• Job Description

  Req#: 4109

  Position Details

  Human Resources

  Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

  Full time starting salary is normally in the range £45,585 to £54,395 with potential progression once in post to £61,198

  Grade 8

  Full Time, Permanent

  Closing date: 29th February 2024

  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.

  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

  Human Resources consists of a number of different directorates which provide strategic specialist and/or generalist support to the University. These include the Director’s Office, HR Strategy and Projects, the Central Staff Hub, HR Advisory Services, People and Organisational Development and Equality, Inclusion and Wellbeing.

  Role Summary

  This new role within HR has been designed for someone to make a significant contribution to a portfolio of varied projects with impact across HR and the University, managing large or multiple projects as required, all in support of the University’s strategic aims around ‘People and Culture’.

  You will manage your assigned project(s), and also contribute to managing other projects, to be determined, across HR.

  You will ensure the progression, monitoring, and evaluation of assigned projects and ensure regular updates/communications are devised and disseminated. You will be responsible for developing project plans, identifying workstreams, reporting and collating relevant management information data. Key will be your ability to ensure projects are progressing in accordance with set timelines, that relevant colleagues are engaged and consulted throughout and that objectives are met.

  We are looking for a highly motivated colleague who has experience of working in a fast paced and complex environment, and has demonstrable experience of successfully delivering projects involving changing priorities and a wide range of stakeholders.

  We are open and welcoming to people from all walks of life and believe that a diverse team with a mix of perspectives and experiences provides the best environment for success. We pride ourselves on our collaborative approach and are looking to recruit an individual who has values in line with ours: Ambitious, Open, Responsible, Collaborative and Innovative.

  Organisation chart

  This role sits within the HR Director’s office and reports to the Executive Officer and Programme Manager, although the assigned projects will span activities across HR and the wider University.

  The roles within the HR Director’s Office are shown here .

  Main duties

  Project Delivery

  • Responsible for managing multiple concurrent projects and/or supporting larger strategic HR projects. 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
    • identifying objectives and indicators of success
    • where appropriate, planning, organising and maintaining a regular schedule of project meetings and ensuring sufficient engagement by all relevant parties to the project
    • establishing effective networking relationships with all stakeholders
    • delivering project outputs agreed with senior managers, on time, to budget and to the agreed quality standard
    • identifying opportunities for collaboration across other projects, where appropriate

  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.

  General

  • Actively manages equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour.
  • Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
  • Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

  Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

  • Educated to Degree level (or equivalent level qualifications) plus significant relevant practical experience in project management; where no equivalent qualification is held substantial practical relevant experience and expertise in a series of progressively more demanding roles will be required.
  • 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.
  • Authoritative knowledge of the work practices, processes and procedures relevant to the role, including broader sector/commercial awareness.
  • 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
  • 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
  • High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure
  • Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area.
  • 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.

  Role context

  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.

  Core competencies/transferable skills

  Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully use the following core competencies/transferable skills in each of the areas shown below. You will be expected to take ownership for getting things done, including calling on or joining others to assist. You will be expected to be flexible as required in supporting your department and wider 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.

  Organisational understanding

  • 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.

  Relationships and communication

  • 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 Helen Warwood, email: h.m.warwood@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 one of our values. You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone on our website .

• About the company

  The University of Birmingham is a public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

Notice