Field Analyst - Student Placement

This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location. We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better. The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes. Financially strong and seriously ambitious, we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

Digital Solutions & Services are responsible for providing the digital platform to enable the best possible service to staff, students and stakeholders across the University and beyond. We take a collaborative approach to developing strategic goals to provide a diverse range of information technology and business services designed to support learning, teaching and research at the University of Derby.

Please note, this role is only available to University of Derby second year undergraduate students who start their academic year in September. Students who are studying on a Student Visa will NOT be eligible to apply for this post unless a placement year is a mandatory stipulation of the course.

The Field Analyst – Student Placement role will form part of the Second Line team and will be responsible for developing and maintaining University IT and Audio Visual (AV) systems that support the University’s teaching, learning and management functions; driving forward the efficiency, reliability and quality of the systems to maximise value and minimise risk. The role will be an AV centric position and will primarily encompass support of the front facing AV delivery including support, maintenance, system audits and events support of AV equipment and systems to the University’s students and staff for all aspects of the core university business e.g. teaching, events, business services and research.

You will help ensure all services are running as expected and are maintained to the correct standards. As part of the Service Delivery function, you will be required to work across the various teams as and when the business requires. The role will also require cross site working between the Derby sites e.g. Chesterfield and Derby campuses. Providing excellent development opportunities and full systems training supported.

This is an exciting opportunity for a student seeking a placement year in Digital Services. You will gain hands‑on experience working on real‑world projects, supporting the delivery of digital solutions that make a meaningful impact across the organisation. The role offers valuable insight into a professional digital services environment, helping you develop technical expertise, problem‑solving abilities, and communication skills.

This placement is ideal for someone who is eager to learn, enjoys working with others, and is looking to build a strong foundation for a future career in digital services. We are seeking a current second-year undergraduate (about to enter third year of studies) student who is working towards a degree in a relevant discipline and has a strong interest in Audio Visual (AV) technologies and digital services.

The successful candidate will possess a proactive and analytical approach to problem‑solving, with a commitment to delivering operational excellence and outstanding customer service. You will be confident working both independently and as part of a team, demonstrating professionalism and a willingness to take ownership of tasks and challenges.

As an ambassador for Digital Solutions and Services, you will build and maintain positive working relationships with colleagues, stakeholders, and customers across the wider institution. You will have excellent communication skills, a collaborative mindset, and a genuine desire to support others.

We are looking for someone who is eager to learn, develop their skills, and gain practical experience in a fast‑paced environment. The ideal candidate will actively seek opportunities to improve processes, enhance efficiencies, and contribute new ideas that support continuous service improvement.

• Deliver support to University IT systems in accordance with IT strategy, Strategic priorities and Business service requirements.
• Ensure systems meet regulatory and security standards, working with DS&S teams to strengthen processes.
• Being a ‘team player’ and working in a collaborative team environment to deliver complex solutions to multiple internal and external business units.
• Provide high-quality support to staff and students, manage expectations, and promote a service-focused culture through collaboration and liaison, ensuring high standards and continuous improvement.
• Support service recovery and improvement of business continuity processes.
• Initiates and monitors actions to investigate and resolve problems in systems, processes and services. Determines problem fixes / remedies. Assists with the implementation of agreed remedies and preventative measures.
• Assist on prioritising and diagnosis of incidents according to agreed procedures. Investigates causes of incidents and seeks resolution. Escalates unresolved incidents. Facilitates recovery, following resolution of incidents. Documents and closes resolved incidents according to agreed procedures and ensures lessons learned.
• Working with 3rd party suppliers and support partners to log escalated service tickets and proactively work with these to reach a speedy resolution.
• Responsible for ensuring standards for hardware, software and configuration management are maintained.
• Support changing demands, efficiencies, quality of service and where necessary a provision of a 24/7 Out of hours support on a rota basis to support the Service Delivery and Infrastructure Teams.
• Develop and utilize expertise for the benefit of customers and colleagues, embedding problem management, identifying improvements, and support skills development within the team and wider university.
• Support in the development and documentation of policies and procedures.
• Maintain and optimise IT systems, ensuring efficiency, reliability, and alignment with University priorities.
• Assist with overall site responsibility and elevate unresolved issues.

Skills, knowledge & abilities:

• Broad knowledge of a range of technologies e.g. application delivery, networking, operating systems, and their capabilities and benefits.
• Evidenced ability of acting as an exemplar individual in terms of high performance within a multi-disciplinary IT delivery team and contributing to the overall team’s performance constructively and professionally.
• Understanding of information security and governance.
• Creative and Innovative approach to successfully providing a consistent, high quality operational service, challenging system and process that do not focus on the customer needs.
• Ability to evidence excellent communication, engagement, persuasion and influencing skills (verbal and written).
• Strong analytical skills, ability to be decisive and takes ownership of problems.
• Responsive to customer needs, consultative and collaborative.
• Ability to deliver within tight deadlines in a demanding environment.
• Attention to detail and determination for excellence.
• Passion, energy and enthusiasm for continuous improvement and encourages innovation.
• Creates a service culture within and across teams.
• Develops and utilises expertise for the benefit of customers and colleagues. Can apply knowledge quickly to new challenges.

Business requirements:

• Requirement to participate in Response Team Rota.
• Flexibility with regard to working hours.
• Engagement with Students to ensure Service is fit for purpose, and to assist with Student employability.
• Willingness and flexibility to travel and work between University and external sites in a cost effective and timely manner.
• Willingness to provide support at University events from time to time e.g., Graduation, Clearing and Open Days, (some of these events occur outside of normal working hours, such as evenings and weekends).

Qualifications:

• Professional and/or technical qualifications, e.g. PRINCE 2 /ITIL / CCNA / MCP or substantial, applied equivalent experience.

Experience:

• Experience of maintaining, operating, troubleshooting Audio/Visual equipment.
• Experience of operating, developing AV management tools e.g. Crestron systems/Fusion etc.
• Working within a Higher Educational Institution.

Generous annual leave entitlement of 38 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata). Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme. Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers. Discounted onsite gym. Cycle to Work scheme. A flexible working environment. A commitment to personal and professional development.

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Dale Baker, Digital Operations Manager via d.baker2@derby.ac.uk. For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation. We are Disability Confident Employers, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invite applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.

Further, we are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non-binary-inclusive for all our staff, students, partners, and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training. When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender-neutral title 'Mx'. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns. This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non-binary candidates.

Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system. The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.

However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

You can apply by submitting an online application. Once you have signed in or registered with us you will be able to begin your application. If you are creating an account for the first time, please ensure you provide an email address that you access regularly as this will be our main means of contacting you regarding your application. The University reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

If you require any assistance, including the provision of any documentation in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment team at recruitment@derby.ac.uk. Please note all applications must be submitted online by Midnight GMT on the closing date of the vacancy. The University of Derby is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all our staff, students and children. At the University of Derby, safeguarding is everybody's concern.