Position Details
College of Social Sciences
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883
Grade: 5
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to January 2027
Closing date: 4th May 2026
Background
An exciting opportunity has arisen in the College of Social Sciences Hub Team to support College Board members. There are two positions available, and the successful candidates will gain full PA experience in an extremely varied College role.
Role Summary
As a senior administrator and personal assistant within the College Hub team, you will provide support for a broad range of administrative and project duties, some of which may be complex and require you to use your own judgement. You will use your excellent organisational skills and attention to detail to ensure the people you support are well prepared, and that the tasks you carry out are completed to a high quality in a timely manner.
Main Duties
- Undertake complex diary management and meeting planning, usually 6-12 months ahead, making decisions on the best use of time. This will require you to understand the priorities and deadlines you and your manager(s) are working to and will involve developing relationships across the University and beyond.
- Proactive inbox management, with confidence to make decisions on behalf of others where appropriate.
- Dealing with a wide range of more complex enquiries and correspondence independently or exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University.
- Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
- Proactive preparation and collation of meeting‑related papers, working collaboratively to determine what information might be required in advance of a meeting, articulating clear deadlines for submission and proactively chasing where necessary. This may include attending meetings to provide high‑quality committee support, taking minutes and following up as appropriate.
- Arranging complex UK and overseas travel, including booking flights, hotels, transfers, and organisation and planning of itineraries, ensuring best use of time and taking into account budgetary constraints.
- Organisation of events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co‑ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
- Collate, analyse and interpret data. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data.
- Will manage some smaller projects on own initiative but will also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources to contribute to wider projects.
- Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
- Supports equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
- Lead and support on a wide range of College projects and events, liaising with HR Business Partner and Facilities teams where appropriate.
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 experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
- Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent level 2 qualification.
- Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle complex electronic diaries and emails, the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and powerpoint, and some experience of using an enterprise resource planning package. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
- Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own (and sometimes others’ workloads) to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal skills. The postholder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
- A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding to the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
- A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self‑motiving approach.
- Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
- Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
- Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
- Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.
Informal enquiries to Rhiannon Sharp, email: r.sharp@bham.ac.uk
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of University of Birmingham staff and that diversity in its many forms is a strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation and debate at the heart of University life. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN, Race Equality Charter and Disability Confident accreditations. We have an Equality Diversity and Inclusion Centre that focuses on continuously improving the University as a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We are also committed to sustainability, which is a key part of our strategy. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone.
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