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Job Description
Position Details
Dubai Operations
University of Birmingham, Dubai campus
Salary: Competitive
Grade: 7
No. of positions: 1
Full time
Location: Dubai, UAE
Closing date: 21st July 2025
University of Birmingham Dubai
Having established ourselves in Dubai International Academic City in 2018 we have now moved to our new state-of-the-art campus which opened in Sept 2021. These posts represent an excellent opportunity to join an ambitious World Top 100 University as we continue to grow our long-term strategic mission in Dubai, the UAE and the wider region. Our campus reflects the very best of Birmingham through our presence in Dubai.
Professional Services Ethos
Our ethos as a Professional Services team has been developed in line with the principles of being a Birmingham Professional . In particular here in Dubai this means that all Professional Services colleagues seek to collaborate effectively to ensure the needs of the whole campus community and our stakeholders are met. It also means that we work constructively together to provide a flexible range of service and support that adapt to the changing needs of the Campus as we grow. There are specific focal points in the academic cycle when all Professional Services team members will be expected to contribute regardless of their primary role, for example Welcome or Graduation. In addition, the duties listed below are illustrative of the general nature and level of responsibility of this post which is likely to change over time in response to the needs of the Campus and as you develop your experience and skills. You will have the opportunity to develop and may also need to specialise your duties further, over time, in agreement with your manager.
In order to contribute to the success of the team and the University’s vision for the Dubai Campus the Professional Services team will be seeking to continue to recruit and develop colleagues who display:
- a high level of intellectual aptitude;
- strong agility and a portfolio of skills that can adapt to meet changing circumstances;
- an innovative and creative mind-set; and
- both an enterprising and entrepreneurial nature to support our growth and pursuit of excellence.
Role Summary
The University is committed to leveraging the opportunities presented by Automation and digitisation to transform its operations and support its service delivery. The post holder will lead and accelerate innovation across the Dubai Campus, enabling service delivery and effective enquiry management. It involves identifying and delivering high-impact digital solutions and innovations to develop, improve and scale our service delivery to students and key internal and external stakeholders. The post holder will form part of our University management team at the Dubai Campus, working across Professional Services.
The post holder will play a critical role in advancing integration of automation, data-driven practices and identifying digital solutions that will support the realisation of our strategic aims.
This role reports to the Deputy Director of Operations and is a member of the Professional Services Management Team on campus. The post holder is responsible for providing leadership contribution to the delivery of innovative, high quality, efficient, professional services ensuring that the service follows best professional practice, is compliant with legislative requirements, and other authority or professional regulatory body regulations.
The post holder will be responsible for promoting integration and collaboration between Dubai service areas and the wider University of Birmingham as well as contributing to campus wide events and priorities, such as Graduation, Welcome and student recruitment activity.
Main Duties
- Working closely with Heads of Service and Managers, fostering strong collaborative relationships to understand their strategic priorities and measures of success.
- Engaging with students to support priority mapping across projects and providing insight into solution approaches.
- Understanding challenges in service delivery and working with teams in a future focused approach to developing innovative solutions utilising automation and digital tools.
- Working with IT Services, Product Owners and Project Managers across the University to ensure appropriate use of automation and digital tools, in line with university policy and governance.
- Managing multiple projects concurrently to deliver against identified priorities.
- Managing organisation change to ensure successful implementation and adoption of solutions across teams.
- Providing management oversight of the service points of the Dubai Campus, including email, databases, telephone and in person service points.
- Utilising data, staff and customer insight to develop approaches to enquiry management to maximise resource and ensure excellent customer service experience.
- Overseeing output and measures of success across Professional Services; including student and staff feedback, response times, enquiry data.
- Keeping up to date of emerging technologies and assessing their potential for application on the Dubai Campus or the University more widely.
- Works to maximise resources through the development of automated digital solutions.
- Providing training and developing a team of super users across key digital tools and solutions.
- Proactively manages communications with key stakeholders across the organisation; able to communicate technical content to technical and non-technical staff.
- Effective coordination of works, maintaining awareness of wider university projects, identifying and managing risks and interdependencies; including.
- Providing termly reports, outlining key achievements and impact, including producing and analysing Robotic Process Automation (RPA) metrics to track performance and suggest improvements.
Additional Responsibilities
- To undertake such other duties as may be required from time to time, to further the work of the wellbeing services and the development of the student experience, or the University.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to at least degree level, and significant relevant experience.
- Evidence of training and development in use of automation and digital tools. Proven experience of using and in depth understanding of automation tools, such as Leapwork, Power Automate or similar.
- Experience of using UiPath, Blue Prism and Automation software would be beneficial, though not essential.
- Be skilled in managing projects effectively, balancing multiple initiatives and ensuring timely delivery.
- Proven understanding and delivery of an excellent and responsive customer service.
- Significant experience of leading digital transformation projects to deliver and develop processes and services.
- Significant experience of working in a fast paced high demand environment.
- Experience of managing and prioritising resources and allocating them to fulfil defined targets.
- Experience of working within Higher Education or similar education environment.
- Demonstrable commitment to professional personal development.
- Ability to work in line with strategic vision that aligns with business aims.
- Excellent communication, negotiation and influencing skills; with the ability to present complex ideas to a diverse audience.
- Ability to build relationships across all levels of the organisation.
- Ability to work analytically and provide data-driven, evidence-based decision making.
- Able to manage a workload of competing and changing priorities.
- Demonstrable experience of using initiative and creativity to resolve problems.
- Experience of fostering partnerships with stakeholders to enable collaborative working.
- Actively promotes and demonstrates a commitment towards equality, diversity and inclusion.
Internal and External relationships
- Chief Operating Officer.
- Deputy Director of Operations.
- Colleagues across Dubai campus – Professional Services and Academic.
- Colleagues in UK campus – including IT Services, Project Delivery Teams, Academic Services, Colleges and central PS teams.
- External partners – including regional government agencies, regulatory bodies, software suppliers.
In return, you will receive a competitive package and play a key role in our ambitious University’s expansion as we enhance our international reputation and global footprint.
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 . 
