Academic Registrar

SOAS, University of London; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

SOAS University of London invites applications for the role of Academic Registrar. Reporting to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Operations) and serving on the Executive Board, the Academic Registrar will lead the governance, quality, and academic administration across the institution, delivering strategy through a comprehensive lifecycle of the academic enterprise.

Leading a directorate of around 70 staff, the postholder will ensure compliance, oversight of student records and

Qualifications

Responsibilities

• Oversee academic governance, quality and standards, student records, assessment and examinations, regulatory compliance and institutional assurance.
• Lead a directorate and contribute to ongoing digital transformation, shaping and delivering the University's strategic priorities.
• Provide institution-wide leadership in academic regulations and registry services, translating strategy into effective operations.
• Demonstrate inclusion, collaboration and student-centred service excellence across a complex university environment.

Job description

Job title:Academic Registrar

Department: Executive Office

SOAS University of London is a world-leading specialist university, renowned for its scholarship across the arts, humanities, social sciences and law as they relate to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Based in the heart of Bloomsbury, we are home to around 5,500 students from some 120 countries on campus, a further 3,000 online, and around 532 academic staff. Our mission is to be an excellent, research-intensive university that challenges established hierarchies of knowledge and equips our students to build a socially and globally just future.

Since 1916, SOAS has brought together regional expertise, disciplinary depth and language study to illuminate the world's past, present and future, from democracy and development to human rights, religion and social change. In REF 2021, 87% of our research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, with more than half of our disciplines in the UK top ten. We have 13 subjects in the global top 100, including Development Studies, ranked second in the world, and we rose 53 places to joint 458th in the QS World University Rankings 2027.

Our Strategic Plan 2026–30 sets out a bold vision for the University. We are deepening engagement with our specialist regions, pioneering world-class research and championing equitable international partnerships, with research-led teaching and the student experience at the heart of everything we do. Building on our TEF Silver rating and guided by Education Plan 2030, we have introduced semesterisation, launched a reimagined online offer, and invested in student-facing systems and our campus.

SOAS now seeks an exceptional Academic Registrar to join its senior leadership team. Reporting to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Operations) and serving as a member of the Executive Board, the Academic Registrar will play a central role in shaping and delivering the University's strategic priorities. As the senior professional authority on academic regulations, governance, quality assurance and academic administration, the postholder will provide institution-wide leadership across the academic lifecycle.

Leading a directorate of approximately 70 staff, the Academic Registrar will oversee academic governance, quality and standards, student records, assessment and examinations, regulatory compliance and institutional assurance. The role will also contribute to the University's programme of ongoing digital transformation.

This is a rare opportunity to influence the future direction of a globally significant university at a particularly exciting moment in its evolution. Working closely with academic colleagues, professional services leaders, students and governors, the Academic Registrar will help ensure that SOAS remains agile, innovative and responsive in an increasingly complex higher education environment, whilst remaining true to its distinctive mission, values and inclusive culture.

We are seeking a strategic and accomplished higher education leader with substantial experience of academic administration, governance, quality assurance and registry services within a complex university environment. You will bring a proven ability to lead large-scale services through change, provide authoritative advice to senior stakeholders and translate institutional strategy into effective operational delivery. Equally important will be your commitment to inclusion, collaboration and student-centred service excellence.

We would particularly welcome applications from candidates from working‑class, first‑generation Higher Education, Black, Asian, other minority ethnic and under‑represented groups from within the UK and beyond. All appointment decisions will be made on merit, following a fair and competitive process.

The deadline for the receipt of applications is 5:00pm GMT on Friday 13thNovember 2026.

Applicant Notice.