Director of Music & Performing Arts

Trinity College London; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A notable educational institution in the UK seeks a Director of Music and Performance to lead a newly unified department. This role involves setting strategic directions, overseeing transformative projects, and managing a team focused on enhancing global market presence. The ideal candidate will combine strong leadership skills with a dynamic approach to change in the creative arts sector. Offering a hybrid working model with travel requirements, this position aims to shape a modern, agile function at a pivotal moment in the institution's evolution.

Benefits

Stimulating work environment

Diverse and inclusive workplace

Support for employee well-being

Qualifications

• Experience in leading transformation across education or creative sectors.
• Strong credibility in music or performing arts disciplines.
• Ability to work internationally and lead cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Set strategic direction for the Music and Performance department.
• Oversee the full product lifecycle and digital transformation.
• Manage budgets and develop partnerships across education and industry.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Commercial awareness

Data literacy

Collaboration

Education

Degree in Music, Performing Arts, or related field

Job description

Contract: Permanent, full-time

Location: London (hybrid-working)

About the role

This is a newly created role that brings Trinity’s Music and Performance functions together into one cohesive, forward-looking department. These areas have traditionally operated independently, shaped by legacy structures and specialist traditions. The Director of Music and Performance will define a unified vision from the outset and create a modern, agile function aligned to how today’s learners create and perform. You will galvanise the highly experienced team and take them on an exciting journey of transformation.

The role sits at the intersection of academic quality and commercial opportunity. The global creative and performing arts industries form a multi-billion-pound sector, and Trinity’s portfolio holds a distinctive place within it. Reporting to the Chief Academic Officer, you will lead strategy, assessment direction, digital development, and global positioning, while ensuring strong academic and regulatory standards. You will oversee a team of around ten specialists and senior examiners responsible for delivering and maintaining the portfolios.

The opportunity offers genuine scope to shape the department’s identity and culture. Collaborating closely with colleagues in International, Marketing, Sales, Product, Technology and People and Culture, you will drive innovation, strengthen Trinity’s market presence, and open new channels for growth and influence. With no inherited blueprint, this is an opportunity to build a coherent, future-focused function at a pivotal moment in Trinity’s development.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the strategic direction for a unified Music and Performance department, integrating previously separate areas into a coherent and forward-focused function.
• Lead long-term portfolio strategy, informed by education policy, qualification frameworks, cultural sector developments, and global market trends.
• Use data and market insight to guide decision making, assess performance and identify opportunities for innovation, growth, or rationalisation.
• Oversee the full product lifecycle, including development, review, withdrawal and the introduction of new qualifications and pathways.
• Drive digital transformation across assessment and delivery models, working with Technology to enhance quality, access, and operational efficiency.
• Shape effective commercial collaboration with Marketing, Sales, and Business Development to support participation, income growth, and market share.
• Build and nurture partnerships across education, arts, culture, and industry to strengthen credibility, visibility, and influence.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks and safeguard the academic integrity, consistency, and relevance of all qualifications.
• Lead and develop a team of around ten specialists and senior examiners, ensuring effective day-to-day portfolio management and a collaborative, high-performing culture.
• Manage budgets and investment proposals, preparing clear recommendations and reports for the Chief Academic Officer and senior governance groups.

About you

You will be a dynamic and forward-thinking leader who thrives on positive disruption and purposeful change. You will bring the confidence to challenge long-held assumptions, the curiosity to rethink established practice and the imagination to shape a more modern and globally relevant portfolio. You will combine academic credibility with commercial focus, using sound judgement and creative thinking to open new possibilities across products, partnerships, and markets.

You will be resilient, engaging and culturally aware, able to unite specialist teams around a clear vision and create momentum across a function that is ready for renewal. Skilled at navigating complexity and ambiguity, you will balance strategic clarity with hands‑on collaboration, working across the organisation to bring coherence, colour, and fresh energy. You will be a positive change agent, capable of inspiring confidence, lifting capability, and leading Trinity into the next phase of its music and performance evolution.

• An experienced senior leader with a proven record of shaping product portfolios or leading transformation across education, assessment, or creative sectors, bringing a dynamic, future-focused approach to positive change.
• Strong credibility in music or performing arts or related disciplines, supported by a degree or equivalent experience, with an understanding of how assessment, qualifications or education products operate.
• Confident working internationally, skilled at leading multi‑disciplinary and cross‑functional teams across countries and cultures, and able to build networks and relationships in key markets such as China, India, or Southeast Asia.
• A natural disruptor who questions assumptions, reframes problems, and brings fresh thinking to long‑standing ways of working.
• Strong commercial awareness, with experience in strategic business development, partnerships or consultancy and the ability to position products competitively.
• Data‑literate, able to use insight to inform decisions, evaluate impact and identify opportunities for growth, improvement, or rationalisation.
• Comfortable setting direction in ambiguity, simplifying complexity and delivering strategic plans that balance academic integrity with commercial viability.
• Open and curious about technology, with an understanding of how digital tools can enhance teaching, learning, syllabuses, and assessment, as well as support day‑to‑day work.
• A compelling communicator who can present complex ideas clearly and persuasively to regulators, academic partners, and senior stakeholders.
• Collaborative and personable, with strong cultural awareness and the ability to build approachable, effective relationships across diverse backgrounds, markets, and disciplines.
• Highly organised and resilient, able to manage multiple priorities, adapt quickly to changing demands and support teams through periods of transition and change.

Whilst the role can work remotely, there will be an expectation of regular travel to Trinity’s different markets and to attend meetings in our Head Office on London’s South Bank.

Our benefits

Trinity provides a work environment that is stimulating, inspiring and fair. Our approach to reward values our employees while ensuring each person’s contribution makes us great as an organisation. As an employee, you’ll enjoy a range of benefits here at Trinity.

Our commitment

Trinity is open to all applicants from different backgrounds and we are committed to building a more diverse and inclusive workplace. All applications are dealt with in the strictest of confidence.

We actively encourages applications from candidates of all abilities. As a Disability Confident employer, we are dedicated to creating a workplace that is accessible, supportive, and welcoming for individuals with different abilities. We will make sure you can be interviewed fairly if you have a disability, long‑term health condition, or are neuro‑diverse.

Trinity promotes and welcome applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records. In line with the requirements of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974), we select all candidates for interview based on their competencies, qualifications and knowledge.

To learn more about our DEI commitment as an equal opportunities employer, please visit our Equality, diversity and inclusion page.

How to Apply

To apply, please follow the Apply for This Job link on this page and you will be directed to the Trinity College London application page. We reserve the right to close the advert earlier if we receive a high volume of interest so please do not delay if interested.

Trinity College London does not hold a job visa sponsorship licence and so is not in a position to sponsor visas in the UK.

All posts are subject to a safer recruitment process, including the disclosure of criminal records and vetting checks. Upon successful appointment into the role, you will be required to complete our vetting procedures as with all Trinity College London employees. This is carried out by a 3rd party supplier and our standard background checks consist of Right to Work in the UK, Identity Check, Employment History check, Financial Probity Check, Highest Academic Qualifications Check and a basic DBS check.

Trinity College London will collect and use your personal information for our recruitment process in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice. Trinity College London will hold candidate data on file for no more than six months from application submission. If you want your information to be removed earlier, please contact us directly. If we want to hold your information beyond the six months, we will contact you to get your consent.

Our data protection policy can be viewed in full here .