The job requirements are detailed below. Where applicable the skills, qualifications and memberships required for this job have also been included.
No candidate will meet every single desired qualification / criteria. If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to learn more about you!
Salary: £54,226 - £67,310 per annum
Hours per week: 37
Weeks per Annum: 52
Working pattern: Monday to Thursday 7.5 hours per day, Friday 7 hours per day
Location: Abingdon Campus
Contract type: Permanent
Two Exciting New Leadership Opportunities: Head of Employer Partnerships & Head of Marketing
Help Shape the Future of Abingdon & Witney College
Abingdon & Witney College is entering an exciting new phase of growth and transformation, and we are recruiting for two newly developed senior leadership positions that will play a critical role in delivering our ambitious strategic objectives.
We are seeking exceptional, commercially-minded leaders to join us as our new:
- Head of Employer Partnerships
- Head of Marketing
These influential roles have been created to strengthen the College's engagement with employers, learners, stakeholders, and the wider community, supporting sustainable growth across apprenticeships, commercial training, adult learning, study programmes, T Levels, and workforce development.
Working closely with the Vice Principal - Partnerships & Enterprise and senior leaders across the College, both positions will play a pivotal role in driving recruitment, employer engagement, brand reputation, commercial growth, and regional skills development.
Head of Employer Partnerships
Are you an experienced business development, employer engagement, or commercial leader looking to make a significant impact within education and skills?
As our new Head of Employer Partnerships, you will lead the College's employer engagement strategy, strengthening relationships with employers across Oxfordshire and beyond while driving commercial growth and sector-led partnerships.
You will be responsible for leading the Business Development function, developing strategic employer relationships, identifying new business opportunities, and ensuring employer insight directly influences curriculum development, learner opportunities, and workforce skills provision.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing and implementing the College's employer partnership strategy.
- Leading relationships with major employers, business networks, sector bodies, and local authorities.
- Driving growth across apprenticeships, workforce development, industry placements, and commercial training.
- Identifying new commercial opportunities and income streams.
- Leading and developing a high-performing Business Development function.
- Using labour market intelligence and employer feedback to inform strategic decisions.
- Representing the College at employer events and industry forums.
Head of Marketing
Are you a strategic marketing leader who can combine creativity, commercial thinking, and data-driven decision-making?
As our new Head of Marketing, you will lead and transform the College's marketing, communications, brand, and customer engagement activity, helping to grow learner recruitment, employer engagement, and commercial opportunities.
This newly expanded leadership role has been designed to develop a targeted, insight-led, and outcome-focused marketing function that supports the College's strategic ambitions and strengthens our reputation across the region.
Key responsibilities include:
- Developing and delivering the College's marketing, communications, and brand strategy.
- Leading recruitment and demand-generation campaigns across all areas of provision.
- Driving learner recruitment, employer engagement, and commercial growth.
- Using customer insight, market intelligence, and performance data to inform decision-making.
- Leading brand development, public relations, media relations, and reputation management.
- Enhancing customer journeys, digital engagement, and marketing effectiveness.
- Managing marketing budgets and demonstrating strong return on investment.
- Leading and developing a high-performing marketing team.
About You
For both opportunities, we are seeking ambitious and collaborative leaders who are passionate about delivering results, building strong relationships, and creating positive impact through education and skills.
Successful candidates will demonstrate:
- Significant leadership experience within their specialist field.
- A proven track record of delivering growth, innovation, and measurable outcomes.
- Strong stakeholder management and relationship-building skills.
- Experience leading and developing high-performing teams.
- The ability to use insight, market intelligence, and performance data to inform strategy.
- Excellent communication, influencing, and organisational skills.
- A collaborative approach and commitment to continuous improvement.
- Abingdon and Witney College reserve the right to close all applications before posted closing date.
AWC values diversity and encourages applications from all sections of the community. We are committed to safeguarding and expect all our employees and volunteers to share this commitment. We are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and all appointments are subject to satisfactory clearances including enhanced DBS checks.
Abingdon and Witney College are committed to safer recruitment practices. In addition to our pre-employment checks, we will conduct an online search. This includes checking Google main results feed as well as the ‘News’ and ‘Images’ tab. We will be checking for any publicly available information that suggests the applicant may not be suitable to work with children or young/vulnerable people or content that could potentially damage Abingdon and Witney College’s reputation. This may include inappropriate posts, comments or images displaying evidence of offensive or inappropriate behaviour, jokes or language, discriminatory comments, inappropriate photos, drug or alcohol misuse.
