Head of Professional Services

About Kinetic

At Kinetic we’re redefining operational excellence in higher education, conferencing, and events. As the leading provider of software solutions for student accommodation, event management, catering, and residential services, we help institutions streamline operations, elevate customer experiences, and unlock their full potential.

With over 25 years of experience and trusted by more than 350 institutions worldwide, our software empowers universities and venues to run smarter, faster, and more collaboratively. From bustling campuses to dynamic corporate environments, our technology adapts to the rhythm of each organisation — helping them thrive in a fast-changing world.

But we’re more than just software. We’re a team of passionate problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators who care deeply about our customers and each other. Our culture is built on empowerment, community, and continuous growth. We believe in giving people the tools, support, and freedom to do their best work — and have fun while doing it.

Joining Kinetic means being part of a purpose-driven business where your ideas matter, your development is supported, and your impact is real. If you’re ready to help shape the future of operational technology in education and events, we’d love to meet you.

The Role

As Head of Professional Services, you will own the end-to-end delivery of implementation, onboarding, and post-go-live services for our higher education clients, ensuring they realise value from our platform quickly, measurably, and consistently.

This is a leadership role with real commercial weight. You will be responsible for growing PS revenue, fixing and scaling our delivery model, and building the processes, tools, and team capability needed to serve an enterprise-level client base at scale. You'll inherit a team that has grown rapidly, bringing together long-tenured specialists and newer colleagues; your immediate priority will be to bring structure, rigour, and alignment to a function that is ready for its next stage of maturity.

You'll work closely with Sales, Product, and our client-facing teams, acting as the connective tissue between what we sell, what we build, and what we deliver.

What You’ll Be Responsible For

Commercial Performance

• Own PS revenue and utilisation targets; bringing a commercial mindset to how the team is structured, scaled, and deployed.

• Maintain a clear view of the PS pipeline and forecast, providing regular reporting to the COO and board.

• Treat implementation efficiency as a commercial imperative; the leaner and more repeatable our delivery model, the more competitive our onboarding fees and the stronger our margin.

• Partner with Sales to scope, price, and position PS engagements effectively at the point of sale.

• Identify and develop opportunities for post-implementation services, including reporting, integrations, training, and platform enhancements.

Service Delivery

• Take full accountability for the successful delivery of implementation and onboarding projects across a portfolio of complex, multi-stakeholder enterprise clients in higher education.

• Define and embed a scalable delivery methodology, standardising project frameworks, governance structures, and quality controls without sacrificing flexibility for complex clients.

• Drive consistent performance against key delivery metrics: time to go-live, on-time/on-budget delivery, and billable utilisation.

• Oversee offshore delivery resource, ensuring alignment on quality, communication, and process.

Client Relationships

• Serve as the senior escalation point for strategic client accounts during the delivery lifecycle, handling complex or sensitive situations with professionalism and sound judgement.

• Build trusted relationships with senior customer stakeholders, understanding the operational and strategic pressures they face.

• Proactively identify risks to client satisfaction and intervene early before issues become escalations.

• Ensure that every client interaction reflects the professionalism and credibility of the business, setting and maintaining the standard for how the PS team engages externally.

Process & Operational Excellence

• Audit the current delivery process end-to-end and implement improvements that reduce time-to-value, improve project predictability, and increase team capacity.

• Introduce robust project governance, resource planning, and capacity management practices, ensuring the team is deployed efficiently and that capacity is matched to pipeline demand.

• Work closely with Product Owners to ensure that new and existing product features are designed and built with implementation efficiency in mind, flagging where product decisions are creating unnecessary delivery complexity or cost.

• Work with other client-facing teams to ensure seamless handoffs post-go-live, reducing churn risk and improving the long-term client experience.

• Partner with Sales on pre-sales activity, including scoping, estimation, and client-facing presentations, ensuring that what is sold is deliverable and profitable.

• Work closely with Product to feed delivery insights and client requirements into the roadmap and to advocate for product decisions that reduce implementation complexity, protect margin, and keep our onboarding fees competitive.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop the PS team, with responsibility for performance management, capacity planning, and hiring as the business continues to scale.

