Student Duty Supervisor, Campus Coffee

Closed 04/12/2025

Hourly Rate £14.33 per hour (plus holiday pay)

The Post

The post holder will be responsible for staff motivation, front of house supervision and ensuring The Campus coffee Cafe exceeds customer expectations. The post holder will be responsible for stock and cash control, health and safety of staff and customers and security of the Cafe and its contents. The post holder will be expected to duty manage nights and Weekends in The Library cafe without a member of the Management Team on site. Authority and direction is delegated from the Union’s Trustees, via the Licensed Trade Manager & The Library Cafe Managers.

The Person

The post holder will be a self-motivated, highly driven and flexible individual, who works well in a team or on their own. Driven by results and the achievement of stretching targets, they will have experience of working in busy, commercial and customer-focused organisations and will have excellent communication skills. The post-holder will be highly competent in managing teams of staff to achieve outstanding customer service and ideally will have experience of working in a similuar operation. An effective manager and leader, the post-holder will be positive, confident and resourceful.

The Organisation

Kent Students’ Union (KSU) provides wide-ranging services to the 19,500 students of the University of Kent. The Union turns over £12million per annum and employs 500 staff and 2,000+Volunteers. We achieved Investor in People Gold status in December 2011, and recently won a Third Sector Excellence Awards 2012; we were the first students’ union in the UK to achieve Investing in Volunteers status and we have been included in the Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For, for 11 years, achieving 17th place in 2020. We enable staff to balance their life and work through cutting-edge policies and offer excellent opportunities for professional development. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from all sections of society.

Further Information

If you require further information, please contact Trish Morris, Café manager via email at p.d.morris@kent.ac.uk or visit https://www.kentunion.co.uk/careers/.

Applications

To apply please complete an application form on our recruitment portal on our careers page www.ksu.co.uk/careers. Please ensure to pay attention to the job description and person specification and add as much detail as possible about your experience to support your application.

Closing date for applications: 4th of December 2025

Interviews will be held on: 11th of December 2025

THE ROLE

Job Description: Student Duty Supervisor, Campus Coffee

Department: Licensed trade department

Reports to: Campus coffee café Manager

Role Purpose:

The post holder will be responsible for staff motivation, front of house supervision and ensuring The Campus coffee café exceeds customer expectations. The post holder will be responsible for stock and cash control, health and safety of staff and customers and security of the Cafe and its contents. The post holder will be expected to duty manage evenings and Weekends in The Campus coffee cafe without a member of the Management Team on site. Authority and direction is delegated from the Union’s Trustees, via the Licensed Trade Manager & The Campus coffee Cafe Managers.

Duties and Responsibilities

Financial Responsibilities

· To ensure that both financial control and stock control systems are adhered to at all times.

· To ensure that stock display systems are adhered to at all times and to guide Student Staff in stock and financial control procedures including stock rotation, deliveries, and payments.

People Responsibilities

• To co-ordinate the work and monitor the workloads of Student Staff, ensuring that staffing levels are adequate and efficient.

• To provide leadership, direction and coaching for Student Staff.

• To help to identify the training needs of Student Staff, in conjunction with the Library Café Managers.

• To promote a positive working attitude in The Library Cafe and lead by example in all aspects of the role.

• To ensure high standards are maintained, with regards to Food Quality, Food Hygiene and Health and Safety.

Operational Duties

To work with The Campus coffee Café Managers to ensure the safe operation of the Library Cafe and the surrounding areas of the premises.

· The post holder will be expected to minimise the environmental impact of Kent Union's operations by adhering to our Environmental policy and related procedural guidelines including recycling and energy conservation.

· To abide by the Union Constitution, policies and procedures and to the Licensed Trade operating systems, policies and procedures at all times.

To contribute to the positive image of the Union with other students, the University and the local community.

· To attend appropriate meetings as and when required by the Union and Library Café.

· To help with recruitment and training of new staff throughout the academic year

· To undertake other tasks and responsibilities, compatible with the level and nature of the post, as required by the Licensed Trade Managers and Campus coffee Café Managers.

· To work as part of the Duty Supervisor Team in The Campus coffee Cafe to ensure the outlet is running at its optimum level.

Summary of terms

• A Minimum of 2 shifts per week, approx. 10-15 hours per week

• The Post holder will be required to work weekends and evening as part of their shift pattern

• This post will be based at University of Kent, Canterbury Campus.

This job description does not form part of the contract of employment.

WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Person Specification

Qualifications:

Appropriate health and safety Qualification

First aid certificate

Experience:

Experience of supervising a Licensed Trade outlet

Experience of delivering exceptional customer service, individually and through effective staff management

Experience of the effective use of IT, especially EPoS systems

Knowledge:

A good understanding of commercial trends within café trade with particular reference to the student market

A good knowledge of Health & Safety, Food Hygiene and COSSH legislation

A good understanding of best practice in stock and cash security systems

Skills and Abilities:

Ability to operate effectively in a busy environment, with the skills to develop productive relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders

Good communicator with the ability to relate to people at all levels

Provides highest standards of customer service and effectively solves customer problems.

A confident and resourceful individual with leadership skills who can operate in a challenging environment

Values & Behaviors:

Evidence of commitment to continuing personal and professional development

A firm commitment to equality of opportunity; an individual who values diversity, shows respect for all people and works well with people who have different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds

A role model who effectively uses coaching and mentoring to encourage staff to reach their full potential

A team player, who helps others to build a successful team, celebrates others’ successes and supports others to achieve individual and team goals

High standard of customer service and the desire to continuously improve customer satisfaction and experience

THE IMPORTANT HR BIT

Summary Conditions of Appointment

Salary:

Current rate of pay is £14.33 per hour (Inclusive of Holiday Pay).

Probationary arrangements:

This post is subject to a 9-month probationary period.

Notice Period:

The notice period for this position is four weeks.

Holiday Pay:

You are paid your basic hourly rate plus your holiday pay, which gives your total hourly rate (this is known as ‘rolled-up holiday pay’).

Pension

The post holder is entitled to join Kent Students Union’s Career Average Related Earnings (CARE) pension scheme with PensionsPlus (salary sacrifice), in which Kent Students Union contributes 16% and employees contribute 6% of salary. Alternatively, the post-holder can join a personal pension scheme through Scottish Equitable, in which Kent Students Union contributes 6% and employees contribute 3% of salary.

Hours of Work

Approx. 10-15 hours per week. The post-holder will be required to work weekends and/or evenings as part of their shift pattern.

Work-Life Balance

Kent Students Union is committed to facilitating a healthy work-life balance and has cutting edge flexible working policies, including extensive maternity, paternity and grand-parent leave; generous adoption and parental leave entitlement; facilities for sabbatical leave; the option to work from home on occasion and time off for volunteering.

Equality of Opportunity

Kent Students Union is committed to the principles of equality of opportunity and will endeavour to meet the needs of any candidate who fulfils the requirements of the person specification

Applications