Associate Director: Student Transition & Outcomes

King's College London; City Of London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious university in London is seeking an Associate Director for Student Transition & Outcomes. This full-time role involves leading strategic initiatives to enhance student success and equity. Candidates should have experience in inclusive education, skill in stakeholder engagement, and the ability to manage multiple projects. The role is maternity cover until February 2027, offering a dynamic work environment focused on student outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience in writing policies or reports for senior leadership.
• Able to synthesize complex information into clear goals.
• Capable of managing workloads in a fast-changing environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead initiatives to close gaps in student experience.
• Coordinate the Access and Participation Plan for King's.
• Deliver Personal Tutoring enhancements for students.

Skills

Strategic relationship building

Policy writing

Team management

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Relevant work experience in inclusive education

Higher education in a related discipline

Job description

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About us

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.

The Student Transition & Outcomes Team exists to make King's a more equitable and compassionate place to study. We support historically underrepresented students and lead strategic initiatives to close gaps in student experience and outcomes. As well as leading the university‑wide approach to closing continuation and attainment gaps at King's we provide targeted support for vulnerable student groups and are responsible for the ongoing enhancement and operational delivery of Personal Tutoring.

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 Associate Director (Student Transition & Outcomes) will lead and manage a team in the key strategic area of Student Success.

The post-holder will lead strategic initiatives to improve and close gaps in student transition and outcomes, including oversight of work to improve continuation and attainment for underrepresented student groups and responsibility for the ongoing enhancement and operational delivery of Personal Tutoring. They will play a central role, in collaboration with other key institutional leaders, in coordinating and delivering the Access and Participation Plan for King's, as well as working closely with stakeholders from across the institution to embed and support Inclusive Education initiatives. The post holder will proactively engage with faculty colleagues and stakeholders across the institution including KCLSU to ensure that strategies relating to student transition and outcomes are well understood, consulted on, and implemented in an integrated way, with student voice at the centre.

We are looking for an individual who shares our aspirations and our values, who is comfortable working strategically and operationally, who understands how to deliver support and services to students and other end‑users, and who is equipped to work in a high volume, complex and fast‑paced environment.

Associate Directors have operational responsibility for a defined portfolio of education and student professional services, as:

• a divisional lead within the Students and Education Directorate;
• the professional services education and students lead within an academic faculty;
• the lead of defined function‑wide transformation initiatives.

The Associate Directors work within and across teams and functions, engaging with a wide range of colleagues across King's to drive a positive and transformative impact on the student experience. This includes ensuring:

• that services are delivered efficiently and consistently across King's;
• the mutual role of service users and those delivering services are understood so that the services deliver value and impact;
• the key measures of service effectiveness reflect the reality on the ground;
• the mutual dependencies of services across and within functions are managed to embed a culture of service, transparency and continuous improvement across King's.

Associate Directors will have an excellent understanding of the priorities, cultures and pressures of a research‑led university, and of academic processes and the structure of the academic year.

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 post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a maternity cover contract until 26th February 2027.

About you

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

Essential criteria

1. 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 inclusive education, equality, diversity and inclusion, student outcomes, attainment/awarding gaps or personal tutoring. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training.
2. Experience of writing policies, procedures and/or reports for senior leadership or committees.
3. Ability to synthesise complex, strategic information and communicate a clear vision of what is to be achieved, including project/team objective‑setting.
4. Ability to proactively build and influence relationships with key external and internal stakeholders.
5. Ability to work with others to deliver organisational strategic objectives and overcome challenges.
6. Ability to manage the workload of yourself and your team in a fast‑changing environment and meet challenging deadlines.
7. Ability to have strategic oversight of improvements within the team/department, aligning team development with institutional strategies.
8. Ability to have strategic oversight of the department's budget and utilise a variety of funding streams.

Desirable criteria

1. Adept at maintaining progress on multiple agendas and projects simultaneously.
2. An understanding and working knowledge of governance in the higher education sector, and the regulatory and legal arrangements for UK university governance.
3. A relevant higher education qualification, professional qualification or other training.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

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 will review your application, please take a look at our 'How we Recruit' pages.

Interviews are provisionally due to be held on 14th and 15th January 2026.