Cambridge Senior Management Programme
A transformative global leadership journey in just 6 short months. The Cambridge Senior Management Programme – for functional managers transitioning to senior leadership roles.
Upcoming programmes
Format:
Dates:
Duration:
Fees:
Blended
18 May 2025 (start date)
6 months
£22,000
Upcoming programmes
Format:
Blended
Dates:
18 May 2025 (start date)
Duration:
6 months
Fees:
£22,000
Overview
Prepare to step up. The Cambridge Senior Management Programme (SMP) is a dynamic modular programme designed to transform you from functional manager to well-rounded, confident leader ready to move into senior leadership roles. Along the way, you will engage with our world-renowned Cambridge faculty and interact with a talented, richly diverse peer group.
Strategy. Digital Innovation. Organisational transformation. Business Analytics. We’ll make sure you’re ready to tackle whatever comes next.
Benefits and career impact
Good for you, good for your organisation.
- Enhance your strategic leadership skills – in-depth learning in over 26 sessions.
- Learn with over 15 esteemed Cambridge Judge Business School faculty, all renowned experts and thought leaders in their fields.
- Experience the Cambridge way – smaller class sizes and maximum interaction between faculty, participants and peers.
- Benefit from a peer group who offer 600 years of cumulative work experience.
- Become an associate member of Cambridge Judge Business School’s global alumni network.
- Return to your organisation ready to lead.
- Identify and share new market trends and opportunities in an ever-changing business landscape.
- Make the most of the modular format to minimise time away from the office.
Hello. My name is Kishore Sengupta. I’m a Professor in Operations at Cambridge Judge Business School, the University of Cambridge. My current research, teaching, and other activities are focused on managing complex projects, complexity in organisations, and the future of work.
I’ve been a faculty member at Cambridge Judge Business School for the past 9 years. Before coming here, I was on the faculty at INSEAD in France and Singapore, and in schools in the United States and Hong Kong. In my research and teaching, I work closely with organisations in different sectors, especially in technology and services.
Careers focus on specialisation and functions, such as marketing, finance operations, and so on. Professionals succeed by becoming really, really good at the specialisations, and this becomes a way to advance the careers. But this strategy only works up to a point. So for example, you can become the head of a functional specialisation.
Beyond that, professionals are given responsibilities that require them to look beyond their functions, for example, running a business in a particular country. Succeeding in such roles, the next step of the journeys, requires leaders to develop new capabilities, such as developing an end-to-end perspective on business, getting the best out of the people, and coping with headwinds in the environment. This is the focus of our senior management programme, SMP.
A flagship executive education programme for mid-career professionals
SMP is a flagship executive education programme at Cambridge Judge aimed at mid-career professionals. It consists of multiple modules, each with a focus on a specific theme. The format of the programme is blended. Some of the modules are conducted face-to-face here in Cambridge. Others are done in an online format.
This combination provides participants with flexibility in their time commitments. The sessions are delivered by Cambridge Judge faculty, who are all world-leading experts in their own specialisations. The programme is typically conducted over a 6-month period.
The curriculum
The first module, held in Cambridge, focuses on an end-to-end perspective on what it means to run a business. It consists of a mix of topics that the general manager must get on top of, leading complex initiatives, understanding key numbers, business ecosystems, strategic cascading, the future of work, and critical issues in, for example, marketing and operations.
The next modules are on coping with flux, that is, unpredictable changes in the business environments. Turbulence and disruption are here to stay, and leaders must adapt accordingly. We focus on disruption, innovation, making sense of technology, and the role of analytics in driving business, spotting opportunities and utilising them.
The final module is on how to use the levers of the organisation. Plans are all very good, but not if they are not implemented effectively. For this, leaders need to understand how to utilise the organisation. This module focuses on topics such as complexity in organisations, power and politics, networks and influence, managing talent, and a systemic view on how to use the most important of all our resources, which is time.
The underpinning of the programme is provided by individualised personal development. Getting the best out of others is critical to the effectiveness of a leader. We develop our participants through a set of individual and group leadership development sessions, including one-on-one coaching.
The faculty and your fellow participants
Our sessions are highly interactive, and they leverage the experiences of the participants. The pedagogy is combined exercises, simulations, cases, vignettes, and role plays, with lectures to deliver the key learnings. The faculty members who have deep expertise in the topics are highly skilled at combining theory and practice so that participants have clear frameworks and takeaways after every session. Many participants have returned to the programme to share their experiences with the community through, for example, new cases, discussions, guest lectures, and so on.
These are individuals who are successful, and they aspire to get to top of their organisations or their professions. The typical participant has capability, experience, and hunger to develop and get better. Our participants come from various sectors and all parts of the world.
