Residence Life Assistant

Heriot-Watt University; Easter Howgate; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 27,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

28 days annual leave

9 buildings-closed days

Job summary

Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom is recruiting a Residence Life Assistant to provide professional support to students living on campus. The role involves handling maintenance requests, guiding welfare concerns, and signposting to services, with duties across evenings, weekends, and shifts during holidays.

The position is 0.8 FTE (28 hours per week), grade 4 with a pro rata salary of £24,700–£26,615 per annum. A busy on-campus environment requires strong customer service and teamwork.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering high quality customer service.
• Understanding diverse needs of a multicultural community.
• Ability to handle difficult situations.
• Ability to work quickly, flexibly, and accurately in a dynamic environment.
• Teamwork and collaboration with campus partners.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and IT systems.
• Attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Serve as first point of contact for students on campus.
• Provide advice, support, and signposting to university services.
• Help maintain a welcoming residential community.
• Assist with accommodation queries, maintenance issues, arrivals, and departures.
• Deliver high-quality customer service via in-person, phone, and email.
• Support health and safety inspections and staff rotas.

Skills

Customer service

Communication

Teamwork

Problem solving

Adaptability

Data entry

Tools

Microsoft Office

Data systems

Job description

Role

Resident Life Assistant.

Grade and Salary

Grade 4, £24,700 – £26,615 per annum (pro rata).

FTE and working pattern

0.8 FTE (Part-time – 28 hours per week) open-ended.

Holiday Entitlement

28 days annual leaveplus 9 buildings-closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday). Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

Purpose of Role

The role of Residence Life Assistant is integral to the provision of professional and effective support to Heriot-Watt University students living on campus. The role holder will deal with a wide variety of issues as they arise and will often be the first point of contact for advice and support, responsible for processing maintenance requests, assisting in maintaining discipline and referring students to a wide range of other services.

The Residence Life Assistant will work closely with Residence Life Manager, fellow Residence Life Assistants and Residence Life Wardens to ensure effective systems and processes for reporting maintenance issues and providing a supportive service for students. They will also work on a shift pattern, including evening, weekends and building closed days, and work closely with other services on campus.

The role is very active as it involves significant amount of walking, as the team is required to assist students in their residences across campus. The role subject to Disclosure Scotland check.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Student Welfare and Support

• Be a friendly and approachable first point of contact for students.
• Provide advice, support, and signposting to appropriate University services.
• Work closely with Wellbeing, Safeguarding, Accommodation, Estates, and other campus teams to support students.
• Help foster a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive residential community.

Student Enquiries and Residential Support

• Assist students with accommodation-related queries, concerns, and maintenance issues.
• Support arrivals, departures, and day-to-day residence operations.
• Deliver excellent customer service through in-person, telephone, and email support.

Student Conduct & Community Standards

• Promote positive behaviour and encourage residents to adhere to University and accommodation expectations.
• Respond and manage disciplinary incidents accordingly.
• Support conflict resolution and, including issuing disciplinary penalties where appropriate.

Teamwork and Collaboration

• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the wider University.
• Build positive working relationships with campus partners, including Hospitality, Wellbeing, and Safeguarding team.
• Contribute to shared responsibilities during key periods such as Welcome Week and end-of-term departures.

Student Engagement

• Plan, promote, and deliver events and activities that enhance the student experience.
• Encourage community engagement and resident participation.
• Support social media, noticeboards, and other communication channels.
• Identify opportunities for improvement based on student feedback.

Administration and Operational Support

• Support the day-to-day operation of the Residence Life Hub.
• Maintain accurate records and complete administrative tasks as required.
• Complete regular documented health and safety inspections the residential estate to ensure compliance with all relevant policies and procedures, including mid-term inspections.
• Participate in training, team development, and the staff rota.
• Undertake additional duties (including holiday cover and midnight shifts during busy period) as reasonably requested by the Residence Life Manager or Head of Student Service Centre.

Essential & Desirable Criteria

Essential

• Experience of delivering high quality customer service.
• A good understanding of the diverse range of needs/issues of a multicultural community
• Proven ability to deal with difficult situations.
• Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly, and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment.
• Proven ability to work flexibly and positively as part of a team.
• Proven ability to use Microsoft Office and other relevant IT systems, including data entry skills.
• Attention to detail.

Desirable

Experience of working within a similar environment, especially someone who has worked in higher education sector.

About the Team

The Residence Life Team is part of the Student Life Division responsible for the policies and procedures of services to staff and students throughout the student lifecycle. The Residence Life Team is integral to the provision of a professional and effective support to the 2000 Heriot-Watt University students living on campus.The Team works closely with Campus Services, SafeGuarding Services, Student Wellbeing Service and Accommodation Services to ensure effective systems and processes are in place to deliver a high-quality customer service experience.

About Heriot-Watt University

At Heriot-Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

We recognise that many candidates use AI tools during the application process and are comfortable with AI being used as a supporting aid. However, we want to hear from you, not AI. Your application should be an authentic representation of your skills, experience and achievements. Applications that appear to have been fully generated by AI may not accurately reflect your suitability for the role and are therefore discouraged. At interview, candidates will be expected to discuss and provide evidence of the experience, skills and examples included in their application.

Heriot-WattUniversity values diversity across our university community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.