Overview
Vacancy Type: Permanent
Location: SPS College
Pay Band: Please refer to full job description on SPS career site
Salary: £70,654 – £77,854
Closing Date: 2026-02-02
Hours of Work: Please refer to full job description on SPS career site
Job Purpose:
SPS consistently provides a well-performing and progressive service, thanks to the experience and expertise of our workforce. Where the SPS succeeds, we know it is because of our skilled and compassionate staff, who have learned from their training and from one another. To maintain that reputation, our staff have to manage existing demands while continually responding to new and emerging priorities. This challenge is the reason why supporting the personal and professional development of our staff is a key priority for the organisation; ensuring everyone who works for the SPS has the skills, knowledge and opportunity to drive positive change.
The Head of SPS College is a critical role for SPS and you will be required to be an inclusive leader who will work across all parts of the business to support and facilitate key elements of organisational development including cultural change, development of capability and embedding the right values-led beliefs and behaviours in our leaders and our workforce. As Head of SPS College, you will lead the team responsible for enabling the continual development of our staff to ensure SPS has the right people with the right skills in the right place at the right time. As with any senior manager within SPS you will be responsible for positively driving diversity forward, including contributing to the achievement of our Equality Outcomes. This will be a particular focus of this role given the importance of workforce development in achieving an inclusive organisation.
SPS College has a diverse remit across a number of teams and work locations, with responsibility for staff development from recruit foundation training up to senior leadership, ongoing core-to-role, operational resilience, digital learning and quality assurance. You will lead an expanding function of Senior Managers, Theme Leads, L&D Managers, facilities and support staff all needed to run a residential college. This includes staff based in SPS College (Polmont), the National Training Centre (Fauldhouse) and establishment based training staff.
The prison estate is currently experiencing a record level of population pressures making robust staff development more important than ever. Within these challenges the college has experienced a significant amount of growth over the past few years with particular attention placed on areas such as leadership development and recruit training. The immediate focus of this role is to further consolidate and embed established staff development approaches within the complexity of current organisational challenges.
Working collaboratively with senior leaders as well as internal and external stakeholders, you will be responsible for appropriate diagnostic, design, delivery of learning and workforce development strategies and solutions. This will improve employee engagement and business performance, moving from reactive, needs-based training to a proactive, strategic approach, leveraging learning and development as an employee development tool and increasing staff capability.
You will define and implement strategies which deliver effective workforce development across the organisation, supporting staff through the complexities of the modern prison estate. This includes training in areas such as mental health; substance use; trauma-informed support; staff wellbeing; digital learning approaches. You will work collaboratively with the Workforce Planning function to support effective attraction, recruitment and development of new staff including potential professional pathways and mentoring for operational recruits.
The SPS College continues to focus on its implementation of accredited training and quality assurance standards. The Head of College should provide subject matter expertise that supports ongoing implementation of training standards to support increased corporate governance. This includes strategic oversight of updated quality assurance processes and external verification frameworks.
You will undertake the role of Theme Lead on the SPS National Taskforce for Prison Welfare and Safety, providing corporate guidance on training and staff development in line with Scottish Government approved Fatal Accident Inquiry recommendations. You will work closely with relevant internal and external partners and lead a college-based sub-group to strategise and implement appropriate training interventions to tight deadlines.
You will work collaboratively with the wider Organisational Development leadership team with particular focus on directorate business planning and delivery. You will be an active contributor to the HR Transformation agenda, working to robustly embed learning and development into our new system and the wider staff career journey.
Responsibilities:
Provide leadership and management for SPS College and the wider learning and development function comprising of a diverse team based across Scotland (circa. 90 staff) and management of two physical sites including an operating budget of £8million. This includes direct line management of a team of three senior managers.
Define, agree and execute a variety of organisational and staff development strategies required to build the technical, behavioural, managerial and leadership capabilities needed for the future. This includes creating cultural and behavioural change across the SPS to support our ambitions to continue to be a values led organisation.
Act as an effective and influential senior leader within Organisational Development and SPS contributing to the organisation’s direction setting and overall performance and aligning L&D strategies to support this. This includes regular work directly with the organisation’s Executive Management Group.
Act as a role model for Equality and Diversity, ensuring that staff learning and development effectively helps drive organisational ambitions for a more diverse and inclusive workforce align to SPS strategy and Equality Outcomes.
Promote and advocate for learning and development in the Scottish Prison Service working closely and in partnership with Senior Operational, HR and Policy Staff, Trade Union Colleagues and SPS Executive Management Group to ensure delivery of organisational objectives as outlined in our Corporate Plan.
Develop strategies processes and capabilities to embed the full suite of Learning & Development interventions and mechanisms, driving the transition from traditional Learning & Development delivery (such as face to face learning) to blended learning, including eLearning, virtual delivery and work-based development.
Person Specification
SPS recruitment and selection practice is based on the fundamentals of our Behavioural Competency Framework. This identifies behaviours and standards required both of applicants seeking to join us, and our staff in their respective roles. Assessment of specific behaviours, of which there are twelve, will be determined by the role you are applying for. Whilst it is unlikely you will be assessed on all of them , you will be assessed on these identified as key to role.
Qualifications Requirements
Candidates must hold minimum of a post graduate qualification in Learning and Development or Education. (essential)
Experience Requirements
Knowledge Skills Requirements
Leadership
Experience of providing leadership and direction to people and teams within a complex environment with evidence of implementing positive corporate outcomes and workstreams. (essential)
Learning & Development
Implementation of workplace Learning & Development strategies and approaches with proven experience in successfully working with others in a complex learning environment to shape and deliver common goals in line with specific needs of the business. (essential)
Quality & Assurance Frameworks
Experience of working with externally accredited training and national qualification frameworks, ideally, in an operational environment, with evidence of an ability to utilise these to support robust corporate governance. (essential)
Transformational Change
Experience of delivering transformational change aligned to corporate vision and mission. Evidence of working across and with the organisation and of overcoming challenges and resistance to implement and deliver positive impact and outcomes. Evidence of enabling and driving cultural change. (essential)
Selection Methods Please refer to full job description on SPS career site.
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
