Role description

Director of King’s Online

About King’s Online

Role description

Person specification

How to apply

Role description
Reporting to the Executive Director of King’s Education the role holder will be responsible for the overall leadership and success of King’s Online. The role holder will be a member of King’s Education senior management team and will actively work across the areas to champion educational innovation.

The Director of King’s Online will be responsible for managing a portfolio of online learning activity across all nine faculties within the university. The Director will manage a range of services including instructional design, user experience, content/platform design and development, and media design and production; and will bring relevant knowledge and experience in this space.

Given the rapidly changing landscape of online learning requirements across the sector, the Director will have an unparalleled opportunity to help the university deliver on ambitious plans. Given King’s aspiration to become the UK leader in online and blended learning by 2029, the Online team has an exciting opportunity to support the academic community in delivering the best possible learning environment for students.
Media presentation
The Director of King’s Online will be responsible for maintaining key relationships with Senior Management across the university, with Faculty, and Professional Services as well as third-party, non-academic service providers. The Director will work closely with the Vice President & Vice Principal (Education) and other senior stakeholders to expand learning opportunities, as well as enable a market-led, holistic approach to portfolio development. University-wide ambitions include shaping a widening definition of educational opportunities that will ensure a focus on consistent and innovative educational delivery, process improvement and student experience enhancement. The postholder will be integral in supporting this mission and under the umbrella of the education strategy, will work closely with other education providing units both with King’s Education and across the university to achieve it.

Responsible for the overall leadership and success of the Online unit, the Director will ensure the team are at the forefront of innovative online design and development, scoping best practice worldwide. Working closely with university leaders, the Director will be responsible for developing and operationalising an aspiring and commercially viable vision for Online, in line with King’s over-arching strategic and financial plans. The Director will also be responsible for engaging with commercial partners and overseeing contract management and will have a close working relationship with the Director of KPED.

The role is accountable for ensuring the effective implementation of King’s policies and procedures.

Key responsibilities and objectives of the job


Excellent leadership skills, and communication and relationship skills are essential requirements, alongside an ability to effectively manage competing priorities. 

Leadership & Management

  • Leadership of Online team

  • Working effectively across King’s Education to realise educational opportunities and potential efficiencies

  • Operational management of King’s Online (with support from Head of Production and Partnership Operations, Head of Strategy, Planning and Business Management, and Head of UX, Media and Tech)

  • Joint operational management of shared resources with KPED

  • Direct line management of the following four posts:
         
             – Head of Production and Partnership Operations
             – Head of Strategy, Planning and Business Management
             – Head of Portfolio Management and Instructional Design
             – Head of UX, Media and Tech

  • Accountability for progress against Business Cases and annual operating plans/budgets for King's Online

External Liaison & Business Development

  • Managing the relationships with third-party non-academic services providers 

  • Ensuring King’s’ contractual agreements with third parties are understood and King’s’ obligations fulfilled

  • Active scoping of new opportunities

  • Brokering new partnerships

Internal Liaison, Communication & Business Development

  • Nurture internal relationships; developing and maintaining relationships with senior management across the university, with faculty, and professional services leadership

  • Key working relationships include the Vice President & Vice Principal (Education), Executive Director and directors in King’s Education, the Education and Students directorate, key contacts within the IT directorate, Vice Deans, Heads of School/or Department, Faculty Operating Officers and Director of KPED

  • Working closely with technology and systems owners to ensure the unit’s needs are communicated and embedded in roadmaps

  • Adopting and driving a continuous improvement approach to Online Education and the potential of blended education across King’s

  • Managing the pipeline of potential new programmes and initiatives

  • Driving organisational change to accommodate online and blended learning initiatives

  • Disseminate conceptual and complex ideas to a wide variety of audiences using appropriate media and methods to promote understanding

Quality

  • Ensuring academic quality is monitored and maintained

  • Ensuring King’s brand is enhanced by all online initiatives


People and Culture

  • Provide leadership as Director of King’s Online and across King’s Education in a manner consistent with King’s guiding principles

  • Promote and foster a supportive working and educational environment that delivers diversity, equality and inclusiveness in the unit’s operations.

Direct reporting lines

Direct reporting lines