Senior Business & Resource Planning Manager

About Us

Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) provides a fundraising and alumni engagement function in support of King’s College London. We are proud to work with colleagues across the university and its health partners to help them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare.  Our work also includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust. 

​We are a committed team that brings together fundraisers working across different channels, alongside colleagues who promote King’s College London’s engagement with its worldwide alumni community. Our work is underpinned and enhanced by a range of dedicated professionals in supporting areas covering proposition development, supporter engagement, supporter operations and business operations.  

​We have an impressive, well-established track record of success in securing support that allows the university and partners to deliver on their missions. This includes our global, award-winning World Questions: King’s Answers campaign, which set the standard in the sector and enabled us to raise substantial funds to help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. Ambitious and innovative, the team has won awards such as a CASE Platinum Award for Fundraising and a CASE Gold Award for Donor Relations and Stewardship. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining an excellent and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can support the university and its partners in making a real and positive difference to the world we live in.  

More on King’s College London

​King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place.  Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas:   

• ​Educating the next generation of change-makers
• ​Challenging ideas and driving change through research
• ​Giving back to society through meaningful service
• ​Working with our local communities in London
• ​Fostering global citizens with an international perspective​

About the role

The Senior Business & Resource Planning Manager is a role within Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement, acting as a strategic partner to colleagues and driving key processes and activity in areas such as planning, reporting, project management and operational improvements.  

The postholder will support on operationalising plans and lead on the in-year tracking and management of budgets across P&A, and play a key role in supporting the P&A Leadership Team (LT) in making informed decisions relating to the resourcing of staffing and activity.

This role will also lead and coordinate on key aspects of reporting including internal quarterly reviews and also key accountability sessions for P&A with University leadership. Alongside this, they will lead on strategic projects that align and have been identified as being important to progress P&A and wider institutional goals. 

The role is based within the Advancement Operations section of P&A and will be part of the section leadership team. The postholder will be closely involved in taking forward projects to review and enhance processes to drive improvements and streamlining across Advancement Operations. This area of activity will also link to the postholder’s focus on supporting the Director of Advancement Operations in delivering their agenda. 

This is a full time (35 hours per week), and you will be offered an indefinite contract. 

P&A has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time in the office. Typically, this equates to two days per week, but we’re very happy for colleagues to be in more frequently if they so wish.

About You

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

Essential criteria 

1. Proven Experience in Strategic and Business Planning: Including annual planning, integrated budgeting, and resource allocation aligned to strategic goals
2. Forecasting & Financial Analysis: Ability to conduct philanthropic scenario planning and analysis to  provide data-driven recommendations
3. Analytical and Reporting Excellence: Skilled in producing clear, concise executive-level reports and presentations for senior leadership
4. Process Improvement and Operational Efficiency Experience: Demonstrated ability to streamline processes and implement best practices across operations
5. Leadership and Strategic Partnership: Experience supporting directors and leadership team in achieving strategic objectives while advising P&A leadership team on resource allocation and financial position
6. Strong Data Interpretation Skills: Adept at analysing data sets, identifying patterns, and translating findings into clear insights
7. Cross-Functional Collaboration Skills: Proactive and adaptable with strong interpersonal skills to work effectively across teams
8. Project Management Experience: Demonstrated ability to manage complex projects, coordinate stakeholders, and deliver on time

Desirable criteria

1. Higher Education experience
2. Accounting and/or finance experience
3. Experience with Power BI and/or other reporting and analysis tools

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.

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.

We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate and in the context of the business needs associated with the role.

We offer the opportunity of an “Ask Us Anything” Teams call on 17th March at 11:00 a.m. During this call you will be able to ask any questions you might have about the role, the selection process, our department, our core values and work culture, our current hybrid work policy, or simply listen to others’ questions. 

This roles with have two interview stages, a standard skills-based interview followed (for up to two appointable candidates) by a Core Values interview.

First stage interviews are likely to be held on w/c March 30th.

Core Values interviews are likely to be held w/c April 7th.