Senior Student Support Officer

King's College London; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading university in London is seeking a Senior Student Support Officer to enhance student wellbeing within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy. The role includes developing support frameworks, managing individual cases, and fostering a supportive environment. Candidates should have relevant work experience, strong communication skills, and the ability to handle sensitive situations. This permanent, full-time role offers a hybrid working model with a minimum of two in-person days per week.

Qualifications

• Experience in supporting students and managing wellbeing cases.
• Proven ability to work calmly under pressure.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop and oversee student support in the Faculty.
• Provide a point of contact for student support.
• Coordinate communication on student wellbeing.

Skills

Relevant work experience (Student Support, Disability, Counselling)

Working with adverse situations

Team collaboration

Emotional resilience

Managing work confidentially

Record keeping and IT skills

Education

Higher education in a related discipline

Job description

About Us

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in supporting students within the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy (SSPP) at King's College London.

Home to four inter-disciplinary Schools, Global and Policy institutes, and the School for Government, SSPP is one of the largest, most diverse and international communities for social research and education in Europe.

For more information about the faculty, please see our website: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp.

About The Role

The Senior Student Support Officer will work to develop, oversee and review the provision of support for students in the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy (SSPP). There will be a focus on supporting and triaging individual student wellbeing cases and supporting the management of faculty elements of formal student support processes such as Student of Concern, Support for Study and Disability Inclusion. The role holder will also work with others to develop and maintain a positive culture of wellbeing within the faculty, in line with the university's commitment to the 'whole university' approach to mental health and wellbeing.

The Senior Student Support Officer post is one of two roles who are line managed by the Student Support Manager who will provide support, guidance and oversight of casework. The post will also work closely with the Faculty Wellbeing Advisor, SSPP Student Experience Manager, and the Senior School Education Managers, to ensure support is provided clearly and consistently for all SSPP students.

The post holder will provide an accessible point of contact to all students based in SSPP, offering professional and pastoral help and guidance if they are experiencing challenges or need support.

The post holder will be active in triaging student wellbeing casework; ensuring students are appropriately signposted to specialist services in a timely manner and will be a key conduit between central and faculty-based services supporting students.

The Senior Student Support Officer will also be able to offer guidance to Personal Tutors and Senior Tutors, where students are experiencing difficulties, and to support signposting to specialist services.

As well as individual support, the post holder will coordinate proactive communication and outreach on student wellbeing, working with the Student Engagement team in SSPP and the Faculty Wellbeing Advisor, including working with themes such as mindfulness, stress management, and maintaining healthy physical and psychological balance.

The post holder will also be able to advise students who are concerned about their peers.

This is a permanent, full-time role, offered on a hybrid working basis, with a minimum requirement of 2 days per week in‑person, on our central London campus.

About You

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

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 Student Support, Disability, Counselling, Mental Health, or care work Relevant educational experiences might include higher education in a related discipline, professional qualifications or other training.
2. Demonstrable competence in working with individuals facing a variety of adverse situations, being an ally in navigating these and appropriately referring cases on as circumstances dictate.
3. Demonstrable experience of working effectively and collaboratively as part of a team to enhance the overall quality of the service user.
4. Evidence of emotional resilience and ability to work calmly under pressure, containing anxiety in self and others and exhibiting strong interpersonal and communication skills.
5. Experience of managing work confidentially, effectively and sensitively and ability to maintain professional boundaries.
6. Ability to take responsibility and decisions independently and to consult with and refer matters to colleagues when appropriate, with a flexible and adaptable approach to prioritising work.
7. Ability to keep accurate records and contribute to management reports, employing appropriate IT skills.

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 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.