Head of Accommodation

The opportunity

University of the Arts London (UAL) is a global leader in creativity, innovation and transformative education. Formed of six renowned Colleges and four Institutes, UAL continues to shape the future of art, design, fashion, communication and performing arts, supported by a diverse and vibrant community of over 20,000 students from more than 130 countries.

 

As UAL continues to invest significantly in its student experience, the University is now seeking to appoint an exceptional Head of Accommodation to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight of the University’s accommodation portfolio, ensuring the delivery of a high-quality, student-centred residential experience that is both financially sustainable and operationally excellent.

 

Reporting to the Associate Director: Accommodation, Catering and Retail, the Head of Accommodation will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering UAL’s Accommodation Strategy and annual operating plans, driving occupancy, strengthening commercial performance, and ensuring outstanding customer experience, safety, and wellbeing across all services.

 

The post holder will lead UAL’s accommodation operations across nearly 4,000 beds in owned and partner halls, overseeing performance and ensuring strong financial management through effective forecasting, cost control, and delivery of key KPIs. The role also leads on rent setting, benchmarking, nominations agreements, and PBSA partnerships, ensuring UAL remains competitive and aligned with market and affordability expectations.

 

They will ensure the effective operational delivery of residential services, maintaining safe, secure, compliant, and high-quality living environments, while working closely with internal teams and external partners to deliver a continuous student experience supported by safeguarding, wellbeing, and pastoral support. They will also support incident response and business continuity planning as required, and drive continuous improvement across systems, processes, and service delivery.

 

Your profile

We are seeking an experienced, proactive leader with a strong background in large-scale student accommodation or comparable multi-site commercial environments. The post holder will bring proven experience in service delivery, alongside strong commercial acumen, stakeholder management and people management skills. They will be calm under pressure, highly organised, and committed to continuous improvement, equality, diversity, inclusion, and delivering an outstanding student experience.

We are UAL

University of the Arts London (UAL) generates and inspires the creativity the world needs for a better future. Since 1842, our colleges have been defining creative education. With curiosity, imagination and intent we make work which creates lasting change for people and our planet. London is core to who we are, a place where we meet and share ideas with people from different backgrounds and cultures.

Our creative network influences learning, culture, industry and society on a global scale. Our academics and practitioners deliver creative education and inspire new ways of thinking through research and innovation. We work with students at every level from pre-degree and short courses to postgraduate and online learning, enabling them to build the careers they want. Together, we are a community of makers, thinkers, pioneers and storytellers redesigning the future.

As a University, we are ranked second in the world for Art and Design. We are formed of 6 Colleges with unique histories and identities: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion and Wimbledon College of Arts. UAL also has 4 Institutes, 5 Research Centres, 1 Pre-Degree School and 2 subsidiary companies delivering specialist activities.

We are a global University, welcoming over 22,000 students and 6,000 staff from 130 countries. We aim to be a university where people can be themselves and feel supported to reach their full potential. That’s why we are proud to hold a Bronze Award from the Race Equality Charter (REC), are members of the Business Disability Forum and Employers for Carers, and maintain our status as a Disability Confident Scheme and Living Wage employer.

Application process

We operate a fair and open anonymous selection process. Thus, you will need to create an account and submit an application through our job board. As part of this, you will need to provide a supporting statement/answer some competency questions to demonstrate your suitability. Our recruitment process involves: Application, Shortlisting, Interview and Assessment, Offer, Onboarding.

We understand the benefits of using AI in work. But, if you are thinking of using it to submit an application, we ask you to think about what value it adds. AI tools tend to lack the personal touch and authenticity we value in candidates. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

If we receive a high volume of applications, the closing day date might close early. We aim to communicate any changes to the closing date with at least 24 hours’ notice. If you have any general questions or have accessibility needs, please refer to our Contact us page.

Start your application

Candidates are advised to submit applications early.