Post Award Officer - Research and Strategy Services - 106424 - Grade 6

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 40,000; Full time

Job summary

A prominent educational institution in Birmingham seeks a Post Award Officer to manage financial affairs of research projects. The role involves stakeholder engagement, delivering high-quality services, and promoting efficient operations. Candidates should hold a degree or equivalent experience and possess strong analytical and interpersonal skills. The position offers a competitive salary, benefits, and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits

40 days paid holiday annually

Pension scheme

Occupational sick pay

Volunteering day off

Subsidised day nurseries

Qualifications

• Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications).
• Evidence of numeracy and literacy.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Proficient in MS Office and corporate systems.
• High level of self-motivation and personal accountability.

Responsibilities

• Manage financial claims and reporting for research projects.
• Provide expert advice on budget maximisation.
• Ensure timely completion of monthly KPIs.
• Foster collaborative working within the team and across the university.

Skills

Numeracy

Analytical skills

Interpersonal skills

Communication skills

IT proficiency

Education

Degree or equivalent experience

Tools

MS Office suite

Excel

Job description

Position Details

Research and Strategy Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906

Grade: 6

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 22nd 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 sector-leading 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 a wide-range of functions in Edgbaston and in our campus in Dubai, there are plenty of opportunities for you to be able 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 and, depending on the role, we offer a variety of 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 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 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 the benefits of working for the University of Birmingham

Background

The University has an exciting vision to build on the success of REF2021, by continuing to transform its research performance across outputs, income, impact, and policy influence. Central to this ambition is the Research Strategy & Services Division (RSSD), a new Professional Services department that is being established to provide a transformative and sector-leading approach to research strategy and support.

Role Summary

The Post Award Officer, Research Strategy & Services will be responsible for the financial management and administration of a portfolio of research projects, including responsibility for funder claims, reporting and forecasting, associated with the academic area(s) that they support. The post holder will provide stakeholder management to academic project leads, and will build successful relationships with their peers and colleagues across the wider RSSD, other Professional Services including College administration. They will develop, share and own best practice for post-award financial support, key funders and the portfolio of activity associated with their academic area(s).

The role holder will work within RSSD to embed a culture of collaborative working throughout the team, that empowers all staff within the team to thrive, and work in close partnership with the wider Professional Services, ensuring that academics and external partners receive a consistent and high-quality service to build strong credibility across all functions.

Main Duties

• Provide high-quality financial management throughout the full post award lifecycle across the portfolio of their academic area(s). Offer expert advice and guidance, to academic colleagues including on budget maximisation and funder terms and conditions.
• Directly manage a portfolio of externally funded research projects undertaking financial claims, reporting, monitoring, and project closure. Deliver to a high standard and high level of accuracy minimising financial risk to the institution. Ensure an understanding of customer needs across the academic community for their area of responsibility, the wider RSSD and other University Professional Services areas.
• Contribute to ensuring that the Post Award function operates efficiently, proactively seeking opportunities to streamline handovers, steps and tasks, systems and processes. Share best practice across the wider RSSD Post Award teams to facilitate the delivery of robust quality assurance and high levels of service to internal and external customers.
• Timely completion of a range of monthly KPIs for their academic area, ensuring that they are delivering to high standard and that both financial risk to the institution and reputational risk with external funders is mitigated. This will include but not be limited to project closure, debtor/creditor positions, project monitoring, and claims completion, being accountable to the Head of Post Award for their respective academic area.
• Ensure that information required by auditors for funder and University external audits of our research accounting processes, is provided accurately and in a timely manner in order to facilitate verification of both internal processes and the reported financial position.
• Arrange and coordinate project specific audits where required by the funder terms and conditions. Ensure that deadlines are met and queries are responded to accurately and within a timely manner, where necessary seeking advice from the Post Award leadership team.
• Engage externally with funders where required in order to offer financial assurance and liaison regarding operating procedures. Act as a subject matter expert for major external funders associated with your respective area of responsibility, offering advice and support across the wider RSSD.
• Promotes equality and values diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Personally model the Values of the University, and in particular those in the Strategic Framework and Birmingham Professional.
• Undertake any other duties as required from time-to-time by the Assistant Director/Post Award leadership team, Research Strategy & Services Division.

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.
• Evidence of numeracy and literacy, with the ability to write clearly, and to analyse information and data.
• Knowledge of the UK research funding ecosystem, key research funders and an understanding of their processes. desirable but not essential.
• Experience of engaging and collaborating, with internal and external stakeholders to build teams, deliver key outcomes or resolve challenges.
• Experience in improving processes, service quality and/or efficiency, and delivering high quality customer service in your immediate area of activity.
• Excellent analytical skills with an ability to analyse qualitative and quantitative information and present this to a wide range of audiences.
• Proficient IT skills, including the MS Office suite and corporate systems. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required. Excellent knowledge of Excel is essential.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with proven experience of collaboration within teams, including engaging with peers and staff, within an academic, public sector or commercial research environment.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to negotiate effectively with a range of internal stakeholders in order to convey policies or decisions, and to influence decisions.
• High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure and set priorities for a wide range of tasks and duties relevant to your areas of 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.

Informal enquiries to Ravinder Mahoon, 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