Head of Student Finance and Funding

Robertson Bell; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A higher education provider is seeking a Head of Student Finance and Funding to lead operational teams across multiple campuses in the UK. This role requires strong knowledge of SLC regulations, an ability to motivate diverse teams, and hands-on experience in finance operations. The ideal candidate will drive compliance and improvements while managing funding processes. Travel and accommodation costs will be covered for site visits.

Benefits

Travel and accommodation covered

Logistical support for site visits

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of Higher Education funding, particularly around SLC regulation and compliance.
• Proven ability to lead, motivate and retain large, multi-site operational teams.
• Hands-on experience in student finance operations, credit control, and income management.
• Experience embedding audit recommendations and driving structured process improvements.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership to the student finance team ensuring compliance around SLC.
• Oversee a debt collection function focused on self-funded students.
• Manage an analytical team responsible for income allocation and reporting.
• Develop, mentor, and retain team leads and junior staff.
• Drive continuous improvement across systems and internal process controls.
• Act as a trusted leader shaping long-term strategy.

Skills

Understanding of SLC regulations

Leadership

Motivation of teams

Credit control experience

Income management

Proactive problem-solving

Job description

Do you have a deep understanding of Student Loans Company (SLC) regulations and how they impact student funding in Higher Education? Are you confident leading and motivating large, diverse teams across multiple locations?

Robertson Bell are partnering with a Higher Education provider to recruit a permanent Head of Student Finance and Funding to lead a broad operational function spanning three key teams across campuses around the country.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing leadership and direction to the student finance team ensuring students are appropriately funded through the SLC, with strong compliance around eligibility, enrolment, and regulation.
• Overseeing a debt collection function focused on self-funded students and managing challenging credit control scenarios with professionalism and empathy.
• Managing a small analytical team responsible for income allocation, intercompany transactions, forecasting, and reporting.
• Developing, mentoring and retaining team leads and junior staff, creating a high-performance culture built on collaboration and accountability.
• Embedding audit recommendations and driving continuous improvement across systems, documentation, and internal process controls.
• Acting as a trusted senior leader within the finance function, shaping long-term strategy and ensuring robust compliance in a complex and fast-paced environment.

This is a pivotal leadership role within a fast-growing organisation that is both commercially ambitious and tightly regulated. With a large number of students across multiple partner institutions, this organisation plays a unique role in the sector, delivering academic excellence supported by a complex funding model.

The successful candidate will work across several campuses nationwide, and therefore this advert is being posted in numerous locations – all will be considered. All travel and accommodation costs will be fully covered, and you’ll be supported logistically to spend meaningful time with teams in each location.

The ideal candidate will bring:

• Strong understanding of Higher Education funding, particularly around SLC regulation and compliance.
• Proven ability to lead, motivate and retain large, multi-site operational teams.
• Hands-on experience in student finance operations, credit control, and income management.
• A proactive, solutions-focused approach suited to a privately owned environment where decisions move quickly and priorities evolve.
• Experience embedding audit recommendations and driving structured process improvements.
• Willingness to work on site across campuses, with travel and expenses covered.

If you’re a proven people leader with a passion for Higher Education funding and the drive to shape and develop a national function, we’d love to hear from you.