Operations and Resilience Officer

The University

At Durham University we are proud of our people.  A globally outstanding centre of educational excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.  Across the University we have a huge variety of roles and career opportunities, which together make us a large and successful community, which is a key hub of activity within our region and nationally.  Whether you are at the very start, middle or end of your career, there is a role for you. We believe everyone has their own unique skills to offer.  We would be thrilled if you would consider joining our thriving University.  Further information about the University can be found here

The Role and the Department

The Student Immigration and Funding Service (SIFS) works with internal colleagues and external bodies to provide high-quality advice and support relating to immigration legislation and financial support for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and applicants. 

The Service is part of the Academic Office. The Academic Office provides a professional administrative support service to staff and students of Durham University.

The Academic Registrar is the head of the department and is responsible to the Pro-Vice Chancellor (Education) for its management.  The following services fall under the remit of the Academic Office:

• Curriculum, Learning and Assessment
• Student Immigration and Funding
• Student Registry

All of the services are based at the Palatine Centre in Durham City.

The post holder will support the Student Immigration and Funding Service in delivering a comprehensive and professional support service to students, providing direct operational support for all areas of the office, producing, and maintaining detailed operational manuals (and when appropriate in-person deputising for team managers).  The post holder will facilitate service provision in times of difficulty, managing the office reception provision within the service.

This post will also act as Scholarships Officer job-share for periods of secondment of the incumbent post holder. This role supports the Scholarships Manager and acts as a key liaison for scholarship recipients and the University‘s reporting obligations to both internal and external partners. The role of Scholarships Officer also manages the day-to-day processes around scholarships, providing support to recipients and managers as appropriate.

The post holder will also work closely with all managers in the Student Immigration and Funding Service, providing additional support during busy periods and administrative resilience for all areas of the office.

The post holder will play a key part in supporting a customer-focused, efficient, and professional service dedicated to ensuring that students applying to and attending Durham University receive excellent immigration and financial support.

The University is currently undertaking a hybrid pilot looking at how best our staff can work flexibly on and off campus. This role is 35 hours per week.

Working at Durham  

A competitive salary is only one part of the many fantastic benefits you will receive if you join the University: you will also receive access to the following fantastic benefits: 

•    27 Days annual leave per year in addition to 8 public holidays and 4 customary days per year – a total of 39 days per year.  The University closes between Christmas and New Year.
•    No matter how you travel to work, we have you covered.  We have parking across campus, a cycle to work scheme which helps you to buy a bike and discount with local bus and train companies.
•    Lots of support for health and wellbeing including discounted membership for our state of the art sport and gym facilities and access to a 24-7 Employee Assistance Programme.
•    On site nursery is available and children’s clubs in the summer holidays.
•    Family friendly policies, including maternity and adoption leave, which are among the most generous in the higher education sector (and likely above and beyond many employers).
•    There is a genuine commitment to developing our colleagues professionally and personally.  There is a comprehensive range of development courses, apprenticeships and access to qualifications and routes to develop your career in the University.  All staff have dedicated annual time to concentrate on their personal development opportunities. 
•    The opportunity to take part in staff volunteering activities to make a difference in the local community
•    Discounts are available via our benefits portal including; money off at supermarkets, high street retailers, IT products such as Apple, the cinema and days out at various attractions. 
•    We offer generous pension schemes. 

Durham University is committed to equality,  diversity and inclusion 

Our collective aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and we believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  As a University equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are a key part of the University’s Strategy and a central part of everything we do.  We also live by our values and our Staff Code of Conduct.  At Durham we actively work towards providing an environment where our staff and students can study, work and live in a community which is supportive and inclusive. It’s important to us that all of our colleagues are aligned to both our values and commitment to EDI.

We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.  If you have taken time out of your career, and you feel it relevant, let us know about it in your application.  If you are a candidate with a disability, we are committed to ensuring fair treatment throughout the recruitment process. We will make adjustments to support the interview process wherever it is reasonable to do so and, where successful, reasonable adjustments will be made to support people within their role 

What you need to demonstrate when you apply/Person Specification

When you apply it is important that you let us know what skills/experience you have from a similar role and/or what skills/experience you have which would make you right for this role.  Further information about the role and responsibilities is at the end of this job description.  Where a criteria has an asterisk* next to it, it may be given additional weighting when your application is considered.  

