Assessment and Timetabling Lead

This is a rare opportunity to take a lead role at a growing London campus, where your higher education operations expertise will be central to delivering a smooth, compliant and student-focused experience. If you enjoy owning complex assessment and timetabling activity, improving how things work, and building strong relationships with academic colleagues, you will find real scope to make your mark here.

The Assessment and Timetabling Lead is a key role within the Student Services and Operations Team. You will ensure the efficient, accurate and student-focused delivery of assessment administration, progression and awards activity, and timetabling. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys creating order from complexity, understands the regulatory and operational importance of assessment processes, and can build trusted relationships with academics and professional services colleagues.

You will be the person colleagues rely on for calm, evidence-based advice on assessment regulations and processes, and the person students experience as responsive, fair and solutions-focused. You will also be central to ensuring timetables are coherent, workable and communicated clearly.

Why work for Northchild Education?

Join Northchild Education (UK) at a pivotal moment. You will help shape a new London campus, opened in 2024, where decisions are made quickly, your expertise is listened to, and your work has visible impact on students and academic colleagues. You will sit at the heart of the student journey and academic delivery, owning assessment administration, progression processes and timetabling end to end. This is an opportunity for a confident higher education professional to step into a lead role with real autonomy, clear responsibility, and the satisfaction of building robust, student-centred services in partnership with the University of Portsmouth and the local borough.

About you:

You are an experienced higher education professional services practitioner who enjoys taking ownership of core academic administration and making processes work better for students and colleagues. You take pride in getting the detail right, meeting deadlines, and managing risk sensibly, particularly across assessment administration, progression activity and timetabling.

You are motivated by working in a developing campus environment where your contribution is visible, valued and has real impact. You build trusted relationships quickly, working confidently with academic colleagues and professional services teams, and you communicate clearly when managing expectations, resolving issues, and delivering change.

You are comfortable balancing accuracy, compliance and service, and you are keen to help shape a consistent, student-focused operation as the campus grows.

Key Responsibilities:

Student assessment and progression

• Lead the development, implementation and review of local policies and procedures relating to assessment and progression, ensuring alignment with University of Portsmouth requirements and external expectations.
• Coordinate the full assessment lifecycle, ensuring accuracy, consistency and timeliness, and reducing academic and regulatory risk.
• Provide expert procedural advice to academic and professional services colleagues on assessment regulations and decision-making.
• Lead and coordinate assessment administration, including coursework, in-class tests and examinations, with responsibility for:
  • Progression and award administration
  • Exam boards administration
  • Extenuating circumstances administration
  • Supporting external examiners (including assessment samples)
  • Marks input and quality checks
  • Graduation eligibility processes

Timetable development and management

• In coordination with senior academic colleagues, design, develop and maintain academic timetables, ensuring effective course schedules, room allocations and exam timetables.
• Work collaboratively with academic teams and administrative colleagues at both the London Campus and the University of Portsmouth to gather requirements, manage constraints and resolve clashes.
• Liaise with University of Portsmouth professional services to monitor and adjust timetables through the year to reflect changes and unforeseen circumstances.
• Act as the primary campus point of contact for timetable queries, issues and deadlines.
• Communicate changes and key dates clearly, ensuring transparency and accuracy.

Student administration and records

• Manage student enquiries with prompt, accurate advice and timely solutions, supporting a seamless student experience.
• Lead distribution, collation and record keeping for module surveys, ensuring accurate and timely delivery and data capture.
• Take responsibility for data quality, maintaining accurate student records within relevant systems.
• Support key campus and University events including Welcome Week, induction, graduation, confirmation and clearing, open days and other events as required.
• Apply University regulations and procedures appropriately and consistently.
• Explain routine and non-routine matters clearly to students, staff and external stakeholders, keeping knowledge current.
• Attend meetings and committees, producing accurate notes or minutes and maintaining confidentiality.
• Support student engagement and attendance monitoring activity, ensuring timely intervention where appropriate.

What we are looking for?

Essential Requirements:

• Recent experience in a higher education professional services role.
• Sound working knowledge of higher education practice and procedures.
• Experience of working with student records systems.
• Strong IT capability, including confidence with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook).
• Excellent organisation and attention to detail, with the ability to work accurately and to deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex processes clearly.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, able to build relationships with academic and professional colleagues and external partners.
• Discretion and professionalism, with a clear understanding of confidentiality and GDPR.
• A practical, solutions-focused approach within operating guidelines and regulations.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• A student-centred mindset and commitment to high-quality service.
• Proactive problem solving.
• Willingness to work outside normal hours occasionally to support key University events.

Desirable Requirements:

Degree educated or equivalent professional experience.

Application Process:

Apply, via the ‘Apply’ button above. You will need to provide your CV and a short covering statement outlining your relevant higher education experience (assessment administration, progression and awards, exam boards, timetabling, and student records systems) and why this role is of interest.

We are a Disability Confident employer and are committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

If you require the application process in an alternative format (for example, large print or phone application), please let us know and we will be happy to accommodate.

At Northchild Education, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We provide equal opportunities for all, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation. We actively encourage applications from all sections of the community and are dedicated to eliminating discrimination through fair and supportive policies and practices. Our goal is to create a vibrant academic community that reflects the diversity of society and enables all staff and students to achieve their full potential.

If you are ready to step into a role where your judgement, organisation and attention to detail will be genuinely relied upon, we would welcome your application.

If you have any questions, please reach out to our recruitment team at talent@northchild.com