Head of Student Coaching and Advising

Our mission is to provide transformative, high-quality digital education, so students can learn, wherever they are.

We collaborate with academics and professional services staff across the university, and with our external partners, to design, develop and deliver a wide range of educational programmes. Our learners study with us from across the world, choosing when and where they study, working around their schedules.

We are a dynamic team with ambitious growth targets in a priority area of development for King’s: online distance education. We proudly foster a supportive culture and community which prioritises both individual and collective wellbeing.

Employee support at King’s includes flexible working arrangements, paid maternity/shared parental leave, menopausal support, an active wellbeing programme, training and development opportunities and much more. All of our staff benefit from a generous pension contribution as well.

As part of King’s hybrid working, all team members can work remotely for part of the week if they wish.

Join us as we open futures and unlock potential.

About the role:

King’s Digital is seeking a dynamic and visionary Head of Student Coaching and Advising to lead our dedicated Coaching and Advising Team, supporting a global community of online students.

In this pivotal role, you’ll provide strategic leadership to ensure a world-class, personalised student journey across a large student-facing service operating at scale. With a strong focus on collaboration, you’ll work closely with internal and external stakeholders to shape policies and practices that reflect the evolving needs of online learners.

As a senior leader, you’ll foster a high-performing, inclusive team culture rooted in trust, transparency, and continuous improvement. This is a team that is growing and you’ll need to inspire excellence, drive data-informed decision-making, and ensure that every student feels supported, heard, and valued throughout their academic journey, and that staff are motivated, productive and supported in their roles.

You’ll lead the service in a way that reflects high standards of customer service and student experience, setting a clear vision for student coaching, advising and information-provision, so that the service remains human-centred whilst being delivered at scale.

This is a full-time post (35 hours per week), and you 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:

• Significant leadership experience including strategic planning, leading teams through change, managing service performance, and delivering measurable outcomes for large teams
• Management experience including recruitment, training, coaching, performance and development of employees
• Understanding of, and interest in, the global online education market and the needs and challenges faced by globally-located online learners
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the concepts of coaching and advising, how these interrelate in the context of student experience and how they can be effectively delivered at scale across a large service
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to build rapport, influence and collaborate with both academic and professional services colleagues and external partners
• Able to manage a busy workload with competing priorities, including skills in decisiveness, proactiveness and organisation
• Experience using digital systems and GenAI, including analysing data, report-writing and drawing conclusions which can be communicated with impact to drive service improvements
• Evidence of own continuous professional development and networking in areas relevant to this role
• Direct experience of working with online and/or distance learning environments, in a leadership capacity
• Coaching qualification
• Direct experience of working with third party organisation(s) to deliver services for students or other end users

Further information:

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination. We welcome your thoughts on how organisations can create an inclusive environment, including one which supports free speech and the exchange of a wide range of ideas. When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.