Wellbeing Services Manager

Arden University; London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job description

Salary: £50,000 - £55,000 per annum

Employment type: Permanent

Hours per week: 37

Reporting into: Head of Student Success

Department: Student Experience

This role operates on a hybrid working arrangement that will require travel (expected to be twice a month to meet business need) to our Campuses in Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester. This may fluctuate in line with business requirements.

About Arden University:

We are an aspirational and multi-award-winning university, delivering rapid growth with ambitious plans to disrupt the HE sector through our passion for innovation and digital education. Our vision is to become the first-choice university for career-focused lifelong learners worldwide, ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access higher education.

There has never been a more exciting time to join Arden University, as we expand into new disciplines, forge worldwide partnerships, and expand our locations.

About our Department:

The Student Experience team is dedicated to supporting and empowering students throughout their journey at Arden. They provide wellbeing support, academic guidance, career development, and engagement initiatives, ensuring every student feels connected and equipped for success.

About the Opportunity:

We’re looking for an experienced and passionate leader to head up our specialist team of Disability and Accessibility Advisors and Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisors. Our teams provide vital face-to-face support to our Blended Learning students across all Arden University campuses, as well as remote support to our Distance Learning community.

In this role, you will drive the development and delivery of inclusive, equitable support systems that empower all students to succeed. You’ll lead on the implementation and monitoring of initiatives that remove barriers to learning, champion accessibility, and foster a culture of inclusion.

With a strong focus on data-informed practice, you’ll ensure the service remains proactive, effective, and responsive to student needs—using insights to shape continuous improvement. As a visible and supportive leader, you’ll regularly visit our campuses to engage with your teams and take part in key student events, including orientation and induction activities.

About You:

We are looking for an experienced leader with a deep understanding of inclusive support practices, and a proven track record of developing and implementing inclusion strategies in a higher education setting. You will need to have:

Essential requirements:

• Experience working with students or colleagues from a diverse range of backgrounds, with a solid understanding of inclusive design in service development.
• Strong management and leadership skills, with the ability to lead, inspire, and manage a team of specialist practitioners in the areas of disability, mental health, and wellbeing.
• Experience in developing, implementing, and evaluating support services that align with institutional goals and promote equity and inclusion.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across other departments and teams.
• Strong analytical skills to assess service performance, monitor impact, and inform continuous improvement based on data and student feedback.
• Deep understanding of accessibility, safeguarding, SEN, and mental health frameworks within a higher education or similar context.

Desirable requirements:

• Experience in leading dispersed or remote teams is desirable.

Why Arden:

At Arden, you will become a part of a passionate and dedicated team who are committed to removing unnecessary barriers to learning and making education more accessible. Employees benefit from:

• 30 days holiday + bank holidays on-top, and even a Christmas closure!
• A generous Aviva pension plan, company contributions starting from 7%
• SimplyHealth plan option
• Private Medical Insurance
• Access to Perkbox benefits
• Study any Arden course for free, with a discount for all family and friends
• Plus, other excellent benefits
• Our ‘Golden Ticket’ which allows you to gift anyone in your life a free Arden education

Our Values:

Stand out, Progressive, Accessible, Resourceful, Kindness, reflect who we are as an institution, a team and as individuals. If they also reflect you and you are excited by the chance to be the driving, creative force within a growing business, we want to hear from you.

Closing Date: Sunday 27 April

We reserve the right to close this vacancy before the specified closing date should we receive sufficient applications or in order to respond to business needs. In order to avoid missing an opportunity to apply please submit your application as early as possible.

If you are a current Arden student or have an upcoming course with us, you are not eligible to apply for Student Experience roles due to a conflict of interest related to system access.

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion:

Arden University is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. This means that if you have a disability, as defined by the Disability Equality Act 2010, you may be guaranteed an interview if you meet the essential criteria for the role.

If you wish to be considered under this scheme, you can indicate via the application form below. By doing so, you are also consenting for this information to be shared with the hiring team.

As an Equal Opportunity Employer we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. Therefore, we make sure that our recruitment and selection processes never discriminate based upon people's age, disability, gender, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances, and actively welcome applications from all groups.