Your application should cover the following criteria:

Essential Criteria  

Desirable Criteria

How to apply

To progress to the assessment stage, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above.  Where there are desirable criteria we would also urge you to provide any relevant evidence.  Please don’t forget to check if there is any weighted criteria (see above).

While some criteria will be considered at the shortlisting stage, other criteria may be considered later in the assessment process, such as questions at interview.  

Submitting your application 

We prefer to receive applications online.  We will update you about your application at various points during the process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails 
 
What you are required to submit:
•    A CV 
•    A covering letter  or statement which shows examples of how you meet all of the criteria within the Person Specification  

 
Contact details 
If you would like to have a chat or ask any questions about the role, Michael Parks would be happy to speak to you. Please email Michael at [email protected]

Typical Role Requirements

Service Delivery

• Reactive and proactive service provision with others to deliver an excellent stakeholder experience. 
• Responsible for keeping financial and budget records and reconciling consumable expenditure queries. 
• Ensure office activities, budgets and documents comply with internal University and external regulation, policy and procedures, supporting improvements to procedures as identified within the office and/or by senior management. 
• Ensure accuracy by instituting recognised and routine checks, assessment criteria and techniques. 
• Implement and monitor recognised procedures to ensure compliance and meet University values of inclusion, diversity and participation. 
• Develop and maintain detailed operational manuals documenting recognised procedures to ensure compliance, and which co-ordinate effort and contribute to team goals. 
• Record data and information accurately, provide reports and distribute information to key stakeholders in the process or service. 
• A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and the University’s values.
• Troubleshoot and recommend/implement resolutions where necessary in consultation with colleagues. 
• Supporting key teams during periods of internal or external audit.
• Develop the ability to deputise for all team managers within the service, to provide resilience and operational support, including undertaking the following Scholarships Officer responsibilities, as appropriate:
  • Liaise with important scholarship donors and organisations such as the Commonwealth Commission to ensure that the University retains the scholarship, providing reports and information to colleagues and donors; acting as the primary contact for scholarship recipients, as required. 
  • Manage the recruitment and selection process for scholarships, including the preparation of offer letters for successful and unsuccessful candidates. 
  • Act as the first point of contact for the University scholarships for which you are responsible, building up a thorough understanding of the schemes to ensure that you are able to advise on eligibility criteria, the application method and which scholarships are most appropriate for their situation, maintaining databases and delivering an excellent service. 
  • Act as ‘Home Agent’ for students undertaking expeditions, and allocated support from University funds, being the emergency point of contact for Expedition members and acting as a link with the University; identifying the problem and informing appropriate colleagues of the issue. 
  • Organise internal scholarship events as necessary; including the Vice Chancellor’s annual event and additional scholarship events as required.

Planning and Organising

•    Responsible for organising and overseeing all day-to-day aspects of the office reception and the scholarships managed within the office. 
•    Implement and monitor protocols, procedures, processes and regulations, documenting these in detailed office manuals to support the office in times of difficulty. 
•    Monitor and report incidents which require additional support. 
•    Manage and organise reception support, professional business and administrative service processes, staff and/or resources to achieve defined targets and outcomes. 

Teamwork and Team Development

•    Supervisory responsibilities for reception services, resources and people, including the Scholarships Administrator as required. 
•    Provide induction and ongoing development support and training to team members. 
•    Contribute to the ADR process, assisting with the identification of development needs where appropriate.  
•    Plan and organise own workload, and allocate and monitor work activities for staff engaged in reception support. 
•    Act as first point of contact for HR issues for the Senior Administrative Assistant (Reception) and the Scholarships Administrator (as required).

Communications and Networking

•    Relationship building, network participation internally and externally to build and update knowledge and skills across the office, the Academic Office, and the wider University. 
•    Contribute to business meetings, working groups and committees to help shape service delivery and stakeholder expectations. 
•    Use a range of Information Technology packages to support operational aspects of the service, and to present detailed information to key stakeholders, both verbally and in written format who may need to access information across different geographic and time zones. 
•    Establish, maintain and develop productive and ongoing relationships with stakeholders to influence perception of the University. 

Knowledge and Experience

•    Provide professional guidance and advice to staff and students with the operational running of processes, data and information recording and management data, providing financial projections for senior staff within the office.  

•    Any other reasonable duties.   

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement Privacy Notices - Durham University  which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.   

When appointing to this role the University must ensure that it meets any applicable immigration requirements, including salary thresholds which are applicable to some visas.