Operations Senior Administrator

Warwick Employment Group (WEG); Coventry; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 37,000; Full time

Job summary

University of Warwick is seeking an Operations Senior Administrator to deliver high-quality purchasing operations support and ensure compliant procurement processes. You will assist the Operations Manager with project coordination, budget monitoring and audit trails within the Operations Team.

The role focuses on planning purchasing activity, raising purchase orders, processing invoices and maintaining records.

Qualifications

• You will be highly organised, numerate and detail-focused, with experience of balancing competing priorities and delivering accurate work to tight deadlines.
• You will bring a good understanding of purchasing and Purchase to Pay processes, together with the confidence to provide clear, practical advice to colleagues.
• You will be proactive and solutions-focused, able to spot opportunities for improvement and take responsibility for moving work forward.
• You will communicate effectively with internal stakeholders and external suppliers, building constructive relationships across different teams.
• You will have GCSEs at grades A–C, or equivalent, in Maths and English, together with relevant training or qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate projects and process-improvement activity, developing plans and monitoring progress to hit milestones.
• Provide first-line purchasing and finance support, raise purchase orders, process invoices, and support budget monitoring.
• Coordinate procurement requests, approvals and audit trails through Jira, collaborating with Procurement and Legal.
• Support RFQs, supplier/contracts administration and year-end purchasing activity.
• Administer the departmental Purchasing Card and perform monthly compliance audits.
• Offer wider operational support including meetings, travel arrangements, recruitment admin, HR systems and PA support for senior leaders.

Skills

Organised

Numerate

Prioritisation

Attention to detail

Communication

Microsoft Office

Jira

Purchase to Pay

Education

GCSE Maths & English

Tools

Excel

Word

PowerPoint

SAP

OPeRA

Jira

Job description

Warwick's Marketing, Communications, Insight and Student Recruitment (MCISR) department tells the University's story to the world – campaigns, media, open days, creative content and the digital platforms where future students meet us first. Underpinning all of this, is our operational powerhouse, who focus on finance, people, systems and processes.

We are looking for an Operations Senior Administrator to provide high-quality purchasing operations support and help colleagues navigate procurement processes efficiently and compliantly.

Working within the Operations Team, you will support the Operations Manager with project co-ordination and process improvement, with a key focus on helping teams plan purchasing activity, complete transactions accurately and maintain clear records and audit trails.

Please note, this role is fixed term until July 2027

What you’ll do

• Co-ordinate projects and process-improvement activity, developing plans, monitoring progress and helping ensure milestones and deadlines are met.
• Provide first line purchasing and finance support, including raising purchase orders, processing invoices and new supplier requests, and supporting budget monitoring in SAP.
• Co-ordinate procurement requests, associated paperwork, approvals and audit trails through Jira, working closely with colleagues in Procurement and Legal.
• Support RFQs, supplier and contract administration, departmental procurement planning, approved-supplier compliance and year-end purchasing activity.
• Administer the departmental Purchasing Card and complete monthly compliance audits.
• Provide wider operational support including meeting and travel arrangements, secretariat duties, recruitment administration, HR systems, records management and proactive PA support for senior leaders.

About you

• You will be highly organised, numerate and detail-focused, with experience of balancing competing priorities and delivering accurate work to tight deadlines.
• You will bring a good understanding of purchasing and Purchase to Pay processes, together with the confidence to provide clear, practical advice to colleagues.
• You will be proactive and solutions-focused, able to spot opportunities for improvement and take responsibility for moving work forward.
• You will communicate effectively with internal stakeholders and external suppliers, building constructive relationships across different teams.
• You will have excellent Microsoft Office skills, particularly Excel, Word and PowerPoint, and experience of workflow tools such as Jira and accounting systems such as SAP, OPeRA or equivalent.
• You will have GCSEs at grades A–C, or equivalent, in Maths and English, together with relevant training or qualifications.

Previous experience of procurement processes or a marketing-related environment would be an advantage. Knowledge of corporate finance systems, ideally SAP, and experience of automation or reporting tools such as Power BI, Power Query or Power Automate would also be welcome.