Operations Coordinator - Schools of Psychology and Biosciences - 105872 - Grade 5 in Birmingham

Schools of Psychology and Biosciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883

Grade: 5

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 27th May 2026

2 Positions Available

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

As an Operations Coordinator within the Schools of Psychology and Biosciences you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex. You will use your excellent organisational skills and attention to detail to ensure the people you support are well prepared, and that the tasks you carry out are completed to a high quality in a timely manner. The role will involve liaison with the School Head of Operations, School Operations Officer and members of staff from the School, College and wider University. The working relationship between the Operations Coordinator and the Head of School is of paramount importance to the success of the School and its efficient operation.

Role Summary

As an Operations Coordinator to the Head of School 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 use your excellent organisational skills and attention to detail to ensure the people you support are well prepared, and that the tasks you carry out are completed to a high quality in a timely manner.

Main Duties

• Undertake complex diary management and meeting planning, usually 6-12 months ahead, making decisions on the best use of time.
• Proactive inbox management, with confidence to make decisions on behalf of others where appropriate.
• Dealing with a wide range of more complex enquiries and correspondence independently or exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University.
• If in a supervisory role, you will line manage all staff and take responsibility for co-ordinating and prioritising the work of others.
• Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
• Proactive preparation and collation of meeting-related papers, working collaboratively to determine what information might be required in advance of a meeting.
• Arranging complex UK and overseas travel, including booking flights, hotels, transfers, and organisation and planning of itineraries.
• Organisation of events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
• Collate, analyse and interpret data.
• Will manage some smaller projects on own initiative, but will also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources in order to contribute to wider projects.
• Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
• Will be responsible for monitoring budgets including processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget.
• Updating and writing contents for the department’s communications eg intranet pages.
• 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.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderates 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 experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent level 2 qualification.
• Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle complex electronic diaries and emails, the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint.
• 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.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
• 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.
• PA experience i.e. diary management, events organisation (desirable).

This role will require you to exercise personal initiative within and beyond the department. You may manage a team or budgets. You will work under the direction of the senior manager you support, but you will have a significant degree of autonomy. You will deal with the more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in your area of responsibility.