About the Role
As Academic Dean of the Business School, you will provide strategic leadership of a large, complex and high-performing School, placing student experience and student success at the heart of all decision-making. You will lead and inspire a diverse academic community, ensuring high-quality delivery, strong academic outcomes, and sustainable growth.
Responsibilities
- Provide strategic direction and leadership for the Business School, ensuring alignment with institutional growth ambitions.
- Translate strategy into deliverable operational plans across a broad programme portfolio.
- Lead the School through growth, transformation, and organisational change.
- Place student experience at the core of all strategic and operational decisions.
- Lead the development of inclusive, high-impact teaching, learning and assessment approaches suited to a widening participation student body.
- Drive improvements in engagement, retention, attainment and progression.
- Ensure teaching practices are innovative, applied and aligned to employability outcomes.
- Take accountability for School performance against KPIs, using data to inform decisions and interventions.
- Establish a culture of data literacy and continuous improvement across academic teams.
- Provide oversight of academic governance, quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
- Lead, develop and inspire a large and diverse academic workforce, fostering an inclusive and high-performance culture.
- Build leadership capability across Associate Deans and Course Directors.
- Manage performance effectively, supporting staff development in a complex environment.
- Build and maintain strategic partnerships with academic institutions, awarding bodies and industry.
- Represent the School and College externally to enhance profile and growth opportunities.
Requirements
- Master’s degree or equivalent professional qualification in a relevant discipline.
- Recognised teaching qualification.
- Proven experience in senior academic leadership in higher education.
- Strong expertise in data-driven performance management and strategic planning.
- Understanding of pedagogy within a widening participation context.
- Excellent leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Doctorate in a relevant discipline.
- Experience in partnership or franchise delivery models.
- Significant experience leading large, diverse academic teams within complex organisations.
- Proven track record of delivering measurable improvements in academic performance and student outcomes.
- Strong knowledge of UK higher education regulatory and quality frameworks.
- Experience driving innovation in curriculum, teaching and learning practices.
- Must have the right to work in the UK.
Skills
- Data-driven performance management
- Strategic planning
- Pedagogy within a widening participation context
- Leadership
- Communication
- Stakeholder management
- Partnership building
- External representation
- Data literacy
- Academic governance
- Quality assurance
- Regulatory compliance
- Staff development
- Curriculum innovation
- Teaching innovation
- Learning practices innovation
Location
- London
Work Type
- Full-time
Experience Level
- Senior academic leadership
- Significant experience leading large, diverse academic teams
Education Level
- Master’s degree or equivalent professional qualification
- Recognised teaching qualification
- Doctorate in a relevant discipline
About the Company
- London College of Contemporary Art (LCCA) is a modern, student-centred institution committed to widening participation and empowering learners from diverse backgrounds to achieve their academic and professional ambitions.
- As part of Global University Systems — a large, international education provider — we are proud to be embedded within a global network that delivers high-quality, accessible education at scale.
- Our programmes are future-focused, combining applied learning with innovative, industry-relevant curricula and state-of-the-art delivery to ensure our graduates are equipped with the skills needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.
Equal Opportunity
- We are committed to ensuring our workforce reflects the diversity of our student population, striving to increase representation across age, disability, gender identity and expression, religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, and socio-economic background.
- We are also committed to providing adjustments throughout the recruitment process. Please contact the LCCA Talent Acquisition Team at collegedivisionrecruitment@gus.global for support.
