Senior Placements Advisor

**Job details**

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**Responsible to**

Placements Team Leader

**Location**

Kedleston Road, Derby Campus

**Closing date**

Tuesday 5 May 2026

**Salary**

£28,636 to £30,394 per annum (for exceptional performers, there is scope for further progression up to £34,953 per annum)

**Job grade**

ATOS 5

**Reference**

0093-26

**Contract type**

Permanent

**Post type**

Full-time

**Adaptive working type**

Onsite

This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location.

**About the University**

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

**About the College/Department**

The Registry support all aspects of the student journey, right from initial enquiry and application, all the way through to final award and student completion. We strive to provide an outstanding service to all our users and to be thought leaders in our fields of expertise, developing research informed practise. Registry teams work collaboratively with stakeholders to deliver a high-performance culture that promotes wellbeing, diversity and opportunity for all, supporting excellent student experience.

**Placements Team**

The Placements Team works in partnership with academic colleagues, professional services and external stakeholders to ensure high-quality placement experiences are provided to our student body. The team provides expert advice, guidance and administrative support to students and placement providers, ensuring that placements are well-coordinated, compliant with University regulations and aligned to Professional Standards and Regulating Body (PSRB) requirements and quality expectations.

Working collaboratively across Colleges, the team supports the development and maintenance of robust processes, and ensures a consistent, inclusive, student-focused service. Through effective use and management of information and data, the team contributes to student retention, progression and achievement, while also supporting funding, reporting and regulatory requirements associated with placement provision. We value a leadership styles that empower colleagues, encourages accountability fostering trust and professional growth within the team.

Committed to continuous improvement, the Placements Team actively reviews its services, and engagement with stakeholders to promote best practice across the broad scope of placement activity. At its core, the team is dedicated to delivering an excellent student experience and ensuring that placements are meaningful, well-supported and professionally managed.

**About the role**

The Placements Senior Advisor will play a key role in supporting the student journey before during and after placement activity. This role is central to delivering an excellent student experience, providing high-level advice, guidance and support on complex placement matters, acting as a primary point of contact for students, academic colleagues and external practice stakeholders. The postholder will work closely with academic teams to coordinate placement activity, secure opportunities, monitor student engagement and attendance, and ensure compliance with University regulations, academic standards and quality requirements.

The role also carries line management responsibility for Placement Advisors, ensuring a consistent and high-quality service across Colleges. You will be a respectful and inclusive leader, committed to developing others and creating a positive, professional and high-performing team environment.

You will develop and maintain placement processes and documentation, provide mentoring and training, respond to escalated cases, and lead on planning and prioritising activity across the placements portfolio. Through effective collaboration with colleagues across the University, you will contribute to student retention, progression and achievement, ensuring inclusive practice and a focus on service excellence at all times.

In addition, you will take a lead in the management and analysis of student data and management information, producing timely reports for stakeholders and supporting University metrics and funding requirements. The role involves oversight of placement-related financial processes, reporting, audits and claims, contributing to projects and service reviews, and mitigation of financial risk.

This is an exciting opportunity for a highly organised, analytical and collaborative professional committed to enhancing the student experience through effective placement provision.

**About You**

We are seeking a highly organised and experienced professional with substantial experience of working within a higher education environment, ideally within placements, student administration or a related student-facing function. You will have a strong understanding of the student journey and the regulatory framework that underpins academic quality and standards. Experience of line management or supervising staff is essential, alongside the ability to lead, mentor and develop colleagues to deliver a consistent and high-quality service.

The successful candidate will demonstrate excellent organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage a varied and complex workload, respond to escalated issues and implement effective solutions. You will be confident in analysing and interpreting data from multiple systems, producing clear reports and using management information to inform decision-making and support student retention, progression and achievement. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential, with the ability to build effective working relationships with academic colleagues, professional services, students and external stakeholders.

You will be proactive, detail-oriented and committed to continuous improvement, with the ability to develop and enhance processes in line with University regulations and funding requirements. A commitment to inclusive practice and delivering an outstanding student experience is non-negotiable. The successful candidate will demonstrate a supportive and empowering management style, valuing collaboration, openness and mutual respect in all team interactions.

**Principal accountabilities**

Have a high level of understanding of the student journey as it relates to placements, to provide advice, information and guidance to students on issues relating to their programme of study including dealing with complex queries and placement requirements.

To provide line management and associated support for Placements Advisors, having a good understanding of the placement activities across the Colleges, developing and maintaining documentation for placement processes and ensuring, through training and advice, that Placement Advisors are able to provide a consistent service.

To provide an excellent service to students through the effective delivery of placement administration, acting as a key contact point for students and stakeholders in placement settings for advice and guidance on placement matters.

To co-ordinate activity, working with academic teams to identify and secure placement opportunities.

To monitor & manage student record profiles and provide reports and analysis from a range of data sources, ensuring that all requested information is clearly reported to relevant stakeholders in a timely manner.

