Deputy Director of Finance & Professional Services
6 hours ago
London
Organization: Victoria College of Arts and Design Position: Deputy Director of Finance & Professional Services Location: On-Site, VCAD, Harbour Exchange (Multi-Campuses: London, Manchester, Future VCAD campuses) Department: Finance and Professional Services Dotted-Line Oversight: Heads of Campuses & Student Outcomes Function Department: Finance & Professional Services Salary: £70,000 Per Annum Reports to: Director of Operations Contract: Full-time, Monday to Friday, 9am- 5pm About VCAD VCAD is a specialist higher-education provider delivering university-validated and franchised programmes across Business, Digital Marketing, Fashion Design, Fashion Media & Marketing, and Graphic Design. Operating across multiple UK campuses, VCAD combines academic delivery with strong industry orientation while working in close partnership with leading UK universities. The Deputy Director of Finance & Professional Services is a critical senior role, ensuring that VCAD delivers an excellent, compliant, financially sustainable student experience aligned with partner university expectations and sector regulatory frameworks. Role Purpose • The Deputy Director of Finance & Professional Services will provide senior leadership across finance, professional services, and institutional operations. As VCAD’s financial controller, the role ensures strong financial governance, compliance, planning, and reporting., • Crucially, this role also carries institution-wide responsibility for student retention, outcomes, and the delivery of key institutional KPIs/KPMS, ensuring that VCAD meets and exceeds expectations set by partner universities and sector regulators., • The postholder will ensure that VCAD’s operations, professional services, student lifecycle functions, and campus delivery models all work cohesively to meet institutional goals relating to continuation, attendance, student engagement, and academic progression. Key Responsibilities Institutional Performance, KPIs & Outcomes (Primary Responsibility): • Lead VCAD’s institutional approach to student retention, continuation, outcomes, and student success, ensuring all KPIs/KPMS are met or exceeded., • Design and implement performance frameworks for monitoring:, • Attendance & engagement, • Continuation and retention, • Academic progression, • Achievement & award rates, • Graduate outcomes, • Build data-driven interventions with Registry, Academic Administration, Student Finance, Student Outcomes teams, and Heads of Campuses., • Ensure VCAD is consistently aligned with partner universities’ quality, performance, and regulatory requirements., • Produce monthly performance dashboards and deliver updates to the Executive Team and partners., • Ensure the student lifecycle is efficient, supportive, and compliant from enrolment through to graduation. Financial Leadership & Control: • Act as VCAD’s financial controller, maintaining strong internal controls, financial stewardship, and reporting., • Lead budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes across all campuses., • Oversee financial compliance with partner university requirements, OfS expectations, and audit standards., • Manage revenue flow, student finance alignment, bursary schemes, and fee structures., • Provide strategic financial insight to inform business decisions, growth planning, and new programme expansion., • Oversee professional services budgets and ensure cost-effective service delivery. Leadership of Professional Services: • Provide senior leadership across all professional services functions, including:, • Registry, • Academic Administration, • Student Finance, • Admissions (where aligned), • Data & Insights, • Student Outcomes, • Campus operations (via dotted-line oversight), • Champion service excellence and process standardization across campuses., • Ensure student-facing services are effective, timely, and aligned with KPIs., • Lead development of policies, procedures, and operational frameworks., • Drive continuous improvement, ensuring VCAD is partnership-ready and audit-ready at all times. Dotted-Line Management: Heads of Campuses & Student Outcomes: • The Deputy Director will provide dotted-line strategic oversight to the Heads of Campuses (London, Manchester, etc) and the Student Outcomes function. Scope of Dotted-Line Oversight Includes Strategic Alignment: • Ensure campus delivery aligns with VCAD’s institutional KPIs, student outcomes targets, and partner expectations., • Translate organisation-wide KPIs into measurable campus-level performance indicators. Performance Monitoring: • Oversee retention, attendance, estate readiness, safeguarding, academic administration coordination, and operational compliance across campuses., • Review performance reports and ensure timely corrective actions. Student Outcomes & Retention: Work with Heads of Campuses and the Student Outcomes Lead to design and monitor interventions for: • At-risk students, • Non-engagement, • Attendance issues, • Progression barriers, • Ensure consistent quality and approach across campuses. Cross-Campus Coordination: • Promote consistency in student experience, service delivery, academic administration responsiveness, and operational processes. Risk & Compliance: • Identify and escalate compliance risks early, ensuring campuses remain aligned with partner university standards and external regulatory requirements. Governance, Audit & Partner Engagement: • Work closely with university partners to ensure alignment across quality, performance, reporting, and financial compliance., • Lead elements of institutional governance linked to finance, operations, outcomes, and professional services., • Prepare institutional documentation for validation, revalidation, audit, and partnership reviews., • Support strategic growth planning and organisational development. Person Specifications Essential: • Senior leadership experience within higher education, preferably in a provider-partner/franchise model., • Strong financial management background, ideally at controller or deputy director level., • Demonstrated experience improving student retention, outcomes, and performance indicators., • Successful leadership of multi-campus or multi-department teams., • Strong understanding of OfS, regulatory requirements, quality assurance, and academic operations., • Excellent stakeholder management and partnership collaboration skills., • Robust analytical and data-driven decision-making skills. Desirable: • Experience working with creative industries or arts-focused HE providers., • Prior work in a growing or scaling HE institution., • Experience with QAA reviews, APP reporting, or university franchise relationships. Key Competencies: • Strategic leadership, • Financial stewardship, • Cross-functional collaboration, • Student-centred decision making, • Analytical thinking & insight, • Strong communication & influence, • Operational excellence & process improvement, • Integrity, professionalism, and high accountability Benefits • Annual leave (7.2 weeks), • Workplace pension scheme., • Company Sick Policy., • Statutory maternity/paternity pays., • Career development opportunities, • Training and self-development opportunities., • Gym membership discounts, • Retail discount schemes, • Cinema discounts, • Grocery discounts, • Cycle to work, • Investing and savings opportunities, • Financial wellbeing – personal debt advise., • Financial wellbeing education, • My Mind Pal (mental fitness)