Head of Destinations

About The Role

Reports to: Director of Sixth Form

Start date: August or September 2026

Location: Currently operating hybrid working in our West London office

Contract: Permanent, Full time

Interviews will take place 21st & 22nd May 2026

The purpose of this role is to lead our network team and our schools in the next phase of our work on careers and destinations. You will build on our network strategy, oversee further codification and implementation of principles and approaches that ensure all Ark leavers, whether post‑16 or post‑18, are ready to progress to high‑quality destinations that facilitate their career of choice.

Network Destinations Goals

• Increasing achievement against the Gatsby Benchmarks and Ark's excellence framework for careers education.
• Challenging network goals for progress in Unifrog.
• Increased achievement against the Ark Primary Careers Framework.
• Further increasing the number of sixth‑form students progressing to top third universities, apprenticeships and super‑selective HE pathways.
• Long‑term improvement in sustained post‑16 and post‑18 destinations.

Key Responsibilities

• Curate and develop the messaging, goals and objectives for all destinations work within the Sixth Form and Destinations Team.
• Work with colleagues across schools and the central team to articulate plans for developing destinations support and CEIAG and to coordinate the delivery of work under the SFD strategic objectives.
• Further develop our destinations strategy across all phases in primary and secondary, within our Sixth Form & Destinations Strategy, with particular focus on work in KS3 to KS5:

• Achievement against the Gatsby Benchmarks and the aligned Ark excellence criteria for CEIAG.
• KS5 Destinations Support (including employability and work readiness).
• Highly competitive post‑18 pathways (including universities and apprenticeships).
• Ark University Bursary year students – support through university to early career.

Knowledge & Skills

• Knowledge of Gatsby Benchmarks and DfE expectations around careers advice and guidance for young people.
• Experience & knowledge of post‑18 destinations advice and guidance, gained from leadership of staff in a school or college context (or equivalent experience in the education sector).
• Line management and/or coaching experience, and experience of developing staff.
• Experience of basic finance processes including budgeting and financial planning and successfully developing strategy and vision.
• Experience of working with and influencing a range of senior stakeholders (e.g. Principals, Regional Directors or equivalent).

Qualification Criteria

• Educated to degree level.
• QTS (Desirable).

Benefits

• Hybrid working model: minimum two days per week in our West London office with flexibility to work remotely for remaining days.
• Employees can request to work fully remotely for up to 10 working days a year, whether in the UK or abroad.
• Flexitime policy allows you to work around core hours 10:00–16:00.
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising to 30 days after 3 years’ service.
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year.
• Pension scheme: 11% contribution to TPT (The Pension Trust). Optionally eligible for LGPS/TPS.
• High‑quality professional learning throughout your career, both face‑to‑face and online.
• Ark Rewards scheme offers savings from >3,000 retailers, interest‑free loans for season tickets or a bike, gym discounts up to 40% off local gym and free eye tests.

About Us

Ark is an education charity that exists to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. Our network of 39 schools reaches traditionally underserved communities in Birmingham, Hastings, London and Portsmouth. We educate 30,000 pupils and have nearly 3,000 teaching staff across our network. We also incubate and scale innovative ventures, which we roll out beyond our network of schools for the benefit of teachers, pupils and the education system as a whole. Current Ventures include Ark Curriculum Plus, which equips teachers with the subject expertise needed to ensure students succeed, and Ark Start, a growing chain of nurseries offering affordable, high‑quality early years education. We recently moved to new offices at EdCity – a unique not‑for‑profit development in West London, in partnership with Hammersmith & Fulham council. EdCity is designed to bring mission‑aligned organisations together to focus on improving the lives of children, especially through education. It offers leased offices, a range of venues for training and events, and an innovation hub for the education sector to connect, collaborate and learn together.

Diversity and Inclusion

We aim to build a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone – staff and students – can do their best work and achieve their full potential. We want to reflect and represent diverse perspectives across our organisation because we know that doing so will make us stronger and more effective. Ark’s diversity and inclusion commitments are described in our policy.

Safeguarding Statement

Ark is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in its academies. All employees must undertake an enhanced DBS check and disclose any unspent conviction, caution, reprimand or warning under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Non‑disclosure may lead to termination of employment. Disclosure of a criminal background will not necessarily debar you from employment – this will depend on the nature of the offence and when it occurred. For any questions, please contact recruitment@arkonline.org.