Position Details
College of Life and Environmental Sciences
Job Description
Position Details
College of Life and Environmental Sciences
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,647 to £31,460, with potential progression once in post to £35,388
Grade: 5
Contract: Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to September 2027
Closing date: 10th May 2026
This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.
Our offer to you
People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham seeks to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. The Birmingham Professional programme provides development opportunities for all professional services staff. With nearly 5,000 professional services roles across Edgbaston and our campus in Dubai, there are opportunities to develop your career at the University.
We believe diversity is a strength that underpins idea exchange, innovation and debate. We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is central to who we are and how we work. We support flexible working arrangements where possible. Benefits include 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day for volunteering, occupational sick pay, a pension scheme, and three subsidised day nurseries.
The University is located in leafy Edgbaston with excellent transport links. On campus there is a state-of-the-art sports centre, shops, dining, an art gallery, a museum and botanical gardens.
Background
Centre-UB is an ESRC-funded Centre for Doctoral Training Plus located at the University of Birmingham. It provides national training and research opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate researchers, and for employees of external private and public sector organisations. Its focus is on understanding behaviour and how behaviour can be the cause and solution to many challenges facing our society.
Role Summary
As a senior administrator within a team/department you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex. Centre-UB is a national centre and you will be involved in activities promoting the centre to external audiences (e.g., events organisation, social media communications about the Centre and its work, updating the webpage). You may also manage other staff or support colleagues and share knowledge. You will be able to use a wide range of skills, both technical and administrative, and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks. You may be given opportunities to work in different areas of the department or wider University.
Senior Administrators may work in any area of the University, with large groupings in HR, Finance, and School/College Hubs.
Main Duties
- You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these, including deciding on the response to more complex queries.
- You will exercise judgment on answers to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager. On a day-to-day basis you will resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager.
- If you have a supervisory role, you will line manage staff, coordinating and prioritising the work of others. If not supervisory, you will still act as a role model and coach team members.
- Maintain high-profile relationships with key stakeholders, fielding enquiries and ensuring appropriate information is disseminated.
- Organise events including booking venues, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, managing bookings, coordinating colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
- Help with external presentation of Centre-UB through online communications and updating the website with news items and outputs.
- Manage smaller projects, carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources to contribute to wider projects.
- Use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyse and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports; identify and resolve data issues.
- Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
- Process more complex data (financial, HR, student-related or other), monitor accuracy, chase missing information, and resolve issues as appropriate.
- Provide specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity.
- Provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings as required.
- You may be responsible for one or more of the following: monitoring budgets, procuring goods and services, updating department communications, dealing with health and safety and facilities issues, HR-related tasks, arrangements for international visitors, or monitoring internal procedures/compliance.
- Supports equality and values diversity, moderating behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to A Level standard, or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
- Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
- Significant practical experience in a similar role, with experience of supporting project and online meeting and teaching environments.
- Highly proficient IT skills, including complex electronic diaries and emails, MS Office suite (Excel, PowerPoint), and some experience of using an ERP package. Ability to learn new IT skills quickly.
- Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning workloads to manage time effectively and meet deadlines.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences and meet deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, providing customer service and inspiring confidence with a range of colleagues.
- Professionalism, tact, diplomacy, and discretion in handling sensitive information/issues.
- Initiative, judgment, resourcefulness, flexibility, and self-motivation.
- Ability to work in a large, complex organisation and understand how the University and higher education institutions work.
- Ability to understand and apply policy and procedures.
- Understanding of equality and diversity in the workplace and ability to respond to related issues in line with policies.
- Experience producing engaging communications for social media, email and websites (desirable).
Dimensions
This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department. May manage a team or budgets.
Planning and Organising
The role requires independent daily, weekly and monthly work and participation in projects with medium-to-longer-term horizons. May manage others’ workloads.
Problem Solving and Decision Making
Work with direction from management but with autonomy. Handle complex queries and resolve problems in the area of responsibility. May manage workloads or coach others to achieve results.
Internal and External Relationships
Liaise with internal colleagues and stakeholders across the university and with external stakeholders.
Informal enquiries to Tamara Jordan, email: t.c.jordan@bham.ac.uk
View our staff values and behaviours here.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion We are committed to addressing barriers, hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations, and have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre. We are also committed to sustainability as part of our strategy.
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