King's College London

PLEASE NOTE THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About Us

The King’s community is dedicated to the service of society. King’s Strategic Vision 2029 sets out our vision for the future, shaped around five priority areas: educate to inspire and improve; research to inform and innovate; serve to shape and transform; a civic university at the heart of London; and an international community that services the world. Strategy 2026 sets out the actions that we must take to transform how we teach, how and where our students learn and how we support them during their time with us.

The role is located within the Students & Education Directorate, a collection of wide-ranging professional services in place to support King’s students and their education. As a directorate we manage the student lifecycle from application to graduation and beyond, to ensure a coherent and seamless student experience and effective administrative processes, working closely with King’s faculties to do so. This particular role works very closely with the Vice President (Education and Student Success) and associated postholders in the Education Executive.

About the role

 

The Associate Director will support the Vice President (Education and Student Success), the Executive Director (Education and Students) and the wider Education Executive to develop and implement an Education Strategy for King’s, in line with the commitments set out in Vision 2029 and Strategy 2026. The postholder will provide a framework for the formulation of strategy, taking into account changes in the internal and external environment, as well as directly supporting education-related initiatives and projects. There is a current major focus on Transforming Assessment for Students at King’s, which will be a core element of the work. The postholder will provide strategic advice, briefings and analysis to inform effective decision-making, and will at all times ensure that there is effective liaison across the stakeholders in the Education Executive and in the Student Futures transformation programme. 

We are looking for an individual who shares our aspirations and our values, who is comfortable working strategically, who understands stakeholder perspectives on a King’s education, and who is equipped to work in a complex and fast-paced environment.  

The Associate Directors work within and across teams and functions, engaging with a wide-range of colleagues across King’s to drive a positive and transformative impact on the student experience. This includes ensuring that: 

• services are delivered efficiently and consistently across King’s;
• the mutual role of service users and those delivering services are understood so that the services deliver value and impact;
• the key measures of service effectiveness reflect the reality on the ground;
• the mutual dependencies of services across and within functions are managed to embed a culture of service, transparency and continuous improvement across King’s; and
• colleagues and teams are aligned in support of institutional strategic objectives.

You will need to have an excellent understanding of the priorities, cultures, and pressures of a research-led university, and of academic processes and the structure of the academic year. 

We encourage applications from candidates who have experience from both within and outside of the Higher Education sector where they can demonstrate the skills needed to succeed in this role.

This is a full time post and the successful candidate will be offered an indefinite contract.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Relevant work experience and/or education: We think a wide range of different work and educational experiences could support you to be successful in this role. Relevant work experience might include work in a large organisation with multiple dimensions to its core mission and institutional strategy. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training
2. Confidence and ability to handle ambiguity and complexity, and to develop concrete approaches, ensuring that these can be progressed appropriately by the relevant teams within King’s.
3. Ability to understand and work closely with a full range of stakeholders
4. Strong organisational skills and the ability to determine priorities in the face of changing and competing demands and tight deadlines
5. Highly effective written and oral communication skills, and the ability to influence across all levels of the organisation
6. Strong analytical and critical reasoning skills with the capability to effectively problem solve in complex and dynamic situations
7. Ability to formulate and implement strategy effectively
8. High levels of personal credibility – can act on behalf of senior stakeholders

Full details of the role and the skills and experience required can be found in the attached job description which is provided on the next page.

Further information

We pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King's. We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the advert. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

This role does not meet the requirements of the Home Office and therefore we are not able to offer sponsorship for candidates who require the right to work in the UK.