They include managers, entrepreneurs, physicians, lawyers, and others engaged in governments and nonprofits. I hope that this video has provided you with useful information. Please, let us know your questions, and thank you.
Learn more about the SMP from our faculty, Kishore Sengupta
There is a point in any leadership career when one must step from being a functional leader, with strong management skills and deep expertise in one’s own discipline, to a business leader.
This programme is being delivered in collaboration with Eruditus Executive Education.
Programme content
Build the skills to transition into a senior management role or navigate a new entrepreneurial path.
Strategy
- Formulation and implementation.
- Leading negotiations and complex, strategic projects.
- Operational and marketing excellence.
- Accounting strategies and managing the financials.
- Alternative Finance and leading change.
Digital innovation
- Unleashing and enhancing innovation.
- Harnessing artificial intelligence.
- Ensuring cyber security.
- Innovative business models and managing resistance to change.
Organisational transformation
- Leading people, leading change managing across cultures.
- Managing a high-performance team.
- Leading Negotiations.
Business analytics
- Decision biases.
- Predictive analytics.
- Organisational, ethical and legal issues.
How you learn: Blended
The Cambridge Senior Management Programme is delivered through a unique blended learning experience. Combine 2 face-to-face modules in the historic and beautiful city of Cambridge with one Live Online delivery module.
Live Online enables you to apply what you learn in real time and share experiences the next day. Face-to-Face provides time away from home and office giving you the space to focus on your learning and networking objectives. Both formats offer a richly immersive interaction.
Join ‘Cambridge Union’-style debates, hear from guest speakers and faculty, engage with peers and experience group exercises, role-play and discussion both in and outside class.
The learning process is not one-way – we ‘teach’ part of the time, but this experience becomes really valuable when we co-develop with our participants, and in this way they are able to build up essential new skills and capabilities to take back to their organisations.
Who attends
Prepare for a transformational leadership journey. This programme is for you if:
- you have more than 5 years’ management experience
- you have a successful track record in one or more functional areas of business
- you are a senior functional or technical manager looking to transition to a general management role
- you are a senior functional or technical manager looking to start a new entrepreneurial venture
- you desire to become an agent of change for your organisation
The programme is extremely well-designed and offers a great balance between theoretical and practical management principles.
Faculty and speakers
Learn from our world-class faculty who bring fresh insights from their leading-edge research into all of our Executive Education programmes. The Academic Programme Director (APD) for the Cambridge Senior Management Programme is Professor Kishore Sengupta.
PhD (Case Western University)
PhD (HEC Paris)
Stylianos (Stelios) Kavadias
Margaret Thatcher Professor of Enterprise Studies in Innovation and GrowthCo-Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre
PhD (INSEAD)
Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business and Enterprise
Vice-Dean for Faculty
Director of the Centre for India and Global Business (CIGB)
PhD (University of Southern California)
Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Chinese Management
Fellow (Finance)
PhD (Harvard University)
PhD (University of Cambridge)
PhD (University of Cambridge)
Director of the Global Executive MBA Programme
Fellow of St Catharine’s College
PhD (University of London)
Director of the Executive Master of Accounting Programme
PhD (Wharton School of Business)
PhD (Washington University in St Louis)
PhD (HEC Paris)
PhD (HEC Paris)
Co-Director of the Centre for International Human Resource Management (CIHRM)
PhD (University of London)
Why Cambridge Judge Business School?
Related programmes
The Cambridge Senior Management Programme belongs to our Leadership-topic executive education programmes. Here is a selection of related programmes:
Cambridge Advanced Leadership Programme
Refresh your thinking and fine-tune your leadership agenda. The Cambridge ALP is a challenging, immersive programme designed for senior leaders and executives looking to revitalise their leadership strategies. Weaving together vibrant debate, deep experience and leading-edge thinking, you’ll gain new skills, confidence and networks.
Step back. Take stock. Then return, ready to move forward and create immediate impact.
Cambridge General Management Programme
Broaden your perspective, create new connections and gain a deeper understanding of key management disciplines, including Finance, Marketing, Operations and Innovation. The Cambridge General Management Programme is an intensive 2-week programme that will stretch your thinking and increase your confidence. Designed to support your transition to a broader management role, you’ll improve your decision-making abilities and get ready to accelerate your career.
Cambridge Judge Business School General Management Certificate of Achievement
Looking for a flexible learning package tailored to your individual needs? Whether you want to step-up, startup or switch careers, Cambridge Judge Business School offers a bespoke Certificate of Achievement, dedicated to general management.
Contact us
If you have any questions or would like to have a chat about this programme and how it could benefit you or your organisation, please get in touch with Eruditus Executive Education.
