Research Projects Portfolio Administrator - College of Social Sciences - 904359

Position Details

College of Social Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Starting salary is normally in the range £24,291 to £26,094. With potential progression once in post to £30,207 a year.

Band 500

Full Time, 12 month Fixed Term Contract

Closing date: 17 July 2022

Our offer to you

People are at the heart of what we are and do. 

The University of Birmingham is proud to have been a part of the City of Birmingham and the wider region for over 100 years, and we are equally proud to be recognised as a leading global university.  We want to attract talented people from across the city and beyond, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. 

We are committed to helping the people who work here to develop through our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programme which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.  With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able to develop your career at the University. 

We believe there is no such thing as a typical member of staff and that diversity is a source of strength that underpins the exchange of ideas, innovation, and debate.  We warmly welcome people from all backgrounds and are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diversity is at the heart of who and what we are, and how we work. 

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees and to the success of the University and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working.  In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a year, one paid day a year for volunteering, occupational sick pay, and a pension scheme. We also have three high quality subsidised day nurseries. 

The University is situated in leafy Edgbaston and there are excellent transport links to our beautiful campus, including main bus routes and a train station on site.  On campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool, shops, places to eat and drink, our own art gallery, museum and botanical gardens. 

Find out more about the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham .

Working for the College of Social Sciences

The College of Social Sciences has a long tradition of producing cutting-edge research that has real-world impact and informs the challenging and exciting learning environment our students experience.  The College is recruiting a second Research Projects Portfolio Administrator to provide holistic administrative support to a small portfolio of externally funded research projects.

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced administrator to provide support to a varied portfolio of externally funded research projects. The role will include communications support, overseeing finance process such as payment to subcontractors,  budget reconciliation, facilitating meetings, conferences and events, preparing evidence for funder reports (financial and non-financial), establishing and maintaining administrative systems and any other general administrative support required by the project teams.  The post holder will be managed by the Research Projects Facilitator (Post-Award) and will work closely with the academics lworking on each research project and an existing Research Project Portfolio Administrator.

The post is offered full-time, and part-time working or a job share will be considered.

Some UK travel and out of hours working may be required to support events.

Main Duties

Project Administration

Dealing with correspondence, including invoices and financial documentation
Processing project expenditure and monitoring expenditure against agreed budgets, liaising with central finance teams
Liaising with other professional services teams in the University, including the College finance team and central research support services
Maintaining and updating webpages
Supporting social media use
Supporting academic staff with event co-ordination and planning, e.g. booking hospitality, accommodation and travel as appropriate
Organising and planning meetings and conferences, and maintaining a project calendar as needed
Assisting with the collation of evidence for external reports
Servicing team meetings, including preparing agendas, disseminating supporting documentation, note-taking and ensuring action points are completed

General duties

To work collaboratively across professional services to network with peers and to establish and share best practice as appropriate
Respond to enquiries (in person, by telephone, video conferencing or email) in a professional and timely manner
Undertake other duties as required by the Research Projects Facilitator, or a nominated deputy
Support and share good practice within the professional services in the delivery of objectives
Trouble-shoot non-academic issues that arise with the delivery of the project including identifying the cause of the problem and remedial action needed, and co-ordinating the resolution of the problem from notification to resolution with input from a senior colleague for complex operational matters and from the academic investigator for academic matters
 

Person Specification

Skills

Ability to work independently and as part of a team, including the ability to work remotely where necessary.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills with strong attention to detail.
Aptitude for numeracy and accuracy with an understanding of budgets and the ability to use and devise spreadsheets effectively.
Organised and able to prioritise own workload according to changing needs and time constraints.
Reliable and trustworthy, with ability to make independent judgments when appropriate.
Able to demonstrate advanced IT skills using the MS Office suite of programmes, Adobe programmes and the ability to develop and maintain web pages and social media. The post holder should also be confident and willing to learn new software packages as required.

Qualifications

Educated to ‘A’ Level standard with at least GCSE Grade C in Maths and English or equivalent.

Knowledge and Experience

Significant experience of relevant administration, preferably in higher education or a research administration environment. Experience in managing externally funded projects would be desirable.
Ability to work and communicate with stakeholders from a wide range of cultural backgrounds courteously, diplomatically and confidentially.
Demonstrable experience in the organisation of conferences/workshops and international travel.
Demonstrable experience of developing, using and maintaining complex working systems, e.g. a financial management system or its equivalent.
The ability to work flexibly in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately.
Able to work under pressure and deal appropriately with confidential and sensitive information, including the requirements of data legislation.
The ability to use judgement and make appropriate decisions within the constraints of the role.

Informal enquires to Rachel Withey, email: [email protected]

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.