Senior Director, Research & Practice

LEGO Foundation

Senior Director, Research & Practice

Competitive Salary

Billund, Denmark

 

Every child should have the chance to learn through
play.  Can you help us make that happen?

The LEGO Foundation was established in 1986 by the founders of
the LEGO Group, to enable all children to reach their full
potential by learning through play.  We champion and enable
playful child-centred learning for millions of children around the
world, including children in extremely vulnerable environments as
well as those with disabilities and special educational
needs.  We support activities carried out by partners in 64
countries on all continents. 

When our partners suggest projects to make learning through play
more accessible or inclusive, we are there to fund them. Everything
we do is rooted in evidence, and our evidence colleagues
collaborate with leading institutions so we are always expanding
what we know, from understanding how playful learning boosts
opportunities for disadvantaged children to mapping what happens in
a child’s brain when they play.

We also influence education policy and support behaviour-change
programmes to truly change the way the world learns by making play
inclusive and accessible to all. We want children to grow up to be
creative, engaged, lifelong learners – who thrive in our constantly
changing world. And we believe learning through play is essential
to that.

With a newly defined LEGO Foundation strategy, we now seek a
Senior Director, Research and Practice.  This newly created
role requires an exceptional people leader with a track record of
leading and growing high performing teams. 

As a visionary with bias towards action, you’ll shape the
future, setting the strategy and priorities for advancing the field
of Learning through Play. To accelerate the pace of change in
achieving the LEGO Foundation’s aspirations, you will seek
partnerships with research institutions globally to find, connect
and amplify the best approaches backed by research and tested in
practice.

Child-centric, focused and data-driven, you’ll set future
research and innovation agenda and will have a pivotal role in
convening an international network of Play and Learning Science
experts across our target geographies.

You’ll bring a blend of academic/commercial experience, having
most likely begun your career in academia but then moved into
applied settings such as the product space, Edtech, or education
consultancy. 

You are collaborative and a highly effective communicator with
ability to inspire diverse stakeholders, building bridges
for common understanding across the LEGO ecosystem – from
boardroom to team room. You are also excited to represent the
LEGO Foundation in high-level speaking engagements and fora
and preferably bring keynoting and stage experience along with
media engagement. 

Personally, you’ll bring curiosity, humility, have a strong
interest in data/AI and thrive on developing people for team
impact. 

If all this sounds like you, and you would like to play a
pivotal role in elevating play as a fundamental aspect of childhood
and education worldwide, we would love to hear from you!

To find out more about this fantastic opportunity and
how to apply, please visit https://www.gatenbysanderson.com/job/GSe109648.

For any queries or a confidential discussion, please
contact our advising consultants at GatenbySanderson:

Jennie Wood, Research Lead – jennie.wood@gatenbysanderson.com

Fiona Wansborough, Partner – fiona.wansborough@gatenbysanderson.com

Closing date: 
                               
             
                            
Sunday 28th April 2024

Preliminary Interviews:
             
             
                            
7th – 10th May

LEGO Foundation Interviews (Remote):
                            
23rd – 24th May and 3rd – 4th June

LEGO Foundation Final Interviews (Billund,
Denmark):  13th – 14th June

We love it when our people feel free to express their
creativity, energy, and passion for our mission. And we’re all
about bringing in different perspectives and ideas. So, we strongly
encourage applications from candidates of any and every background
(we come from 23 different countries and counting).