Deputy Head of Careers

Birmingham
14 hours ago
Create job alert

Department: Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship

Location: This role can be located in London (West and East London), Birmingham, Manchester, or Leeds (On-site)

Type of Contract: Permanent

Working Pattern: Full Time - 40hrs Per Week

Salary Range £45,000-£55,000pa

GBS is a higher education provider offering a range of sector-relevant courses across ten campuses in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester. Working in partnership with several of the UK’s leading higher education providers, we deliver vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in finance, accounting, business, construction, tourism, healthcare, and more.

Our Vision: Changing lives through education.

What We Do: The Graduate Employment and Entrepreneurship department at GBS is dedicated to preparing students for successful careers and business ventures. It offers tailored one-to-one guidance, a dynamic online Careers Hub via Handshake, and a structured Employability Award that builds critical job-seeking skills through Bronze to Platinum levels. Students gain practical experience in CV building, networking, and real job applications, including tools like ChatGPT. 

The role: If you are passionate about careers guidance and want to enable the next generation of career professionals, your work will see you supporting students and graduates as they prepare for life beyond university. Your work will enable them to create actionable career plans, get high quality support and guidance, and help them to identify and develop their interview skills. It's a great opportunity for you to be part of helping to shape confident, capable, and informed future professionals.

The Deputy Head of Careers will assist the Head of Careers provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for the Careers team members, ensuring their activities align with institutional objectives and industry best practices. The Careers team include Careers Consultants, Careers Officers, Campus Administrators and Campus Managers. 

The role requires someone with a passion for driving student success in securing employment, enabling seamless career transitions, and fostering graduate outcomes that meet institutional B3 Progression targets. 

The primary focus of this role is helping students and recent alumni who are currently unemployed into paid employment and those who have jobs in posts that are SOC 1-3 grade. This will involve creating a range of career support strategies that are contextualised to the individual circumstances of each student, including their ambitions, personal circumstances, programme of study and location. 

The successful candidate will help lead a diverse, multi-campus team, driving excellence in programme delivery, innovation, and stakeholder engagement while ensuring the highest standards of quality and impact across all initiatives. 

Please note, we are unable to offer sponsorship for this position.

What the role involves:

Strategic Leadership 

Work with the Head of Careers to develop and articulate a clear vision and strategic plan for the Careers team, with a clear focus on providing individualised and contextualised support for students. 

Understand and champion the full breadth of employment ambitions and circumstances for all of our students and recent alumni. 

Understand the local, regional and national job markets and contextualise the team’s careers support activities to best align with these. 

Work with the Head of Careers to align the team with institutional B3 goals, particularly around getting students into jobs and progressing to more senior, professional-grade roles. 

Act as an advocate for careers initiatives, promoting their value internally and externally. 

Oversee the support for mandatory placements. 

Programme Management 

Work with the Head of Careers to provide strong leadership, direction, and programme management support to a diverse team across all campuses. 

Work with the Head of Careers to support the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the Careers team activities to ensure consistency and quality of support to students across locations and maximise graduate outcomes for our students and recent alumni. 

Develop, monitor, and report on KPIs to measure the success and impact of the team’s activities, with an emphasis on securing graduate employment outcomes. 

Innovation and Continuous Improvement 

Work with the Head of Careers to lead the development and implementation of innovative approaches to enhance the Careers support available to students and alumni. 

Stay abreast of industry trends, incorporating best practices to maintain the programmes’ competitiveness and relevance. 

Work with the Head of Careers to oversee feedback collection and evaluation processes to drive continuous improvement in rates of professional-level employment for students and alumni.

What Experience/Skills are required:

Leadership 

Experience leading progression, recruitment or employment programmes across multi-campus environments either within the higher education sector or in an industrial setting. 

Data and Performance Analytics

Expertise in using employment data, labour market intelligence, and dashboards to drive institutional decision-making. 

