Why work with us
Base yourself at the heart of London, where the SOAS campus is located at the centre of the vibrant Bloomsbury district.
We offer a wide range of wellbeing and work-life balance benefits to recognise and reward the essential contribution our colleagues make to our success and growth. These are inclusive for colleagues of all backgrounds, including LGBT+ colleagues, disabled colleagues, pregnant colleagues, parents and carers, as well as colleagues of all genders, ages, ethnicities, nationalities, religion and beliefs, and marriage and civil partnership status.
Core benefits
Annual leave
You will enjoy a generous annual leave allowance of 30 days per year (pro-rata for part-time colleagues). In addition, the School is normally closed for up to 6-days a year, over the Christmas and Easter holidays.
Generous occupational pension scheme
You will automatically become an active member of an occupational pension scheme from the start date of your employment.
Family friendly
SOAS is fully committed to helping working parents balance work and family life wherever this is operationally and financially possible. The University operates a favourable maternity, paternity and adoption leave package.
Other policies in operation include shared parental leave, parental leave and time off for dependents leave.
Season ticket loan
You can take out a loan for the purchase of annual rail, London Underground, London buses or other season tickets.
Employee Assistance Programme
You and your household members have access to the free, external confidential support service for work, financial, legal family and personal matters through the Employee Assistance Programme.
The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You also have access to free and confidential telephone counselling, webinars, self-help programmes and many other resources
Occupational health service
SOAS partners with an independent occupational health provider, taking a proactive approach to the management of health in the work environment. The service advises on the effects of health on work, work on health, fitness to work and rehabilitation needs, including reasonable adjustments.
Health and wellbeing
We offer all employees a variety of health and well-being benefits including discounted gym membership at Bloomsbury Fitness where you will be able to take advantage of reduced monthly and annual membership rates.
Cycle to work
We have an agreement with Cyclescheme to run an assisted bike purchase scheme for our colleagues. The scheme takes advantage of a tax concession offered by the government and under this agreement, employees who have contracts of employment that outlast the duration of the salary sacrifice (pay back) period can benefit from obtaining a tax-free bike and accessories (eg safety equipment).
You must be over 18 years old and have completed your probationary period to be eligible. Colleagues participating in the scheme can expect to save between 33-41% off the high street price of a bike, depending on your individual tax status.
Eye care voucher scheme
All colleagues who use display screen equipment are entitled to free regular eye tests in accordance with SOAS’s eye care voucher scheme.
