IT Business Partner (Automation and Innovation) - IT Services - 105919 - Grade 8

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 46,000 - 56,000; Full time

Job summary

The University of Birmingham seeks an individual to join IT Services and drive digital transformation initiatives. This role is pivotal in delivering AI and automation solutions, enhancing efficiency and improving experiences for staff and students. The candidate will contribute to a high-impact program aligned with the University's strategies in a collaborative and innovative environment.

Benefits

40 days paid holiday

Occupational sick pay

Pension scheme

Qualifications

• Significant experience with technology stakeholders
• Experience of developing strategic and operational plans
• Educated to degree level in IT or equivalent experience

Responsibilities

• Lead on digital services for the University’s Strategic framework
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders
• Manage the pipeline of demand aligned with IT Services capacity

Skills

Stakeholder Management

Problem Solving

Project Management

Communication

Innovation

Team Leadership

Education

Degree in IT or related discipline

Tools

ITIL

PRINCE2

Job description

Position Details

IT Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,735 to £55,755 with potential progression once in post to £62,728

Grade: 8

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 29th July 2025

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

Over the next decade, our aspiration is to establish Birmingham in the top 50 of the world's leading universities. That's a pretty big aspiration, and high-quality digital services and infrastructure are crucial to achieving it. In recognition of that, a brand-new Digital Strategy combined with significant investments in technology mean this is an exciting time to join IT Services, ‘making IT happen’ at the University of Birmingham.

We want to attract outstanding, inspirational, and talented people, support them to succeed, and celebrate their success. It's our role to ensure that our community has access to accessible, responsive, resilient, and secure systems and support. What we do enables our students, staff, researchers, visitors and partners to confidently and creatively use digital services, technology and data for the benefit of their learning, teaching, research or work.

The culture of IT Services is one of innovation, collaboration, excellence, and inclusivity, and we apply the principles of customer focus and continuous improvement to everything we do. We have an active People and Culture network, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Women in IT group, bi-annual making IT happen awards recognition programme, and a superb Social Committee which arranges regular activities and events.

Role Summary

You will be joining the University of Birmingham at the beginning of a digital transformation through an ambitious new initiative to accelerate innovation and automation across Professional Services. As part of a newly formed Technology Innovation team, you will play a pivotal role in delivering AI, Innovation and automation solutions that enhance efficiency, streamline processes, and improve the staff and student experience. This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a high-impact programme aligned with the University’s refreshed Digital Strategy and People and Culture Strategy. With strong institutional backing this initiative offers a dynamic and forward-thinking environment where your expertise will directly shape the future of service delivery at the University of Birmingham.

The post holder will lead on the continued engagement across priority areas to identify enterprise-wide automation, AI and innovation goals, integration with existing systems, and the scalability of solutions to further increase efficiency to free up staff to focus on higher value tasks. The University aims to maximise the benefits of the full range of readily available automation and AI tools to further innovate and enhance service efficiency and effectiveness across Professional Services.

Main Duties

As demand for technology enabled change and services grows in the University, it is essential that IT Services (ITS) maintains high quality relationships and dialogue with key stakeholders to ensure that the right overall outcomes are being achieved and that ITS remains focused on delivering value and service:

• The post-holder will work closely with the colleagues in IT Services, Strategic Programmes & Changeand Professional Services in the identification and implementation of digital services in support of the University Strategic framework, integrating central services and introducing local services as needed. They will take a lead and act as the initial contact for the scoping, realisation and delivery of new projects and services.
• The post-holder will establish themselves as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders so that they are able to understand and align with key technology related strategies and appreciate opportunities to exploit technology capabilities and innovation.
• The post-holder will act as a point of escalation for performance issues and will ensure that stakeholders understand how ITS is addressing their requirements or achieving resolution of any issues.
• The post-holder will contribute to theIT Services strategic roadmaps which capture the University’s IT demand and Digital strategy ambitions to shape it into a workable and deliverable recurring 12 month plan.

Relationship Management

• Developing effective insight into stakeholder ‘world’ so the post holder can undertake effective customer advocacy.
• Undertake effective customer advocacy to ensure IT Services makes informed decisions that facilitate the right overall outcomes of the University.
• Actively monitoring and addressing the quality of the relationship with key stakeholders, (through effective performance indicators and related management information).
• Actively managing the actions being undertaken of / in relation to key stakeholders.
• Collaborate with change management and training teams to drive adoption of new tools and services, ensuring staff are equipped and confident in using new technologies.

Stakeholder management

• Undertaking effective ITS advocacy to ensure that stakeholders are aligned to University technology strategy, policies and standards.
• Lead or support pilot implementations of innovative technologies, gathering feedback, refining solutions, and scaling successful initiatives across departments.
• Promotion of technology capabilities/innovation opportunities to enable improvements for stakeholders.
• Develop short- and medium-term plans for service improvements and service standardisation with reference to College, University and IT Services strategic objectives.

