Director Employability & Industry Partnerships

Main Duties and Responsibilities

• Own and deliver an annual graduate employment action plan with measurable targets for job opportunities, interviews, offers and confirmed employment outcomes.
• Proactively source graduate and entry-level vacancies, including opportunities suited to UHE(UK) students’ programmes, skills, locations and career ambitions.
• Develop direct recruitment routes with employers, including preferred recruitment arrangements, recruitment days, assessment events and employer-led selection processes.
• Build and manage an active pipeline from employer vacancy through student referral, interview, offer and employment confirmation; intervene where conversion is weak.
• Ensures targeted support and opportunities for students and recent graduates who face barriers to securing work, including international students, with a focus on practical progression into employment.
• Develop approaches to graduate follow-up and ongoing employer engagement to support sustained employment and accurate outcome tracking.
• Deliver on our ambition that >80% of UHE UK graduates are either in further education or relevant employment within 6 months of graduation.

• Identify, approach and secure new employers with genuine recruitment needs, prioritising sectors aligned to UHE(UK) programmes and local and regional labour markets.
• Build long-term relationships with hiring managers, talent acquisition teams, recruitment agencies and industry networks that generate repeat vacancies and hires to provide sufficient coverage for each student to have at least one relevant employment opportunity.
• Build partnerships with employers, specifically willing and able to recruit international graduates and improve employers’ understanding of relevant work permissions.
• Establish clear recruitment commitments and partnership plans, where possible, rather than relying on general expressions of support.
• Act as the senior external representative for employer recruitment partnerships and maintain a visible presence in relevant business networks.
• Manage employer relationships systematically, recording contacts, vacancies, candidate referrals, interviews, hires and repeat recruitment activity.
• Gather employer feedback on candidate suitability and use it to improve recruitment matching and preparation.

• Own the careers and employability provision with a clear focus on helping students secure employment, rather than primarily delivering generic careers activities.
• Ensure effective CV and application support, interview preparation, job-search coaching, professional networking and recruitment-process guidance.
• Coordinate employer presentations, recruitment fairs, interviews and targeted hiring events where there is a credible route to actual vacancies.
• Work with academic and student-facing colleagues to identify employment-ready students and connect them to appropriate opportunities.
• Support equitable access to recruitment opportunities, including for mature learners and students with limited professional networks.

• Work with academic leaders to embed employer-informed skills, authentic industry projects and work-integrated learning opportunities into academic programmes, ensuring students develop demonstrable capabilities aligned with employer demand and employment opportunities.
• Expand internships, placements, live briefs and other work-based opportunities where they provide credible pathways to employment.
• Support employer input into curriculum review and professional development selectively, with priority given to activity that improves graduate recruitment outcomes.

• Develop, own and continuously enhance UHE UK's employability and employer engagement strategy, ensuring alignment with institutional growth ambitions, student needs and evolving labour-market demands, with clear accountability for measurable graduate employment outcomes.
• Own and deliver against clear targets and KPIs.
• Monitor the quality and sustainability of employment, including progression into highly skilled roles, and use Graduate Outcomes Survey data alongside more immediate placement measures.
• Produce regular performance reports for the UHE UK Campus Director, Executive Team and relevant institutional committees, highlighting conversion rates, risks and corrective actions.
• Harness their understanding of the Graduate Route to educate employers and find suitable opportunities for international students eligible for this route.
• Contribute to UHE(UK) committees and institutional strategy where relevant to graduate employment and employer partnerships.
• Manage the employer partnerships and graduate employment budget, resources and delivery priorities.
• Identify external funding, employer-supported initiatives and commercially sustainable partnership opportunities

• Provide structured labour-market intelligence and employer insight to inform Programme development, portfolio relevance and future growth opportunities, ensuring UHE UK's academic offering remains responsive to changing industry requirements.
• Work collaboratively with Student Recruitment and Marketing teams to position employability outcomes, employer partnerships and career opportunities as compelling elements of UHE UK's student value proposition, supporting student recruitment, institutional differentiation and sustainable growth.
• Collaborate in global community with peers with similar responsibilities in other geographies around the world – sharing best practice and driving global consistency where practical.

Person Specifications

• Eligibility to live and work in the UK
• Willing to undergo an Enhanced DBS check and/or an Overseas Police Check, where applicable.
• Substantial experience in employer/industry business development, recruitment partnerships, graduate recruitment, job placement or a closely related field.
• Demonstrable track record of building employer relationships that have resulted in actual vacancies, interviews and successful hires.
• Established employer networks in sectors relevant to UHE(UK) provision (preferably in London).
• Strong commercial awareness and confidence approaching, negotiating with and influencing employers and recruitment decisionmakers.
• Experience leading a target-driven team or service and using pipeline and conversion data to improve results.
• Practical understanding of recruitment processes, employer expectations and the barriers faced by graduates entering employment.
• Excellent relationship-building, communication, organisational and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively with academic and student-facing teams while retaining clear accountability for employment outcomes.
• Experience of placing international candidates who are eligible to work in the UK via the Graduate Route.
• Experience of higher education, graduate employability or recruitment of diverse and mature student populations.
• Innovative and technically curious, exploring new technology and AI.
• Confident operating in an agile ‘start up’ environment.
• Degree qualification or equivalent relevant professional experience.

• Experience using CRM or recruitment tracking systems to manage employer pipelines and report outcomes.
• Understanding of Graduate Outcomes Survey measures and UK higher education employability expectations.

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