Quacquarelli Symonds Hiring for Director of Admissions Job at Remote , UK Full Time

QS is a global leader in higher education services. We are the data analytics, performance insight provider and intelligence partner supporting university excellence across the world. Our student recruitment and enrolment solutions enable universities and business schools to connect with talented individuals that are seeking to further their academic progress and career development. Our portfolio of professional services includes consultancy, student mobility and academic partnerships management, and branding solutions.

The Role:

QS enrolment solutions division provides a white-labelled recruitment, conversion, and admissions services to universities, principally in the UK and in Australia & New Zealand. Currently, we work with 19 UK universities and provide admissions servicing to four with the potential to expand significantly in future years.

After a period of sustained growth, we are seeking a Director of Admissions, who will have responsibility for managing our admissions servicing contracts for a portfolio of UK and European universities, ensuring quality of delivery and providing clients with insights and reporting on their accounts. The Director of Admissions will also contribute to the pre-sales and upsell activity with prospective and current clients, working alongside the UK commercial directorate to win new business and secure timely renewals. This role will also lead the global admissions servicing teams located in QS centres, building upon current delivery processes and executing a vision for continuous improvement in the delivery of services, with overarching responsibility for strategic, operational and technical resource issues associated with the admissions functions.

The Director of Admissions will line-manage the admissions teams for QS Enrolment Solutions based in Kuala Lumpur and Bangalore. Flexible working arrangements enable the role largely to be conducted from a home-based environment with occasional travel required to London and client establishments to attend meetings. The post will be part of the London Management Team for QSES.

Key responsibilities include:

Vision & Strategy:

• Establish a clear value proposition for out-sourced university admissions processing, owning maintaining the roadmap for future technology, analytical, data and business needs.
• Contribute to development of key strategic plans for the enrolment solutions division as it relates to the entire student engagement journey.
• Identify opportunities to provide new and innovative methods of admissions service delivery.
• Plan and prioritise development initiatives for all admissions-related development projects.

Product Management:

• Develop and own the admissions service product and roadmap
• Run workshops with internal and external stakeholders to identify user needs and pain-points
• Collaborate with the wider QS product organisation to align roadmaps/plans
• Coordinate across multiple organisational dependencies to deliver successful implementation
• Utilise our research capabilities to test and learn, iterating on our product through user feedback and insights; putting data at the heart of our decisions
• Collaborate with Commercial and Marketing teams to develop a compelling story for our admissions product
• Harness and develop QS insights assets to raise the external profile of the admissions practice and as experts in institutional performance and higher education trends

Admissions Service Delivery:

• Oversee the design, implementation and performance of business focused admissions services.
• As the Product Owner for Admissions servicing, collaborate with other QS enrolment solutions’ teams to ensure the full integration of the service within a broader value proposition.

• Manage the service delivery of admissions services to clients under contract, line-managing the off-shore admissions servicing centres in KL and Bangalore.
• Assess and evaluate new technologies that would allow BI to continuously improve in availability, accessibility and self-service.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to identify, prioritise and implement new data sources and analytical needs of the business and clients.
• Advise on best practice processes relating to but not limited to admissions servicing.
• Oversee the Client reporting process for admissions, liaising closely with the relevant Account Manager to deliver timely and responsive reports to clients.

Continuous Improvement:

• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives across QSES.
• Provide insights to the business for operational improvement and ways to optimise student success outcomes such as enrolment or retention.

Institutional Improvement:

• Lead or contribute to consulting projects that include an admissions servicing element
• Contribute to the development of a higher education performance consulting practice within QS

What’s in it for me?

• Opportunity to establish and execute a vision for the delivery of out-sourced admissions services to UK universities.
• Opportunity to be a member of the UK management team for QS enrolment solutions, collaborating with other senior leaders on initiatives as required.
• Opportunity to play a key role in the transformation of an exciting business.
• Opportunity to earn above a base salary through the Company bonus scheme.

The ideal candidate will have:

Demonstrated knowledge and experience

• Demonstrated leadership experience, effectively managing and mentoring a UK university admissions service.
• Previous experience working within a cross-functional team in the areas of domestic or international student recruitment.
• Demonstrated experience in reporting, with an understanding of data analytics
• Experience in establishing and articulating a vision, setting goals, developing and executing strategies, tracking and measuring results.
• Experience working within the higher education or education management industry in the area of admissions is essential.

Technical skills and qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject (postgraduate qualification preferred), or equivalent experience.
• Experience in UK university admissions’ software systems.

Behavioural competencies

• Strong organisation and project management skills.
• Demonstrated team leadership ability.
• Ability to understand critical issues and bring appropriate resolution to complex issues
• Ability to gather and document quality business requirements.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills, verbal and written.