To have a good level of understanding of, and input in to, the University’s policies and procedures for academic standards and quality in order to work with academic colleagues to deliver excellent student experience.

Responding to escalated issues and cases from Placement Advisors.

Develop and utilise management information to support University metrics for student retention, progression and achievement.

To plan, prioritise and implement key activities across the scope of placements activity, to ensure a consistent approach and compliance with University Regulations & requirements.

Work collaboratively with all areas of the University to ensure the prioritisation of students experience.

Will work to ensure that the University’s liabilities are met in regards to the payment for placement provision. Engaging with any relevant reporting, invoices, payment requests, returns, audits and claims to enable the drawing down and then paying of available funding streams.

Researching and establishing suitable sources of information required to support students, ensuring it remains current, in appropriate formats and is shared appropriately with colleagues.

Meet regularly with the Placement Leads/ Programme Leaders to review student profiles and attendance, identify potential issues, provide advice on University processes and regulations and take action as required.

Make a significant contribution to the development and positive promotion of the Placements Team and Registry department, including active participation in appropriate Committees and meetings.

Ensure an inclusive service with a focus on delivering excellence.

Provide mentoring and training for Placement Advisors.

Contribute to projects and prepare associated reports and analysis

Undertake reviews and evaluation of the services provided to develop and enhance service standards.

Maintain your professional competence through continuous professional development in line with role.

**Person specification**

### **Essential Criteria**

#### **Qualifications**

• GCSE Maths and English at grade C or above

**Experience**

• Experience of delivering information, advice and guidance, preferably in a student support environment
• Experience of working in an administrative role in a service setting
• Creating innovative solutions to problems, addressing the root cause
• Working collaboratively across boundaries to achieve common goals
• Experience of working with large data sets
• Experience of understanding and applying data protection requirements
• Using data to manage workload

#### **Skills, knowledge & abilities**

• Strong interpersonal skills
• Ability to demonstrate tact and diplomacy in dealing with a wide range of contacts both internal and external to the University
• Advice and guidance skills
• Good judgement of situations and people and the ability to respond appropriately
• Ability to take a professional approach and work on own initiative
• Ability to adapt and be flexible
• Ability to understand and apply regulations/rules e.g. GDPR, quality assurance frameworks
• Confident and able to demonstrate digital competency across a range of technologies, including but not limited to Microsoft Office
• Ability to support decision making involving complex facts or situations, which require the analysis, interpretation and comparison of a range of options.
• Systematic and organised to manage competing priorities
• Positive and inclusive attitude
• Is consistently a positive role model to the team and supports peers to perform to their highest potential.
• Has a resilient nature and able to work through service pressures methodically and calmly.
• Flexible and adaptable with the ability to work across teams building relationships to ensure a good result.
• Is able to take responsibility and proactively resolve matters taking on a sense of ownership
• Doesn’t take things at face value; is confident to question and investigate beyond first impressions
• Thinks creatively and looks for more efficient ways of doing things.
• Is able to see and consider the bigger picture; asking searching questions to resolve issues.

#### **Business requirements**

• Able to recognise the need and be willing to work outside of normal hours at times as relevant to achieving service delivery, targets and deadlines (including some evenings and weekends), as well as to support the business during key University events, such as Graduation, Clearing and Open Days.
• Able to recognise the need and be willing to travel and work at any of the University sites as relevant to support staff, attend events, meetings or for presence.
• The role is student facing and as such you must be able to commit to being able to start work at 8:30 and finish at 1700 Monday – Friday.

### **Desirable Criteria**

#### **Qualifications**

• Customer Service Qualifications
• IT qualifications e.g., databases, spreadsheets, web development etc.
• Management qualifications

#### **Experience**

• Experience of working in the Higher Education sector
• Line management experience
• Mentoring and/or training experience
• Database/large data sets

#### **Skills, knowledge and abilities**

• Ability to assimilate written and verbal information
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
• Minute taking skills

**Benefits**

• Generous annual leave entitlement of 38 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
• Discounted onsite gym
• Cycle to Work scheme
• A flexible working environment
• A commitment to personal and professional development

**Key contact**

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Charlie Bradley, Placements Team Leader via c.bradley@derby.ac.uk

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

**Important information**

#### **Visa Sponsorship Eligibility**

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

#### **Equity, diversity and inclusion**

The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.

We are Disability Confident Employers, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invite applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.

Further, we are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non-binary-inclusive for all our staff, students, partners, and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training.

When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender-neutral title 'Mx'. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns. This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non-binary candidates. Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system.

The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.

However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.

Read more about equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Derby.

#### **Environmental Sustainability**

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

**Unlock your potential and apply today.**

**How to apply**

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You can apply by submitting an online application. Once you have signed in or registered with us you will be able to begin your application. If you are creating an account for the first time, please ensure you provide an email address that you access regularly as this will be our main means of contacting you regarding your application.

**The University reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.**

If you require any assistance, including the provision of any documentation in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment team at recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

Please note all applications must be submitted online by Midnight GMT on the closing date of the vacancy.