Director of Student and Academic Services (SaAS)

Lead transformation at the heart of the student experience.

Birmingham City University is seeking a highly credible director to lead one of the University’s most influential and high-impact portfolios. Reporting to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor: Education and Student Experience, the Director of Student and Academic Services will lead a broad portfolio spanning Academic Registry, Programme Administration, Student Services, Student Advice and Community, Apprenticeships, and Timetabling. Following recent organisational change, we are seeking a leader who can build on this foundation by aligning and modernising services to enhance performance, strengthen regulatory assurance and embed a genuinely student-centred culture.

The Impact You Will Make

You will:

• Reset and lead the evolution of a centralised, high-performing student services model across the full student lifecycle.
• Strengthen regulatory assurance and academic governance across OfS, ESFA, OFSTED and PSRB frameworks.
• Ensure positive collaborative partnerships with Deans and senior academic leaders.
• Lead and align multiple interdependent service areas into a cohesive, high-performance portfolio.
• Embed clear high-service standards, accountability and performance discipline at scale.

This is a role for someone who understands both operational complexity and organisational politics, and who is comfortable being visible and leading institution-wide change.

About You

You will be a senior leader from within UK Higher Education with:

• A substantial track record of senior leadership across student experience, academic registry or academic policy.
• Deep regulatory and academic governance expertise.
• Experience shaping and delivering strategic workforce and operating models.
• Strong financial stewardship and resource management capability.
• Advanced people leadership skills and driving performance at scale.
• The credibility, diplomacy and political intelligence to influence confidently at Executive level.
• An inclusive, resilient and outcome-focused leadership style.
• You combine strategic foresight with operational grip.
• You bring clarity where there has been complexity.

Why Birmingham City University?

Birmingham City University is a bold, modern institution rooted in one of the UK’s most dynamic cities. Under Strategy 2030, we are strengthening governance, modernising services and investing in systems and infrastructure to enhance the student journey from enrolment through to graduation and beyond. We are values-driven — committed to excellence, fairness, partnership working and integrity. As an ambitious university with a strong widening participation mission, we are particularly committed to building a senior leadership community that reflects the diversity of our students and our city.

This role requires visible leadership across our campuses, typically with three to four days per week on site.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend the interview process on 11 May 2026.

Informal queries regarding the role are very welcome and should be directed to Nelia Naude at nelia.naude@bcu.ac.uk. 

The appointed candidate will normally be employed through our subsidiary company BCU Support Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham City University. Appointees with prior LGPS membership who wish to enter the LGPS scheme will be able to do so and will be employed by Birmingham City University directly.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and to an environment that supports lawful free speech and academic freedom. We will continuously review and improve our policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that we are promoting these in all aspects of our operations. We believe that by working together, combining our many different backgrounds and life experiences, we will empower each other to reach our full potential.