Department Overview

Campus Services (CS) employs over 1,000 staff with a turnover exceeding £60m. 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, community safety and security, conferencing, hotel operations, day nurseries, portering, post, branded and own-brand retail outlets, visitor services and attractions (e.g., Winterbourne House and Garden), student accommodation, transport, and sustainable logistics. 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.

Role Summary

We are looking for a Communications Officer to join our team, responsible for crafting creative, clear and concise external communications for a wide array of audiences. Alongside skills in creative writing, PR and communications, the postholder will be passionate, enthusiastic and a team player; keen to support all areas of Campus Services, actively engage with colleagues across the division and support with the development of projects across the entire portfolio.

Reporting directly to the Marketing and Communications Manager, this post works within a team of marketing, digital and design professionals. The post holder will be responsible for crafting communications across the Campus Services portfolio, to different audiences, and across a range of channels including social media, websites, emails and printed materials. The successful candidate will also have knowledge of SEO best practice and experience crafting copy aligned to this, as well as editing/proofing materials.

We’re looking for someone with at least two years’ experience, who has a flair for writing, excellent grammar a love of creative communication and the ability to switch tone of voice to suit the brand and audience. Writing for broad and niche markets, you’ll be able to grasp the needs of our customers and work to communicate with them in the most effective ways. You’ll have an understanding of the media, brand development and public relations and engage with journalists and PR agents. You will be expected to keep on top of current trends and contribute content marketing and communication plans needed to support departmental campaigns.

Please note this is a full-time office-based role, located at our Edgbaston campus in Birmingham.

Main Duties

• Create engaging and accurate communications aligned to the strategic objectives of individual departments within Campus Services
• Copywriting across a range of channels, including websites (in line with SEO best practice), social media and email marketing
• Craft press releases and award submissions which capture the imagination, and communicate the excellent and groundbreaking work done by Campus Services teams on a wider stage
• Interpret briefs to understand project requirements and action accordingly
• Edit and proof work to ensure high editorial standards are met across all communication outputs
• Collaborate with colleagues in the team to assess project needs and help shape key messaging
• Drive brand consistency across all communications, supporting with the development and implementation of brand guidelines
• Undertake research, to inform communications that add value for customers and builds brand equity
• Deliver a range of campaigns, in partnership with the rest of the team
• With the support from managers, lead on certain campaigns throughout the calendar year
• Cultivate good relationships with colleagues across Campus Services and wider University to support communications strategies. This will involve in-person meetings at different locations across campus.
• Stay up to date with current trends and competitors within the editorial sphere
• See projects through the whole creative lifestyle, from inception to deployment
• Update actions and responsibilities on our project tracker

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Minimum 2 years’ communications experience in a similar/equivalent role
• A relevant degree in marketing, communications, business, English or similar
• Mastery of the English language and exceptional communication skills are essential, including evidence of writing for a range of channels including email, social media and print
• A self-starter with a great attitude, excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work well under pressure, meeting tight deadlines through excellent organisation and planning. Ability to prioritise and schedule workloads in the face of conflicting demands while maintaining a high degree of accuracy
• Highly creative with experience in identifying target audiences and developing content that engage, inform and motivate
• Experience of content creation using SEO practices for websites. This should include the ability to maximise opportunities for engagement, indexing, ranking, click-throughs and conversion
• Demonstrable experience of PR
• Knowledge of social media measurement tools such as Hootsuite
• A strong eye for detail, formatting and engaging content
• A driven and passionate approach to work
• An understanding of the Higher Education sector is desirable

Informal enquiries

Informal enquiries to Sala Davies, email: s.davies.8@bham.ac.uk [s.davies.8@bham.ac.uk]

View our staff values and behaviours here [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/our-strategy/our-values]

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 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 [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/about/equality-diversity-inclusion].