Company mission

The challenges humanity is facing aren’t the stuff of dystopia, science fiction, or textbooks. They’re happening today – and they’ve never been more complex and interconnected. Yet our higher education system is still structured in silos, leaving graduates ill-equipped to tackle the complexity that surrounds them. The next generation is now demanding to learn in a different way. That’s where The London Interdisciplinary School comes in.

LIS is a startup university that equips learners with an interdisciplinary toolkit to tackle the complex, real-world problems of the 21st century. With a world-class faculty, three exceptional founding cohorts and close partnerships with global organisations such as McKinsey, KPMG and innocent, LIS is building a new type of education for those who want to shape the world, not just fit in.

About the job

The Head of Partnerships and Community is responsible for developing and managing our network of partners and student community including alumni and identifying opportunities to bring them together. Together with the Chief Experience Officer, they are responsible for developing and iterating the value proposition for each of these groups.

They are responsible for ensuring that our students have a rich experience beyond the formal curriculum and have experience tackling complex problems in the outside world when they finish their studies. They are also are responsible for creating the structures to bring the outside world into LIS (what we call 'porosity') and its coherence whilst encouraging this to emerge organically.

They broker new and nurture existing relationships with organisations where there is mutual interested in working together and identify and scope opportunities including internships, research clients, co curriculars/LIS Lates and opportunities to contribute to formal curriculum. They also work with organisations that might support the incubation of student projects.

They are responsible for overseeing our signature internships programme, working closely with the Partnership Associate.

They line manage the community, partnerships and careers team and create the structures to ensure tight coordination and collaboration. They report to the Chief Experience Officer.

Key responsibilities

• 👥 Oversee and manage our community including students, employers and alumni
• 😍 Develop the value proposition for students, employers and alumni and test and learn
• 📈 Develop metrics and track them to understand our success
• 🤝 Broker relationships with new partners, nurture existing partners
• 🔎 Identify, create and scope opportunities including
  • 🧑‍💼 Internships and graduate opportunities
  • 🧑‍🏫 Porosity in our curriculum e.g. policy clients
  • 🔬 Potential research clients
  • 💃 Co curricular events and speakers e.g. LIS Lates
  • 🧑‍💼 Part-time jobs for current students
• 🧑‍💼 Oversee our internship programme and support the Partnership Associate in it’s delivery

• 💃 Oversee our co curricular programme and landmark events such as Welcome Week and Graduations
• 📢 Collaborate with marketing to build awareness with employers and communicate our careers and SXP propositions to students
• 🧑‍💻 Work with technology to automate and create systems to manage activities and bring these communities together online e.g. CRM, community platform, opportunity brokering
• 🤲 Line manage and develop the Careers Coach, SXP Coordinator, Partnership Coordinator and create the structures to ensure tight coordination and collaboration

About You

• Experience of developing and nurturing (learning) communities
• A track record of working with organisations to build successful partnerships
• Have ideally, worked within an education and/or recruitment environment
• Have a good understanding of the role technology can play in facilitating communities and business development
• Can think strategically about the needs of different audiences and identify common insights and opportunities
• Ideally, have thrived within a fast moving, start up environment
• You love embracing new perspectives and live our values: be kind, be brave, behonest, keep learning and welcome otherness

• £60,000 - £70,000, depending on level of experience
• Flexible working, with 2-days per week on campus and the opportunity to work remotely (including in another country) for up to 1 month each calendar year
• 30 days holiday. Take time out to be inspired
• Company-sponsored health plan and monthly fitness contribution
• Annual personal development contribution for external training/coaching
• The opportunity to join a mission-led, fast-growing organisation that is changing higher education