Governance Support Administrator – Executive Support – 55709Z25 – Grade 5

Position Details

Executive Support

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 (We are also open to discussing part-time working with a minimum requirement of 0.8FTE)

Fixed Term contract up to July 2026

Closing date: 8th June 2025

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

UK travel may be required for this role

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

We are looking for a flexible and enthusiastic colleague to join our small and friendly Governance Support Team in the Executive Support Division. This division brings together several teams that support the running of the institution, working closely with members of the University Executive Board in particular. Between them, these teams help to develop the University’s future plans, ensure robust and effective decision-making, safeguard regulatory and legislative compliance, are experts in the external policy and political environment, provide vital insight into the University’s performance, and deliver significant projects that make a positive difference.We are interested to hear from candidates with experience of providing high quality administrative support, as well as candidates who can demonstrate the transferrable skills and abilities to develop while in post. We are interested to hear from candidates with experience in higher education as well as those who are new to the sector.Given the nature of our work, members of the Governance Support Team operate on a hybrid office/home working basis. We will explore at interview how these working arrangements can operate for the benefit of both the University and the post holder. We are also open to applicants interested in working on a part-time or job share basis. Interviews will take place in person at the University of Birmingham Edgbaston campus on 30th June 2025. If this interview date is likely to be a barrier to application, please contact us.

Role Summary

This is an excellent opportunity to work and contribute to decision making at the heart of the University by providing proactive and high quality administrative support for the governance team. This post will have administrative responsibility for the Governance Team including meeting support, support for away days for the University Executive Board and other leadership forums, and being the first point of contact for the University Council in the team.Due to the events and meetings this role supports, there will be occasional starts at 8am and working until 6pm (approximately 6-7 times per year).

Main Duties

• To be responsible for the practical arrangements for meetings, including the setting of dates, distribution of calendar invites, meeting room and accommodation bookings, seating plans, catering, placenames, reception of attendees, co-ordination of presentations, video conferencing set up, transport arrangements, records of attendance and apologies, and the preparation and clearing of the meeting room.
• To provide effective administrative and practical support for events such as Away Days for University Executive Board, University Leadership Forum and Council Strategy Days. This can involve liaising with external venues and providing on-site support on the day of the event.
• To act as the first point of contact for members of Council (the University’s governing body), working with colleagues as needed to answer their queries and arrange visits for them.
• To arrange internal meetings for the Pro-Chancellor and other members of Council as required, and arrange internal governance meetings involving members of University Executive Board (e.g. Chair’s briefing meetings).
• To be responsible for creating the University Committee diary in advance of the upcoming year, checking dates are appropriate for the senior team and booking venues. This includes developing a close working relationship with the University Conference Team and Edgbaston Park Hotel to ensure adequate meeting room bookings for the upcoming year are in place and ensuring meeting requirements are met.
• To be responsible for the administration of key digital platforms for the Governance Support Team, including the University’s Board Portal Software, Microsoft Teams sites for groups such as University Leadership Group, and the Governance pages of the University website. This includes setting up new users, distributing user instructions and troubleshooting any access issues.
• To prepare, format and distribute documentation as required.
• To provide administrative support and office management for the Governance Support Team including financial administration (e.g. purchase orders, invoices and expenses), office equipment and stationery ordering and IT requirements.
• To support governance processes and projects as required, e.g. the distribution and recording of the Annual Declarations Return for members of Council and the wider leadership of the University.
• Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

This job description is intended to provide a broad outline of the main responsibilities of the role. The post holder is required to be flexible in developing their role by agreement with the Governance Officer and will from time to time be required to undertake any other duties commensurate with the grading of the post. This includes assisting the wider administrative team of the Executive Support Division as 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. 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 post holder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• Excellent prioritisation skills and ability to stay calm under pressure.
• 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.

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 stakeholders, likely to be University-wide and with external stakeholders. When completing the application form, please use the person specification above to inform your answer to the section that says: This section should set out your reasons for applying, skills and experience, and other interests and activities as appropriate to the person specification. As a rough guide, we would expect you to write in the region of 600-1000 words and cover how your skills and experience apply to the role, with clear examples. You may also attach a CV if you wish, however, shortlisting will be predominantly based on the information in the application form.

Informal enquiries to Chris Ellison (Governance Officer), email: c.ellison@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.