Essential:

• A PhD or equivalent experience in a relevant discipline within the Arts and Humanities. • A proven track record of academic achievement and research leadership, with standing and credibility in the academic community. • Significant leadership and management experience, including managing complex budgets, leading diverse teams, and driving institutional success and change, with a collaborative leadership style that fosters teamwork and collegiality. • Understanding of UK higher education governance, finance, funding arrangements, and the dynamics of UK, international and postgraduate student markets • Strategic vision and the ability to translate long-term goals into actionable plans. • Demonstrated commitment to advancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. • Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to inspire and influence others. • The ability to navigate and lead during periods of change, and react positively when external challenges arise, demonstrating resilience, adaptability, and thoughtful decision-making. • Strong ambassadorial skills, with the ability to represent the Faculty at national and international levels.

Desirable:

• Experience of engaging with philanthropic, commercial, or governmental partners to secure funding or strategic alliances.

Additional Information

• The Executive Dean will embody King’s guiding principles, inspiring excellence, fostering inclusion, and upholding the highest standards of integrity and respect. • This job description reflects the expectations of the Executive Dean role. Duties may evolve over time, and a flexible approach to responsibilities is essential. King’s College London is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of background. This is an opportunity to lead and shape a vibrant and globally respected Faculty at a pivotal time in its evolution.

Meeting the challenges of today conceptually, historically, creatively and imaginatively.

Arts & Humanities at King's College London is a world-leading Faculty delivering education and research, encompassing both traditional disciplines like Philosophy, Classics, Theology, English, History, Languages, and Music, as well as contemporary fields such as Digital Humanities, Film, Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts, and Culture, Media, and Creative Industries. Situated on the Strand Campus in central London, the Faculty benefits from proximity to numerous cultural institutions. In 2023, the Faculty launched the Digital Futures Institute and the Global Cultures Institute, which bring together the extraordinary expertise from across King’s to address society’s biggest challenges.

Research

King’s Arts & Humanities is a leading research force in demonstrating how the arts and humanities can answer society’s big questions. Our Faculty is distinctive in representing both longer established disciplines - such as Philosophy and Theology - and more recently established fields, such as Digital Humanities and Culture, Media and Creative Industries. This rare combination of traditional and innovative approaches affords us rich opportunities for interdisciplinarity collaboration and for social impact, as well as ground-breaking research. We have exceptional disciplinary research strength, as demonstrated in the last Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) outcome: • 98 per cent of our research environment was assessed to be either ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*). • 95 per cent of our research impact was either 4* or 3* • 86 per cent of our research outputs were either 4* or 3 * Our planning for REF2029 is well under way with the ambitions and plans to deliver significant improvements on this position. The Faculty is also home to University-wide interdisciplinary research institutes, bringing together expertise from across King’s to produce impactful research, these include the Digital Futures Institute and the Global Cultures Institute, as well as King’s Culture which brings together students, staff, alumni, and our cultural partners to engage with arts and culture.

Education

Arts & Humanities at King’s is ranked 5th in the UK and 22nd globally (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024). We offer degrees in subjects ranging from Classics and History to Arts, Culture and Media; from Languages and Literature to Philosophy, Religion and Digital Humanities. Some of our most attractive new programmes include Management & Modern Languages and Artificial Intelligence & Philosophy. In terms of subject range, we are a diverse Faculty, able to offer degrees and research opportunities with global reach, covering culture, arts, history, languages and literature from all around the world. We also offer a range of online courses allowing a range of students to further their knowledge and progress their careers. We organise especially-tailored taught courses at Undergraduate and Master’s level with other world-class institutions, as well as offering dual/joint research degrees. In addition to this, through our local/UK partnerships we are able to offer internship opportunities for our students throughout London and beyond ensuring outstanding employment outcomes for our graduates.

The Role, Structure & Organisation

King’s is searching for an outstanding individual for the role of Executive Dean at an exciting time in the Faculty’s history. The appointee will be a leading academic with a substantial track record in research, education and leadership in and across disciplines relevant to the Faculty. Executive Deans at King’s are members of the Academic Board, and the University Executive and so they play a pivotal role in the leadership, management and governance of the University. The University Executive sets the strategic direction and objectives to achieve the overall mission governed by the Council, oversees resource allocation and management of corporate risk and sets the tone, for the culture and values of the King’s community. Executive Deans therefore play a key role within the network of the University’s senior management. Executive Deans of the nine Faculties report to the Senior Vice President (Academic). The University is governed by a Council with a structure and senior office holders (including Interim arrangements) as set out below:

To apply for this post you will need to register on the King’s College London Job application portal, and submit the application form, along with the following: • a statement setting out your reasons for applying for the post and highlighting the particular skill and experience which demonstrates your fit to the role (2 pages max) • a curriculum vitae

King’s College London is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion and through this appointment process it is the university’s clear stated aim to develop candidate pools that include applicants from all backgrounds and communities. We particularly encourage applications from women, people from black and minority ethnic communities, the LGBT+ community and from disabled people.

Applications will be shortlisted by the selection committee which includes representation from the Faculty and University with external experts from the discipline. The final interview panel will be chaired by the Vice Chancellor & President and will include the Senior Vice President (Academic) and representatives from across the Faculty, University and wider sector.