Strategic Change Management

Proven success in implementing large-scale initiatives that transform employment outcomes and support B3 progression metrics. 

External Stakeholder Engagement

Strong track record in building partnerships with employers, professional bodies, and industry networks to enhance student opportunities. 

Innovation in Programme Delivery – Experience designing and implementing innovative progression strategies that improve graduate outcomes and student success.

What We Offer

25 days annual leave, plus 8 public holidays

1-day extra leave per year of service, up to a maximum of 5 days

Workplace pension scheme

Tuition reimbursement for career development courses

Flexible Benefits: Cycle to Work, Workplace Nursery, Techscheme and much more

Perks@Work discounts platform, wellbeing centre and much more

Reward and recognition programme

£500 award employee referral scheme

Discretionary annual performance bonus

I will be starting a Masters in Careers and Employability Guidance in January, and this has been supported by my manager who allows me to manage my time and diary how best works for me. We are also given constant upskilling opportunities and encouraged to attend both internal and external learning and development events. — Kira McCormack (Professional Services Employee)

GBS is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and providing a workplace free from discrimination or harassment. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and communities. We take our core values seriously and work hard to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed

Related Jobs

View all jobs

Information Assurance Team Manager

Cybersecurity Consultant

Security Consultant

Subscribe to Future Tech Insights for the latest jobs & insights, direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.

Industry Insights

Discover insightful articles, industry insights, expert tips, and curated resources.

How Many Cyber Security Tools Do You Need to Know to Get a Cyber Security Job?

If you are trying to build or move forward in a cyber security career, it can feel like the list of tools you are expected to know never ends. One job advert asks for SIEM platforms, another mentions penetration testing tools, another lists cloud security, threat intelligence platforms, endpoint detection, scripting languages and compliance frameworks. Scroll LinkedIn and it gets worse. Everyone seems to “know” dozens of tools, certifications and platforms. Here is the reality most cyber security hiring managers agree on: they are not hiring you because you know every tool. They are hiring you because you understand risk, can think like an attacker and a defender, follow process, communicate clearly and make good decisions under pressure. Tools matter — but only when they support those outcomes. So how many cyber security tools do you actually need to know to get a job? For most job seekers, the answer is far fewer than you think. This article explains what employers really expect, which tools are essential, which are role-specific and how to focus your learning so you look credible, not overwhelmed.

What Hiring Managers Look for First in Cyber Security Job Applications (UK Guide)

If you want to stand out in the highly competitive world of cyber security job applications, you need to understand what hiring managers look for before they even finish reading a CV. Cyber security hiring managers scan applications quickly and with specific priorities in mind. They assess not just your technical ability, but your judgement, professionalism, clarity, risk awareness and evidence of impact. This guide explains what hiring managers look for first in cyber security applications across roles like Security Analyst, Security Engineer, Penetration Tester, Incident Responder, Security Architect, Governance Risk and Compliance specialists and Cloud Security positions. Use this as a practical, step-by-step checklist to sharpen your CV, LinkedIn profile, cover letter and portfolio before you apply on www.cybersecurityjobs.tech .

The Skills Gap in Cyber Security Jobs: What Universities Aren’t Teaching

Cyber security has become one of the most critical disciplines in the modern economy. From protecting financial systems and healthcare data to securing national infrastructure, cloud platforms and supply chains, cyber security professionals now sit at the frontline of digital trust. Demand for cyber security talent in the UK has surged. Job vacancies remain high, salaries continue to rise, and organisations across every sector report difficulty hiring skilled professionals. Yet despite this demand, many graduates struggle to break into cyber security roles and employers consistently report that candidates are not job-ready. The problem is not intelligence, ambition or academic effort. It is a persistent and widening skills gap between university education and real-world cyber security work. This article explores that gap in depth: what universities teach well, what they routinely miss, why the gap exists, what employers actually want, and how jobseekers can bridge the divide to build sustainable careers in cyber security.