Event Manager - Conferences and Events - 104281 - Grade 5 at University of Birmingham

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

18 Jun, 26

Salary

31900.0

Posted On

20 Mar, 26

Experience

2 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Event Logistics, Administration, Client Management, Project Planning, Website Creation, Delegate Registration, Abstract Management, Speaker Booking, Expense Management, Budget Management, Customer Service, Financial Awareness, IT Proficiency, Communication, Interpersonal Skills, Diplomacy

Industry

Higher Education

Description

Position Details Conferences and Events 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, Permanent Closing date: 12th April 2026 UK travel may be required for this role Our offer to you People are at the heart of what we are and do. The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university. We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate. We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site. On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/jobs/staff-benefits] Background The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/excellence/professional/index.aspx] operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work. Campus Services is responsible for a very large range of services within the University including conferences and events, student accommodation, catering, Sport and Fitness, cleaning, and waste management, delivering the University’s post, day nurseries, security and emergency response, Winterbourne House & Garden. The Event Manager post is part of the Event Management Team that sits within Conferences & events (C&e). C&e sells and delivers a vast number of conferences and events to underpin academic work, support the student experience and drive additional income. As with any commercial revenue generating department within a university, C&e seeks to strike a balance between enhancing the student and staff experience and ensuring a financial return to the University. Role Summary The Event Manager is responsible for supporting the management and delivery of a number of events per year that are predominantly academic conferences. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, setting up and managing delegate registrations sites and online payment portals, creating and managing event websites, management and support for abstract submissions, booking speakers travel and managing expense claims, , supporting client meetings, and attendance on the day of the events. The role will cover a wide variety of tasks essential to delivering complex, multi day events and cover a range of residential conferences, through to evening functions, day events and exhibitions. Documenting all client details accurately on the booking system is essential, as it is imperative to build and maintain up to date client records. The post holder will need to be financially aware, to effectively support the management of event budgets, as well as maximising income generated through the allocation of facilities and services, which is crucial. Customer service skills are a necessity as we take great pride in our high level of delivering customer excellence. The postholder will need to work flexibly when events are held in the evening or at weekends. Although most events will be based on campus, the postholder may also be asked to support events at the Exchange, Edgbaston Park hotel or any other appropriate location. To flexibly use resource, the postholder may be asked to work elsewhere in the department or across the University. Main Duties * Supporting the Senior Event Manager/s with all aspects of event logistics and administration for a number of academic events which will include; * acting as one of the main points of contact, working with the clients to understand the objectives for the event and making recommendations to identifying the most appropriate services and venues, maximising opportunities to upsell as appropriate. * monitoring the individual event project plan/timelines for each event, ensuring allocated actions are met within set deadlines. * ensuring the event and person details are accurately recorded on our event management platform and circulated to relevant teams as appropriate prior to events. * creating websites via our in-house event management platform. * supporting the management of delegate registrations and payments. * supporting the management of speakers, abstract submissions, and event sponsors. * being present on the day of the event, managing allocated logistics, dealing with any issues which may arise, ensuring the smooth running of the event. * supporting the financial requirements for each event, requesting purchase orders to be created to confirm services are booked, ensuring quotes are accurate, reconciling all items and figures before forwarding to Financial Administrator for final billing. * ensure legal documentation, including Freedom of Speech and risk assessments are submitted in a timely manner. * Supporting the arrangements for audio visual, exhibition, staging and decoration requirements for internal and external clients. * Providing advice to internal and external clients regarding national and international events, to market and to pro-actively encourage clients to use the event management service. * As appropriate taking full responsibility for the management of smaller events. * Supporting the team in working towards the annual financial target set for event management income. * Collating, analysing and interpreting data in relation to metrics and reviewing activities in line with these. * 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. * Providing other administrative support for the team including arranging travel, servicing meetings, diary management. Financial and Systems * Ensuring that all administrative work is completed accurately and conform to university financial rules and procedures. * Ensuring all systems are used correctly, making sure event details are captured correctly and charges loaded correctly. * Processing financial requirements for each booking, requesting purchase orders to be created to confirm services are booked, requesting deposits when applicable, ensuring quotes are accurate, reconciling all items and figures before forwarding to Financial Administrator for final billing. Other: * Supporting the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working. * Providing support for manager(s) in promoting sustainability across the University, and our services. * Ensuring that all activities and services comply with health and safety regulations, including the timely and accurate issue of risk assessments. * Liaising with colleagues at all levels to ensure effective management of activities related to delivering conferences and events. * Supporting equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others. * Any other duties as may reasonably be expected by the relevant manager. 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 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent level 2 qualifications. * Professional experience in a similar Events role. * Ability to analyse numerical and financial data. * Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required as in-house systems are used for procurement. * 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. You 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 the handling and management of sensitive information/issues. * A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach. * Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how theUniversity [http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/colleges/index.aspx] 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. * Go about duties in a resource efficient way, minimising impacts to the environment wherever possible. Informal enquiries to Louise Walczak, email: l.walczak@bham.ac.uk [l.walczak@bham.ac.uk] View our staff values and behaviours here [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/our-strategy/our-values] Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview. 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 on our website [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/university/about/equality/index.aspx].

Responsibilities

The Event Manager supports the management and delivery of numerous academic conferences and events, handling tasks like setting up registration sites, managing event websites, and supporting abstract submissions and speaker travel. Responsibilities also include being present on event days, managing logistics, supporting budget management, and ensuring accurate client data documentation.