Food and Beverage Team Leader - Campus Services - 101057 - Grade 3 in Birmingham

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £25,977 to £27,506

Grade: 3

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 30th August 2026

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.

Background:

The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally.

Department overview:

Campus Services (CS) employs over 1000 staff with a turnover exceeding £65m in the last financial year. CS plays a key role in the quality of the student, staff and visitor experience, providing services across diverse areas such as the University’s sporting facilities, food and beverage, cleaning, conferencing, hotel operations, day nurseries, Portering, post, branded and own-brand retail outlets, visitor services and attractions (e.g., Winterbourne House & Gardens), student housing, transport, waste disposal and recycling. CS is a highly commercial organisation operating within the University context and has an ambitious strategic agenda, in terms of growing our service profile across both our Birmingham and Dubai campuses.

The Food, Beverage, and Retail team run over 25 retail outlets on campus, at The Exchange, Winterbourne and Vale Village, alongside all hospitality and delivered catering for the university. From hairdressers to bookshops, opticians, and supermarkets, we manage a diverse range of shops and services that cater to the daily needs of students, staff, and visitors.

As part of Campus Services, the Business and Operations department offers a variety of outlets to staff, students and visitors across campus and also in student accommodation from small coffee shops to large restaurants. We also provide hospitality services for conferences and events held on campus and further afield.

Role Summary:

You will be responsible for supervising a team within a busy campus convenience supermarket, ensuring top-notch customer service, effective merchandising, stock management, delivery coordination, cleanliness, safety adherence, and the seamless operation of daily activities. You will guide retail assistants, manage shift operations, uphold store standards, and handle necessary administrative tasks. To make efficient use of resources, you may also be asked to lend a hand in other retail areas within the department or the broader University.

Main Duties:

• Customer Service: Greet and serve customers in a professional, responsive, courteous, friendly manner, including answering queries and dealing with situations that arise to deliver the highest level of customer service. Deliver the highest level of customer service through proactive supervision of your team. You will be able to react to situations as they arise, adapting the service as necessary. Responsible for the shift, planning staff rotas and referring any concerns to line manager(s). Oversee the customer experience on shift, ensuring staff provide prompt support and maintain excellent service standards. Building rapport with customers whenever possible and encouraging customer feedback. Ensure that a high standard of presentation is consistently maintained at all times, including that of your team.
• Business Requirements: Ensure stock is merchandised to agreed standards (planograms, product rotation, face-up, tidy shelves). Monitor product quality, particularly chilled, fresh, and date-sensitive items, ensuring goods are rotated correctly and removed when out of date. Receive, check, and process deliveries, ensuring accuracy against delivery notes and appropriate storage (ambient, chilled, frozen). Place accurate replenishment orders to maintain availability and range integrity as directed by your manager. Support monthly stocktakes and ensure results are recorded accurately and in line with procedures. Monitor and record waste, shrinkage, damages, and date-expired stock in accordance with policy. Report equipment faults (e.g., refrigeration, shelving, handheld devices) and take appropriate immediate action to ensure safety and minimise disruption. Ensure the team adheres to all food safety, health & safety, HACCP, COSHH and manual handling requirements relevant to a retail food environment. Support the safe and compliant use of store technology (self-checkouts, handheld scanners, stock management systems). Open and close the supermarket following security and operational procedures, ensuring the site is secure at all times. (No cash handling required.)
• Team Work: Motivate the team to increase sales by upselling products and encourage them to make recommendations to improve the standards of service. Motivate staff to maintain high retail standards and encourage product knowledge and customer engagement. Promote the outlet and related events, ensuring all point of sale equipment is used correctly. Participate in training and development activities as required. Maintain a professional working relationship with all members of staff, including the wider University Catering Management Team. Carry out job chats and Performance Development Reviews (annual) with the team members. Working with the Catering Management Team, identify any training needs for the team. Support staff by positively reinforcing successful performance, and coaching staff to improve where needed. Attend all team briefs/training and departmental meetings as required. Be actively involved in an annual personal development review with your line manager. Undertake any other reasonable duties or requests (other than those stated in the job description) as requested by a senior member of staff including driving UoB vehicles when required (where you have a clean driving license). In the absence of the catering management team you will deal with immediate issues of team performance, in line with the relevant HR procedures, reporting any major issues to your manager(s). Treats everyone with dignity and respect, supporting equality and valuing diversity. Monitor staff absence, completing sickness returns and maintaining appropriate records.

Operational requirements:

Annualised Hours - Operational windows will vary by business unit/activity, and hours are as required, based on a 35 hour week 7/365 operation (BH and Closure days) on a rota basis, includes weekend and evening work activities to align with Campus Services and University. To undertake works activities across all UoB campuses as requested that are commensurate with the grade and role activities to support the Division and wider UoB activities.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience:

• Demonstrate a sufficient level of literacy. This can be evidenced by achieving Mathematics and English GCSE (or equivalent level 1 qualifications) or by demonstrating relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Proven experience of working in a food and beverage environment, including ordering of food stuffs and compiling work schedules for other team members.
• A current Food Safety level 2 or 3 certificate, Personal License, and NVQ Food Preparation/Service is desirable but full training will be provided.
• Knowledge of the following is essential: Health and Safety at Work Act, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points guidance, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health guidance and a relevant Manual Handling course.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work on an individual basis and also within a team.
• Ability to present in a smart way – uniform will be provided for this purpose.
• Experience of resolving day to day problems is essential.
• Full clean driving license desirable.
• Work patterns may vary so a flexible approach to working hours and days is essential.
• Ability to learn and understand how diversity considerations affect own area (e.g. dietary requirements/dress code).

Informal enquiries to Anton Lilov, email: a.d.lilov@bham.ac.uk

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.