ISP Retention Manager
Description
ISP
Retention Manager
Role Profile
Location: UK
Fixed Term Contract 12 months
Purpose of Role
The Retention Manager will be responsible for developing, implementing, and monitoring high-impact activities to enhance student and family loyalty and retention across the ISP group.
This is a critical role focused on ensuring that every family’s experience post-enrolment reinforces the value of the school (and ISP), identifies and mitigates attrition risks proactively, and drives year on year improvement in retention rates across all schools. The Manager will work collaboratively with regional leadership and school principals to embed a student and family-centric retention culture and actively drive performance improvement across the group.
ISP Principles
Begin with our children and students. Our children and students are at the heart of what we do. Simply, their success is our success. Wellbeing and safety are both essential for learners and learning. Therefore, we are consistent in identifying potential safeguarding and Health & Safety issues and acting and following up on all concerns appropriately.
Treat everyone with care and respect. We look after one another, embrace similarities and differences and promote the well-being of self and others.
Operate effectively. We focus relentlessly on the things that are most important and will make the most difference. We apply school policies and procedures and embody the shared ideas of our community.
Are financially responsible. We make financial choices carefully based on the needs of the children, students and our schools.
Learn continuously. Getting better is what drives us. We positively engage with personal and professional development and school improvement.
Key Responsibilities:
Planning and Implementation
- Own, execute and optimise a comprehensive group-wide retention plan, including clear KPIs, and measurement frameworks, aligned with ISP's overall strategic objectives.
- Develop standardised best practices and playbooks for key moments in the student/family lifecycle (e.g., new student induction, transition points, graduation planning).
- Lead the implementation of new retention programmes and initiatives, ensuring successful adoption by local school teams.
Data Analysis and Risk Management
- Own the retention data lifecycle, utilising core systems like iSAMS (School Management Information System) and data leveraged from HubSpot (CRM) to track key metrics (e.g., re-enrolment rates, withdrawal reasons, CSAT and NPS).
- Working with the Customer Insights Team, conduct deep-dive analysis on student attrition to identify common root causes, predictive indicators, and high-risk family segments.
- Establish an early warning system for families demonstrating low engagement or satisfaction and design targeted intervention activities for school leaders to use.
Customer Experience and Feedback
- Map and optimise the post-enrolment family journey, identifying key touchpoints and “moments of truth”.
- Leverage family satisfaction and loyalty measurement tools (e.g., NPS, annual surveys, exit questionnaires) to inform retention interventions.
- Present qualitative and quantitative feedback into actionable recommendations for school improvement, communicating insights to the key group and school stakeholders.
Stakeholder Collaboration, Performance, & Training
- Partner with Group, Region and School Leadership to drive accountability for retention performance, monitoring critical metrics and co-developing improvement plans.
- Act as the subject matter expert on retention, providing consultation and support to school Principals and Admissions/Marketing teams.
- Support the development and implementation of training programmes for school staff on effective relationship building, handling parental concerns, and implementing local retention initiatives.
- Collaborate with the Marketing and Communications team to ensure external communications and internal content reinforce the school value proposition and highlight student success stories.
Skills, Qualifications and Experience
- Minimum 5 years of professional experience in Customer Retention, Customer Loyalty or Customer Experience (CX), preferably within the education or B2C service sectors.
- Proven analytical capability: Ability to use data and insights to improve operational performance and measure ROI of retention programmes.
- Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills: Ability to influence, persuade, and build consensus across diverse cultures and hierarchical levels, from school-based staff to C-suite executives. Must possess a consultative approach, driving performance improvements through partnership rather than direct authority.
- Demonstrated experience designing and implementing successful, measurable customer journey programmes.
- Proficiency and practical experience utilising School Management Systems (specifically iSAMS) and CRM platforms (specifically HubSpot) for data extraction, reporting, and tracking customer interactions and retention metrics.
- Experience of the international education sector is a distinct advantage.
- Experience working within a multi-site, international organisation.
- Understanding of the international education market and the drivers of family mobility/school choice.
- Project management certification or proven experience managing complex change projects across multiple locations.
- Bachelor’s degree.
ISP Commitment to Safeguarding Principles
ISP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
All postholders are subject to appropriate vetting procedures, including an online due diligence search, references and satisfactory Criminal Background Checks or equivalent covering the previous 10 years’ employment history.
ISP Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
ISP is committed to strengthening our inclusive culture by identifying, hiring, developing, and retaining high-performing teammates regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender expression, age, disability status, neurodivergence, socio-economic background or other demographic characteristics. Candidates who share our vision and principles and are interested in contributing to the success of ISP through this role are strongly encouraged to apply.