Senior Social Mobility and Widening Participation Officer

King's College London; Greater London; On-site; GBP 35,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading academic institution in London seeks a full-time Social Mobility and Widening Participation Senior Officer. The successful candidate will lead outreach initiatives, focusing on pre-16 pupils and collaborating with schools to enhance access to education. Ideal candidates will have relevant experience in education or charities, strong project management skills, and the ability to communicate effectively with diverse audiences. This is an opportunity to make a significant social impact.

Qualifications

• Candidates should have relevant work experience in education or charity sectors.
• Experience working or volunteering with young people is essential.
• Strong project management and organizational skills are required.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and evaluation of outreach initiatives.
• Collaborate with partner schools and teachers.
• Work closely with student ambassadors and key staff.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Communication

Team collaboration

Problem-solving

Education

Relevant degree or foundation degree

Job description

About King's:

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.

Within the Social Mobility & Widening Participation Department we believe all young people should be able to have high expectations for their future. This means equal access to education and career opportunities. We run programmes that aim to empower young people from under-represented backgrounds to access and succeed at university.

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 Social Mobility and Widening Participation Senior Officer is a vital member of the department. The post-holder will lead on the development, delivery and evaluation of sustained outreach initiatives. They will also be involved in a range of other challenging projects run across the Social Mobility and Widening Participation Department.

The postholder will primarily work with pre‑16 pupils and this will involve working collaboratively with and building strategic relationships with our partner schools and teachers.

The post holder will work closely with the wider team, student ambassadors and key partner staff.

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking for a career with social impact, and who wish to utilise their skills and expertise in working with young people. This is an opportunity to grow your skills in project management and stakeholder engagement.

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 we are hiring for two fixed term positions. One contract will end in August 2026 and the other in September 2026.

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 schools, charities or the university sector. Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training
2. Experience working or volunteering with children or young people
3. Experience of undertaking and completing projects which require high levels of administrative and organisational skill
4. Ability to communicate complicated and specialist information orally and in writing to team members and programme participants
5. Ability to work with others in a team to deliver project aims and overcome challenges
6. Ability to use initiative and creativity to resolve problems, define clear outcomes for improvement and set out how progress and success will be measured
7. Ability to coach or train others on how to undertake specific tasks and give clear direction on desired outcomes
8. Ability to gather and manipulate data so that it can be interpreted by yourself and others
9. Ability to decide own pattern of work and manage own workload and resources over a long period

Desirable criteria

1. Educated to degree or foundation degree level
2. Understanding of the widening participation agenda and/or the role of higher education in social mobility
3. Experience overseeing budgets and undertaking financial administration

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills and experience required can be found in the job description which is provided at the bottom of the page.

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.

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

Interviews are provisionally due to be held on 26th January.