King's College London

THIS VACANCY IS OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS ONLY

About us:

King's College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. King's has nearly 33,000 students from 190 countries, and is consistently ranked as one of the top 30 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025).

​King’s is a multi-faculty institution, providing high-quality teaching, research and innovation across the sciences, humanities, medicine, law, dentistry, and social sciences. It’s the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe, and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres spread across its three teaching hospitals.

​Working closely with the Chair of Council, Lord Stevens of Birmingham, and the Vice-Chancellor & President, Professor Shitij Kapur, the University Secretary & Director of Assurance, Dr Sinéad Critchley, leads the Office of the ​Chairman and College Secretariat (OCCS). The Office comprises three key teams: Governance, Legal Services, and Audit and Assurance, each with a senior management lead. Collectively, OCCS is responsible for the effective running of governance across King’s, serving Council and its committees, supporting the Chair and Vice-Chancellor & President as a trusted advisor and a link between the non-executive and executive functions of the University, building assurance and compliance networks across King’s, supporting and contributing to strategic direction and ensuring compliance across a wide range of statutory, regulatory and policy requirements. Through the legal services team, OCCS oversees relevant activities governed by European/international legislation and contracts as well as specific agreements with partner establishments.

About the role:

The Office of the Chair and College Secretariat is seeking a proactive and professional Executive Assistant to support the work of the Chair of Council and the University Secretary.

This key role will provide an effective, efficient, and confidential executive support service to ensure that the Chair of Council and the University Secretary have the information and support required to discharge their responsibilities.

This unique opportunity would suit a high performing individual with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to manage multiple competing priorities to challenging deadlines. A highly motivated self-starter, with significant executive experience supporting those at board-level or equivalent, you will have keen attention to detail and the ability to operate calmly, tactfully, and methodically, in a complex and evolving environment.

We're looking for someone who has gained professional executive support experience, ideally within a cognate role at King’s College London, or from across the higher education sector.

This is a full time post (35 hours per week), and a fixed term appointment for a maternity cover role, anticipated to be of 12 months duration, or until the return of the substantive post holder, with an indicative start date of 16 February 2026.

About you:

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential criteria

1. Previous experience in an executive support role in a large complex organisation.
2. Strong organisational and IT skills, including Microsoft Office packages. Exceptional written, verbal and presentation skills with high attention to detail.
3. Ability to thrive in a fast paced and dynamic environment, with strong problem-solving skills and the ability to foresee and proactively act on issues and challenges.
4. Professional and positive attitude, with an ability to remain cool and composed under pressure, and the capacity to handle confidential matters with discretion and diplomacy.
5. Proactive approach with the ability to work independently and flexibly, but also as part of a team.
6. Ability to work confidently and proactively across organisational boundaries and flex role to encompass new duties in an evolving environment.

Desirable criteria

1. A first degree or equivalent experience.
2. Experience working in a higher education environment.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further information:

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.

Interviews are due to be held on 20 and/or 27 January 2026.