Senior HR Adviser - Human Resources - 105631 - Grade 7

Position Details

Human Resources

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,130 to £45,413 with potential progression once in post to £48,149

Grade: 7

2 positions available:

• 1x Full Time (37.5 hours per week), Permanent
• 1x Part Time (30 hours per week), Permanent

Closing date: 7th May 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 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.

Role Summary

You will provide a comprehensive professional HR service across a range of University areas; giving expert advice and guidance on all aspects of employee related issues, including individual support, consultation and coaching to managers/teams. In addition, you will either lead or support initiatives and projects across the University in support of HR and University priorities. This will include driving the development of process efficiencies and enhancing the delivery of the HR function.

Two Senior HR Adviser vacancies are available: one at full-time (37.5 hours per week) and one part-time (0.8 FTE, 30 hours per week). The successful candidate(s) will be aligned to one of the University’s five Colleges and this will be confirmed upon appointment.

Main Duties

The main responsibilities of this role will include:

• Providing timely expert advice and guidance to line managers on people-related issues (e.g., performance, sickness, occupational health, conduct, discipline, grievance, secondments, TUPE, probation, AWOL). Exercising professional judgement to guide managers to a successful outcome/result, taking into account all relevant factors both HR-related (employment legislation, policy and procedure, best practice etc) and commercial factors such as the risk or financial impact on the wider organisation.
• Leading on the management, delivery, and monitoring of elements of projects or smaller projects in their entirety as required by the HR Business Partner or senior colleagues more widely within HR. This will include HR and/or University projects and initiatives, working with colleagues across the function and wider University in support of HR and University priorities. This may include representing the team on cross-institutional projects as appropriate.
• Contributing to the development, implementation and monitoring of service standards across the function.
• Providing proactive support for the HR Business Partner by ensuring operational efficiency and delivery is provided by yourself and the wider team, identifying and implementing process improvements in day-to-day work. Deputising for the HR Business Partner where required.
• Undertaking employee consultation as part of TUPE and the fixed term contract process including the redundancy process. Managing end of contract arrangements for Clinical Trainees, as appropriate.
• Working in collaboration with HR colleagues to ensure managers are supported through complex ER issues, working proactively with the ER team to progress cases as appropriate.
• Sourcing, analysing and developing insights from relevant data to identify areas of improvement in HR processes, working with colleagues across the function to address issues and develop proposals for driving improvements and efficiencies. Strive to improve performance through continuous process improvement and challenge. Work with colleagues to implement changes, and monitor effectiveness as appropriate.
• Utilising a clear organisational understanding to inform the application of policy and processes, evaluating the impact and amending the approach accordingly. Contributing to the continual development of policy using knowledge and expertise of how this would translate into operational application.
• Working collaboratively with HR Business Partners and other HR teams to deliver a joined-up HR service, ensuring issues are owned. Take individual responsibility for investigating, resolving issues, providing advice, guidance and coaching to customers even when wider support or expertise is required, overseeing colleagues input where required to ensure appropriate resolution. Use judgement to escalate matters as appropriate.
• Developing excellent customer relations, taking the time to understand wider needs and implications of the issues, managing expectations where appropriate.
• Acting as an initial point of contact and support for other HR colleagues on more complex enquiries, providing technical advice, guidance and support, and taking responsibility for matters where appropriate.
• Utilising our in-house Work Tracking System effectively, ensuring that correspondence is appropriately recorded and stored in line with the Data Protection Act and University Policies and practices.
• Coaching managers on processes ensuring ownership and responsibilities remain in the appropriate places. Proactively identify skills gaps and develop tools for managers to enable them to effectively manage their staff.
• Acting as a role model through championing the University and HR’s values through the consistent utilisation of UoB policy and processes.

