Associate Director (AI and Ideas Adoption)

The University of Manchester Library is excited to begin its search for the first Associate Director for AI and Ideas Adoption to be appointed to any Library in the world.

The University of Manchester is recognised as one of the world’s top research universities and also as one with a long legacy of invention, leadership and ‘world firsts.’ At the heart of Britain’s largest single site University sits The University of Manchester Library, the only designated National Research Library in the North of England, the third largest academic Library system in the UK and with over ten million items the largest non-legal deposit Library in the country. Operating across seventeen sites and encompassing the UK’s largest academic digital collections as well as the remarkable John Rylands Library, The University of Manchester Library is widely acknowledged to be one of the world’s great libraries.

The Library is valued locally, nationally, regionally and internationally as a place of great historic importance but also of boundless innovation and creativity. We are an ideas-led workforce, proud of our agility and quality. Our culture is one that translates ideas into impact but that also considers pure exploration and pragmatic application to be equally important.

Manchester is looking for an exceptional person to deliver the Library’s vision, Imagine2030 in the new context of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. We are looking to you to contribute to an already rich body of expertise and thought leadership in the Library and to convene specialist knowledge across the University on our changing world.

The Associate Director, AIIA portfolio also includes responsibility for developing the Library’s role in ID Manchester, the University of Manchester’s new £1.7billion innovation district on twenty-three acres in the centre of Manchester, one of the world’s most exciting global cities. With other members of Library Executive Team and Library Leadership Team, this role also contributes to our ground-breaking work with leading North American universities on library futures and our ongoing engagement with the Manchester-Melbourne-Toronto Research Alliance.

If you would like to take a leading role in coordinating the Library’s regional, national and especially international partnerships in the developing fields of AI and wider transformation then this is a unique opportunity. You will lead the systems and digital development work of one of the world’s most significant libraries in this emerging and fast-paced field but also work with colleagues across the Library and University in all areas of our work as a partner in teaching, learning, research and social responsibility.