Job Description
Position Details
College of Engineering and Physical Sciences
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: 29th 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 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 which is certified to ISO 9001 through UKAS accredited 3 rd party.
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 Quality processes and systems, developing and leading initiatives and innovations, monitoring their effectiveness through performance metrics. They are a Quality specialist capable of providing technical expertise across a range of functions and must be familiar with a range of centre processes.
The Quality Manager will report to the Operations Director and have responsibility for leading, establishing and maintaining quality standards within the centre. Due to being located off campus and the fact that this is a niche and specialist role within the University, the post holder is expected to have the expertise and capability to be autonomous, make decisions and influence to enable the Centre to operate successfully without the close proximity of support structures of the wider university community. The role holder will need to deal with complex issues and be able to understand and communicate clearly on technical or professional issues with non-specialists and senior level audiences both internally and externally.
The post holder will be responsible for leading the implementation, establishing and managing a quality management system to achieve and maintain the ISO 9001 accreditation and for ensuring systems are adhered to. In addition, the role holder will be expected to implement continuous improvement including kaizen and lean methodologies and be experience in root cause analysis.
The post holder will also work within the University’s policy framework, responsible for ensuring related policies to the HTRC are reviewed, followed and interpreted into local arrangements. This will include developing local forms of guidance, systems, processes and templates ensuring collaboration with across functions within the Centre and engaging back with relevant key personnel on campus. They will lead a matrix structured team of HTRC staff with quality aligned roles, including Auditors, Champions and improvement working groups. Contributions to development and advancement of College and University 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, 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 Quality related matters and processes.
- Contributing to the development of strategic plans for the Centre and responsibility for implementing the short, medium and long term Quality aspects of the Centre’s strategy.
- Establishing and maintaining a collaborative and innovative environment within the Centre.
- Leading on quality and compliance objectives and improvement programs within the Centre.
- Lead cross-functional teams implementing various continuous improvement techniques and initiatives in line with Centre strategic objectives enabling the Centre to monitor performance and analyse 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.
Quality Management
- Risk Management – leading, developing and maintaining an effective system of risk management for the centre , including a risk register and actions to reduce and mitigate risk in accordance with HTRC and University procedures. Leading the quarterly review of the risk and opportunities register with Leadership Team. This will include the interpretation and identification of external changes and the impact onto the Centre and role holder will need to think creatively about risks and opportunities.
- Quality Assurance – leading the development and maintenance of quality assurance processes in the Centre.
- Lead on the development and maintenance of quality procedures for the whole Centre, ensuring centre maintains ISO 9001 accreditation status.
- Leading and developing annual audit schedules and leading on internal and external Quality audits of the Centre Quality Management Processes. This will include indirect management, coaching and mentoring of a team of internal auditors.
- Responsible for developing and maintaining supplier selection, performance evaluation and monitoring systems. This may also include supplier audits, supplier engagement and the raising of supplier non-conformances where required and engaging with external providers on corrective and preventative actions.
- Responsible for developing and maintaining quality training requirements for the Centre and providing in-house quality and compliance training and preparing reports on training activity, and maintaining training records.
- Responsible for non-conformance management processes including monitoring non-conformance trends, leading on problem resolutions providing innovative contributions. This will also include chairing of weekly problem review sessions and taking an active role in any customer complaints. The role holder will need to provide comprehensive advice and guidance across functions to resolve quality issues at a quality management high level as well as potentially under.
- Responsible for documented information systems and management processes for the Centre. This will include the implementation and maintenance of a SharePoint document management system that complies with ISO 9001 and other essential requirements. The role holder will be the lead in the ongoing implementation of this project with ongoing enhancement of user access and utilisation of centre documented information and systems.
- Responsible for leading, facilitating and monitoring the communication, documented information, management of change and non-conformance processes within the centre.
People Management
- A key member of the senior team in promoting the HTRC Vision and a sustainable operational culture in the Centre that works within the University and commercial context.
- Management of Quality administration professional services staff within the Centre, with a particular focus on employee engagement.
- Management of Quality 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.
- Substantial indirect management and coaching of champion roles, internal auditors and improvement working groups. This role will need to influence and coach a variety of team members across functions and levels within and external to the Centre.
- 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 and sustainability.
General
- Develops and promotes a culture (including policies and procedures) that promotes Equality and values diversity and inclusion.
- The role holder should participate in any relevant committees and groups within the HTRC, University or partner network.
- 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 commensurate with the grade.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to degree level (a degree or equivalent in Quality Management, Engineering, Business Administration -based discipline is preferable) or equivalent experience, both with a strong technical background.
- Membership of the Chartered Quality Institute.
- Lead Auditor Qualification (desirable) or Internal Auditor Qualification (essential).
- Significant, high level experience of developing successful interventions to address complex Quality issues.
- Substantial proven experience of supporting quality processes in a operational manufacturing and/or research environment.
- A successful track record of developing and managing quality systems with a demonstrated bias towards action with a focus on continuous improvement.
- In-depth knowledge of ISO 9001 (essential) and other ISO standards such as 17025 (desirable).
- Ability to exercise a substantial degree of independent professional responsibility and discretion.
- Substantial proven experience in development and upkeep of quality management systems.
- Significant experience with working autonomously, independently and decision making.
- Significant experience in working within a complex organization 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 health and safety, equality and diversity to internal and external stakeholders.
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 . 
