Copenhagen Business School (CBS) has added a new Deputy President position to its Senior Management team.

As a result CBS seeks a curious, courageous and collaborative leader to aid in implementing CBS’ new strategy and to develop our organisation and the Senior Management team.

What we seek

The financial crisis, the green transition and COVID-19 are just three examples of the enormous challenges we have faced in recent years that impact the business community, which also simultaneously plays a role in solving those challenges.

CBS would like to take on the responsibility for tackling these types of challenges and opportunities, both familiar ones and those yet to be identified. This represents the core of our new strategy.

Solutions to these challenges will frequently require transforming business, industry and society, which is where CBS’ employees and students play a key role. This requires outstanding relevant research and CBS graduates and leaders of the highest academic calibre who can and dare to make a difference Moreover, CBS’ employees and students must also take active responsibility in terms of the changes required in the business community and society.

The task requires curiosity and courage but also the will and ability to work collaboratively across disciplines, organisations, sectors and national boundaries. For this reason CBS requires a Deputy President with these qualities who is passionate about embarking on this journey.

The position

As Deputy President you will be part of Senior Management at CBS, which also comprises the President, Dean of Education, Dean of Research and University Director. This means you will have joint responsibility for daily as well as strategic management of CBS.

In addition, you will have direct management responsibilities for CBS’ department heads and departments which have almost 1,500 permanent and part-time academic staff.

You will play a vital role in terms of strengthening the integration of CBS’ degree programmes and research. This entails taking part in ensuring interaction between strategic development and the operation of CBS’ core activities – education and research – in close collaboration with the rest of Senior Management.

As Deputy President you will serve as the President’s substitute in external contexts and, like the three other members of Senior Management, report to the President.

Your qualifications

Although the perfect candidate may not exist, a decisive factor for CBS is that you are a respected leader who has achieved ambitious results through effective professional and personal leadership.

We prefer if you have specific experience with:

• Personnel management, including with international staff and leading through others, allowing you to aid department heads in managing their departments
• Strategic management and change management, allowing you to take responsibility for and contribute to implementing CBS’ new strategy
• Political systems, international collaborators and networks, allowing you to represent CBS nationally and internationally
• Management in complex, public organisations with the inclusion of employee councils, collegiate bodies, etc, allowing you to help ensure proper decision-making processes and overall job satisfaction

Emphasis will also be put on whether you can and will:

• Be courageous and curious, as these are competences we wish to promote in the new CBS strategy
• Take part in an equitable management group and support a culture where everyone takes responsibility for tasks and the strategic direction
• Demonstrate decisiveness and drive, allowing you to help ensure implementation of CBS’ strategy
• Complement, support and provide constructive contributions and counterarguments for the rest of Senior Management, allowing the team to jointly become stronger on an ongoing basis
• Communicate clearly in writing and orally, allowing you to create understanding, followership and constructive dialogue internally and externally
• Collaborate with and receive inspiration from others – across disciplines, fields and cultural backgrounds – because a central aspect of our strategy involves developing our collaborations with an inquiring mind
• Exercise a leadership style where listening to the many voices of the organisation comes natural to you, allowing development to take place continuously in dialogue with the organisation
• Reflect on and adjust your own management approach because we must be able to continually develop and evolve jointly as an organisation and also as individuals

Finally, mandatory requirements are that you:

• Have a strong academic background in the research and education world as an internationally recognised researcher at associate professor or preferably professor level in business economics, the social sciences or related area
• Are fluent orally and in writing in English and Danish or another Scandinavian language

You are expected to document and account for the above in your application and interview.

Recruitment process

The CBS Board of Directors, which will appoint the Deputy President on the recommendation of the President, have established an appointment committee tasked with advising the President on the recommendation. The President chairs the committee.

One of CBS’ strategic goals is the promotion of diversity, which is why every effort has been made to facilitate a recruitment process that aids in reducing potential bias during recruitment.

We therefore encourage applicants not to include photos or more personal information than absolutely necessary in their application.

To minimise group bias in the selection process applicants invited for an interview will not be interviewed by the entire selection committee in the first round but by individual committee members via brief online conversations.

Job interviews are expected to take place 10–11 November 2020 (round 1) and on 30 November 2020 (round 2).

Tests may be administered between rounds 1 and 2.

Terms of employment

Appointment and salary will be in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s agreement with the relevant organisation. The position of deputy president is tenured and receives pay grade 38 with post-negotiation of pay supplements possible.

Application and contact information

Apply for the position online by clicking on the link "Apply online” which allows you to fill out the application form and attach your application, CV and any appendices.

Application deadline: 18 October 2020

If you would like to hear more about the recruitment process or the position please contact Senior Advisor Anders Jonas Pedersen, ajp.slk@cbs.dk, +45 2947 7246 or CBS President Nikolaj Malchow-Møller, nmm.dir@cbs.dk.

Read the CBS Leadership Codex

Closing date: 18 October 2020.

Apply online