System Operation Lead

King's College London; City Of London; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 62,000; Full time

Job summary

King's College London is seeking a System Operation Lead for King's Residences to manage the Mercury/StarRez housing system and drive occupancy targets.

You will work with IT, Finance, and Estates to implement system upgrades, optimise workflows and ensure data accuracy for reporting and decision-making.

Qualifications

• Educated to bachelor’s degree standard or equivalent in student accommodation.
• Experience in education or student services administration within accommodation or university setting.
• Extensive experience with accommodation management software and data management across multiple systems.
• Proactive, innovative problem solving and ability to adapt to changing requirements.
• Experience with system development and creating workflows / user journeys.
• Ability to work independently and manage large volumes of work with tight deadlines.
• Proven ability to drive new initiatives and engage others to achieve goals.
• Experience with optimizing occupancy levels and meeting revenue targets.

Responsibilities

• Administer and optimise Mercury/StarRez accommodation management system.
• Collaborate with IT, Finance, Faculties, Residences Service desk and suppliers.
• Develop integrations, upgrades and troubleshooting with governance standards.
• Review and improve operational processes and data reporting for decision-making.
• Support annual allocation cycle and manage user access.
• Conduct data audits and ensure data integrity across systems.
• Deliver system enhancements to keep the solution reliable and scalable.

Skills

Accommodation software

Data management

System development

Workflow design

Independent working

Stakeholder engagement

Occupancy optimization

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent in Student Accommodation

Tools

Mercury

StarRez

Job description

About us:

Estates & Facilities are the stewards of King's extensive property portfolio that enables innovative teaching and pioneering research across five campuses in central London. Made up of over 1,000 talented staff with a wide variety of roles servicing our campuses and community; together we ensure that students and staff have the estate, space, and services that enhance their academic experience while preserving and future proofing our iconic estate as King's approaches it's bicentenary.

King's is growing, as is our ability to inspire and support those who will rise to the challenge of solving the world's most pressing problems. We want to be positioned as an international hub for scientific discovery, and a nurturing ground for the next generation of science innovators and leaders.

King's Estate is key to this ambition. King's consists of five distinct campuses, each with their own history and sense of place, and relationships that have evolved over time between campuses and strategically with our neighbors, particularly King's Health Partners (KHP).

Over the last five years our student population has doubled in size, particularly on the

About the role:

King's has significant ambitions and King's Residences is a key enabler in supporting these ambitions whilst at the same time striving to offer an excellent, award-winning, world-class housing provision that keeps the University running smoothly for its students and staff.

King's Residences manages over 6,500 bed spaces across 14 halls, comprising KCL owned halls and nominations agreements with partner private providers. In addition, KCL receives a quota of student rooms from within the University of London's Intercollegiate Halls. This role is critical in ensuring the department reaches the necessary occupancy levels across the portfolio and meeting revenue targets.

The role of the System Operation Lead will be to assist the Allocations and System Manager in implementing, developing and maintaining the in-house Accommodation housing software, currently Mercury as we transition to StarRez.

You will be a system super user, working closely with suppliers, key stakeholders across the College including Finance, Faculties, Residences Service desk and IT to deliver fit for purpose system support.

The post holder will administer and optimise the Mercury/StarRez accommodation management system, ensuring accurate data, efficient workflows and a high-quality user experience. Working closely with IT services, system users and the software provider, they will support system development, integrations, upgrades and troubleshooting while maintaining documentation and governance standards. The role includes reviewing and improving operational processes, supporting the annual allocation cycle, managing user access and conducting data audits and reporting to inform decision-making. Through continuous improvement and collaboration, the post holder will ensure the system remains reliable, scalable and aligned with operational and business needs.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and you will be offered a fixed term contract until 31-Jul-2028.

About you:

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

Essential criteria

1. Educated to bachelor's degree standard or equivalent experience in Student Accommodation in PBSA or University Accommodation
2. Experience in education or student services administration including working within accommodation or a similar University setting
3. Proven extensive experience and knowledge of accommodation management software. Experience in data management, including data entry, validation, analysis, reporting, and ensuring data integrity across multiple systems
4. A proactive and innovative approach to problem solving, with an ability to adapt to changing requirements and raise issues where needed.
5. Experience with system development and creating workflows / user journeys
6. Ability to work independently and manage large volume of work with tight deadlines
7. Proven ability to deliver new initiatives and engage others to achieve shared goals
8. Experience with system development and creating workflows / user journeys in order to maximise occupancy levels and meet revenue targets

Desirable criteria

1. Ability to build strong relationships with internal departments and external partners
2. Experience working with StarRez, ideally at Power User level
3. Familiarity with other student information systems ie Sits
4. Knowledge of project management methodologies ie Agile, Prince2

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 on what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

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The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

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When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King's guidance.