Director of Corporate Relations

Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM) has engaged our services for the recruitment of an outstanding individual for the position of Director of Corporate Relations.

(based in Paris or Grenoble)

1/ About Grenoble Ecole de Management

Ranked 6th in France and 21^st in Europe (Financial Times), GEM has built its success on a number of key factors:

• Outstanding students, alumni, faculty, support staff and stakeholders, with businesses at the forefront of a dynamic community.
• An identity and positioning focused on technology and innovation, recognised throughout academia and industry.
• Its vision to be one of the most influential business schools in Europe.
• A strategy based on the power of alliances, designed to create a clearly identified brand renowned for its excellence and to turn the institution from a Business School into a School for Business for Society.
• Triple accredited by the AACSB, EQUIS and the Association of MBAs, each label being continually renewed for the maximum possible duration.
• The unique nature of its international partner network.
• The exceptional quality of its academic and applied research.
• An unrivalled ability to create extremely close ties with the business world.

At the same time, GEM has developed a very specific and lively culture of entrepreneurship, experimentation and innovation driven by the energy, enthusiasm and engagement of its teams.

GEM is faced with a number of challenges today, including digital transformation and the associated investments; new forms of international development, recruitment, and faculty development; new forms of engagement with business; and based on its expertise in technology and innovation, finding ways to succeed in becoming identified as the top “business lab for society” in Europe and subsequently how to play a crucial role in developing economic peace.

2/ Job purpose and main duties:

The position will be based in either Paris or Grenoble, requiring travel in France and internationally.  Working in a highly stimulating environment, the successful candidate will be directly responsible to the Managing Director and sit on the Executive Committee.  The main duties of the Director of Corporate Relations are as follows (these duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list):

1.Promote GEM’s institutional strategy and design, recommend, deploy and manage the corporate relations development strategy voted by the Executive Committee

This will involve:

• Developing a corporate relations strategy in line with the institutional strategy, supported by the departments s/he manages and under the leadership of the Managing Director,
• Recommending and executing the plans of action that enable the deployment of this strategy,
• Recommending KPIs that measure the achievement of business objectives and ensuring these are monitored correctly,

2. Develop business activities and place GEM at the most senior level with companies and organisations

This will involve:

• Actively developing GEM’s expertise, reputation and visibility with companies and organisations,
• Developing partnerships with companies and organisations and reinforcing interest in GEM as a centre of excellence,
• Building ties and relationships with companies, institutions and authorities that create an environment for the successful development of GEM’s academic and teaching initiatives,
• Managing strategically the activities of the corporate relations, alumni relations and executive education departments under his/her responsibility in conjunction with their Directors, whilst ensuring their multidimensional impact across the organisation,
• Developing existing and new funding streams.

3. Build a culture of innovation and collaborative project work to support the development of GEM and its corporate relations

This will involve:

• Facilitating the development of a specific GEM business culture that is shared within the Group and communicated outside the institution,
• Embracing and sharing a culture of innovation and performance to the benefit of stakeholders,
• Developing projects to encourage faculty to collaborate successfully in support of the institutional strategy,
• Executing actions and projects that contribute to making these subjects transverse across the organisation (departments, programmes, research, faculty, …).

4. Organise, develop and manage the departments and personnel under their responsibility (60 members of staff),

5. Contribute to the Group’s strategic projects (digitalisation, internationalisation, etc., within the framework of GEM’s technology and innovation identity).

3/ Person specification:

With a deep knowledge and understanding of business and ideally educated to Doctorate or PhD level [Masters minimum], the future Director of Corporate Relations has demonstrated his/her ability to create value, build and develop strategically important relations with companies and/or tertiary education institutions and/or authorities (at local, national and international level).

S/he has a clear, ambitious and inspiring vision of the future.

1. 1. Experience and essential personal qualities 

• Successful previous experience in a business context in organisations employing a highly skilled workforce / or / experience in a high-level HR or consultancy position / or / successful previous experience in a similar position in a context of change management,
• International practice and experience,
• Excellent knowledge of higher education in general, and of the Business School environment in particular, ideally including an understanding of the French context,
• Portfolio of senior level business contacts and a strong network in major national and international companies,
• Results-oriented, with advanced human resource management and organization management skills,
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills, both in French and in English.

1. 2. Desirable personal qualities

• Strong leadership skills; able to motivate and lead others throughout their transformation projects,
• Ability to develop a strategic vision in a context of change,
• Team spirit; ability to inspire collaboration around shared objectives,
• Determined and highly persuasive,
• Good listener, conveying messages and information effectively and with courtesy,
• Advanced decision-making and arbitration skills,
• Creates and inspires confidence, honesty and rigour,
• High personal and professional integrity, and respect for the values framework of the School,
• Flexible and agile; able to successfully adapt to changing environments,
• Service-oriented and customer-focussed culture,
• Global mindset

4/ Recruitment process:

Please email your application to: s.obarowski@headway-advisory.com

Following a series of interviews with HEADway recruitment consultants, shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend further interviews with the GEM senior management team.

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