UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

Our communications & marketing unit is set up to deliver against the objectives of UCAS charity and operate UCAS Media (UCAS’s commercial subsidiary) to help fund UCAS’s charitable operations. For the charity, our objective is to provide everyone with the information, advice and guidance they need to make informed decisions on their next steps. We deliver on this via our media ecosystem which consists of information, advice and guidance on ucas.com, our social media feeds across various channels, email, live events and webinars.

Led by Dave Penney, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer. This broad business unit and incorporates the following functions: 

 •   UCAS Media education and industry Sales  

 •   Education and Industry Marketing 

 •   Digital Marketing Operations 

 •   Events 

 •   Partnerships 

 •   Apprenticeships 

 •   Public Affairs, Press and Communications 

 •   Insights

For UCAS Media, our business objective is to generate revenue through paid collaborations with higher education providers who wish to improve their position in the market, and commercial brands who want to reach students. All brands wishing to use our media ecosystem and insight services must align with our framework. All profits generated are gift aided to UCAS the charity and in turn fund the charitable objectives, such as our recent announcement that students in receipt of free school meals will no longer need to pay the UCAS application fee.  

The Client Services Lead ensures high‑quality client delivery across the project lifecycle, acting as the link between internal teams and external stakeholders. The role drives best practice in project management, feasibility, data quality, and commercially sound decision‑making, embedding consistent ways of working and supporting collaboration. They challenge processes, drive improvements, and develop junior colleagues, combining strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery to build efficient, scalable operations.

Key Accountabilities:

• Process optimisation: Refines panel workflows across recruitment, engagement, sampling, fieldwork and data delivery, improving efficiency and adapting methods to project needs.

• Quality assurance leadership: Acts as final QA guardian, enforcing testing standards and guiding sampling and field decisions to protect data credibility.

• Panel performance: Monitors panel health, feasibility risks and representativeness.

• Commercial decision‑making: Balances budgets, timelines and sampling needs while protecting profitability.

• Cross‑functional collaboration: Works with Insight, charity and internal teams to create feasible plans and ensure process adherence.

• Client delivery: Leads discussions on feasibility, sampling and timelines, guiding decisions and expectations.

• Team leadership: Builds a strong team through coaching and clear standards.

• Systems stewardship: Oversees platforms, identifies gaps and shapes future solutions.

What we'd love to see from you:

• Essential experience: Strong market research project management, including youth panels and Higher Education work. Expertise in survey scripting, testing, sampling and fieldwork, balancing commercial goals with operational feasibility and data quality. Skilled in QA standards, process improvement and panel health. Broad knowledge of research‑tech platforms, tools, methodologies and recruitment approaches. Confident leading client meetings and presenting recommendations. Proven ability to coach and develop teams, operating strategically and hands‑on during early team build.

• Technical & operational skills: Proficient with panel platforms, scripting tools and field systems (Qualtrics, Alchemer, Forsta, Cint, ideally QuMind). Strong analytical ability to interpret operational and panel‑performance data. Capable of process design, documentation and optimisation, ideally with project‑management training. Understanding of incentives, respondent engagement and cost‑to‑serve.

• Leadership & behavioural skills: Innovative mindset with confidence to challenge outdated processes. Clear communicator able to translate technical detail for the business. High ownership, accountability and bias for action. Collaborative, adaptable and comfortable building structure in fast‑moving environments. Committed to organisational values, continuous improvement and effective cross‑team collaboration, alignment goals.

(Full job description attached) 

Salary: £60,000 + (depending on experience) alongside the below benefits:

• Purpose-driven work in a charity-led organisation connecting people to education and opportunity.

• Internal training, mentoring, and access to industry-recognised certifications through our development academies.

• Hybrid working model built on trust and flexibility, with a 35-hour week and flexible contracts.

• 30 days annual leave, 3 concessionary days over Christmas, bank holidays, and the option to purchase additional leave.

• Everyday wellbeing support through Perkbox, offering discounts and wellness tools.

• Onsite facilities including a subsidised gym, café, and free parking at our Cheltenham office.

• Inclusive culture supported by employee networks, wellbeing champions, and Mental Health First Aiders.

• Recognition and reward through our quarterly employee scheme and an ex-gratia bonus for going above and beyond