AVID Project Administrator in Manchester

The University was recently awarded £16m Local Innovation Partnerships Fund funding for a triple-helix project to accelerate collaboration, unlock new supply chain opportunities and strengthen Greater Manchester's ability to attract and grow innovative advanced materials and manufacturing businesses. We are seeking a Project Administrator to support the LIPF Programme Manager with the development of activities and provide administrative and finance support for the Atom Valley Innovation District programme. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key support role at the intersection of academia, industry and local government, helping to accelerate innovation and enable inclusive economic growth.

You will be responsible for:

• Provide comprehensive administrative support to project teams, including managing correspondence, maintaining records and filing systems, formatting documents and presentations, and ensuring compliance with GDPR, university, and funder requirements.
• Support the planning and delivery of meetings, workshops, and events, including diary management, invitations, venue and catering bookings, travel arrangements, minute-taking, action tracking, and circulation of papers.
• Act as a first point of contact for project enquiries, managing shared mailboxes, responding to routine queries, escalating issues where appropriate, and maintaining positive stakeholder relationships.
• Support financial administration and compliance, maintaining financial records, processing purchase orders, invoices, expenses, and claims, and liaising with internal finance teams and external suppliers.

We welcome candidates who bring diverse perspectives, experiences, and approaches to their work.

About You

We encourage applications from individuals with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. You should demonstrate:

Essential Criteria:

• Experience of providing high-quality administrative and financial support to project teams and senior staff.
• Experience of organising meetings and events and providing secretariat to boards and committees, including minute taking.
• Proven IT skills including use of Microsoft packages (including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint, Dynamics).
• Excellent organisational, prioritisation and time-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines simultaneously.
• Good standard of education, including literacy and numerical skills.

Desirable Criteria:

• An understanding of University operational process.
• Experience of supporting projects and coordinating project-related activities.
• Experience of externally funded projects, e.g. ERDF, EPSRC, UKRI.
• Experience of working in the Higher Education sector and/or in a research or innovation environment.

We value transferable skills and real-world experience as much as formal qualifications. Our benefits include:

• Generous employer pension contribution
• Christmas closure across all departments outside of annual leave and bank holidays
• Purple Place employee discount platform

For more information, please see University of Manchester Benefits. You can also find information on our Flexible and Hybrid working here. We are an open place of enquiry and challenge. We embrace and celebrate difference, diversity and debate, and we pride ourselves on being a place of education, learning and community where we are able, within the law, to question and test received wisdom, express new ideas and explore controversial or unpopular topics and opinions.

Enquiries about the role, shortlisting and interviews Name: Jill Brown Email Address: jill.brown@manchester.ac.uk General enquiries and administrative support recruitmentservices.people@manchester.ac.uk Technical and job portal support https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home This role is not eligible for Skilled Worker visa sponsorship. Applicants must demonstrate the right to work in the UK.