Post Award Officer Research Strategy and Services 95531S25 Grade 6

Position Details

Research and Strategy Services

Location: University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range 33002 to 35608 with potential progression once in post to 39906

Grade: 6

Full Time Fixed Term contract up to December 2026

Closing date: 16th November 2025

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

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 andweare equally proud to be recognised as a leading global 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 todevelopthrough our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programmewhichprovides allprofessionalservices staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full almost 5000professionalservices jobs in a wide-range of functionsin Edgbaston andin our campus inDubai there are plenty of opportunities foryou to be able to develop yourcareer 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 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 areand how we work.

Supporting our people to achieve a healthy work/life balance is important both to our employees andtothe success of the University and depending on the role we offer avarietyof flexible working arrangements. We therefore welcome discussions on all forms of flexible addition you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 dayspaid holidaya 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 campus we have a state-of-the-art sports centre with pool shopsplaces to eat and drinkour own art gallery museum and botanical gardens.

Find out more about thebenefits of working for the Universityof Birmingham

Background

The University has an exciting vision to build on the success of REF2021 by continuing to transform its research performance across outputs income impact and policy influence. Central to this ambition is the Research Strategy & Services Division (RSSD) a new Professional Services department that is being established to provide a transformative and sector-leading approach to research strategy and support.

Role Summary

The Post Award Officer Research Strategy & Services will be responsible for the financial management and administration of a portfolio of research projects including responsibility for funder claims reporting and forecasting associated with the academic area(s) that they support. The post holder will provide stakeholder management to academic project leads and will build successful relationships with their peers and colleagues across the wider RSSD other Professional Services including College will develop share and own best practice for post-award financial support key funders and the portfolio of activity associated with their academic area(s).

The role holder will work within RSSD to embed a culture of collaborative working throughout the team that empowers all staff within the team to thrive and work in close partnership with the wider Professional Services ensuring that academics and external partners receive a consistent and high-quality service to build strong credibility across all functions.

Main Duties

• Provide high-quality financial management throughout the full post award lifecycle across the portfolio of their academic area(s). Offer expert advice and guidance to academic colleagues including on budget maximisation and funder terms and conditions.
• Directly manage a portfolio of externally funded research projects undertaking financial claims reporting monitoring and project closure. Deliver to a high standard and high level of accuracy minimising financial risk to the institution. Ensure an understanding of customer needs across the academic community for their area of responsibility the wider RSSD and other University Professional Services areas.
• Contribute to ensuring that the Post Award function operates efficiently proactively seeking opportunities to streamline handovers steps and tasks systems and processes. Share best practice across the wider RSSD Post Award teams to facilitate the delivery of robust quality assurance and high levels of service to internal and external customers.
• Timely completion of a range of monthly KPIs for their academic area ensuring that they are delivering to high standard and that both financial risk to the institution and reputational risk with external funders is mitigated. This will include but not be limited to project closure debtor/creditor positions project monitoring and claims completion being accountable to the Head of Post Award for their respective academic area.
• Ensure that information required by auditors for funder and University external audits of our research accounting processes is provided accurately and in a timely manner in order to facilitate verification of both internal processes and the reported financial position.
• Arrange and coordinate project specific audits where required by the funder terms and conditions. Ensure that deadlines are met and queries are responded to accurately and within a timely manner where necessary seeking advice from the Post Award leadership team.
• Engage externally with funders where required in order to offer financial assurance and liaison regarding operating procedures. Act as a subject matter expert for major external funders associated with your respective area of responsibility offering advice and support across the wider RSSD.
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Personally model the Values of the University and in particular those in the Strategic Framework and Birmingham Professional.
• Undertake any other duties as required from time-to-time by the Assistant Director/Post Award leadership team Research Strategy & Services Division.

Required Knowledge Skills Qualifications Experience

• Educated to Degree level(or equivalent qualifications) -where no equivalent qualification is held significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required.
• Evidence of numeracy and literacy with the ability to write clearly and to analyse information and data.
• Knowledge of the UK research funding ecosystem key research funders and an understanding of their processes. desirable but not essential.
• Experience of engaging and collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to build teams deliver key outcomes or resolve challenges.
• Experience in improving processes service quality and/or efficiency and delivering high quality customer service in your immediate area of activity.
• Excellent analytical skills with an ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative information and present this to a wide range of audiences.
• Proficient IT skills including the MS Office suite and corporate systems. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required. Excellent knowledge of Excel is essential.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with proven experience of collaboration within teams including engaging with peers and staff within an academic public sector or commercial research environment.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to negotiate effectively with a range of internal stakeholders in order to convey policies or decisions and to influence decisions.
• High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure and set priorities for a wide range of tasks and duties relevant to your areas of work.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010 and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Role context

Roles at this level will require expertise and a detailed understanding of methods systems and procedures in an administrative or professional will either use specialist knowledge or have more of a planning/co-ordination/project role or a role which is supervisory in nature where you may manage a team doing similar kinds of will have the opportunity to exercise a high degree of personal responsibility and initiative which you will use to resolve queries; you will use your judgement to deal with unforeseen problems and circumstances all with limited guidance/supervision.

Core competencies/transferable skills

Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully use the core competencies/transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below. As appropriate for the level our Birmingham Professionals will take ownership for getting things will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider University.

Planning and organising

• prioritise and schedule work and resources to ensure on time and (where applicable) on budget delivery;
• set priorities and quality standards for a wide range of tasks and duties;
• contribute to written documents for example guidelines internal to the area taking account of audience;
• operate with limited supervision as they will have considerable scope for initiative within established work procedures.

Problem solving and decision making

• anticipate and identify issues in own area based on experience;
• make appropriate suggestions for improvements and implement these when agreed in own area;
• facilitate change and articulate the implications and benefits of change to others;
• focus ondetermining short-term priorities of work area and how to maximise quality efficiency and continuity.

Organisational understanding

• quickly develop an understanding of their working area and how it contributes to the success of the University;
• display an interest in how the University operates beyond own working area; develop and share this knowledge with others.

Relationships and communication

• develop and maintain excellent working relationships in own area and more widely as required for collaborative working opportunities;
• communicate clearly and openly with others both within and external to the University and use a range of communication skills and strategies to gain commitment to a course of action;
• demonstrate collaborative working at all times including with others outside the immediate work area.

Informal enquiries to Amerdeep Bolla email:

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 everyoneon our website.