Student Wellbeing Assistant - Mat cover

Grade and Salary: Grade 5 (£26,707 - £30,378, pro rata for part time)

FTE and working pattern: 21 hours per week (0.6 FTE, maternity cover, fixed term contract until September 2026)

Detailed Description 

This post plays a key role in delivering front line advice and support to students in the department of Student Wellbeing. You will work alongside Assistant Disability Advisors and the Student Wellbeing Administrator to ensure that a friendly, efficient, and helpful frontline service is delivered. You will carry out administrative work, operating databases and other systems, primarily for the Disability service, and deliver some direct support for a small number of students to facilitate their learning experience.

Key Duties and Responsibilities 

• Provide a high level of customer service and front-line advice (face to face, via phone, email) to anyone enquiring at Student Wellbeing Centre reception, linked with main objective of delivering the charter to be welcoming, friendly and to treat everyone fairly and with respect.
• Carry out financial processes, raising invoices, purchase order numbers, control department credit card and processing payments for the Disability Service. Update and process data, including financial information, on spreadsheets, databases and other procurement systems. 
• Contact new students who have disclosed a disability and provide them with the relevant information and arrange appointments to see the appropriate advisor. Help collate and develop data reporting systems for the Disability Service.
• Carry out initial assessment of students who present with dyslexia and conduct online dyslexia tests.
• Log all student contacts on the database and run reports as necessary ensuring quick turnaround times and an excellent customer experience.
• Provide frontline advice and administrative support for the Student Counselling and Student Experience sections when the other Student Wellbeing Assistant is on leave.
• Support specific students in accessing timetabled lectures, tutorials, group work, laboratories, and related academic tasks 
• Undertake continuing professional development as appropriate.
• Undertake other tasks and responsibilities as requested by the Student Wellbeing Team

Education, Qualifications and Experience

Essential

1. Good educational standard with excellent spoken and written English
2. Experience in working in front line services, assessing the appropriate response, and providing advice, information, and guidance on a range of issues
3. Experience in handling confidential/sensitive information
4. Experience of using IT, including Microsoft Office and Finance systems
5. Experience in a carrying out a wide range of administrative tasks and implementing new processes and ability to handle large volumes of data
6. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills and a professional, customer-focused approach with experience of working co-operatively and effectively within a team 
7. Skills in responding to distressed or challenging customers
8. Understanding of the issues that affect students particularly those with a disability or mental health issue

About our Team   

This post is located within the Disability Team, within the wider Student Wellbeing team, and works closely with colleagues from Counselling, Student Experience, and the Chaplaincy teams. The main purpose of Student Wellbeing is to provide advice, information, and support to undergraduate and postgraduate students, throughout the student lifecycle, from the point of initial enrolment onto a university study programme right through to graduation supporting them to overcome barriers to learning.

How to Apply

Applications with FULL CV (and Cover letter) can be submitted up to midnight (UK time) on Thursday, 25th September 2025.

Shortlisting is anticipated w/c 29th September 2025 and interviews are anticipated to be conducted w/c 6th October 2025.

At Heriot-Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities.  Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our University community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers    https://disc.hw.ac.uk/

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g. part-time working and job share options.

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University