Head of Academic Quality and Standards; MLBAAY

The University of Bath is seeking an accomplished leader to head our central Academic Quality & Standards function. This is a significant leadership opportunity for an experienced and expert higher education professional to shape institutional policy, strengthen academic governance and quality assurance, and deliver education change aligned to the University’s emerging strategy launching this autumn.

As a senior manager within Academic Registry, you will work in close partnership with senior academic and professional services leaders to ensure our academic quality frameworks continue to support excellence in education, regulatory compliance, and continuous enhancement. You'll play a leading role in developing and delivering strategic change projects, responding to University priorities within an evolving higher education landscape. You’ll embed effective and proportionate policy and process approaches, aligned to student and staff experience alongside assurance needs.

This is a highly visible leadership role with responsibility for the University's academic quality assurance and standards portfolio.

You'll lead the development and implementation of institutional policy and regulatory frameworks for a diversifying portfolio, providing oversight of academic quality, governance and assurance activities. Working across the University, you'll build strong advisory and collaborative partnerships with academic and professional services colleagues, influence senior decision-making and ensure our policies, processes and frameworks continue to reflect sector best practice and support the University's strategic ambitions.

You'll lead and develop a central specialist team, fostering a culture of collaboration, expertise development and continuous improvement while ensuring the successful delivery of both operational priorities and strategic initiatives.

You’ll also play a key leadership role in ongoing enhancement and change projects, which include

• Development and diversification of our course portfolio, including joint international offers and future opportunities under the LLE.
• Change and enhancement to our assessment regulations and Regulations for Students.
• Launch of changed education governance committees.
• Continued alignment to, and assurance of, OfS B conditions of registration.

You'll be an established leader with substantial recent experience within UK Higher Education and a proven ability to operate confidently in complex, stakeholder-rich environments.

You'll bring:

• Extensive professional experience in academic quality, academic standards, and education governance.
• A strong understanding of the UK higher education regulatory landscape, including the Office for Students (OfS) and wider quality assurance frameworks.
• A successful track record of leading strategic change, developing policy, and implementing institutional frameworks that deliver measurable improvement.
• Experience of working within transnational education, collaborative provision. modular or short courses, or online education.
• Outstanding stakeholder engagement skills, with the credibility to influence senior academic leaders, committees and institutional decision-making and to build trust with broader colleagues.
• Proven management experience of leading, developing and inspiring high-performing professional services teams through periods of change.
• Experience with handling and advising on complex academic student casework as a senior point of escalation.

Interview dates are potentially on the Friday, 25 September or Monday, 28 September 2026.

We consider ourselves to be a university where difference is celebrated, respected and encouraged. We have an excellent international reputation with staff from over 60 different nations and have made a positive commitment towards gender equity and intersectionality receiving a Silver Athena SWAN award. We truly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds will lead to a better environment for our employees and students and encourage…