Specifically, the postholder will provide administrative and operational support to the Co-AIMS Hub, a £13.7 million national research hub funded by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC). It unites seven universities and High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres with over 50 partners from industry, innovation, and government to position the UK as a world leader in AI-powered sustainable manufacturing. Combining pioneering research with industry-led flagships, the hub’s vision is to deliver robust, trustworthy AI systems that boost productivity, resilience, and environmental performance. The hub-and-spoke model connects universities as research “spokes” to address real-world challenges across priority sectors. This is a timely, transformative initiative: leveraging cutting-edge AI to reduce waste and emissions while empowering workers and businesses to adapt sustainably in the face of global disruptions. Co-AIMS offers a unique opportunity to drive UK leadership in human-centred, ethical AI for manufacturing.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2025/new-research-hub-could-revolutionise-ai-based-manufacturing

Role Summary

As a senior administrator within a team/department you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex. You will be able to use your wide range of skills, both technical and administrative, and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a team.

Main Duties

• You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these, including deciding on the response to more complex queries.
• You will be expected to exercise your judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager. On a day to day basis you will be expected to resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager.
• Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
• You will be involved in organising events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
• 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.
• You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyst and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data.
• Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
• Process more complex data (which may be financial, HR, student-related or other), monitoring accuracy, chasing up missing information, and resolving any issues as appropriate.
• Provide specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity.
• As required, provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
• You may be required to be responsible for one or more of the following:
  • Monitoring budgets including processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget,
  • Procuring goods and services through the University system,
  • updating and writing contents for the department’s communications eg intranet / web pages,
  • Dealing with health and safety and facilities issues,
  • Dealing with arrangements for international visitors, including visas and travel
  • Monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
  • Supports equality and values diversity, moderating 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 work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
• 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, and some experience of using an enterprise resource planning package. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• 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.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. The postholder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
• 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.
• Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Informal enquiries to Laura Harvey, email: l.j.harvey@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