- About us
- About colleges
-
Corporate services
- Corporate services
- Mental health and wellbeing
- AoC Student Engagement Charter
- Data Protection/GDPR
-
Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment Services - college workforce
- Employment: How we support members
- Introduction & Employment Helpline
- Absence & Sickness Management
- Contracts and T&Cs
- Disciplinary, Capability, Grievance & Harassment
- Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
- General Employee Relations & HR Issues
- Holiday/annual leave related
- Industrial Relations
- ONS reclassification related guidance
- Pay & Pensions
- Recruitment
- Redundancy, Restructuring & TUPE
- Safeguarding/Prevent
- Benchmarking, Surveys & Research
- Governance
-
Projects
- Projects
- Get Involved!
- Contact the projects team
- Apprenticeship Workforce Development (AWD) Programme
- Creating a Greener London – Sustainable Construction Skills
- The 5Rs Approach to GCSE Maths Resits
- Creative Arts in FE 2025 – developing student voice through creativity
- Pears Youth Social Action Programme - phase three
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Provider Support Programme
- T Level Professional Development (TLPD) Offer
- The Valuing Enrichment Project
- Film London - Metro London Skills Cluster
- Empowering FE: enhancing skills with technology
- ETF Student Governor Inductions 2025/26
- The Gatsby Foundation Technical Education Networks
- ETF Governor Inductions 25/26
- Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance
- ETF Mental Health and Wellbeing Project
- Digital Insight Hubs
- Resources/Guidance
- Sustainability & Climate Action Hub
- Partnerships
- Honours Nomination
- Brexit
- Ofsted Inspection Support
- AoC charters
-
Recruitment and consultancy
- Recruitment and consultancy
- Meet The Team
- Recruitment and consultancy: How we support members
- Executive Recruitment
- Interim Recruitment
- Governance Recruitment
- College Vacancies
- Consultancy
- The College Collective
- External Board Reviews
- AoC Jobs
- Recruitment and consultancy case studies
- Senior Post Holder Appraisal and Chair Review
-
Events and training
- Events and training
- Events
- AoC Annual Conference and Exhibition 2025
- T Level and T Level Foundation Year Events
- Events and training: How we support members
- Regional Network Meetings
- Previous Events and Webinars
- In-House Training
- Senior Leadership Development Programme
- Early Career and Experienced Managers' Programme
- Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities
- AoC Student Leadership in Further Education Programme
- Funding and finance
-
Policy
- Policy
- Meet the Policy Team
- Policy: How we support members
- Policy Areas
- Policy Briefings
- Policy Papers & Reports
- AoC 2030 Group
- AoC Strategy Groups
-
AoC Reference Groups
- AoC Reference Groups
- 14-16 Reference Group
- 16-18 Reference Group
- Adults (inc. ESOL) Reference Group
- Apprenticeship Reference Group
- EDI Reference Group
- HE Reference Group
- HR Reference Group
- International Reference Group
- Mental Health Reference Group
- SEND Reference Group
- Sustainability & Climate Change Reference Group
- Technology Reference Group
- WorldSkills Reference Group
- Opportunity England
- Research unit
-
News, campaigns and parliament
- News, campaigns and parliament
- AoC Newsroom
- AoC Blogs
- Briefings
- AoC Campaigns
- Case studies
-
Comms advice and resources for colleges
- Comms advice and resources for colleges
- Media relations: 10 ways to build effective relationships with the media
- How to choose a PR agency
- Legal considerations for communications and media work
- How to plan for a new build
- Crisis communications: your go-to guide
- How to handle photo consent for media and marketing
- How to evaluate a PR and media campaign
- How to react to regulation, funding and restructuring issues
- How to react quickly and effectively to the media
- Working with the media: a complete guide
- How to write a compelling case study
- How to write for the web
- Communications, marketing and campaigns community
- Communications, media, marketing and research: how we support members
- Policy Updates
- Work in Parliament
- Election resources
- Equity, diversity and inclusion
- Home
- recruitment
- current opportunities
- Chief Operating Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Salary: Competitive
Organisation: Kendal College
Location: Cumbria
Closing Date: 19 Jan 2026
Kendal College is Cumbria’s gateway to the lakes, a beautiful place to learn, live, work, and explore. The college provides an educational offer to students of all ages, including full-time courses, part-time courses, higher education and apprenticeships. The local area's economic well-being is supported by providing courses for adults to help them re-enter the job market and improve their employment prospects. Our courses include a range of vocational, academic and higher education courses, as well as apprenticeships across our three sites in Kendal. We are committed to providing outstanding education and training opportunities that are responsive to the needs of our students and our community.
As our Chief Financial Officer, you will provide strategic leadership for finance, estates, ICT, procurement and risk to support the college’s mission and strategic plan. Reporting to the Principal and Chief Executive and as a member of the Executive and Senior Leadership Team, you will act as the college’s Chief Finance Officer, ensuring compliance with the College Financial Handbook and regulatory frameworks, delivering robust financial management, budgeting and reporting to ensure long‑term viability and value for money. We are looking for someone who will foster a culture of professional excellence, collaboration, equality and diversity across all functional areas, and provide outstanding support to students, staff, and the community.
While FE experience is not essential, the successful candidate will need to be able to demonstrate experience working in a highly complex environment, experience working with similarly challenging funding regimes or the ability to quickly learn and adapt.
If you believe that you have the drive, vision, skills, expertise, and enthusiasm to make a difference
Key Dates to Note:
Closing date for applications is: Monday 19 January 2026
Final interviews to be held at the college: Thursday 29 January 2026
For an informal conversation about this role please contact Rachel West at rachel.west@aoc.co.uk