Senior Administrator - School of Government - 81813 - Grade 5

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.

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

Are you ready to join a dynamic team committed to providing exceptional support for our staff and students at the School of Government? This is your chance to be a part of a professional services team that takes pride in delivering high quality administrative support.

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.

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.

What You'll Bring:

To thrive in this role, you should demonstrate competencies such as thorough attention to detail, exceptional organisational skills, time management, 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. The post holder will be working in a complex environment so the ability to cope with conflicting demands is essential. They will also be expected to exercise judgment, be pro-active and have the necessary confidence to interact appropriately with a wide range of people, both internal and external, and at any level.

Your Impact:

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.

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.

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: [email protected] or Heather Cooper, email: [email protected]

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 .