Deputy Director, Head of Parent and Alumni Engagement

Brighton College is seeking to appoint a Deputy Director, Head of Parent and Alumni Engagement on a full-time, permanent basis.

Reporting to: Director of Development and Engagement

Main purpose of the role: 

Brighton College seeks to appoint a Deputy Director, Head of Parent and Alumni Engagement, to start as soon as possible, who will lead the school’s strategy for building meaningful, lifelong relationships with alumni, current parents and former parents.

This is a newly created and exciting role within the Development and Engagement Office at the United Kingdom’s leading co-educational independent school, established as the team expands to build on its recent successes and realise its considerable future potential. The postholder will oversee a dynamic programme of engagement, communications and events designed to strengthen affinity with the school, enhance community participation and support the school’s wider development and fundraising ambitions.

This is a senior leadership role within the sector-leading Development and Engagement team, requiring strategic vision, excellent interpersonal skills and strong operational management. The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering a high-quality programme of events and communications, managing key stakeholder relationships, and ensuring the school’s heritage is celebrated and effectively utilised.

Deputy Director, Head of Parent and Alumni Engagement General Duties and Responsibilities:

Strategy

• Developing and delivering a comprehensive alumni and parent engagement strategy aligned with the school’s broader strategic objectives.
• Setting and managing key KPIs for engagement, and producing periodic analysis and reports of activity.
• Contributing to the overall strategic direction of the Development and Engagement Office.

Engagement Portfolio

• Developing relationships with a portfolio of key alumni and parents, involving them in the College’s volunteering and philanthropy programmes.
• Working with the Head of Development to manage relationships with engaged prospective major donors.

Alumni Engagement

• Leading the alumni relations programme, The Old Brightonians, ensuring consistent and meaningful engagement across all age groups and geographies.
• Developing initiatives that encourage alumni participation through events, mentoring, networking, careers support, sporting and volunteering opportunities.
• Working with Brighton College International Schools to integrate overseas schools’ leavers into the Old Brightonian network.
• Working with the Sixth Form team to plan the growth and accessibility of career networking services for pupils and alumni.

Parent Engagement

• Responsibility for the school’s parent event engagement programme, The Brighton College Society (BCS).
• Overseeing the operational running of the society including membership management, member acquisition and retention, events and comms.

Development and Engagement Events

• Overseeing the planning and delivery of a varied calendar of high-quality alumni, parent and fundraising events.
• Representing the school at Old Brightonian and parent events, using them as an opportunity to deepen relationships with alumni and parents.

Communications

• Overseeing a programme of rich content for online and offline platforms which engages the breadth of our alumni and parent community, and communicates the school’s ethos and strategic priorities.
• Strategically developing the use of the school’s online networking platform, Brighton College Connect.

Archives

• Overseeing the management, development and promotion of our historic collection
• Supporting the Archivist in embedding the College collection into school-life as a source for research, pupil volunteering and other projects

Management

• Line-management of the Engagement and Events Manager, Senior Communications Officer and Archivist in the delivery of the school’s engagement programme
• Along with the Head of Development, having day-to-day responsibility for the smooth operational running of the Development and Engagement Office.

Other duties

• Deputising for the Director of Development and Engagement.
• Representing the school at events, dinners, receptions and other external engagements.
• Responsibility for the management of the annual program budget for Alumni and Parent Engagement.
• Other tasks to be specified that are associated with the varied nature of this role.

Person Specification

- Significant experience within a fundraising/ events/ communications/membership environment, ideally within the education sector.

- Experience of managing staff and leading multidisciplinary teams.

- Exceptional interpersonal skills and the confidence and ability to build strategic working relationships with stakeholders at all levels.

- Confidence and willingness to speak publicly at events.

- A creative approach to content generation, good eye for design and experience of writing high-quality copy for online and offline platforms.

- Experience of CRM/database systems and audience segmentation.

- Passion for, and extensive experience of, large event management (100+ people).

- Strong numeracy, analytical and interpretative skills using IT competently.

- Be self-disciplined and motivated.

- Have excellent time management skills and a demonstrable ability to multitask.

- Have a superb command of the English language (spelling, grammar and punctuation), with a sharp eye for detail.

- A flexible and supportive team player, who is willing to roll up their sleeves and do whatever is required.

- Willingness to work occasional evenings and weekends and undertake some travel.

- Be enthused by developing an understanding of independent schooling and its marketplace.

Hours of Work:

Monday to Friday 8.30am-5.00pm with a 60-minute unpaid lunch break (37.5 hours per week). There will be the requirement for occasional evening and weekend working, in which time in lieu will be offered.

Remuneration:

A salary in the range of £58,000 - £63,000 per annum will be offered depending on the candidate's skills and experience.

Deputy Director, Head of Parent and Alumni Engagement Benefits:

- Complimentary lunch is provided.

- Free tickets to the College’s music, dance and drama performances.

- Job specific Learning and Development programme available to all employees.

- Life Cover is provided whilst working at Brighton College after successfully passing probation period.

- Contributory pension scheme with matching contributions from the employer up to 9%, which all eligible employees will be automatically enrolled into within three months of commencement of employment.

- Employee benefit and discount platform.

Wellbeing:

- Subsidised gym membership for the School of Science and Sport is available, which includes access to yoga and Pilates classes, meditation sessions and use of the gym and swimming pool.

- Personalised health and wellbeing consultations.

- Generous sickness policy.

- Comprehensive wellbeing package.

- Access to books and magazines from the College Library.

Safeguarding and Equal Opportunities:

Brighton College is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Any offer of employment will be subject to successfully completing pre-employment checks, including an enhanced DBS disclosure, the receipt of satisfactory references, the College’s pre-employment medical questionnaire, relevant original ID documentation and examination certificates. The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and the School is therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions (including those which are "spent" unless they are "protected" under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children. The College is committed to ensuring that the recruitment and selection of staff is conducted in a manner that is systematic, efficient and effective and promotes equality of opportunity. Our full equal opportunities policy is available on the ‘Careers’ page of our website.