Job Description
Position Details
High Temperature Research Centre
Location: High Temperature Research Centre, Coventry, UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £46,735 to £55,755 with potential progression once in post to £62,728
Grade: 8
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 30th July 2025
UK travel may be required for this role.
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 High Temperature Research Centre is a flagship partnership between the University and Rolls-Royce plc. The Centre was established through a £20M UK Research Partnership Infrastructure Fund grant from the Higher Education Funding Council for England matched by £40M investment by Rolls-Royce plc. It researches and develops nickel superalloy single crystal casting and related enabling technologies with the objectives of training future generations of technical specialists and leaders; developing and manufacturing test components for fast make and demonstrator aero engine projects; researching and developing new manufacturing capabilities; and, improving the performance of Rolls-Royce’s UK casting facilities. These objectives are underpinned and secured through world-class research conducted by University staff working shoulder-to-shoulder with designers, engineers and technicians.
The Centre staff of around 100 are employees of the University, Rolls-Royce and the Manufacturing Technology Centre. The Leadership Team is made up of the Centre Director, Rolls-Royce Capability Manager and the Operations Director with a structure underneath them of Functional Managers including two Process Hall, Technical, Quality / Health and Safety, Laboratory and IT. Other reporting functions include Facility Maintenance, Machine Tool Maintenance and Security. The Management Team is comprised of employees of the University, Rolls-Royce and the Manufacturing Technology Centre.
The Centre is governed by a Joint Steering Board, Chaired by a senior member of the University, to which the Leadership Team, led by the Centre Director reports, and consults on strategic matters. The Centre operating budget of approximately £8M p.a. is developed by the Leadership Team to deliver agreed high level project objectives.
Research project tasks are undertaken by Process Hall Technicians (PHTs) to instructions set out by Researchers and Engineers. The multi-skilled pool of PHTs are trained to skill levels equivalent to those of specialist operators within Rolls-Royce’s investment casting foundries, and managed by Process Hall Managers who report to the Operations Director. Compliance and traceability of components is essential; test and demonstrator components will be used in turbines for land based and on-wing testing and development. This is assured through a comprehensive Management System certified to ISO 9001.
A culture of collaboration, sharing and support is key to the successful integration of stakeholders with wide-ranging interests and personal objectives. The Leadership and 1 st Line Management Team champion and promote a distinctive culture in the Centre, seeking to develop management through intent and empowerment.
Role Summary
As a high-profile role, the post holder, in consultation with the Centre Director and Operations Director, will define and implement strategy regarding sustainment and continuous improvement of Health and Safety processes and systems, developing and leading H&S initiatives and innovations, monitoring their effectiveness through performance metrics and benchmarking them against relevant sectors. They are a H&S specialist capable of providing health and safety advice and leading activities to resolve issues for all functional groups in HTRC.
The Health & Safety Manager will report to the Operations Director and have responsibility for leading, establishing and maintaining health and safety standards. Due to the HTRC being located off campus, the post holder must have the expertise and capability to be autonomous, make decisions and take ownership of all H&S related matters, influencing peers to enable the Centre to operate safely and successfully without the close proximity of support structures of the wider university community.
The post holder will also work within the University’s current health and safety policy framework in ensuring the framework is followed and that any local interpretation of University policy is clear. This will include developing local forms of guidance, systems, processes and templates for HTRC, ensuring collaboration between functions within the Centre and engaging back with relevant key personnel on campus. They will lead a matrix structured team of HTRC staff with health and safety aligned roles, including Auditors, Champions and improvement working groups. Contributions to development and advancement of College and University H&S policies, processes and initiatives will be made through relevant Committees. Wider ranging horizon scanning will be undertaken in collaboration with peers in Rolls-Royce, the Advanced Manufacturing Catapult and external specialist bodies.
The post is based at Ansty Park, Coventry, but the holder is expected to be able to travel and work on occasions, at the University site in Edgbaston. Due to the relatively flat organisational structure and multi-employer context of the Centre, the post-holder is expected to deliver through influence across functions, organisations and levels within the Centre and the wider University community.
Main Duties
Strategy
- Providing strategic advice, support and guidance on Health & Safety related matters and processes.
- Contributing to the development of strategic plans for the Centre and responsibility for implementing the short, medium and long term H&S aspects of the Centre’s strategy.
- Establishing and maintaining a collaborative and innovative environment within the Centre.
- Developing and leading health, safety and wellbeing objectives and improvement programs within the Centre.
- Lead cross-functional teams and internal Committees developing and implementing various continuous improvement techniques and initiatives in line with Centre strategic objectives, enabling the Centre to monitor impacts and performance and identify areas for improvements.
- Monitor and measure Key Performance Indicators, performance evaluation and trends and report results and conclusions to Senior Management with recommendations for improvement.
Health & Safety Management
- Significantly influencing the culture of health and safety within the Centre by working as a trusted expert advisor. This should cover a wide range of specialist areas, e.g. fire regulations, radiation, lasers, hazardous substances, noise, safeguarding machinery and occupational diseases, with reference to external expertise as required.
- Responsible for establishing and managing a H&S system to achieve and maintain the ISO 45001 accreditation and subsequently ensuring system annual re-certification.
- Responsible for establishing and updating H&S training requirements for the Centre in line with evolving legislative and best practice requirements and providing in-house H&S training, reporting on training activity, and maintaining training records.
- Operating as the nominated competent person regarding the health and safety arrangement; developing safe operating procedures and local guidance within the University policy framework as appropriate.
- Leading and developing annual inspection and audit schedules and leading on internal and external audits of the Centre activities.
