Events Co-ordinator - Development and Alumni Relations Office - 107153 at University of Birmingham

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

11 Jun, 26

Salary

31900.0

Posted On

13 Mar, 26

Experience

2 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Event Administration, Promotional Material Creation, Social Media Posting, Invitation Management, Registration Monitoring, Venue Identification, Catering Coordination, Communication Writing, CRM System Input, Data Analysis, Website Management, Inbox Management, Budget Monitoring, Project Coordination, Event Strategy Development, Customer Service

Industry

Higher Education

Description

Position Details Development and Alumni Relations Office 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 August 2027 Closing date: 30th March 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 Office Overview Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village’ in the 1960s. In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, raising £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London. The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in our local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015. We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to address global health epidemics, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from underrepresented backgrounds: one of the highest proportions in the UK. DARO exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities. The Office, which is comprised of five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research projects, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships, as well as providing a versatile programme of engagement opportunities for our global alumni community. Role Summary The events programme within the Development and Alumni Relations Office, engages a global community of more than 400,000 former students, staff, donors and current students. Every event, whether designed to bring graduates closer together, thank donors or cultivate future supporters, is purposeful, strategic and delivered to the highest standard. The Events Assistant will play a key role in delivering this busy and creative programme. You will be responsible for all aspects of event administration for in-person and online events, ranging from VIP dinners to large networking events to global webinars. Main Duties * You will be responsible for all aspects of event administration, including devising promotional materials, social media posts, organising invitations and monitoring responses, preparing name badges, registration lists, event materials and packs, venue identification and booking, and booking catering. You will need to co-ordinate with colleagues in order to ensure smooth and successful delivery of events, attending events where appropriate. * You will write all event-related communication (hard and soft copy), ensuring that it complies with University branding guidelines, is written in a language appropriate to the target audience, and sent via the most appropriate means of communication. * Process all DARO events registrations via online booking systems and ensure details are inputted correctly on our CRM system. * You may contribute to event briefings for internal attendees and panel members including University Senior Management. * You will devise methods to ensure the University receives targeted feedback from attendees; you will consider this and make recommendations for future events. * Record and analyse event statistics and wider performance metrics, interpreting data against agreed key performance indicators (e.g. attendance rates, cost per head targets, etc.) and using these insights to review and improve future activity. * Actively and creatively contribute to the development of the DARO events strategy, suggesting new ways of engaging with alumni and new constituencies, identifying potential speakers, relevant research topics, and shaping future event themes and enhancing current activity. * Collaborate with senior colleagues across other DARO teams to support the creation and delivery of high-quality events. * Be responsible for managing and updating the events section of the alumni website; writing event reports; creating photo galleries for the event archive; uploading videos of online events and webinars; and researching and suggesting improvements to the site. * Managing the Alumni Events inbox, and dealing with a wide range of complex enquiries and correspondence independently, or exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University. * Being the first point of contact for alumni and groups wanting to run their own reunions and managing our ‘Reunion in a Box’ activity. * Providing other administrative support for the team including arranging travel, servicing meetings, diary management. * Monitoring budgets including obtaining quotes, processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget. * Maintain clear and timely communication with colleagues by updating project progress, tasks and deadlines through Monday.com, ensuring transparency and effective team coordination. * Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others. 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 level 2 qualifications. * Professional experience in a Communications, Events and/or Marketing role, but including some events planning experience. * 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. * 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 the University [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. Dimensions This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department and with external contacts. Planning and organising The role is required to work independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision. Problem solving and decision making You will work with direction from your managers but you will have a significant degree of autonomy. You will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in your area of responsibility. Internal and external relationships You will liaise with internal colleagues and stakeholders University-wide and also with external stakeholders. Informal enquiries to Jennifer Staite, email: j.r.staite@bham.ac.uk [j.r.staite@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 role involves managing all aspects of event administration for in-person and online events, ranging from VIP dinners to global webinars, including devising promotional materials and coordinating logistics. Responsibilities also include processing registrations, analyzing event statistics against KPIs, managing the events website section, and handling the Alumni Events inbox.