POSITION DETAILS

School of Government
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
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
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 24th June 2025
’Open House’ Drop In Session: We will be holding an ‘open house’ drop in session at the University’s Exchange building, in Centenary Square, Birmingham, between 10am and 5pm on Friday 6th June 2025. If you’re interested in working at the University of Birmingham and perhaps have a few questions, this is an opportunity to meet colleagues in the Recruitment team. It will be a relaxed and informal event – you can drop in at any time.

ABOUT US:

The School of Government is dedicated to excellence in teaching and groundbreaking research. We are now seeking a Senior Administrator to join our School Operations Team. The role will deliver on general administration duties, which will include a focus operations, and all staff related non-student-facing activities across all departments within the school.

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.
• Professional experience in an administration role.
• The post holder will need to have exceptional organisational skills, to support with ensuring effective management of shared inboxes, shared drives and various Teams channels and folders.
• Time management and prioritisation – the ability to manage workload efficiently during periods of high demand and high volume and prioritise tasks effectively to meet deadlines and objectives.
• Excellent Team working skills demonstrating consideration of team members’ roles and responsibilities and flexibility to support colleagues and collaborate effectively.
• Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle a high volume of emails, the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint. 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 always provide excellent customer service.
• 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, proactivity, 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 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.
• 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.
• They will work with direction from management but with a significant degree of autonomy. They will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in their area of responsibility. They may also manage the workload of others or coach others to achieve results.This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders, likely to be University-wide and with external stakeholders.
• 
  Informal enquiries to Sobia Baig, email: s.baig.2@bham.ac.uk or Heather Cooper, email: h.white.1@bham.ac.uk
  View our staff values and behaviours here
  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

YOUR ROLE:

As a Senior Administrator, you will play a key role in supporting our school’s strategic initiatives. Your responsibilities will encompass a diverse range of tasks, including providing administrative support to the Heads of Departments in the School of Government. The post holder will be required to their own initiative, work independently and with discretion and confidentiality. The role manages a small team to deliver an administrative service to all staff in the School including the committee servicing for the School and the three departments. The individual will participate in School and College projects, and have the flexibility to assist various teams as needed. This post will contribute to greater team resilience, acting as a key point of contact queries across the School. The individual will also maintain a broad understanding of other Grade 5 colleagues’ responsibilities, enabling effective support and cross-coverage during peak periods.
The role provides clear and effective direction to the team, set standards, and motivate and support the team in providing the high standard of administrative support the school requires. The role will manage the workload of the team, working with the Executive Officer to produce ways to effectively monitor and regularly review workload and standards. As part of this, the post holder will obtain feedback from users of the services and identify ways to continuously improve the service. The post holder will be proactive in forward planning staff availability so there is appropriate workplace cover across the team for business continuity purposes.

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. You may also be responsible for managing other staff or for supporting colleagues and sharing knowledge. You will be able to use your wide range of skills, both technical and administrative, and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a team. To flexibly use resource, you may be given the opportunity 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 line manage your staff taking responsibility for co-ordinating and prioritising the work of others. You are expected to serve as a role model for team members, providing coaching and mentorship to foster their growth and development.
• Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
• You may be involved in organising events including booking venues, sending invitations, generating schedules, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
• You may manage some smaller projects on your own initiative but will also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources to contribute to wider projects.
• You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyst and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data as well as offer guidance to staff on activities managed through these systems.
• Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems, facilitating knowledge sharing and enhancing resilience.
• Process more complex data (which may be financial, HR, student-related or other), monitoring accuracy, chasing up missing information, and resolving any issues as appropriate.
• Provide specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity.
• As required, provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
• To undertake such other duties as may be reasonably required by the Head of Operations (or nominee).
• The specific areas of responsibility and/or tasks may change from time to time in accordance with the requirements of the school and its priorities at the time.
• You may be required to be responsible for one or more of the following:
• monitoring budgets including processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget,
• procuring goods and services through the University system,
• updating and writing contents for the department’s communications eg intranet pages,
• dealing with health and safety and facilities issues,
• HR-related tasks such as managing staff absence, induction, or dealing with leavers,
• dealing with arrangements for international visitors,
• monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
• Support equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.