BactiVac Network Marketing & Communications Assistant – College of Medicine and Health – 103288 – Grade 5

Position Details

College of Medicine and Health

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,647 to £31,460, with potential progression once in post to £35,388

Grade: 5

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to November 2027

Closing date: 17th June 2025

UK and International travel may be required for this role

‘Open House’ Drop In Session: We will be holding an ‘open house’ drop in session at the University’s Exchange building, in Centenary Square, Birmingham, between 10am and 5pm on Friday 6th June 2025. If you’re interested in working at the University of Birmingham and perhaps have a few questions, this is an opportunity to meet colleagues in the Recruitment team. It will be a relaxed and informal event – you can drop in at any time.

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

Background

BactiVac, the Bacterial Vaccines Network is a global vaccinology network that brings together members based in academic, industry and policy sectors to accelerate the development of vaccines against bacterial infections relevant to low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Since its establishment in August 2017, the Network has grown to over 2,100 members based across 92 countries, with 52% of our members based in low and middle income countries (LMICs).

The BactiVac Network fosters partnership by providing catalyst project funding and training support. The Network also hosts Annual Network Meetings that bring our global membership together, allowing the exchange of ideas and supporting the generation of new collaborative partnerships across the Network.

Operational management and delivery of Network activity is devolved to the BactiVac Administrative team, which consists of the Operations Manager, Deputy Operations Manager, Senior Administration Co-ordinator, External Engagement Co-ordinator, Marketing & Communications Assistant and two Network Administrators.

Role Summary

The BactiVac Network Marketing & Communications Assistant will work closely with other team members, supporting the development, planning and implementation of the Network’s strategy for external engagement and communication. The successful applicant will be creative and highly motivated, with experience in producing rich and engaging media content to raise the profile of the Network through a variety of formats (videos and podcasts) and platforms (website, social media), across a range of audiences nationally and internationally.

The applicant should have a successful track record of being able to work as part of a team, utilising their excellent communication and interpersonal skills to provide exceptional customer service, demonstrating outstanding judgement to successfully deliver outcomes within agreed timescales and to the required standard, be confident in dealing with a variety of stakeholders at all levels within a range of organisations and to work collaboratively within a small, dynamic administrative team.

An appreciation and desire to develop an understanding of global health issues, particularly in relation to bacterial vaccine development, would be highly advantageous. The role will require some travel, to capture content at relevant meetings and events, within the UK and overseas.

Main Duties

• Generating digital content ideas for inclusion on the website and Members’ Directory, including creating and publishing content on social media and other digital channels, such as videos, podcasts and webinars.
• Supporting the management of social media channels and generating relevant content for social media posts.
• Proactively seeking and exploiting opportunities to promote Network outputs, activities and achievements, co-ordinating the production of content (including video and podcasts) and getting sign-off from appropriate individuals within the Network.
• Promoting and supporting Network events, capturing content and editing this to upload onto the Network’s website and social media platforms.
• Developing, editing and updating the Network’s website content, ensuring that all web and digital content meets with all legal requirements and is compliant to recognised web standards, including accessibility.
• Monitoring and reviewing the Network’s web usage metrics and statistics and adjusting web pages accordingly to increase effectiveness and inform future web developments.
• Collecting and maintaining metric-based information to provide informed insights about the Network’s performance and implementing agreed follow-up digital-based actions.
• Production and development of the Network’s newsletter.
• Supporting the production of marketing materials.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.
• The post holder will be required to support 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 level 2 qualification.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Demonstrable experience in video and podcast production, including the use of editing software packages such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop and Premier Pro.
• Proven ability to support film production projects and work productively as part of a small dynamic team.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
• Experience of working with content management systems for making website/intranet updates.
• Experience of working with social media in a professional context.
• Ability to work with initiative, under pressure and manage multiple workloads simultaneously.
• Creative and innovative approach to problem solving.
• 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.

Dimensions

This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department.

Planning and Organising

The role is required to work independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision.

Problem Solving and decision making

They will work with direction from management but with a significant degree of autonomy. They will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in their area of responsibility.

Internal and External relationships

This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and external stakeholders.

Further particulars can be found here

Informal enquiries to Jo Dean, email: j.e.dean@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

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.