Internal mobility

Internal mobility helps build skills, increases engagement and retention and fosters a culture of continuous development.  

Benefits for employees

Taking on new opportunities within the University enables you to grow your career while building on the experiences and relationships you've already developed. Internal moves allow you to take on fresh challenges, expand your expertise, and develop new skills — all while staying in a familiar environment that supports your ongoing career development.   

Benefits for managers

Internal mobility helps to create more engaged teams, where employees feel supported to expand their skills and advance their careers. Through encouraging mobility, you can enable individuals to grow towards and pursue new opportunities, and you can attract individuals into your team who already have knowledge of the University structure and culture. The work of the team can also benefit, becoming more effective and informed through the fresh and varied perspectives that employees bring from other parts of the organisation. 

We are developing an Internal Mobility Framework to further support the internal mobility of professional services staff. The framework reflects our commitment in the People Strategy to enabling talent to thrive and to the Professional Services Together priority of supporting Oxford-wide careers.  

The purpose of the Internal Mobility Framework is to enable professional services staff to easily and effectively develop and progress their careers at Oxford, particularly by undertaking different roles across the University.  

Under the framework new initiatives are being developed to create meaningful opportunities for staff to grow, move, and thrive within professional services. The first initiatives are being introduced from September 2025 and further details are below. 

In parallel, the Academic Career and Reward Framework project is developing a new career and reward framework for academic teaching and research staff at the University.   

A set of Internal Mobility Principles has been developed to outline good practice to support the movement of colleagues across all areas of professional services. The principles define expectations for moving into professional services roles and are designed to provide transparent and structured foundations for mobility that balance individual and organisational needs.  

The principles apply to all professional services vacancies that commence advertising from 1 November 2025. 

The principles are in a pilot phase across professional services from November 2025. Whether you're considering your next move or you are a manager supporting the development of a team, we encourage you to familiarise yourself with the principles. 

REVIEW THE INTERNAL MOBILITY PRINCIPLES