Events Officer - Development and Alumni Relations Office - 102845Z25 - Grade 6

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 36,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Birmingham seeks an Events Officer to join the Development and Alumni Relations Office. This role involves delivering creative events for alumni and donors, supporting the university's 125th anniversary celebrations, and managing a diverse events portfolio. Candidates should possess strong communication and organisational skills, with a degree or equivalent experience. This full-time position offers a competitive salary and a range of benefits.

Benefits

40 days paid holiday

Occupational sick pay

Pension scheme

Paid volunteering day

Subsidised day nurseries

Qualifications

• Significant experience of delivering complex events.
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple projects.
• Experience working with senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Delivering in-person and online events for alumni and donors.
• Supporting the Events Programme Manager with event planning.
• Managing a personal portfolio of events.

Skills

Communication

Negotiation

Organisational skills

Project management

Education

Degree level education

Tools

MS Office

Job description

Position Details

Development and Alumni Relations Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £32,546 to £35,116 with potential progression once in post to £39,355

Grade: 6

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to August 2026

Closing date: 19th May 2025

Interview date: w/c 2nd June 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 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 5,000professionalservices 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 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 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 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 thebenefits of working for the Universityof Birmingham

Background

Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village’ in the 1960s.In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, raising £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London.

The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in our local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015.We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to address global health epidemics, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from underrepresented backgrounds: one of the highest proportions in the UK.

DARO exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities.The Office, which is comprised of five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research projects, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships, as well as providing a versatile programme of engagement opportunities for our global alumni community.

Role Summary

Do you want to be part of a dynamic and creative team? We are recruiting an Events Officer to work in the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) to deliver creative, sector leading events.The Events Officer has responsibility for delivering both in-person and online events for our global community of alumni, donors and volunteers.From our mass engagement ‘Bringing Birmingham to You’ event series, to bespoke events hosted by senior members of University staff, and stewardship events to thank our donors and volunteers at all levels, the Events Officer will ensure a high-quality, engaging, and tailored experience for alumni, donors, volunteers, and VIPs.

DARO is an ambitious office and we support our team to succeed. You will contribute to a busy programme of events, and over the year will focus on delivering activity as part of our 125th anniversary celebrations as well as a series of high-profile events in the lead up to the close of our fundraising and volunteering campaign, Birmingham in Action. You will have the opportunity to shape a creative and impactful programme which engages our alumni and supporters with the University.

You will be provided with a robust induction and an ongoing training program that will include support from the University as well as expert external providers.

Main Duties

• Working aspart of the Events team to deliver the overall DARO events programme.
• Supporting the Events Programme Manager with delivery of the full DARO events programme, which supports all DARO audiences as part of the Birmingham in Action campaign, including alumni, donors, volunteers, VIPs, staff and students.
• Delivering a range of events from conception through to evaluation; scoping venues, approaching speakers, writing invitations, updating the website, overseeing the event budget, managing registrations, arranging briefings and debriefs.
• Working collaboratively with the Events Programme Manager, Events and International Officer and Events Assistant to plan and deliver departmental events around the University’s 125th anniversary celebrations and the close of the Birmingham in Action campaign.
• Together with the Events Programme Manager, Events and International Officer and Events Assistant, participating in the review, evaluation and creative planning activity of the events programme, seeking out new opportunities and proposing improvements.
• Supporting the Events Programme Manager with - and potentially leading on – high profile events with the Vice-Chancellor, Chancellor and influential alumni.
• Developing collaborative working relationships with key staff, both within DARO and across the University.
• Managing a personal portfolio of our ‘Bringing Birmingham To You’ event series, which are held both in person and online, bringing academic expertise to our global alumni audience.
• Identifying and working with key academics to shine a light on their research excellence, with a focus on taking their research out of the labs and lecture theatres and sharing it with alumni through our Bringing Birmingham to You event series.
• Ability to produce newsletters, presentations, speeches and information in an interesting and informative manner.
• Using the Customer Relationship Manager system efficiently to monitor registration, attendance, and event outcomes and to evaluate success to inform future programming.
• Any other duties as deemed commensurate to the role.
• Promoting equality and valuing diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Supporting the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.

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.
• Significant experience of delivering complex events and events programmes.
• The ability to think and plan strategically, both in the short and long-term.
• The ability to work independently with initiative, to take decisions and think creatively and laterally.
• Experience of effectively managing a complex workload, with multiple projects running simultaneously.
• Able to perform effectively under pressure with excellent personal organisation and time management skills.
• Experience of working with senior stakeholders, internal, and external audiences.
• Ability to build rapport with alumni, donors, VIPs, academics, and colleagues in Professional Services at all levels.
• Strong negotiation skills and the ability to persuade and influence with diplomacy and sensitivity.
• Excellent communication skills, with the confidence to write speeches, letters, articles, and reports for a range of audiences and stakeholders, modifying language and style accordingly.
• The ability to work calmly and effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Adaptable and flexible when dealing with change and uncertainty.
• The ability to work effectively both in a team and independently.
• The ability to represent the University with confidence, diplomacy, and authority.
• The desire to support colleagues in the achievement of their individual and the collective goals, and to celebrate others’ success as positively as your own.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint.
• The flexibility to work unsociable hours (evenings and weekends) when required.
• Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions 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 area.You 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 work. You 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 done. You 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 Jenny Staite, email: [e-mail]

View our staff values and behaviourshere

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 .