Community Safety Team Manager - Campus Services - 105941 - Grade 5 in Birmingham

Position Details

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: 14th July 2025

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

Campus Services (CS) employs over 900 staff with a turnover exceeding £50m 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.

Community Safety and Security Services

The aim of Community Safety and Security Services is to create a safe and secure University environment where our students, staff, visitors and partners can thrive. Led by the Head of Community Safety and Security, the department delivers three key functions, namely Security Operations, Community Safety Operations and Emergency Planning. The Security Team and Community Safety Team are led by the Community Safety and Security Operations Manager. Security is comprised of 4 teams providing services 24 hours a day all year round, patrolling campus, responding to incidents, monitoring CCTV, greeting visitors and supporting events. The Community Safety Team (CST) puts prevention at the heart of its activity, working with students and the wider University Community to promote safety. The team runs a drop-in advice service at the Community Safety Hub for both staff and students, offering help and support with safety and crime prevention.

Role Summary

The goal of the Community Safety Team (CST) is to contribute to the wellbeing and prosperity of our student and staff community by making the University of Birmingham a place where people are listened to and engaged with in relation to security and safety. You will help engender the University as a place where the community can live and work free from the fear and impact of crime and ASB. As the Community Safety Team Manager you will place prevention at the heart of everything we do. You will lead the Community Safety team to provide both a proactive and reactive response to crime prevention and harm reduction, including the provision of a Community Safety Hub where students and staff can access support services. You will line manage the team to plan and deliver campaigns and engagement activity to reassure students and staff and provide strategies to reduce risk of harm.

Main Duties

• Provide professional advice and expertise on issues affecting community safety, including the fear of crime for students, staff and visitors to the campus, identifying solutions where risks are identified.
• Plan, deliver, coordinate community safety campaigns and activities to reduce the risk of harm.
• Monitor performance, including finance, and report on progress in accordance with agreed timeframes and targets.
• Lead reactive support services for staff and students who are victims of crime and harm, including a drop-in service at the Community Safety Hub.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders to provide effective and collaborative support strategies for individuals.
• Work closely and cooperatively with security managers to identify areas of risk which impact on safety and community priorities.
• Produce regular briefings on achievements and progress against goals/action plan.
• Use CST to provide support and resilience for security operations where required.
• Maintain constructive relationships with the Police and relevant community and voluntary groups, establishing and delivering on community safety priorities.
• Oversee the work of the University Police Team, linking in with police supervisors to agree working strategies for the team.
• Work closely with the marketing team and external communications to ensure the provision of timely and accurate information and advice on the University website/social media, about community safety activities and services.
• To be a role model for the Community Safety Team providing leadership, coaching and management of the team to deliver a compassionate, professional and reassuring community safety offer.
• To be at the forefront of managing the staff on the operational Community Safety Teams in compliance with HR policy, dealing with such issues as performance, attendance, grievances and behaviour from problem identification through to successful resolution.
• To carry out documented 1-2-1 meetings with Community Safety Officers ensuring that objectives and development needs are met, and actions plans implemented where appropriate.
• To manage the training needs of the Community Safety Team so that development needs are correctly identified and that training records are kept up to date.
• Conduct daily intelligence and tasking briefings, with the CST ensuring that they are appraised of relevant information and patrol schedule.
• To ensure the health, safety and welfare of staff within the teams at all times.
• Participate in a culture of continuous improvement and undertake such training and development as may be requested.
• Recruitment, induction and probation of new starters, proactively identifying training needs and liaising with POD and third parties, to source that training where appropriate.
• Conduct and maintain Personal Development Records for the CST Officers.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Proven experience within a community safety role such as crime prevention/reduction or HE setting.
• Experience in managing projects/services to deadlines and milestones.
• Demonstrable experience in working successfully with internal and external partners to achieve shared outcomes.
• Willing to develop budget management experience and assist on project development.
• Proven experience in managing performance and leading a team to success.
• A good understanding of crime reduction and community safety issues.
• A good understanding of legislation relating to crime and disorder and anti-social behaviour.
• A working knowledge of local/regional/national policies in relation to community safety.

Dimensions

• Work effectively cross functionally with internal and external customers as well within the department management structure.
• Lead day to day community safety operations of the Community Safety Team with a student first approach.

Planning and Organising

• To plan effectively for team operations throughout the shift and to organise resources to deliver high standards of delivery.
• To assist at the planning stage and operational delivery with regard to community safety events and activities ceremonial functions as required.
• To engage with special projects as they are identified by the Head of Community Safety and Security or Business Improvement and Resilience Manager.

Problem Solving and decision making

• Carry out duties with minimum supervision and make good decisions in response to any community safety issue that may arise.
• Make decisions based on sound judgement and taking into account the National Decision Making Model.
• Effectively resolve problems that arise, reporting or escalating upwards as required and communicating to key stakeholders.
• Advise and support others as the subject matter expert in areas of community safety operations and crime prevention.

Internal and External relationships

• To maintain and build relationships with University stakeholders and community partnerships.

DBS required

The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

Informal enquiries to Tanya Kalsi, email: t.h.m.kalsi@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.