The SERENE group seeks to bridge the gap between academia and industry and has strong links with Dstl, the UK Met Office, QinetiQ and the European Space Agency as well as traditional UK Research Councils, primarily NERC and EPSRC. The group has a number of active research themes, including Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR), space radar, and the impacts of scintillation on satellite communication systems.

The primary research focus of SERENE is, however, modelling. SERENE has developed an operational first-principles data assimilation model of the Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere, that uses state-of-the-art mathematical techniques coupled with tens of thousands of globally distributed observations to make accurate and actionable real time space weather forecasts.

SERENE also investigates the long-term likelihood of extreme space weather events, which it does using statistical methods, to estimate the associated risks. This enables the UK Government to better evaluate this risk in comparison to other risks.

Role Summary

As a senior administrator within SERENE, 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.

This role is full time however, part time can be considered.

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.
• Proactive inbox management, with confidence to make decisions on behalf of others where appropriate.
• 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.
• You will be procuring goods and services through the University system, which are often large scale and complex, including the administration of trackers and reporting in association with this.
• You will be supporting the group to book travel in the UK and overseas for conference and events.
• You will be dealing with arrangements for international visitors, including visas and travel.
• Serve as the SERENE Social Value Champion, supporting engagement in key social value initiatives, including sustainability, equality, diversity and inclusion, and wellbeing. Represent and promote social value priorities on behalf of the group, working collaboratively across the School of Engineering, College, and wider University to support and enhance social impact.
• 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, analyse 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,
  • Updating and writing contents for the SERENE group communications e.g. intranet / web pages,
  • dealing with health and safety and facilities issues,
  • 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.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post, as reasonably directed by the Project Officer, Programme Manager, or Head of Research Group.
• This role will involve hybrid working.
• Travel to events may be required.

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 [http://www.birmingham.ac.