Head of Community Safety and Security

Keele, West Midlands, United Kingdom KEELE UNIVERSITY Full Time

The Opportunity

Leading the approach to ensuring a safe, inclusive and thriving university community

At Keele University, community is at the heart of everything we do. Set within one of the UK's largest and most distinctive campus environments, we are committed to creating a place where students, colleagues and visitors feel safe and supported.

We are seeking an exceptional Head of Community Safety and Security to provide leadership for a service that is integral to the student and staff experience. This is not simply a security role - it is an opportunity to shape the culture, resilience and wellbeing of our campus community and make a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of people every day.

As a key leader within Student Services, you will lead the University's 24/7 Community Safety and Security function, driving a modern, proactive, inclusive and people-centred approach to safety and incident response. You will ensure that our campus remains a welcoming, inclusive and secure environment, while supporting the University's ambitions to deliver an outstanding student experience.

Working closely with the University Warden and senior colleagues across the institution, you will lead our approach to campus safety, emergency preparedness, major incident management, business continuity and out-of-hours support. You will play a critical role in responding to student crises and safeguarding concerns, ensuring effective, compassionate and professional support when it matters most. This requires strong partnership working, both within and beyond the University. You will develop and strengthen relationships with the emergency services, local authorities and community partners, influencing strategy and ensuring Keele remains at the forefront of good practice in community safety and security.

Leading a skilled and dedicated team, you will foster a culture of professionalism, inclusion, innovation and continuous improvement. You will embrace new technologies, develop preventative approaches to safety and wellbeing, and ensure that our services meet external requirements and evolve to meet the changing needs of our diverse university community.

Whether supporting major university events, developing innovative safety initiatives, or helping students when they need it the most, your leadership will help create an environment where people feel they belong, can achieve their potential and are empowered to thrive.

If you are an inspirational leader with a passion for community safety, partnership working and delivering exceptional services, we would love to hear from you.

Join Keele and help shape a safe, inclusive and thriving community for all.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Lead the service to position Keele as a leading higher educational environment in respect of community safety.

• Lead and manage an effective, safe and responsive Campus Safety service.

• Work as part of the University Incident Management team to:

• ensure oversight and management of incidents

• ensure the continuous improvement of, and compliance with, the Incident Management Policy and related procedures

• be responsible for protocols related to security, and the safeguarding of staff and students

• Delivery of internal training and testing of emergency plans together with regular review, in liaison with the Head of Health and Safety.

• Develop and deliver a customer led service through seeking feedback and developing a continuous improvement approach.

• Undertake regular benchmarking to inform service improvement and developments.

• Take responsibility and offer guidance on risk assessments and mitigation for serious incidents, including under Student discipline Regulations and external notifications of any risks affecting campus.

• Continually monitor the external environment including legislation to assess changing policies, potential risks, opportunities and threats to security within the regional and national higher education community and wider community safety network.

• Support the delivery of the University Travel and Transport Strategy, with specific responsibilities leading parking management and enforcement, identifying strategy improvements via external benchmarking and user feedback, and through liaison with local Transport Providers and Local Authorities to drive improvements in public transport services for the University and its users.

• Act as an ambassador of Keele University by attending, networks, forums and through the development of third-party partnerships.

• Responsible for the oversight of communication channels to support the Keele University Campus Safety Team, and the parking management and enforcement, in communicating information to operational and wider University colleagues, ensuring the use and development of the University's "Top desk" reporting system to capture all safety issues.

• Manage, develop, and monitor the campus CCTV system to provide a safe environment, in line with legislation and University policy.

• Work with the University Warden to provide high standard of out of hours services to the campus and ensure effective response to student crisis.

• Ensure awareness raising activities and communications are delivered to all campus community service users.

Supervision/Staffing/Resource Management

• Lead, manage and develop the Campus Safety Team, which will include supporting professional development and setting team and individual Key Performance Indicators.

• Ensure equity, diversity and inclusion priorities are at the heart of services.

• Motivate and manage staff within the team to ensure that they provide excellent service to all internal and external customers

• Manage staff in line with relevant University policies and procedures.

• Ensuring staff have appropriate licensing to perform their role, including to SIA regulation and industry standards

• To monitor operational staffing and resource levels in order to ensure service continuity and resilience and that appropriate shift rotas are published and that payroll processes operate correctly (including when Supervisors are absent due to leave/sickness etc.)

• Ensure appropriate training frameworks are in place for staff, including mandatory training (University and regulatory) and specialist training, including areas such as mental health, suicide prevention, crisis response

• Ensure support frameworks are in place for staff, such as debriefing arrangements

• Accountable for the development and management of detailed annual budgets for Keele University Campus Safety Team, and the parking management and enforcement.

• Ensure the Keele University Campus Safety Team utilise IT systems and databases to ensure effective delivery of services including liaising with other appropriate University departments e.g. Student Support Services.

• Direct and encourage the team in attending appropriate local, regional, and national association agencies and external agencies to enhance their personal development and sharing of best practice.

• Be responsible for Health and Safety compliance and risk management within the Campus Safety Team, and the Parking Management and Enforcement Teams.