Position Details

School of Government

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £28,397 to £30,210, with potential progression once in post to £33,938

Grade 5

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 4th December 2023

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

Background

The School of Government is dedicated to excellence in teaching and ground breaking research. We are now seeking a Senior Administrator to join our School Operations Team, focusing on HR administration and non-student facing activities.

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 but not limited to managing the School’s recruitment approval processes, academic hiring processes, non-student and student casual recruitment,  providing guidance on University policy and procedure, HR administration, right to work compliance, staff induction process operational systems enhancement,  taking on the role of a Core Systems (Core Systems is the University’s HR and Finance system) HR Super User participation in School and College projects, and the flexibility to assist various teams as needed.

Role Summary

To thrive in this role, you should demonstrate competencies such as thorough attention to detail, exceptional organisational skills, and the ability to manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment. Your prior administrative experience, coupled with your effective communication, professionalism, and strong customer service skills, will enable you to provide high-quality support to internal and external stakeholders at all levels.

With the support of the Executive Officer,this position empowers you to exercise your judgement, exhibit initiative, and embrace a ‘can-do’ attitude, contributing to the success and collaborative spirit of our academic and professional services staff within the School of Government.

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 are expected to serve as a role model for team members, providing coaching and mentorship to foster their growth and development.
• Develop strong working relationships with key stakeholders autonomously, handling enquiries and ensuring the dissemination of important information. Collaborate with central HR and College HR stakeholders to ensure the delivery of a high-quality service to potential applicants and new starters.
• You may be involved in organising events and interviews 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 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. Such as Core (The University’s HR and Finance system), Worklink, HR Portal Systems 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.
• Act as the first point of contact for HR and recruitment activities. This includes inductions, leavers, international visitor arrangements, internal procedure compliance, and monitoring. Additionally, managing the HR Services mailbox and process various activities, such as FTC/Contractual changes, Honorary Status applications, recruitment approvals, Right to Work checks, and reference requests.
• 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.
• Support 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 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
• Professional experience in a HR/Recruitment administration role.
• Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle 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 verbal and written 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, 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.

For further information please contact Sobia Baig on s.baig.2@bham.ac.uk or Heather Cooper on 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. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website.