Operations Coordinator - School of Mathematics - 106396 - Grade 5

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

Job summary

A leading academic institution in Birmingham seeks an Operations Coordinator to support the School of Mathematics. This role involves managing day-to-day operations, providing executive support to the Head of School, and ensuring effective facilities management. The ideal candidate will have strong interpersonal and organizational skills, with a commitment to diversity and inclusion. This position offers a full-time permanent contract with a competitive salary and excellent benefits, including generous holiday entitlement and flexible working arrangements.

Benefits

40 days paid holiday annually

Occupational sick pay

Pension scheme

Subsidised day nurseries

Qualifications

• Experience working collaboratively in a team.
• Ability to prioritize workload and manage conflicting deadlines.
• Understanding of equality and diversity policies.

Responsibilities

• Support day-to-day operational running of the School.
• Provide executive support to the Head of School.
• Manage building-related queries and resolutions.

Skills

Interpersonal skills

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Attention to detail

Time management

Education

Advanced Level or equivalent qualifications

GCSE in Mathematics and English at C or above

Job description

Position Details

School of Mathematics

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,647 to £31,460, with potential progression once in post to £35,388

Grade: 5

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 30 October 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, and we are 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 to develop through our Birmingham Professional programme, which provides all professional services staff with development opportunities and the encouragement to reach their full potential. With almost 5,000 professional services jobs in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to develop your career 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 and to the success of the University. Depending on the role, we offer a variety of flexible working arrangements. We welcome discussions on all forms of flexible working. In addition, you will receive a generous package of benefits including 40 days paid holiday a 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 with excellent transport links to the campus, including main bus routes and an on-site train station. 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 the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The School of Mathematics is a vibrant and thriving academic community within the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences with over 80 Academic Staff, 15 Postdoctoral Researchers, and 90 Postgraduate Research Students. We seek to appoint an Operations Coordinator who has energy, enthusiasm and the ability to work with confidence to support day-to-day operational running of the School and executive support to the Head of School. The post holder will form part of the School of Mathematics Professional Services Operations team reporting to the School Operations Manager. They will be confident in working independently as well as being a strong team player.

Role Summary

The School of Mathematics Operations Coordinator will support the day-to-day operational running of the School, with an emphasis on facilities and Head of School executive support.

Main Duties

Operational Administrative Duties:

• Act as a first point of contact in the Operations Office and provide front-of-house service.
• Responsible for managing the Shared Operations Mailbox and dealing with enquiries in the appropriate manner, signposting to other colleagues where necessary.
• To liaise with IT Services on School mailing lists, ensuring they are kept up to date from staff lists.
• To oversee the post, office supplies, equipment orders, and stationery for the School.
• To support the Head of School and Operations Manager in communicating and disseminating University information to the School.
• To communicate upcoming School-based events for staff and arrange events (e.g., School-wide meetings and away days, room bookings).
• Ensure these dates are added to the school annual calendar and school Teams site.
• Maintain effective administrative systems to ensure the smooth running of activities within their area(s) of responsibility and liaise with the Operations Manager on developing new practices to obtain greater operational efficiencies.

Facilities Support:

• To act as the School point of contact for building-related queries in the Watson building.
• To manage the reporting and resolution of building faults for the School. When required, liaise with Estates, the wider university and external contractors to resolve in a timely manner.
• To support school-based facilities initiatives (such as staff relocations, decanting space for refurbishment projects, portering job requests, setting up School facilities).
• To monitor the general housekeeping of the building and ensure all areas are tidy and compliant with fire risk assessment recommendations and relevant health and safety regulations.
• To coordinate the development and delivery of minor work projects for the School, working with academic colleagues, University estates department, Operations Team, and external contractors to ensure the project brief and standard of work meet School requirements.
• To support the administration of Out of Hours (OOH) requests.
• Assist with the management of the Gallagher Building Access system for Staff and PGR Students.

Executive Support to Head of School:

• To provide executive support to the Head of School (HoS) including diary management, booking and arranging meetings and appointments, arranging travel and accommodation for UK and overseas visits.
• To support the HoS personal organisation and time management, including preparing papers in advance of meetings, maintaining files, being aware of workflows, actions, and deadlines and blocking time for desk-based work.
• To provide professional, friendly and helpful support for incoming HoS-related enquiries (e.g., email inbox management). Routing queries to relevant staff and where appropriate dealing without supervision on routine queries. Where appropriate flagging issues requiring action to the HoS.
• To provide administrative management of meetings coordinated by the HoS, including forward planning, preparation of agendas, minute-taking and arrangements for collation and dissemination of paperwork.

HR Support:

• Support the Head of School in processes for promotion and annual review.
• Support application and renewal process for honorary staff, retain records of their status.
• Support with interview processes, developing schedules, meeting candidates on the day and Right to Work checks, including the use of YOTI.
• To ensure School compliance with UK Border Agency requirements for Staff and Academic Visitors in the School. This will include dealing with all online visa assessments, liaising with the International Students Advisory Service to ensure the correct documentation is supplied and that the invitation letter is sent; also ensuring there is a robust tracking system for all documentation relating to international visitors.
• Maintain accurate records of international visitors to the School.
• Ensuring UKVI requirements are adhered to by requesting the relevant documentation (i.e. visas).
• Be the School’s contingent workers systems access requester.

Finance Support:

• Initiate purchase requisitions, and liaise with finance for orders for school kitchen supplies including catering/ Sainsbury’s orders.
• Process non-staff expenses forms, including coding forms appropriately and tracking them.
• Assist staff/ PGR Students with travel bookings; both internal and external requests.
• To champion non-pay efficiencies and use budgets wisely when purchasing on behalf of the University.

Any other duties:

• Undertake any other tasks across the School or College as a whole that might reasonably be asked by the Operations Manager.
• To carry out any other reasonable duties as may be required, which are commensurate with the grade and nature of the post.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to at least Advanced Level (or equivalent qualifications and work experience) and hold at least a GCSE in Mathematics and English at C or above (or equivalent).
• Excellent demonstrable interpersonal, organisational, team working and communication skills.
• A high level of discretion and sensitivity in dealing with confidential matters.
• Ability and demonstrable experience of working accurately and paying close attention to detail.
• Aptitude to prioritise own workload and to complete all tasks accurately and to a routinely high standard even when working to challenging and/or conflicting deadlines.
• Ability to analyse and deal with problems with an appreciation of longer-term implications and taking account of all stakeholders.
• Ability to negotiate, mediate and deal effectively with sensitive or difficult issues.
• Experience of working collaboratively as part of a wider team to deliver operational or strategic goals.
• An understanding of what equality and diversity is and why it is important, including an ability to learn about relevant policies and procedures relating to equality and diversity.

Desirable

• Experience of working in Higher Education.

Dimensions

This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department. Due to the nature of this role, the holder will be required to work on campus a minimum of four days a week.

Planning and Organising

Able to schedule and progress several initiatives concurrently, planning and monitoring for both short and long-term. Able to prioritise and manage conflicting deadlines.

Problem Solving and decision making

Responsible for developing and initiating solutions to issues which may arise; has the authority to recommend changes which will lead to improvements to service delivery; responds to the changing priorities of the School with appropriate measures.

Internal and External relationships

Anticipates stakeholder requirements and ensure solutions are proposed to meet need; able to influence and persuade others in order to win support for proposed changes / initiatives; liaison with external stakeholders (e.g. interview candidates).

Informal enquiries to Martha Campos, Operations Manager, email: [e-mail]

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 everyone on our website.