Job Description

The Senior Director, Student Experience is responsible for designing, governing, and continuously improving the end-to-end student experience across the University & College, ensuring that all academic and non-academic touchpoints are coherent, student-centred, and aligned to institutional strategy.

The role exists to move student experience from fragmented service delivery to a deliberate, designed system, leveraging data, digital enablement, and service standards to improve student satisfaction, engagement, retention, and outcomes.

Key Accountabilities

1. End-to-End Student Experience Strategy

• Own the enterprise student experience framework, spanning the full student lifecycle (pre-enrolment to alumni transition).
• Translate institutional strategy into clear student experience principles, standards, and priorities.
• Identify critical experience gaps, pain points, and moments that matter, and drive targeted interventions.
• Ensure consistency of student experience across faculties, campuses, and institutions, while allowing for contextual flexibility.

2. Student Services Governance & Integration

• Provide strategic oversight and governance across student-facing functions (e.g. student services, wellbeing, campus life, academic services, career services, library and other support functions).
• Clarify roles, accountabilities, and service ownership across decentralised and central teams.
• Establish and enforce service standards, service levels, and escalation mechanisms.
• Reduce duplication, fragmentation, and inconsistent practices across the student services ecosystem.

3. Experience Design, Data & Insights

• Embed student journey mapping and service design as core capabilities.
• Leverage data (student feedback, surveys, complaints, retention data, analytics) to drive evidence-based improvements.
• Establish a single view of the student, in partnership with Digital & Technology teams.
• Use insights to inform prioritisation, investment decisions, and continuous improvement.

4. Digital Enablement of Student Experience

• Partner closely with Digital & Technology to ensure student experience requirements are embedded into systems, platforms, and digital initiatives.
• Champion digital self-service, automation, and omni-channel engagement to improve accessibility and efficiency.
• Ensure technology enhances — rather than complicates — the student journey.

5. Stakeholder & Academic Partnership

• Work in close partnership with academic leaders to align student experience initiatives with academic delivery and student success.
• Act as a connector between academics, operations, technology, and estates to resolve cross-cutting experience issues.
• Represent the student voice in enterprise decision-making forums.

6. Performance, Risk & Continuous Improvement

• Define and track student experience KPIs, including satisfaction, engagement, retention, and service performance.
• Ensure effective handling of student feedback, complaints, and systemic issues.
• Identify risks to student experience and recommend mitigations at institutional level.

7. Leadership & Capability Building

• Lead and develop senior student experience and student services leaders.
• Build organisational capability in service excellence, student-centric design, and continuous improvement.
• Foster a culture that prioritises empathy, accountability, and quality delivery.

Job Requirements

Education & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (e.g. Education, Business Administration, Public Policy, or related discipline).
• Postgraduate qualification (Master’s or equivalent) in Higher Education, Business, Leadership, or Service Design is highly desirable.

Experience

• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in student experience, service delivery, operations, or customer experience within complex organisations.
• Demonstrated senior leadership experience in higher education or similarly complex, service-oriented environments (e.g. healthcare, government, large-scale service organisations).
• Proven track record of designing and implementing end-to-end service or customer experience strategies.
• Experience leading multi-functional teams and influencing across matrixed or decentralised structures.
• Strong experience in driving organisational transformation, continuous improvement, and service integration initiatives.
• Experience working closely with digital/technology teams to deliver system-enabled service improvements.
• Demonstrated success in using data, analytics, and insights to drive decision-making and measurable outcomes (e.g. satisfaction, retention).

Skills & Capabilities

• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to translate strategy into actionable frameworks and outcomes.
• Deep understanding of service design, journey mapping, and student/customer experience principles.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, particularly across academic, operational, and executive levels.
• Strong governance and operating model design capability.
• Ability to lead through complexity, ambiguity, and organisational change.
• Data-driven mindset with strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate vision and drive alignment across diverse groups.

Job Requirements