Launched this year by TMW, MLUK aims to empower hundreds of thousands of young individuals to develop and demonstrate their music and leadership skills.
Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire (GSW) Music Hub
The GSW Music Hub covers a large geographical area and is a partnership of schools, local authorities, community groups, and music organisations delivering high quality music education to all young people across the area. TMW is a lead organisation in this partnership, with specific responsibility for equality, diversity, inclusion, and youth voice across the Hub’s work.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic leadership and vision
- Develop a comprehensive, high-level education strategic plan that aligns TMW, MLUK, and GSW Hub initiatives
- Drive innovation, growth, and impact across all three areas
- Ensure youth voice is embedded in all aspects of the work
- MLUK development and growth
- Establish MLUK as a leading awarding body in the UK
- Ensure effective delivery of the business plan, reviewing strategic approach regularly for maximum impact
- Oversee curriculum development, ensuring high-quality, inclusive, and industry-relevant content
- Drive sales and revenue generation, developing partnerships with schools and educational institutions
- Lead brand development and marketing strategies
- Ensure compliance with Ofqual and other regulatory bodies
- GSW Music Hub leadership
- Lead the Hub’s equality, diversity, inclusion, and youth voice strategy
- Foster partnerships and collaborations across the region
- Oversee the delivery of the GSW Hub contract, ensuring contractual obligations are met and budgets are managed effectively
- The Music Works education programme
- Provide leadership to TMW’s education team, ensuring programmes meet the needs of schools and pupils
- Integrate MLUK’s approach into TMW’s programme delivery
- Continue to model and develop best practices in inclusive and youth-led music education
- People management and team development
- Lead, mentor, and develop high-performing teams across all three areas
- Make recommendations for organisational growth and resource allocation
- Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability
- Financial management and sustainability
- Oversee financial performance across all areas, ensuring sound budget management
- Drive continuous revenue growth, particularly for MLUK
- Monitor and analyse financial data to inform decision-making and resource allocation
- Partnerships and stakeholder management
- Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders in the education and music sectors
- Represent the organisation at a national level, advocating for inclusive and youth-led approaches to music education policy at national and local government level
- Work with national bodies to influence systemic change in the sector
- Reporting and governance
- Report regularly to the TMW board, CEO, and MLUK advisory board on progress, challenges, and opportunities
- Ensure compliance with all relevant organisational and regulatory policies and practices
How to Apply
If you wish to apply, please submit your current CV and a supporting statement to rbailey@musicleadersuk.com. The closing date is 9th September, but we may close early if a suitable candidate is found.
Please ensure that you provide specific examples in your supporting statement to demonstrate your competencies, achievements and skills and address the specific criteria set out in the person specification. We also ask that you complete an equality form (this is anonymous and is only to help us make sure we are reaching a broad range of people). If you would like to discuss the role beforehand then please email dpotts@themusicworks.org.uk to arrange a time to talk.
Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our organisation, and we promote equal opportunities. We believe this can be achieved through attracting diverse staff with different lived experiences and identities and who reflect the communities we serve. We encourage applications from anyone who can meet the person specification. In line with The Music Works safeguarding policy, this job is subject to enhanced DBS checks and satisfactory references.
If you have a disability and need reasonable adjustments made so that you are able to fully participate in the interview process, we will ask for further information about this if you are successful in being called to interview. We use positive action under section 159 of the Equality Act in relation to disability or race. This means that if we have two candidates of equal merit in our process, we will seek to take forward people with disabilities, or global majority candidate to diversify our staff team.
About the Provider
The Music Works
Our mission is to transform young lives through music. We’re specialists in working with young people in challenging circumstances to help them reach their full potential in music, in learning, and in life.
