Business Services Assistant

The Open University; Milton Keynes; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 34,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Hybrid pattern

Job summary

The Open University in Milton Keynes is seeking a Business Services Assistant to join the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. You will provide proactive administrative and secretarial support to day-to-day operations, enabling colleagues to work efficiently in a hybrid environment.

You will typically support School Operations, Nations Support, Leadership Support, and Facilities/Health and Safety. The role emphasizes flexible, professional service and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Excellent verbal and written communication with professional presentation.
• Strong organisational skills with flexibility and initiative.
• Ability to handle sensitive information and data with care.
• Willingness to learn IT systems and work with teams.

Responsibilities

• Act as a first point of contact and handle general enquiries from academics, colleagues and external partners.
• Support day-to-day School and Faculty operations across Health and Safety, HR, Finance, IT and facilities.
• Assist with maintenance of systems and processes.
• Support meetings, events and conferences organization and delivery.
• Update website, SharePoint, Teams sites and email distribution lists.

Skills

Communication skills

Organisational skills

Data handling

IT proficiency

Independent working

Tools

SharePoint

Teams

Office 365

Job description

Job Location: Milton Keynes, Remote/Hybrid

Department: Business Services

Closing Date: 11 November 2026

Weekly Working Hours: 37

Contract Type: Permanent

Fixed Term Contract: End Date: Not Applicable

Welsh Language: Not Applicable

Change your career, change lives

The Open University is the UK's largest university, a world leader in flexible part‑time education, combining a mission to widen access to higher education with research excellence, transforming lives through education. Find out more about us and our mission by watching this short video (you will be taken to YouTube by clicking this link).

About the Role

As a Business Services Assistant in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences professional services team, you will support the day-to-day delivery of Business Services by providing proactive, flexible, and professional operational administrative, and secretarial support that allows colleagues to do their jobs effectively.

Although you will predominantly support Business Services, you will be expected to work flexibly and collaboratively with colleagues across the Faculty. Typically, you will work within one of the following areas:

• School Operations – supporting day-to-day school operations and providing secretarial and administrative support to members of the School leadership team and wider academic community.
• Nations Support – supporting day-to-day operations and providing administrative support for the academic communities based in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
• Leadership Support – supporting the PAs in the provision of secretarial and administrative support to members of the School and Faculty leadership team.
• Facilities and Health and Safety Operations – supporting the Operations & Compliance Managers in all aspects of facilities and H&S management.

This role is for School Operations, and you will be based in the School of Social Sciences & Global Studies.

You will also support the identification, dissemination, and implementation of good practice as part of a commitment to continuous improvement and the development of operational capabilities.

Key Responsibilities

Providing operational, administrative and secretarial support, working in conjunction with other members of the team and colleagues across the Faculty and wider University. Activities could include, but are not limited to:

Core Responsibilities:

• Acting as a first point of contact and handling general enquiries from academics, colleagues (within the Faculty and across Central Professional Services Departments), external organisations and partners using initiative to respond or refer on accordingly.
• Supporting day-to-day School and Faculty operations linked to Health and Safety, HR, Finance, IT and facilities, and information compliance, research and teaching.
• Assisting with the maintenance of systems and processes.
• Supporting the organisation and delivery of meetings, events, and conferences.
• Updating website, SharePoint, Teams sites content and email distribution lists.
• Raising purchase requisitions, booking travel, maintaining records of expenditure, logging future commitments, and contributing to quarterly forecasts.

Specialist responsibilities:

• Providing secretarial and administrative support to members of the School and Faculty Leadership Teams including diary management, dealing with general correspondence, responding to telephone and e‑mail enquiries, and maintaining and updating electronic filing systems. (School Operations, Leadership Support)
• Providing core administrative support (including travel bookings) for the academic community (including PhD students). (School Operations)
• Supporting Health and Safety, operations and compliance activity across the faculty including completing Level 1 DSE assessments and acting as a local Fire Warden; equipment procurement; management of new starter administration, including the online H&S induction. (Faculties and Health and Safety Operations)
• Day-to-day administration that supports the allocation and reallocation of Associate Lecturer FTE in the Nations, including supporting the allocation of academic tutors to students and arrangements for local cover when required. (Nations Support)
• Acting as a first point of contact and handling general enquiries from students, including VOICE queries. (Nations Support)
• Supporting specific compliance related to the devolved nations. (Nations Support)

Strategy, Planning, Policy and Governance

• Servicing committees/meetings, including arranging rooms (bookings and AV equipment, catering, drafting agendas, circulating papers and taking notes etc.).

About You

• The ability to communicate professionally both verbally and in writing which enable the successful candidate to build trust and positive working relationships, enabling effective collaboration with colleagues.
• Effective organisational skills with the ability to remain flexible, adaptable, and responsive and to use initiative, work independently, and solve problems in a pro‑active manner.
• The ability to deal with sensitive and confidential information, work accurately, and to manage and manipulate data appropriately.
• Proficient in the use of IT and willing to develop existing skills and learning about relevant IT systems.
• The ability to prioritise own work, having an awareness of the workload of the team, and support colleagues when necessary.
• An understanding of, and the ability to work in a manner, which aligns with the University’s mission and Values in Action.

What's in it for you?

At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).

We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.

Work Location

It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, enabling the successful candidate to work both from home and from our Milton Keynes office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to the Milton Keynes office, attendance on site will be required when necessary to meet business needs.

We would expect attendance to be a minimum of one day per week (Wednesdays), with additional attendance required in response to business needs. There may also be occasions, approximately once per quarter, when attendance increases to up to five consecutive days on site.

Full-time onsite working is also supported for candidates who prefer this arrangement. Please note that travel expenses associated with commuting to our Milton Keynes site are not reimbursable.

Next steps in the Recruitment process

It is anticipated online interviews will take place during the first week of December. Candidates may also be required to complete on-line ability tests.

Early closing date notification

While most roles will remain open until the advertised closing date, applications may be reviewed on an ongoing basis. In some cases, vacancies may close earlier if a sufficient number of suitable applications have been received and equality impacts have been appropriately considered. All roles will remain advertised for a minimum of one week before any early closure is implemented.

If you have started an application or were in the process of applying when the advert closed, we encourage you to get in touch. We are committed to understanding individual circumstances and can offer further support where needed, including reasonable adjustments for applicants with protected characteristics.

The Open University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion which is reflected in our mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive environment so that all in our OU community can reach their potential. We recognise that different people bring different perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and culture, and that this difference brings great strength.We strive to recruit, retain and develop the careers of a diverse pool of students and staff, and particularly encourage applications from all underrepresented groups. We also aspire to make The Open University a supportive workplace for all through our policies, services and staff networks.