- Leading incident, accident and adverse event investigations, often through multidisciplinary teams, implementing corrective and preventative actions.
- Participate and input into University Policy design, generation and review when requested and through participation on Committees.
People Management
- A key member of the Management Team in promoting the HTRC Vision and a sustainable operational culture in the Centre that works within the University and commercial partner contexts.
- Management of Health & Safety administration professional services staff within the Centre, with a particular focus on employee engagement.
- Management of Health & Safety professional services staff, including responsibility for development and training of staff, ensuring that all are working collectively in delivering efficient, effective and cohesive support to the Centre and the University.
- Managing performance and discipline of professional services staff as appropriate.
- Provides informal coaching and support to various champion roles within the Centre that support quality, health, safety and wellbeing.
Financial Management
- Responsible for the developing, agreeing and monitoring delivery of the H&S element of the Centre’s operating budget.
General
- The role holder should participate in various relevant committees and groups:
- Health and Safety Lead as part of the Centre Health and Safety Committee – subject matter expert providing direction, inputs, guidance and advice to the Committee.
- Representative of the School and College Health & Safety Committees – participate as a member and provide inputs into the wider university community.
- Health & Safety Community of Practice – participate in university policy reviews, participate in assessing updates and changes, present to the wider community on best practice and lessons learnt.
- Hazardous Substances Advisory Group – participate in University policy reviews, participate in assessing updates and changes, present to the wider community on best practice and lessons learnt.
- Vice-Chair of the Centre Sustainability Committee – chair the monthly committee meeting when Chair is not available ensuring the meeting is kept to agenda, the improvement plan actions are reviewed and progressing, the committee is quorate, decisions are confirmed, providing direction and minutes are approved.
- Chair of the Centre Wellbeing Committee - chair the monthly committee meeting ensuring the meeting is kept to agenda, the improvement plan actions are reviewed and progressing, the committee is quorate, decisions are confirmed, providing direction and minutes are approved.
- Develops and promotes a culture (including policies and procedures) that promotes Equality and values diversity and inclusion.
- Sharing best practice examples and lessons learnt to the wider University and partners.
- Monitoring performance by gathering relevant data, producing statistics and reports and communicating necessary information to key stakeholders, management and leadership
- Any other duties agreed with the HTRC Operations Director that are commensurate with the grade, skills and expertise.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to degree level (a degree or equivalent Health & Safety-based discipline is preferable) or equivalent experience, both with a strong technical background.
- Membership of the Chartered Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (CMIOSH).
- Professional qualification in occupational safety and health – NEBOSH Diploma preferred.
- Significant, high level experience of developing successful interventions to address complex Health and Safety issues.
- Substantial proven experience of operational processes including instruments and electronic monitoring, machinery and equipment in a manufacturing and/or research environment.
- A successful track record of developing and managing health & safety systems.
- In-depth knowledge of ISO standards such as ISO 45001 or 14001 (desirable).
- Ability to exercise a substantial degree of independent professional responsibility and discretion.
- Substantial proven experience in development and upkeep of H&S management systems.
- Substantial proven experience in development, implementation and maintenance of health and safety processes.
- Significant experience with working autonomously, independently and decision making.
- Significant experience in working within a complex organisation with multiple stakeholders and interested parties.
- Excellent literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write and communicate for different audiences and for different purposes.
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence across the organisation and across functions.
- Actively promotes equality and diversity to internal and external stakeholders
Role context
Roles at this level will be senior professionals with high-level expertise, exercising within their particular functional area/section a substantial degree of independent professional responsibility and discretion, including the development and implementation of policies and processes. You will either lead a functional area or be a senior individual expert professional. You may have a deputising role for the most senior manager of the area. You will be responsible for setting quality and professional standards. Your work is likely to have a medium to long term horizon and you will typically work with a variety of people from several teams, internal and external. You will also be able to make a major contribution to the longer-term strategic planning for your area, in line with the wider University strategy.
Core Competencies/transferable Skills
Working at this level you will be able to develop and successfully demonstrate the core competencies/transferable skills outlined in each of the areas shown below. You will be expected to take ownership for getting things done, including calling on others to join you in collaborative working groups as necessary. You will need to be flexible in supporting your department and wider University.
Planning and organising
- lead and manage a functional area, taking responsibility for staff and resources, tackling planning and operations over the medium to long term;
- shape strategic direction for own area, and make significant contributions to departmental strategic planning;
- set quality and professional standards for others;
- take accountability for the quality and delivery of the health and safety function;
- take the initiative and manage large-scale or complex changes;
- make decisions and judgements on conflicting data/information;
- lead and manage complex projects.
Problem solving and decision making
- evaluate the health and safety provision and implement innovative solutions to improve quality, efficient and continuity;
- ensure effective resolution of all issues in own area, often requiring complex problem solving through others;
- identify trends which could have an impact on the area, and identify and implement approaches to these trends.
Organisational understanding
- quickly develop an in-depth understanding of their own area and an excellent understanding of the contribution other areas make to success of the University;
- demonstrate empathy with the academic endeavour and encourages others to do so.
Relationships and communication
- interact effectively at senior levels within the University;
- network with fellow professionals in the wider community to stay up to date;
- promote own/department’s work at internal and external opportunities;
- provide expert input for internal/external meetings, influencing and facilitating different opinions to reach consensus.
DBS Required
The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.
BPSS Required
Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role, all successful applicants will be subject to a BPSS check prior to appointment.
Informal enquiries to Ben Goodyer, 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 . 
