Senior Project Officer (Attainment)

Salary: £36,532 to £41,299 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance

Closing date: Sunday 26th November 2023

Location: Hybrid, Strand Campus

Business unit: Students & Education

Department: Student Transition & Outcomes

Category: Professional & Support Services

Contact details: Tamara Kwofie – Student Outcomes Manager (Attainment)

About Us

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.

At King’s College London the Student Transition & Outcomes Department support student success by making King’s a more equitable and compassionate place to study. Recognising the differential outcomes that students currently experience we will partner with staff and student leaders to close gaps in student success and to improve, attainment, completion and wellbeing.

We are part of the wider 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 Senior Project Officer (Attainment) is a vital member of the Student Outcomes team. The role is one of two officer roles that reports to the Student Outcomes Manager (Attainment). The purpose of the role is to support faculty operational activity that aims to reduce attainment gaps within faculties and departments. The role will also use the Conversations about Race programme to act as a diagnostic tool for departments. It will involve the running of this programme as well as training others to embed these discussions about race into their faculties.

This is an exciting opportunity for candidates looking to utilise their skills and expertise to promote a more inclusive educational experience for our students and staff. This is an opportunity to grow your project management, stakeholder management and communication skills.

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 role is an indefinite contract.

This is a full-time post, but we welcome applications from candidates seeking a flexible work pattern within our necessary service operating hours, 10am to 4pm.

This is currently a hybrid working role with both work from home and on campus. The role will be based in our department, currently on the Strand campus.

Key responsibilities

• Work with faculties to support work to close their attainment gaps. This could include the analysis and communication of performance data, providing expert advice on stubborn issues within the faculty or the design of appropriate, evidence-based interventions according to the faculties need. There may be further activity requested that would be worked on in agreement with the Student Outcomes Manager (Attainment).
• Build a strong knowledge and understanding of the BME attainment agenda within King’s and in the sector, working closely to understand the factors that impact King’s student’s attainment.
• Lead the planning of discussions of sensitive equality issues, such as race based discrimination and bias across the university, via Conversations about Race.
• Planning and leading on the monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the Conversations about Race programme and the suite of learning opportunities with the support of King’s What Works team.
• Support on work to improve the communication of attainment related information, in particular around student data, across faculties and relevant professional services teams. Communicate in an adequate and frequent manner in order to improve activity of the team and external departments.
• Support the Student Outcomes Manager (Attainment) and other Project Officer on the planning and leading of robust evaluation and reporting of attainment raising interventions.
• Work with the Student Leadership team, within Student Outcomes, to ensure that the stewardship of the leadership programmes are responsive to the needs of marginalised student groups and focuses on driving high attainment.
• Undertake administrative duties pertaining to the role such as project planning, budget management, report writing, and organising logistics of training sessions.

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience

Please clearly address how you meet the essential criteria in your application, and where possible how you meet the desirable criteria as well.

Essential criteria

1. Experience in designing, facilitating, and evaluating training or learning sessions for a range of stakeholders.
2. Experience working with people from a range of backgrounds including students or young people.
3. Ability to establish and proactively build professional working relationships with internal and external stakeholders from varying backgrounds.
4. Experience and tact when discussing sensitive topics such as racial inequality, social injustice etc.
5. Ability to communicate complex ideas to a range of groups including diverse groups of students and university staff.
6. Ability to work independently in a fast-changing environment and meet challenging deadlines.
7. Ability to coach or train others on how to undertake specific tasks and give clear direction on desired outcomes.
8. Keep up to date with relevant internal and external strategy, policy, and service innovations to inform best practice and continually drive excellence.
9. Understand how the lived experience of Black, Asian, and students from other ethnic minorities is affected by structural inequality in higher education.

Desirable criteria

1. Experience in Higher Education Faculty or Department
2. Experience in establishing, developing, and implementing effective procedures and processes.
3. Experience in identifying opportunities for operational improvements and supporting the implementation of improvements.
4. Knowledge of student attainment and or outcomes trends and initiatives within the Higher Education sector.

Further Information

Please submit a personal statement when applying for this vacancy, clearly setting out how you meet the essential criteria, as this is how we shortlist applications. Learn more about how we recruit, including tips on writing your application and supporting statement on our website:  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/how-we-recruit/applying-for-jobs-at-kings

If you are a student or alumni of King’s there are resources from  King’s Careers & Employability to support you in your application and interview.

Interviews will be held using Microsoft Teams and will consist of competency-based questions linked closely to the essential and desirable criteria mentioned here.

King’s is still under-represented in terms of staff from global majority ethnicities, LGBTQ+ identities, and people with disabilities, however, we have made improvements over the last number of years in our team. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities, and industries, and are committed to employing a team that has diverse skills, experiences, and abilities.

Interviews are scheduled to take place between 5th & 6th December.