Senior Director, Research & Practice

LEGO Foundation

Billund, Denmark

  • Location Billund, Denmark
  • Sector Not For Profit
  • Client LEGO Foundation
  • Job Type Permanent
  • Salary/Remuneration Competitive
  • Reference GSe109648
  • Closing Date 28th April

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. In order 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!

For any queries or a confidential discussion, please contact:

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

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

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). 

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