POSITION DETAILS

School of Engineering
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,130 to £45,413 with potential progression once in post to £48,149
Grade: 7
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 28th August 2025

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE

• First degree or equivalent along with professional training or demonstrable experience normally associated with this level of qualification
• Significant administrative experience.
• Demonstrable people and financial management experience including setting and monitoring spend against budgets.
• Experience of sourcing information, particularly through electronic sources, to inform and support reporting for strategic planning and/or business cases.
• Knowledge and understanding of UK HE funding mechanisms, strategies and priorities.
• Excellent report writing skills - ability to write clear and concise formal reports and documents, maintaining high levels of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Strong negotiating and persuasion skills.
• Excellent analytical skills, with the ability to communicate complex policy matters.
• Excellent IT skills (Excel/Word/PowerPoint /Databases etc.) with the ability and willingness to learn new systems.
• Excellent communication skills - ability to communicate with a wide range of people at all levels, maintaining high levels of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to demonstrate tact and diplomacy, and the ability to deal discreetly with confidential and sensitive matters.
• Excellent organisational and time-management skills with a demonstrated ability to plan and organise a large workload to meet both internal and external deadlines - working on a variety of complex issues simultaneously.
• The ability to cope with change in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately.
• Excellent inter-personal skills; ability to develop effective working relationships with all levels of staff and external contacts.
• Developed leadership skills, with the ability to instil confidence in others.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Ability to work under pressure and maintain a high degree of accuracy.
• Ability to absorb and deploy new information quickly and accurately.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

ROLE SUMMARY

The Operations Manager is a central role to the School of Engineering within the College of Engineering & Physical Sciences (EPS) for the day to day running of the School. The post-holder is responsible for the School’s Professional Services Operations Hub and ensures that administrative support and leadership is delivered in an effective, efficient, responsive and professional manner supporting across the broad spectrum of the School’s activities. The post-holder will support the Head of School, Head of Operations and School Senior Management Team (SMT) on a day-to-day basis to facilitate the strategic direction of the School.
You will set and uphold excellent standards of work and bring the team together to provide the best possible service for the smooth running of the School. You will also support and lead on cross-School strategies, processes and initiatives ensuring that the School’s ambitions are supported by appropriate systems, processes and resources.
The post holder is expected to have knowledge of the significant challenges and opportunities in the Higher Education sector, an understanding of good practice in delivering professional administration and financial support and the ability to balance academic considerations and wider drivers and priorities.
The post holder will report into the School Head of Operations with close links to academic leads and members of the College Operations Team. The post holder will deputise for the Head of Operations.