Senior Education Support Administrator (PGR Professional Practice Programmes) - College of Life[...]

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: 7th July 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 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 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.
• We believe 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.
• We offer flexible working arrangements, a generous benefits package including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay and a pension scheme, and subsidised day nurseries.

Role Summary:

The Senior Education Support PGR Administrator post is based within the PGR Programme Administration Team in the Research and Knowledge Transfer Office (RKTO), College of Life and Environmental Sciences. The team is responsible for the provision of education support across research programmes within the College, including professional practice programmes with taught elements. The postholder reports to the College PGR Manager and is responsible for the provision of education support across one or more research programmes.

Main Duties:

• Act as primary contact for academic staff involved in the Schools’ /Programmes’ learning and teaching, providing expert guidance, understanding and resolving queries, and identifying when to delegate or escape queries.
• Deal with higher profile contacts on own initiative.
• Work with and support your team to plan, organise, maintain and deliver activities, enabling the successful delivery of programmes; in some teams this will involve you being the designated line manager for staff.
• Take responsibility for more complex tasks associated with welcome, induction/re‑induction, attendance monitoring and recording, timetabling, placements, examinations, progression and graduation.
• Make a substantial contribution to the management, development and implementation of operational processes.
• Prepare and deliver management and institutional reports; this will include responding to complex data requests involving the need to pull information from various sources.
• Compile, manipulate, analyse and interpret large and complex data sets, drawing up reports and/or identifying required actions as appropriate.
• Support the development of systems and procedures to assist in the day‑to‑day running of School/Programme administration.
• Responsible for the regular review and update of key documentation.
• Support periodic quality assurance related audits, report on School/Programme compliance, propose solutions and develop and deliver remedial action plans.
• Provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
• Proactively identify ways of enhancing the curriculum and student experience, making recommendations as appropriate.
• Manage all data in accordance with University policy and Data Protection Regulations.
• Treat everyone with dignity and respect in line with current equality legislation.

Other Duties:

The post-holder will undertake any other duties that may be assigned by the relevant management team in support of more complex activities. If in a supervisory role, you will line‑manage all staff and take responsibility for co‑ordinating and prioritising the work of others, normally as the head of a small team or sub‑unit of a team. If not in a supervisory role you will still be expected to act as a role model and coach members of the team.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience:

• You will need to evidence substantial professional experience in a variety of similar roles; and GCSEs to a minimum of grade C/4 in English and Mathematics (or equivalent qualifications) and A levels or an equivalent level 3 qualification, such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma.
• You will be comfortable in a role where you take significant responsibility and where you are expected to proactively propose new ways of working.
• Comfortable working on your own initiative to complete tasks and projects without close supervision.
• Able to become authoritative quickly on complex systems and be able to advise colleagues on these.
• Able to set the standard for other colleagues, acting as a role model and coaching staff as appropriate.
• You will be able to communicate and delegate effectively as required.
• Well‑organised with the ability to prioritise work (your own and the work of others) proactively, independently and as part of a team.

In addition to the above, you should be able to demonstrate and/or evidence the following:

• The ability to work to tight deadlines in a collaborative team environment.
• The ability to supervise and support the work of other team members.
• A good understanding of delivering excellent customer service and the ability to influence others to deliver it too.
• The ability to interact with individuals at all levels of internal and external organisations.
• Experience of using and maintaining complex work systems e.g. student databases/record systems or equivalent.
• Exemplary attention to detail and the ability to work confidentially, use judgement and make appropriate decisions within the constraints of the role.
• The ability to cope with change in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately.
• Understand the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant university policies and procedures relating to equality and diversity.

Information for Applicants:

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and 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.