Senior Project Manager - Chemical Engineering

University of Birmingham; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading global university in Birmingham is seeking a highly skilled professional to lead the Energy Demand Research Centre. This role involves managing large projects, collaborating with various stakeholders, and ensuring effective budget management. Ideal candidates will have a relevant degree, significant project management experience, and formal qualifications in project management methodologies. Join a vibrant institution committed to excellence and diversity, fostering a supportive environment for professional growth.

Benefits

40 days paid holiday

Occupational sick pay

Pension scheme

Flexible working arrangements

Subsidized day nurseries

Qualifications

• Significant project management experience in complex projects.
• Experience engaging with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience managing financial budgets and forecasting.

Responsibilities

• Manage large or multiple projects across the University.
• Develop and implement comprehensive evaluation strategies.
• Ensure project outputs are delivered on time and to budget.

Skills

Project management

Stakeholder engagement

Analytical skills

Communication skills

Budget management

Interpersonal skills

Education

Relevant degree or equivalent professional qualification

Formal Project Management qualifications (e.g. APMP, Prince2)

Tools

MS Office Suite

Project management software

Job description

Position Details

Chemical Engineering

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £47,389 to £56,535, with potential progression once in post to £63,606

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to June 2028.

Closing date: 06 February 2026

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

Interviews will be held Friday 13th of February 2026

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 of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.

Department Overview

An exciting opportunity has arisen at the University of Birmingham for a high‑performing professional to take on the management of the Energy Demand Research Centre (EDRC) – an ambitious and dynamic research centre supported by a £15 million grant from UK Research Innovation, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council.

EDRC has a key role in providing evidence on actionable solutions for energy demand reduction across different sectors, and our research is interdisciplinary, covering expertise in technological, social, economic, business and policy aspects. We explore the delivery of integrated technological and social change to rapidly reduce emissions, secure prosperity, reduce inequality and improve quality of life. We have a strong focus on engagement with key stakeholders in academia, industry, policy, NGOs and the media, in order to achieve high impact for our research.

This challenging role sits across The Birmingham Energy Institute and The Birmingham Business School and is line managed by our Deputy Director of Operations while reporting, substantively, to the Centre Director, Professor Mari Martiskainen and Co‑Director Sara Walker. You will be responsible for overall management of the Centre, including day‑to‑day operations, line management, reporting, supporting stakeholder engagement, managing a Flexible Fund and coordinating the Centre’s programme of research. You will work collaboratively with the Director, Co‑Director and the Centre Leadership Team to develop and deliver the strategic vision of the Centre, and in so doing support the University’s ambition to create a world‑leading research centre.

As well as the University of Birmingham, the Centre includes 13 other UK universities and numerous non‑academic partners.

For further information or to discuss the role please contact the Centre Director Professor Mari Martiskainen and Gareth Pugh, Deputy Director of Operations, University of Birmingham.

Role Summary

To manage large or multiple projects across a School, College or professional service area, or make a significant contribution to larger University‑wide projects as part of a project team.

Main Duties

Project Delivery

• Responsible for managing large or multiple projects that may have contributors from multiple areas. This will include some or all of the following:
• Leading on the management of the project, including influencing and developing complex project plans
• Creating and maintaining an overall project management plan for the whole project or projects using project management principles and using appropriate software
• Identifying objectives and indicators of success
• Planning, organising and maintaining a regular schedule of project meetings and ensuring sufficient engagement by all relevant parties to the project
• Establish effective networking relationships with all stakeholders
• Managing the budget for the project as required
• Delivering project outputs agreed with senior management, on time, to budget and to the agreed quality standard

Monitoring, evaluation and communication

• Develop and implement a comprehensive evaluation strategy for the project.
• Establish and implement reporting procedures which meet requirements, and ensure all necessary data is gathered in a timely and efficient manner.
• Analyse data to determine if it is fit for purpose and take appropriate action to ensure data quality where necessary.
• Develop reporting mechanisms for the project then report on project progress to the project board or equivalent and highlight any risks.
• Maintain a risk register as appropriate, and communicate risks in a timely manner, proactively proposing solutions.
• Engage and communicate with a variety of stakeholders to ensure progress but also to disseminate outputs of the project as appropriate.

People management

• Manage diverse groups of staff ensuring relevant targets and goals are achieved within resource constraints.
• Create a motivating environment where staff are supported, developed, encouraged and challenged to achieve outstanding results.
• Responsible for ensuring all annual review processes, including Performance and Development Reviews are conducted in the service area.
• Identify appropriate opportunities for development and change and encourage other team members to do the same.
• Guide staff through periods of change, communicating a clear and positive vision.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification, plus significant project management experience (in increasingly large and/or complex projects) or substantial relevant experience evidencing the experience required in this role
• Formal Project Management qualifications such as APMP, Prince2 or MSP and evidence of knowledge and application of Gantt charts and critical path analysis.
• Authoritative knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures relevant to the role, including broader sector/commercial awareness.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
• Proven ability to meet targets, with minimal supervision to deadlines
• Substantial experience of engaging, and collaborating, with internal and external stakeholders.
• Proven analytical and problem‑solving skills that will help to identify and implement improvements and efficiencies across the project or projects you work on
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including orally and in writing, with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders
• Experience of managing large financial budgets along with experience of budget planning and forecasting
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office suite. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required
• Excellent people management skills, with proven experience of leading, motivating and managing teams
• High level of self‑motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure
• Ability to monitor and evaluate the extent to which equality and diversity legislation, policies, procedures are applied.
• Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact on protected groups and take appropriate action.
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.

Dimensions

Roles at this level provide authoritative professional advice across a range of activities and/or will lead and manage diverse team(s) and resources. You will use your professional skills to resolve problems where the solution is not immediately apparent. Significant evaluation and independent thought is therefore required to resolve ambiguity. You will have wide discretion to decide on direction whilst ensuring activities are broadly consistent with operational policies. You will be able to influence policy through advising on the impact of policy change and implementation in your area of work. You will need to assess the impact of your activities across your area, with related areas and to ensure they fit with the broader objectives of the University.

Planning and Organising

• provide professional expertise, and manage resources and/or a diverse team;
• integrate and co‑ordinate work across different parts of the department/university;
• lead and manage staff who are likely to be carrying out diverse duties, and ensure collaborative working to deliver a successful service;
• project manage activities to facilitate major changes;
• develop policy within functional guidelines, and contribute to strategic development within own area;
• be accountable for the quality and professionalism of service delivery, with an appreciation of longer term issues.

Problem Solving and decision making

• anticipate, interpret and assess customer needs, identifying trends, generating original ideas and testing innovative solutions;
• deal with significant people management issues such as change programmes;
• resolve issues which may not have arisen before through use of experience and judgement.

Internal and External relationships

• has an excellent understanding of their own working area and a broad understanding of the contribution other areas make to the success of the University;
• has an excellent understanding of how the University operates, together with an understanding of how academia operates in the UK;
• demonstrates empathy with the academic endeavour and seeks to encourage others to do so.
• use coaching skills to motivate and develop staff;
• proactively and sensitively manage the performance of their team and create a motivating environment;
• influence others (including across the University) to follow a particular course of action;
• represent the department at internal and external meetings/events/network with colleagues in other institutions to share best practice.

Informal enquiries to Gareth Pugh, email: [e-mail]

View our staff values and behaviours here.

Use of AI in applications

We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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.