Strategic Advisor for Campus Development

What you will be doing

As a strategic advisor, you identify opportunities and social trends in the economic sphere and know how to translate them into concrete actions. This is a challenge, as there are sometimes conflicting interests. That’s why you’re uniquely skilled at bringing different parties together. You serve as a sounding board for both your team and partners in the region.

In doing so, you will always keep the predefined goals of the MRDH Strategic Agenda firmly in mind, and you and your team will be responsible for achieving the results recently set out in the 2024 Implementation Program.

In this role, you will primarily focus on the development and further development of campuses. You will develop tools to support municipalities in this effort and also assist educational institutions and municipalities with project development and knowledge sharing in the areas of aligning education with the labor market and innovation. In doing so, you will establish connections with other themes such as accessibility and mobility. Your advice and projects demonstrate that the MRDH’s Economics Department has an impact. In addition, we expect you to be able to contribute more broadly to the department’s other two themes, particularly the “space for work” initiative, which focuses on creating sufficient suitable space for the development of economic activities.

This is what a typical workday will look like

You’ll start your Monday at a vocational and higher vocational education campus in the region to discuss how the education sector and the business community can work together even more effectively to train students.

After that, you’ll head to the office and process the ideas you’ve gathered. You’ll catch up with your team members to discuss the work for the coming week. There’s also a department meeting once every two weeks, so you can stay up to date on all the important developments within the department.

In the afternoon, you’ll have lunch with your immediate colleagues and those from the transportation department. After lunch, you’ll work on a proposal to strengthen a vocational and higher vocational education campus. The proposal is on the agenda for the Economic Business Climate administrative meeting. You’ll coordinate this with your MRDH colleagues, the municipalities, and the relevant alderman. There’s a deadline for submitting the documents, and you’ll make sure it’s met!

In short, this is a challenging role in which you will be responsible for providing strategic advice and driving the effective implementation of projects across 21 municipalities.

This is you

With your strategic expertise, you will help us achieve our ambitious goals. You are attuned to your surroundings and enjoy working in a political and administrative environment. You are also able to handle opposition. You thrive on building connections, contributing strategic insights, delivering results, managing stakeholders, and managing projects. As a person, you are energetic, flexible, and have a knack for building relationships and understanding dynamics. Additionally:

• Do you have a vision for the region’s economic development?
• you can translate your vision and strategy into programs and initiatives;
• Are you a networker who can connect municipalities, educational institutions, and businesses with one another?
• Are you proactive, enterprising, and able to handle stress?
• You have a clear understanding of the administrative landscape and are able to switch seamlessly between the civil service and administrative levels;
• Collaboration and a focus on results are your natural motivations.

You also have access to:

• academic level of work and thinking;
• 5 to 10 years of experience with local/regional administrative processes in government or consulting;
• an affinity for and experience with education and the labor market, innovation, and spatial-economic issues at the local and regional levels.

Our offerings

• A salary that reflects who you are and what you can do. We’d be happy to discuss the exact amount with you, up to a maximum of €6,993 gross (scale 13) based on a 36-hour workweek.
• A one-year contract. If we’re still happy working together after that, we’ll be happy to convert your contract into a permanent employment contract.
• The opportunity to grow and work toward your personal goals.
• 27 days of vacation per year based on a 36-hour workweek.
• Good ABP pension plan.
• An individual flexible spending allowance equal to 17.05% of the gross monthly salary.
• A loaner laptop and a phone allowance.
• Full public transportation reimbursement for commuting (2nd class) and business travel (1st class).
• A high degree of autonomy: you have the freedom to set your own work hours and can work in a hybrid model.

This is where you'll be working

You’ll be joining our Economic Business Climate department. Here, you’ll work alongside ten enthusiastic professionals, each with their own area of expertise. There’s also a lot of overlap between our work. We primarily focus on three key areas: “Aligning Education with the Labor Market,” “Strengthening SMEs and Innovation,” and “Revitalizing Work Locations.” Every two weeks, we discuss current issues, upcoming challenges, and how we can support one another during our team meetings.

Our organization

The Rotterdam-The Hague Metropolitan Region is a voluntary joint arrangement among 21 municipalities. As an extension of local government, we have been granted the status of a transport region by the national government. This means we have statutory responsibilities in the area of traffic and transportation. For example, we formulate regional traffic and transportation policy. And as the contracting authority for regional and urban public transportation in the Rotterdam-The Hague Metropolitan Region, we grant concessions to transportation companies. We also provide subsidies for various traffic and transportation projects and for the management, maintenance, and replacement of public transportation infrastructure. For this purpose, we receive approximately €600 million per year directly from the national government.

In addition, it is our responsibility to improve the business climate in areas such as work locations (industrial parks, retail, offices), economic innovation (field labs, startups), and the alignment between education and the labor market. To this end, we receive a contribution—€6.8 million in 2023—from the 21 municipalities.

Do you have any questions?

Do you have any questions or would you like to know more about the position? Please contact Monique van Buul, Interim Manager of the Business Climate, at 06 13 23 36 46 or m.vanbuul@mrdh.nl. The deadline for inquiries is Wednesday, December 20.

Is this position really the right fit for you?

We look forward to receiving your application, including your resume, no later than December 30, 2023, addressed to M.L. van Buul via email: werkenvoor@mrdh.nl.

Good to know

• Please note that the first round of interviews will take place on Wednesday, January 17, or Thursday, January 18, and the second round on Monday, January 22, or Tuesday, January 23.
• We are advertising this position both internally and externally. Internal candidates will be given priority.
• A management-oriented assessment is part of the application process. We ask that you complete a questionnaire for this purpose.
• An assessment may be part of the application process.