Head of Student Outcomes (maternity cover)

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About King\’s

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. Our ambitious Education Strategy 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.

At King\’s College London the Student Transition & Outcomes Department support student success by making King\’s a more equitable and compassionate place to study. Recognising the differential outcomes that students currently experience we partner with staff and student leaders to close gaps in student success and to improve attainment, completion and experience.

We are part of 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.

About the role

The Head of Student Outcomes will lead and manage a high performing team to deliver a whole-institution strategy to improve outcomes for underrepresented groups with a focus on closing the attainment gaps, the transition and success of students from underrepresented backgrounds and the continuous development of student leadership programmes. The role will focus on developing faculty specific interventions and implement strategies to improve their outcomes and evaluate effectiveness of different interventions.

Head of Service and/or Senior Managers have operational responsibility for a defined portfolio of education and student professional services, as:

• A departmental lead within the Students and Education Directorate; or
• Project/programme/departmental lead within an academic faculty; or
• the lead of defined divisional-wide initiatives

Heads of/Senior Managers work within and across teams and functions, engaging with a wide range of colleagues across King\’s. They contribute and lead on activities which positively impact the student experience. This includes ensuring:

• Close working with their Associate Director, and across organisational boundaries, to identify and action opportunities to improve efficiency and consistency of service (or project) delivery
• Efficient resource utilisation and organisation of work resources within their department (or project)
• Proactive engagement with service users and stakeholders to facilitate mutually effective working relationships
• Their department (or project) embeds a culture of service, transparency and continuous improvement

The Head of Student Outcomes will understand the priorities, cultures and pressures of a research-led university and of academic processes and the structure of the academic year.

The Head of Student Outcomes will be responsible for the strategic planning and development of the work to reduce the attainment gaps and for providing senior operational management for the Student Outcomes team, with line management responsibilities of two managers.

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to implement change and help shape and embed inclusive education at Kings. Candidates should be strategic thinkers with comprehensive experience of leading teams and stakeholder management; a track record of leading successful attainment interventions and an understanding of factors effecting underrepresented student experiences and determining student success.

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 maternity cover (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a contract until the 29th January 2027.

About you

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

Essential criteria

• 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 other universities, or any large, complex organizations. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training.
• Ability to engage in collaborative working across King\’s professional services, Faculties, and academic and student communities.
• Experience of working in a federated environment where facilitation and networking skills are core to resolving complex cross departmental problems.
• Strong strategic understanding and up-to-date knowledge of the barriers relating to closing the attainment gap and student success.
• Significant line management experience with the ability to lead a team through change.
• Significant experience on leading institutional projects around student attainment/ awarding gaps, mental health and wellbeing and outcomes in a higher education setting.
• Experience of managing the delivery of complex projects for underrepresented groups on time and to budget, especially when delivered in collaboration with internal and external partners.
• An ability to work effectively and build strong relationships with people at all levels including academics, professional service staff and students.
• Demonstrate ability to analyse and interpret complex datasets and use data to inform change.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with ability to communicate a clear vision of what is to be achieved within an environment suitable for meaningful two-way feedback.
• Creative problem-solving skills with the ability and initiative to develop solutions to overcome challenges, ensuring implementation and effective change.
• Strong organisational and time management skills, with demonstrated ability to manage multiple deliverables at once and consistently meet tight deadlines.
• Provide inspiring and purposeful leadership for all staff, always ensuring an inclusive culture of high professionalism is achieved.

Desirable criteria

• Adept at maintaining progress on multiple agendas and projects simultaneously.
• An understanding and working knowledge of governance in the higher education sector, and the regulatory and legal arrangements for UK university governance.
• Proven ability to drive both structural and cultural change in a student experience context.

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 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.