• Bring structure and alignment to a team that has grown rapidly, establishing clear roles, responsibilities, and ways of working that set the function up for its next stage of maturity.

• Build a high-performance team culture built on accountability, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.

• Actively mentor and develop individuals at all levels; identifying strengths, addressing gaps, and creating stretch opportunities that build capability across the team.

• Establish career pathways and development frameworks that retain and grow talent, particularly for long-tenured team members who have been central to the function's growth.

• Foster a culture of psychological safety where team members feel empowered to raise issues, share ideas, and challenge the status quo constructively

What You’ll Bring

Core Technical Skills

Essential Experience

• Proven track record leading Professional Services, Delivery, or Implementation functions in a B2B SaaS business, ideally at a company that has navigated the transition from growth-stage to enterprise scale.

• Demonstrable experience delivering complex, multi-stakeholder software implementations, ideally into large institutions or regulated environments.

• Strong commercial acumen; comfortable owning revenue targets, forecasting PS activity, and identifying growth opportunities within the existing client base. You think commercially by instinct, not just when asked.

• A reputation as a safe pair of hands; someone who can be trusted to represent the business credibly at the most senior levels, handle difficult conversations with composure, and exercise sound judgement without needing to be guided on every decision.

• Experience building and improving delivery processes from the ground up - you've inherited a broken or immature function before and fixed it.

• Strong leadership skills with experience managing, mentoring, and developing teams through periods of rapid growth and structural change.

• Confident, polished communicator; able to build credibility and trust with senior customer stakeholders, and equally effective presenting to internal leadership and board.

• Solid understanding of SaaS architecture, integrations, and data flows; enough to have credible technical conversations with clients and internal engineering teams

• Experience working with Product functions to contribute to service design; shaping how products are built and configured to reduce implementation complexity, increase repeatability, and improve delivery margins.

• Familiarity with PS go-to-market strategy including how services are packaged, tiered, and priced to remain competitive while protecting margin.

Nice to Have

• Experience working in or selling to the higher education sector.

• Familiarity with student lifecycle platforms, LMS systems, or EdTech more broadly.

• Experience managing offshore delivery teams or blended onshore/offshore delivery models.

• Exposure to Agile and/or PRINCE2 delivery methodologies.

Key Attributes

• You're energised by fixing things - broken processes, frustrated clients, under-utilised teams.

• You hold yourself and others to high standards, but you lead with support before criticism.

• You're as comfortable in a spreadsheet tracking utilisation as you are managing a senior client escalation.

• You see PS not as a post-sales afterthought, but as a strategic lever for retention, growth, and product improvement.

• You communicate clearly, concisely, and with authority — whether writing a project plan or presenting to a university CIO.

• You know when to escalate and when to handle things yourself — and you almost always get that call right

Benefits & Perks

At Kinetic, we believe work should come with rewards that make a real difference. Here’s just a taste of what you can expect when you join us:

• 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays) - with extra days the longer you’re with us

• Two paid wellbeing days each year, with a budget to enjoy some time out with someone important to you

• Enhanced pension contributions to support your future

• Two paid days a year to give back through volunteering, charity work, or sustainability projects with our Green Team

• Salary sacrifice schemes for electric vehicles and cycle-to-work

• 24/7 access to our Employee Assistance Programme for confidential advice and support

• A full annual health check to keep you at your best

• A flexible benefits platform - from life assurance and learning opportunities to retail discounts and cinema tickets

• A genuine people-first culture where your growth and wellbeing come first

• Performance-related bonus scheme to reward your contribution

• Regular socials - from team get-togethers to all-company celebrations, with each department owning a budget for their events

• The opportunity to attend group conferences, away days and learning forums both in the UK and abroad - network with other talent

We’ve created a welcoming office environment, with well-stocked kitchens offering free breakfast, fresh fruit, hot and cold drinks, and a range of tuck shop goodies to keep you fuelled throughout the day. Kinetic is an equal opportunity employer, fostering diversity and committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.