Universities Development Lead in London

Closing date for applications is: 28 May 2026. ACCA is committed to a workplace culture which is inclusive, diverse, human and connected. We welcome applications from candidates who meet some but not all of the criteria listed below.

We’re currently looking for a Universities Development Lead on a full time, 12 month fixed-term contract basis. This position sits within the Continuous Learning and Members Support team. We are flexible on the location of this role.

The role holder will lead the development of commercial propositions to support ACCA’s global network of universities and establish the framework for engagement with universities globally. The role holder will also ensure that ACCA’s engagement framework is aligned to ACCA’s strategic outcomes and develop partnerships that create mutual value.

The Job

• Reporting to the Head of Employability & Commercial on a day-to-day basis, you’ll be involved in the following:
• Develop ACCA’s partner capabilities and lead the development and tracking of value creation across ACCA’s universities’ ecosystem.
• Lead the development of a universities’ framework that can be applied globally and establish the processes to support effective universities’ management aligned to ACCA’s interests.
• Embed ACCA’s university partnership approach across the organisation.
• Develop ACCA’s B2B approach with partners and manage ACCA’s university partners under commercial terms.
• Lead the management of ACCA’s global university partners.
• Ensure that the universities’ framework is embedded across the organisation and implemented through the regional education plans.
• Navigate partners, support markets and collaborate with teams across the organisation to proactively co-create new solutions to support strategic outcomes.
• Drive partner capability as part of ACCA strategy, which will support the management of the strategic opportunities and the partnership approach.
• Establish and manage the forum for ACCA’s universities and ensure that a community of practice is established for partners to share best practices.

The Person

• Has relevant work experience in the professional education industry, ideally with international exposure.
• A strong understanding of the education sector preferably in accountancy and a very good understanding of stakeholder needs.
• Demonstrates commercial and business acumen and ability to deliver tangible outcomes through working with others and demonstrate track record of achieving commercial success.
• Proven business development and sales experience.
• Experience of formulating strategy and developing and improving structures and processes to enable delivery of the strategy.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (oral and written) with the ability to communicate effectively with both internal and external stakeholders.

Our Benefits

We strive to create an environment where you can prioritise your wellbeing and so have designed our benefits to give you the flexibility and power to do so. Our core benefits include private healthcare, life assurance and income protection as well as a fantastic defined contribution pension scheme.

We provide an employee assistance programme and are proud to offer a financial wellbeing tool called Nudge, to our employees. Our flexible benefits platform gives you the power to customise your benefit plan to suit your needs, you can choose to add a number of benefits including extra holidays, PMI family cover, cycle to work, Travel and Gym loans and more! You can also enjoy exclusive access to our discount site and wellbeing centre platform.

We are committed to equal opportunities across our recruitment activities and have a real commitment to ensuring the inclusion and well-being of all employees. We have a blended approach to working to support our employees to balance the needs of their job with other aspects of their life.

Interested in this role? Please click to submit your application.