Senior Research Administrator School of Metallurgy and Materials 104953 Grade 5

Position Details

School of Metallurgy and Materials

Location: University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range 30062 to 31900 with potential progression once in post to 35883.

Grade:5

Part Time (60% FTE) Fixed Term contract up to March 2030

Closing date:10th May 2026

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 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 todevelopthrough our sector-leading Birmingham Professional programmewhichprovides allprofessionalservices staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential.With almost 5000professionalservices jobs in awide-rangeof 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 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 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 working.In 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 site.On campus we havea state-of-the-artsports centre with pool shopsplaces to eat and drinkour own art gallerymuseumand botanical gardens.

Find out more about thebenefits of working for the Universityof Birmingham

Background

This position will offer operational and financial administrative support to the wider research support team in the School of Metallurgy and Materials by mainly supporting the research group led by Professor Yu-Lung Chiu. The incumbent will be responsible for coordinating the daily administration of the research group ensuring milestones are achieved reporting to research partners and serving as the primary contact for both internal and external stakeholders. This role demands a strong sense of initiative and the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Effective communication with academics students the School Operations team other research support administrators the Head of Operations HR and Finance is essential.

Role Summary

As a senior administrator within the School of Metallurgy and Materials you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties some of which may be complex. You may also be responsible for managing other staff or for supporting colleagues and sharing knowledge. You will be able to use your wide range of skills both technical and administrative and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks within a order to flexibly use resource you may be given the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider University.

Main Duties

• You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these including deciding on the response to more complex queries.
• You will be expected to exercise your judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager. On a day to day basis you will be expected to resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager.
• If you have a supervisory role you will line manage your staff taking responsibility for co-ordinating and prioritising the work of others. If not in a supervisory role you will still be expected to act as a role model and coach members of the team.
• Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
• You may be involved in organising events including booking a venue sending invitations arranging refreshments liaising with speakers manage bookings co-ordination of colleagues advertising collating feedback and reporting back.
• Will manage some smaller projects on own initiative but will also carry out desk research and source data from internal and external sources in order to contribute to wider projects.
• You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research analyst and interpret complex data producing bespoke reports as required. . This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data.
• Support the management development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
• Process more complex data (which may be financial HR student-related or other) monitoring accuracy chasing up missing information and resolving any issues as appropriate.
• Provide specialist advice and training to colleagues on area of activity.
• As required provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
• You may be required to be responsible for one or more of the following:
  • monitoring budgets including processing payments authorising expenditure raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget
  • procuring goods and services through the University system
  • updating and writing contents for the departments communications eg intranet pages
  • dealing with health and safety and facilities issues
  • HR-related tasks such as managing staff absence induction or dealing with leavers
  • dealing with arrangements for international visitors
  • monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
• Supports equality and values diversity moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.

Person Specification

• 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.
• Proven experience in finance and managing budgets.
• Experience on working with research projects is preferable
• 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 and some experience of using an enterprise resource planning package. 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 verbal and written communication skills including the ability to write for different audiences and to required deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. The postholder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• 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. May manage a team or budgets.

You will be part of a larger team that provides research administrative support to various research groups within the School of Metallurgy and Materials. You will be line-managed by a senior research support staff but you will work closely with staff and students within Prof Yu-Lungs Chiu research group as well as other stakeholders.

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. May manage other staffs workloads.

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. They may also manage the workload of others or coach others to achieve results.

Internal and External relationships

This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders likely to be University-wide and with external stakeholders.

Informal enquiries toNavya Menon email:

View our staff values and behaviourshere

Use of AI in applications:We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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 ideasinnovationand debate at the heart ofUniversitylife. We are committed to proactively addressing the barriers experienced by some groups in our community and are proud to hold Athena SWAN Race EqualityCharterand 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 everyonehas the opportunity tosucceed. 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.