Project Manager - Secondment Opportunity until 30 June 2027 in Birmingham

Project Manager - Secondment Opportunity until 30 June 2027

Department Partnerships and STEAM Location Belmont Row (STEAMhouse) Salary £45,235 to £51,182per annum Secondment Opportunity until 30 June 2027, subject to agreement with your current line manager Post Type Full Time Release Date 05 October 2026 Closing Date 23.59 hours BST on Monday 12 October 2026 Reference P126005

Please note: this opportunity is only available to current employees of the University

At Birmingham City University, we are a diverse and inclusive learning community of over 31,400 students from more than 120 countries. We aim to become an exemplar anchor institution, creating and sharing knowledge for a better and more inclusive society. We are committed to providing a transformational educational experience, supporting world-class research, and fostering a collaborative and supportive working environment for our staff.

Recognised as one of the UK’s Top 250 employers (Financial Times & Statista), we pride ourselves on being a place where colleagues feel valued, supported, and able to grow their careers while contributing to the success of our students and communities.

Our student demographic reflects the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of Birmingham itself, with a significant proportion of students from minoritised ethnic backgrounds and the majority of our home students coming from the West Midlands. This diversity is a strength, and it calls for a workforce that is equipped to challenge deficit narratives and thinking — those assumptions that position students from underrepresented groups as lacking rather than recognising their assets, strengths and potential.

By embracing this perspective, we aim to create an environment where all students and colleagues can thrive, and where our work contributes positively to the social, cultural and economic life of Birmingham and beyond.

Role Summary

We are looking for a Project Manager to lead the development of Birmingham City University’s Innovation Fest 2027. Innovation Fest is BCU’s flagship STEAM showcase and a platform that brings together students, academics, professional services, partners, schools, communities and businesses around innovation, creativity and real-world impact. It includes occasions to give STEAM innovation and communities of practice a spotlight throughout the year before culminating in our highly visible annual event.

You will coordinate a BCU steering group and cross-BCU delivery teams, develop the Innovation Fest programme, manage plans, budgets, resources, risks and outcomes, and build engagement across the University and selected partners. You will work closely with the Events team and other professional services on event delivery requirements, while maintaining oversight of the overall programme and its contributors.

We are particularly interested in colleagues who can bring people together, turn ideas into deliverable activity and confidently manage multiple priorities. You will support both academic and professional services colleagues that are developing student projects for assessment and STEAM ideas into high-quality projects to showcase in May 2027.

Key Responsibilities

• Assemble and co-ordinate multi-disciplinary project teams.
• Define the scope, methodology, resource skills and budget requirements for individual projects ensuring clear project objectives are developed.
• Assess project risks and identify actions to address these.
• Deliver complex projects to time and budget, ensuring effective use of academic and professional services resources.
• Engage and manage project stakeholders. Support wider engagement with projects through effective communications and project updates.
• Provide professional advice, guidance and practical support for the development and delivery of strategic projects, such as advising on project governance, facilitating planning and supporting the development and maintenance of project documentation to agreed standards.
• Provide regular reports on progress, budget, issues and risks to the Project Board executive sponsor and University committees as required.
• Experience of working in a project management role in a complex organisation.
• Experience of monitoring and managing programme risks and benefits.
• Demonstrable experience of budget management and resource management.
• Excellent IT skills including project management software tools, Microsoft Visio and SharePoint.
• Excellent negotiation and influencing skills couple with tact and diplomacy.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including report writing and presentation skills.
• A solution focused approach with strong problem-solving and analytical capability.
• Exceptional organisational skills and a proven ability to work under pressure whilst ensuring accuracy, quality and attention to detail at all times.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to engage with and develop effective working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders from different disciplines and at all levels.
• Ability to co-ordinate and motivate project teams in a matrix management structure.
• A project management qualification such as PRINCE2, or qualification recognised by the Association for Project Management (APM).

Further Information

If you are excited by the opportunity to help shape the future of Partnerships and STEAM, we would love to hear from you.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Nick Morton at nick.morton@bcu.ac.uk.

• Work–life balance – Generous leave and hybrid working (role dependent).
• Career development – Opportunities to grow, develop and progress your career.
• Reward and wellbeing – Competitive pay, pension, wellbeing support and staff benefits.
• Inclusive culture – A supportive, diverse environment where everyone belongs.

This role may be eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker visa route, subject to meeting the relevant criteria. For further information, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa

At BCU, we welcome applications that clearly demonstrate how your skills and experience meet the requirements of the role. AI tools may be used to support you in preparing your application, but the information you provide must be accurate, authentic and based on your own experience. Applications that rely too heavily on AI, appear generic or do not provide specific evidence against the role criteria are less likely to progress to the next stage of the recruitment process. For more information, please refer to our candidate guidance;

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and to an environment that supports lawful free speech and academic freedom. We will continuously review and improve our policies, practices, and procedures to ensure that we are promoting these in all aspects of our operations. We believe that by working together, combining our many different backgrounds and life experiences, we will empower each other to reach our full potential.

Disability Confident Employer

Birmingham City University is proud to be a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview.

The appointed candidate will normally be employed through our subsidiary company, BCU Support Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Birmingham City University. Appointees with prior LGPS membership who wish to re-enter the scheme may do so and will be employed directly by the University.

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