Head of Brand

About Us

​​King’s College London’s mission is to achieve excellence in education and research, using our knowledge with purpose since 1829 for the benefit of society. Our thriving and an award-winning External Communications team plays a key role in helping the University achieve its mission.

About The Role

The Head of Brand will work closely with the Executive Director of Communications and External Relations to develop and deliver a university-wide brand strategy that supports King’s strategic ambitions and strengthens its reputation. The postholder will bring specialist brand expertise and provide day-to-day leadership for this work, helping to ensure that perceptions of King’s reflect the university’s distinctive strengths, character, impact and ambitions.

The role will be responsible for protecting and developing the university’s visual identity and providing clear guidance on the language, tone and messages used to present King’s. It will also extend beyond visual identity, using research and audience insight to inform how King’s positions itself and communicates its story, and translating the brand strategy into practical guidance, plans and activity.

Working collaboratively with colleagues across the university and within the Communications and External Relations Directorate, the Head of Brand will build understanding and effective use of the King’s brand. They will manage two Brand Officers and oversee the implementation and evaluation of brand activity across the university.

This is a full time post, and you will be offered an indefinite contract.

About You

To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:

Essential:

1. Educated to degree level or equivalent professional experience.
2. Significant experience of strategic brand management within a large or complex organisation, with a strong understanding of the relationship between brand, reputation, institutional positioning and audience perceptions.
3. Demonstrable experience of protecting and developing an established brand and translating strategy into clear plans, standards and practical guidance, supported by a strong technical understanding of visual identity and creative development across websites, social media, video, print and other channels.
4. Experience of using quantitative and qualitative audience research, reputation data and other evidence to identify priorities, make recommendations and evaluate progress.
5. Knowledge of communications best practice including accessibility with excellent writing and editing skills and a close attention to detail
6. Proven ability to build effective relationships and influence colleagues, with the confidence to advise and challenge constructively across a complex and devolved organisation.
7. Experience of line management, including setting priorities, developing colleagues and maintaining high standards.
8. Strong planning and judgement, with experience of managing complex projects, budgets and external suppliers and identifying potential brand or reputation risks.

Desirable:

1. Working in higher education or another large, devolved or mission led organisation
2. Playing a significant role in the development and delivery of an institutional positioning strategy to strengthen the reputation of a large or complex organisation
3. Experience of reviewing sponsorship proposals or agreements, with knowledge of the associated brand, reputation and legal considerations.

Downloading a copy of our Job Description

Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.

Further Information

At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.

The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.

We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.

When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.

We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is evolving rapidly, and we recognise its growing role in professional work. Applicants may use AI tools to support preparation of their application, for example to research the role or structure written responses. However, applications must reflect the applicant’s own work and experience. AI tools should not be used during interviews or assessment activities unless this has been agreed in advance as a reasonable adjustment.

Further guidance on the use of AI in recruitment can be found here .

We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.

We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.

To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘How we Recruit ’ pages.