Senior Executive Officer

King's College London; City Of London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious educational institution in London is seeking a highly capable Senior Executive Officer to support the Vice President for Research & Innovation. This role involves managing complex schedules, coordinating tasks, and liaising with senior stakeholders. The ideal candidate will have significant executive support experience and excellent communication skills. Full-time position with an indefinite contract.

Qualifications

• Experience in providing confidential support to senior leaders.
• Ability to manage multiple, competing priorities under pressure.
• Strong communication skills and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Provide effective executive service, managing diaries and scheduling.
• Coordinate and drive forward the research and innovation ecosystem.
• Liaise with senior colleagues and external partners.

Skills

Proactive support to senior leaders

Managing complex schedules

Excellent written and verbal communication

Attention to detail

Liaising with stakeholders

Microsoft Office proficiency

Tools

Microsoft Office

Virtual meeting tools

SharePoint

Job description

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About us

King's College London is seeking a highly capable and detail-oriented Senior Executive Officer to provide essential administrative and operational support to the Vice President (Research & Innovation), Professor Sir Bashir M. Al-Hashimi. This is a unique opportunity to work closely with a senior university leader, ensuring the smooth and efficient running of a strategically significant executive portfolio.

Professor Al-Hashimi oversees a wide-ranging and complex remit that underpins King’s Strategy 2030. Reporting directly to the Vice-Chancellor and President, the Vice-President (Research & Innovation) portfolio includes a senior leadership team with a focus on:

• Strategic research leadership: overseeing the development and delivery of research and innovation strategies, enhancing research productivity, and preparing for the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
• Research culture and environment: fostering a positive and inclusive research environment and ensuring world-class infrastructure and governance.
• Interdisciplinary and external engagement: driving interdisciplinary collaboration, including through his role as Co-Director of the King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and representing King’s in national and international research partnerships.

About the role

The Senior Executive Officer is a key role, providing a highly effective and confidential executive service that ranges from complex inbox and diary management, committee support and facilitating information exchange and dissemination across a wide portfolio of responsibility. The successful candidate will work closely with the VP to coordinate and drive forward the research and innovation ecosystem at King’s.

The role requires regular liaison with senior colleagues, Faculties, and professional service directorates throughout the university as well as representing King’s to high profile external visitors and partners. This position is ideally suited to an individual who thrives in a behind-the-scenes role, bringing calm efficiency, excellent organisational skills, and a proactive mindset to a fast-paced and high-profile environment.

Bringing significant executive experience at a very senior level, ideally gained within the higher education sector, you will be responsible for managing complex diaries and scheduling commitments, preparing briefings and handling correspondence with professionalism and discretion, and monitoring priorities to ensure timely follow-up on actions and deadlines.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. We therefore encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application form.

About you

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

Essential criteria

1. Significant experience in providing proactive, professional and confidential support to senior leaders (e.g. Directors, Heads of Department, Deans, or equivalent).
2. Ability to anticipate the needs of a senior executive and manage complex schedules and priorities accordingly.
3. Proven ability to manage multiple, competing priorities under pressure with minimal supervision.
4. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to brief senior stakeholders clearly and concisely.
5. Strong attention to detail and a methodical approach to work with the ability to interpret complex data and use evidence to inform decision-making.
6. Confident liaising with internal and external stakeholders at all levels, including senior academics, university leadership, and external partners.
7. Experience supporting the delivery of strategic projects, events, or conferences.
8. Highly proficient in Microsoft Office and virtual meeting tools and comfortable using file sharing and university systems such as SharePoint.

Desirable criteria

1. In depth knowledge of the higher education landscape, preferably in a research context.
2. Knowledge of the requirements of a governance support function, taking minutes and logging actions and decisions.
3. Able to generate new ideas and support change management.
4. Experience of leveraging available technologies to improve workflows and identify opportunities for increased efficiency and best practice adoption.
5. Highly skilled at influencing without formal authority, including coordinating across teams to align efforts, share knowledge, and promote best practice.

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 pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming. We embrace diversity and want everyone to feel that they belong and are connected to others in our community.

We are committed to working with our staff and unions on these and other issues, to continue to support our people and to develop a diverse and inclusive culture at King’s.

As part of this commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and through this appointment process, it is our aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria. 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 due to be held on 2 December.