Job Description
Position Details
School of Physics and Astronomy
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,647 to £31,460, with potential progression once in post to £35,388
Grade: 5
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to November 2029
Closing date: 23rd September 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
The UK Quantum Technology Research Hub in Sensing, Imaging and Timing (QuSIT, www.qusit.org ), led by the University of Birmingham, has been selected as one of five Hubs to be delivered by
UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of a £160 million investment.
We are now seeking an Operations Coordinator to provide organisational, operations and administrative support and assistance to the Principal Investigator of the hub, undertaking some Executive Assistant duties.The successful candidate will join a thriving and diverse research group, the Quantum Sensing Group of the School of Physics and Astronomy and be part of the QuSIT Professional Services team. They will report to the Project Officer of the Quantum Sensing Group.
The School of Physics and Astronomy is an Institute of Physics Juno Champion since 2014 and holder of the Athena SWAN Silver Award. Both initiatives recognise the School’s commitment to promote diversity and equality, and to encourage better practice for all members of the community, whilst also working towards developing an equitable working culture in which all students and staff can achieve their full potential. We welcome applications from all qualified applicants, and encourage applications from traditionally under-represented groups in Physics and Astronomy including, but not limited to, women and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups.
Role Summary
As an Operations Coordinator within the QuSIT hub, being based within the School of Physics and Astronomy, you will provide operational support and assistance to the Principal Investigator of the hub, encompassing a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex.
You will be able to use your wide range of administrative skills and have the opportunity to lead on specific tasks for the Principal Investigator, within the QuSIT Professional Services team.
Main Duties
- Providing organisational, operations and administrative support and assistance to the Principal Investigator of QuSIT including some personal diary management.
- You will be able to deal with complex systems and procedures and will be expected to offer advice on these, including deciding on the response to more complex queries.
- You will be expected to exercise your judgment on the answer to queries or on the direction of work within parameters set by your manager. On a day to day basis you will be expected to resolve more complex queries without necessarily referring to your manager.
- Maintain high profile working relationships with key stakeholders on your own initiative, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate.
- You may be involved in organising events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising, collating feedback and reporting back.
- You may also be involved in supporting the PI in arranging complex UK and overseas travel, including booking flights, hotels, transfers, and organisation and planning of itineraries, ensuring best use of time and taking into account budgetary constraints.
- You will be expected to use a variety of complex University systems and processes to research, analyse and interpret complex data, producing bespoke reports as required. This may include identifying and resolving issues with the data.
- Support the management, development and implementation of operational processes and systems.
- Process more complex data (which may be financial, HR, student-related or other), monitoring accuracy, chasing up missing information, and resolving any issues as appropriate.
- As required, provide a professional secretarial service to relevant committees and meetings.
- You may be required to be responsible for one or more of the following:
- monitoring budgets including processing payments, authorising expenditure, raising concerns where finances are not in line with the budget,
- procuring goods and services through the University system, working closely with UoB Finance and Procurement teams,
- updating and writing contents for the department’s communications e.g. intranet pages,
- dealing with health and safety and facilities issues,
- dealing with arrangements for international visitors,
- monitoring internal procedures/compliance and ensuring these are followed and disseminated as appropriate.
- Supports equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to A Level standard, or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
- Minimum of grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent.
- Highly proficient IT skills, in particular the ability to handle complex electronic diaries and emails, the wider MS Office suite of programmes including Excel and PowerPoint. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
- Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own (and sometimes others’ workloads) to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
- Excellent interpersonal skills. The post holder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
- A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
- A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
- Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
- Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
- Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
- Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.
Dimensions
This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department. May manage a team or budgets.
Planning and Organising
The role is required to work independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision.
Problem Solving and decision making
They will work under the direction of the PI but will have a significant degree of autonomy in performing their tasks. They will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in their area of responsibility.
Internal and External relationships
This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders, likely to be University-wide and with external stakeholders.
Informal enquiries to Louise Randall, email:
[email protected] and Professor Michael Holynski, 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 .
