Director, Employer Relations

Imperial College London is made up of four faculties including the Business School which has an independent Careers & Student Life department. We are currently seeking a full-time Director of Employer Relations to lead the next phase of the school’s strategy for developing and managing global relationships with target employers and current recruiting partners.   

The Director of Employer Relations at the Business School will lead an established team that is responsible for the following areas of activity:

·      Employer engagement: generating connections and engagement opportunities for 2,500+ students with employers across a range of industries, sectors, and regions 

·      Creating opportunity: sourcing job, internship, and project opportunities

·      Business development: building/nurturing relationships to drive student outcomes

·      Communications: driving brand awareness among global corporate partners regarding the range of the School’s student profiles at both graduate and experience hire levels

·      Alumni engagement: establish strategic and warm connections with alumni to both support alumni career success and to support Careers & Student Life objectives

·      Market knowledge: monitoring and sharing jobs market and industry sector trends with students, staff, and alumni

• School strategy: delivering activity that drives student employment outcomes, rankings outcomes, and alumni career progression

The post holder will be a skilled and diplomatic communicator, who excels at building strategic relationships, and implements processes to deliver best outcomes. The Director of Employer Relations will be creative in their approach to resourcing and comfortable leading change to positively impact strategic goals.

Driven to support the career success of students and alumni, and with a significant history of successful leadership, the Director of Employer Relations will work primarily with the Executive Director of Careers & Student Life, the Director of Careers Consulting, the Director of Student Life, and the Head of Alumni Relations, in addition to other senior stakeholders across the School and university and a range of external partners.

You can access full details via the JD attached while key information is summarised below for ease.

Duties and responsibilities

In summary, the role is responsible for the following activities and areas of competency:

1. Employer Relations strategy: Work with senior leadership across the institution to refresh the Employer Relations strategy and ensure it is well-aligned with the Business School’s 10-year plan and broader external relations approach of the university.
2. Business development and relationship management: Lead the engagement with employers and alumni to drive employment opportunities, reporting on engagement and demonstrating impact and outcomes. Brief colleagues, students and alumni on market and recruitment trends and promote the School and students to key external stakeholders including the press. Engage a global network of peers and build partnerships.
3. Leadership and management: Lead and develop the team and oversee the 20 student-led Careers Clubs. Responsible for the Employer Relations budget and events delivery.

Essential requirements

We are seeking talent that will have some commercial BD and/or relationship management experience, may have worked in a large commercial multinational employer with exposure to recruitment and selection practices, or the Executive Search industry that works with multinational clients. Alternatively, having worked at a top Business School or University with these skills and experiences of partnering with global employers and external stakeholders.

A summary of the most essential requirements are as follows:

·    Educated to a degree level and/or with relevant professional/industry experience

·    Previous leadership experience especially with regards to strategy development and execution

·    Worked in complex organisations with an ability to manage a broad selection of relationships

·    Experience in business development and relationship management linked to strategic outcomes

·    Experience in setting, measuring, and reporting on key performance indicators (KPIs)

·    Experience in managing and developing a high performing team

·    Senior management experience with recruitment, client services and/or professional services

·    Strong communication, negotiation, and influencing skills; strong fluency in English language

Further information

This is a permanent, full-time role and the candidate is expected to work flexibly, being on site an average of 3 days per week at our South Kensington Campus in London. This role includes some international travel, and some evening events and activity.

Imperial College London is committed to equality of opportunity, to eliminating discrimination and to creating an inclusive working environment for all.

Should you require any further details on the role please contact: Lisa Umenyiora, Executive Director of Careers and Student Life at [email removed - click apply for more details]