Demand Management

• Identifying and validating new demand for innovation and automation technology-related change or services and shaping in a way that effectively aligns it with technology strategy, value for money considerations, security, and wider University strategy/policy.
• Refining and articulating demand (through the Business Analysts), to enable IT Services colleagues to determine and deliver appropriate solutions.
• Actively manage the pipeline of demand to keep it aligned to IT Services capacity and effectively manage stakeholder expectations.
• Maintaining a good understanding of IT Services best practice in solutions architecture, project management and service management for promotion to University stakeholders.
• Conduct impact assessments to understand how new innovations affect existing workflows, ensuring minimal disruption and maximum benefit.

Miscellaneous duties:

• Promote equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Support the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Experience of developing effective networks and strong relationships in a complex organisation, for example (but not limited to) with academics, Professional Services and other partners.
• Experience of developing strategic and operational plans.
• Strong facilitation skills, including workshops, and face-to-face.
• Outstanding writing skills, with the ability to write/prepare high quality papers, presentations, reports and briefings to Project Board and Executive Board level. This includes a clear style of communication and the ability to write for different audiences.
• Highly developed research skills and experience of producing and analysing complex source material, information and data and turning these into purposeful reports that influence policy and assist decision making.
• Educated to degree level preferably in an IT related discipline or with equivalent experience.
• Significant experience of working with technology stakeholders in a Business Partner / Account Management / Client Management or Consultancy capacity
• Solid understanding of technology and IT strategy.
• Experience of delivering change through a structured methodology, such as PRINCE2, MSP, or equivalent.
• Basic understanding of IT Service Management (ITIL).
• Some experience of using structured tools and techniques to articulate and shape demand, e.g. Business Analysis, Lean, Six Sigma, Agile discovery, etc.

Skills, Abilities and Competencies

• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility and a self-motivating approach. The ability to complete tasks based on only broad direction and with minimum supervision.
• Analysis of complex problems and formulation of innovative, simple and effective solutions.
• Enthusiasm and willingness to meet challenging demands, working to different people, deadlines and within budget.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including tact and diplomacy, and an ability to work at all levels of the organisation.
• Ability with agility to work effectively as part of new and established team.
• Creativity in developing projects that delver efficiencies and effectiveness to services,and responding to challenges.
• A flexible approach and attitude and a willingness to respond to changing requirements of the team.
• Demonstrates collaborative working, builds open, trusting and effective partnerships.
• A firm but diplomatic attitude with the ability to prioritise, negotiate and use one’s own judgement.
• Demonstrably strong relationship management skills and ability to exhibit confidence in your professional ability to operate effectively at the most senior levels in the institution.
• Excellent customer focus with a passion for thinking from the customer perspective and an ability to understand customer drivers, goals and priorities and translate them into high quality insight.
• An excellent ability to communicate to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Highly developed planning skills, able to manage time, resources and deliver reliably to deadlines. Must also be adaptable and flexible, and able to adjust quickly to new situations and changing priorities.
• Excellent team player and able to effectively lead virtual teams.

Role context

Roles at this level will require in-depth specialist technical/specialist/IT expertise. Role holders may have supervisory responsibility for a technical service or team, where the primary focus will be on planning, overseeing and reviewing the work of the team and/or will operate as individual technical, specialist or IT experts either supporting service delivery or contributing directly to local project implementation or problem solving through the provision of specialist support activity.

Core competencies/transferable skills

Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully demonstrate 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

• be responsible for the provision of a technical service through the day-to-day organisation and technical supervision of a work area
• manage the prioritisation, allocation and quality of work, developing the technical capability in the area
• manage a combination of technical and (where required) non-technical staff
• progress several initiatives concurrently and to plan effectively
• contribute to developments of the service and in policies,procedures and plans in ownarea
• ensure compliance with all legal, health and safety standards as applicable
• lead, if required, on project work

and/or

• advise on the development and application of specialist techniques/experiments and/or procedures and the analysis and interpretation of results (may run an advanced specialist service)
• act as a recognised source of technical and/or specialist expertise in own area
• generate original ideas and innovative solutions and/or new techniques/experimental designs

Problem solving and decision making

• resolve high level problems withspecific techniques/applications, or in the implementation of services and technical support
• provide specialist advice and recommendations to support decision–making of others
• respond to changing priorities and differing situations

Organisational understanding

• understand their own and closely related working areas and how they contribute to the success of the University
• has an understanding of how the University operates; actively seeks to share this knowledge with others
• developing empathy with the academic endeavour

Relationships and communication

develop excellent working relationships with customers, proactively anticipating their requirements in order to understand and deliver them

Informal enquiries to Timothy Packwood, 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 everyone on our website .