Job Description
Position Details
Campus Services
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,166 to £28,768, with potential progression once in post to £32,145
Grade: 4
Part Time (Annualised hours, 0.8 FTE)
Permanent
Closing date: 11th August 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
Business and Operations offers a variety of food and beverage outlets to staff, students and visitors across campus and student accommodation including but not limited to coffee shops, take-aways, bars, restaurants, food stalls and kiosks. We also provide hospitality services for meetings, conferences and events held on campus. You will be responsible for preparing, producing and presenting food within these operations.
Role Summary
You will work with the University’s culinary team to undertake day-to-day activities across the hospitality kitchens including food preparation, stock maintenance, sanitisation and safety monitoring. You will ensure that work is completed in line with Campus Services and University standards, as well as adhering to all relevant legislation. In order to flexibly utilise resource, you may be requested to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.
Main Duties
Operational:
- Provide proactive professional assistance to the Senior Chefs ensuring that the agreed standard of food service is provided to customers in all areas and at all times, monitoring food presentation so that it reaches the highest standard of quality and customer satisfaction.
- Ensure all food which is cooked in the unit is ready for service and presented to the required standards on time.
- Overall responsibility for ensuring that all working areas/surfaces including refrigeration are cleaned and sanitised at the end of the shift.
- Deal with equipment failures and potential hazards where possible, and promptly reporting to a senior member of staff where this is not possible.
- Ensure a low level of wastage and correct stock control /rotation and portion controls are achieved.
- Contribute to ensuring customer satisfaction, investigating customer complaints. If possible, resolve these complaints or refer to the Senior Chefs as appropriate.
- Ensure a high standard of personal/staff appearance and standard of hygiene is consistently maintained at all times. This includes wearing the correct protective clothing as set down by health & safety as outlined in the University and local codes of practice.
- Proactively make suggestions on increasing standards of service, profitability or recipe development.
- Ensure the work area and its contents are secure, which will involve being responsible for opening and closing the work areas as required.
- Support equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
Finance and Stock:
- Assist the Senior Chefs in ordering supplies from the stores and other authorised suppliers.
- Ensuring in their absence that you input this information correctly into the electronic ordering system, then ensuring all deliveries are booked in correctly.
- In conjunction with the Senior Chefs, ensure monthly stock checks are completed accurately and delivered on time and/or assist in putting the stock onto the database.
- Complete all administrative work and to ensure that it is completed accurately in line with University financial rules and procedures.
- Responsible for the care and security of all fixed assets, such as stock and any other company property entrusted to the Senior Chefs.
Staff Supervision:
- Oversee all food service areas in conjunction with the Senior Chefs. This involves ensuring the food is correctly produced, served at the correct temperature, is presented at a high and appropriate standard as agreed and that food is dispatched correctly and on time for service.
- Ensure that all staff conform to Health & Safety, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations and any other relevant food safety legislation and our code of practice and taking action to rectify any shortcomings.
- Ensure a professional working relationship with all members of unit staff.
- Assist the Senior Chefs with staff management and motivation, dealing with day to day issues that occur.
- Assist in providing on the job training for staff.
- Carry out regular job chats and PDR’s with the team, ensuring compliance with the Universities policies and procedures.
Health and Safety:
- To ensure that the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) hygiene and allergen recording system and procedures are carried out and correctly recorded. Conforming to all relevant food safety, codes of practice and current legislation.
General:
In support of the Senior Chefs you will be required to undertake the following duties;
- Accurate requisition of items required for the smooth running of the operation.
- Implementing and monitoring sales promotions.
- Allocate duties to staff, ensuring that sufficient and appropriate staff are available to provide a high standard of service and that there is sufficient cover to meet the needs of the business.
- Monitor staff performance, attendance, and timekeeping, referring issues to the Head Chef.
Operational requirements:
- Hours as required based on a 35 hour week 7/365 operation (BH and Closure days) on a rota basis, includes weekend and evening work activities to align with Campus Services and University.
- To participate in the BOPS duty management rota (7/365).
- To undertake works activities across all UoB campuses as requested that are commensurate with the grade and role activities to support the Division and wider UoB activities.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- NVQ in Food Preparation level 3 – or equivalent City and Guilds qualification.
- Knowledge of the following is essential: Health and Safety at Work Act, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) hygiene and allergen recording systems, COSHH and a relevant Manual Handling course.
- A good level of literacy and numeracy. This can be evidenced by achieving Mathematics and English GCSE at grade C or 4 (or equivalent level 2 qualification) or able to demonstrate relevant experience such that the tasks detailed in the job description can be carried out effectively.
- Substantial proven experience of working within a food preparation environment in a similar position to this post that will enable you to carry out the duties to the expected standards.
- A current level 3 Food Safety Certificate.
- Ability to investigate and resolve problems which will arise daily is essential.
- Ability to demonstrate written communication and computer skills are essential, as this will be required for assisting in recipe writing, costing, delivery and stocktaking of products and in association with other HACCP tasks.
- You should have the ability to work on an individual basis and within and be part of a team.
- General knowledge of fire procedures is desirable.
- An understanding of the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
- The ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.
Dimensions
The role is concerned with the production of food products to the highest standards and in supporting senior managers with finances, stock control and staff management.
Planning and Organising
You will be able to plan your workload within overall requirements and ensure that your work is delivered to a high standard on time.
Problem Solving and decision making
You will be able to handle a variety of problems on your own initiative although you will have access to a manager when needed. You may need to break some problems down or carry out some investigation of issues before deciding on the way forward.
Internal and External relationships
This role will mainly be based in the kitchen with the need for professional working relations and communications, including potentially with suppliers, but you may also be required to deal with customer complaints.
Informal enquiries to Mark Pilling, email:
[email protected]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 . 