Clinical

• Delivery of tasks related to the employment/appointment of Clinical Academic Staff including: recruitment and selection of Clinical Academics; joint work planning; honorary contracts; clinical pre-employment checks.
• Providing up-to-date advice and guidance on clinical pay, allowances, on-call, and local/national clinical awards.
• Working collaboratively in respect of the employment of Doctors/Dentists in training; acting as a point of HR contact for the Integrated Clinical Academic Training (ICAT) team.
• Keeping abreast of changes affecting the employment of Clinical Academics, including pay, reward, terms and conditions, relevant policy.

Other

• Work collaboratively with your manager and team colleagues in the prioritisation and handling of workloads, including supporting others with HR service delivery and the wider HR function as required.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues to maximise the development and efficient use of HR systems, contributing to improvement and testing of new solutions.
• Contributing to regular team meetings, 1-1s and performance reviews ensuring that own skills are aligned to team, department and University requirements.
• Provide support and cover for other HR team members during demanding workloads and absence as part of own personal development.
• Developing and maintaining your own professional skills through Continuous Professional Development, proactively gathering knowledge and best practice, including through liaison with colleagues external to the University and through practical experience and related project work.
• Provide proactive support to your manager in supporting the development of others in the team and more widely in HR; this may include responsibility for inducting/supporting new team members. This may include delivering “best practice” sessions at wider HR team meetings.
• Prioritising own workload and monitoring the activities of work ensuring timely completion, managing others’ expectations.
• Developing and demonstrating detailed organisational understanding, for example taking into account any resource constraints when formulating and agreeing appropriate solutions.
• Ensuring accurate and timely capture of staff data relating to own work in all HR systems including work tracking.
• Supporting managers to maximise their own use of HR Systems and processes.
• Consistently delivering best practice communication with internal and external customers, regular, two way and fit for purpose.
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Qualified to Degree level or equivalent plus practical HR Advisory experience or significant relevant experience demonstrated through increasingly more demanding roles evidencing the experience necessary for this role.
• Level 7 CIPD qualified or equivalent experience.
• Demonstrable generalist HR experience working with Academics/Clinical Academics is essential.
• Thoroughly conversant in relation to HR practice with the ability to apply sound judgement in the application of policies and systems.
• Experience of working in a complex organisation with diverse stakeholders, in the HE sector or an NHS/Clinical setting.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, relationship building, negotiation and influencing skills with the ability to cultivate strong relationships, act as a credible adviser and deal confidently with a range of internal and external stakeholders/contacts including senior managers, academic staff and staff at all levels.
• Excellent organisational and multi-tasking skills with a methodical approach to work and the ability to work simultaneously and manage and progress several different priorities whilst meeting deadlines.
• Ability to adopt a proactive approach and adapt this in a changing environment.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office suite of programmes. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• A good team worker with the ability to work effectively with staff at different levels of the organisation including supporting less experienced colleagues.
• Proven track record of ability to integrate with and function effectively as part of a busy, diverse and established team, working with little supervision.
• Demonstrating the ability to apply sound judgement and reach considered decisions as appropriate.
• 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.

Dimensions

This is a senior advisory role providing expert advice and support on generalist HR matters across the allocated areas. The role reports to the Business Partner and will require significant judgement in ensuring any risks are identified and escalated as appropriate.

Planning and Organising

You will be expected to proactively plan and organise your own workload, and possibly those of others. You will work closely with your customer base in providing expert advice and guidance. You may lead short term or smaller projects or contribute to larger University-wide projects. You will proactively drive process and service improvements within HR.

Problem Solving and Decision Making

You will be able to review, develop and propose solutions for problems with staff, processes and services. You will be authoritative in your knowledge of HR practice and be able to provide customers with specialist advice and recommendations.

Internal and External Relationships

You will liaise with a wide variety of stakeholders, internally and possibly externally. You will need to develop and maintain strong working relationships, and use your coaching and influencing skills to win support for solutions.

Informal enquiries to Sally Steele, email: s.l.steele@bham.ac.uk

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.