Job description

The role holder will support the recently established King’s Volunteering service, created in 2021 to coordinate and digitalise volunteering opportunities across the university for students, staff and alumni. Volunteering, and the potential to create positive social impact, is a key priority for King’s.   

We know that the King’s community wants to make a difference through volunteering. This role will work with a small central team to launch a new service for students, staff, alumni and third sector partners to access, promote and evaluate volunteering opportunities. The role holder will ensure that the service promotes a diverse range of opportunities to suit everyone and make it easier for the King’s community to give back to society. 

This role will build on existing third sector partnerships and develop new ones, as well as collaborating with multiple stakeholders across the King’s community. The role holder will be responsible for managing partners in line with a partnership management framework, listening carefully to partner needs, and ensuring the highest professional standards. Our partners are organisations that make a positive social impact in communities (for example charities, community interest companies, social enterprises).  

We are in the process of transitioning volunteering to a digital platform, so expertise in involving students or charities in digital solutions to volunteering is a plus. The role is a unique blend of optimising systems and processes together with building partnerships, managing events and creating engaging content for communications.  

If you are passionate about volunteering and excited by the prospect of working with colleagues across the whole university as well as third sector partners, then this is the role for you.   

We are looking for a candidate who can start by December 2021 or soon after this date. 

This can be taken as a secondment opportunity for an internal candidate.  

This post will be offered on a 12-month fixed term contract.  

This is a full-time post - 100% full time equivalent

Key responsibilities

• Maximise volunteering partnership opportunities locally, nationally and internationally, for the mutual benefit of King’s students and staff, and partners. 
• Work closely with the Volunteering Implementation Lead and Volunteering Engagement Officer to introduce effective partnership working.  
• Ability to maximise partnership benefits, by connecting partners with relevant opportunities across the university beyond just volunteering.  
• Actively listen to our partners (current and future) to find out what they need and establish ‘matching’ functionality between partners and King’s diverse and vibrant offerings.  
• Build trusted relationships with partners through relational conversations and a professional and proactive approach.   
• Build collaborative relationships with colleagues across the university who work with the third sector, being respectful of existing and often multiple relationships with common partners.  
• Adhere to and continually review and update a partnership management framework, appropriate management processes (e.g. GDPR), and establish use of Microsoft Dynamics.  
• Work closely with third sectors partners to support their integration into the new digital volunteering platform, including designing onboarding processes that are inclusive and accessible.  
• Support Faculties and Functions to leverage existing partnerships and networks and look to build new networks in order to co-design programmes that address societal need.  
• Provide advice and training across King’s in the management of third sector partnerships and volunteering programmes.  
• Plan and deliver events that will support face to face engagement between community partners and the King's staff and students. 
• Become a key liaison point with the KCLSU Volunteering team to cross-promote opportunities and manage any mutual projects as appropriate.  

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

Skills, knowledge, and experience 

Essential criteria 

1.       Educated to degree level or significant sector experience  

2.       Experience of working with third sector partners and setting up new partnerships 

3.       Experience of a strategic role, connecting ideas and priorities across an organisation.  

4.       Experience of creating and managing processes or systems to support the effective running of a service.  

5.       Experience of continually evaluating a service or programme to make improvements.  

6.       Enthusiasm for Service and volunteering  

7.       Professional, diplomatic and tactful manner 

8.       Ambitious, driven and self-motivated, eager to learn and develop in the job 

9.       Comfortable with decision making at every level and an ability to come up with creative solutions 

10.   Excellent IT skills e.g. Word, PowerPoint, Excel 

11.   Confident telephone, face to face manner & interpersonal skills 

12.   Organised and efficient planner, ability to multitask and to meet deadlines  

Desirable criteria 

1.       Experience in using Microsoft Dynamics   

2.       Knowledge of the Higher Education sector including working with academics, professional services, students and alumni 

3.       Experience as a volunteer  

4.       Experience in writing copy for blogs, newsletters, social media posts for different audiences  

Further information

The selection process will include a panel interview.  

To apply, please register with the King’s College London application portal and complete your application online. 

About Service at King’s  

The term ‘Service’ is the language adopted in Vision 2029 to encapsulate King’s commitment to society, both through and beyond education and research. It derives from King’s informal mission ‘in service of society’. King’s wants to serve the needs and aspirations of society, in our individual capacities and together as a community.  

While King’s serves society through our world-leading education and research, we also want to make the case that universities have a broader responsibility to help shape and transform local communities and societies across the world. King’s wants to lead the way in transforming the higher education sector and in rediscovering and redefining the public purpose of universities. 

Service is broadly defined as social reform, educational experience, research impact, volunteering and environmental sustainability. Find out more:   http://www.kcl.ac.uk/service.