Job Description

Position Details

Birmingham Business School

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Grade: 7

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to October 2028

Closing date:

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 College of Social Sciences comprises the Birmingham Business School and the Schools of Social Policy, Government and Education. It is a vibrant community with over 12,000 students as well more than 500 academic staff and nearly 300 Professional Services staff across a range of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. Our work impacts all areas of society from business and politics to education, justice, health, and social care. We have a highly diverse international staff body, teach programmes in Dubai, Singapore and online as well as in Birmingham, and we have over 100,000 alumni in more than 185 countries.

Professional Services play a crucial role in this by providing outstanding support to our researchers, enable an exceptional educational experience for our students, and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.

Birmingham Business School's Vision is to be the preferred business school for those who act in the knowledge that socially responsible decisions are the foundation of a sustainable future. We convene those who want to learn, share, and create knowledge and practices around responsible business, and broker meaningful relationships among our stakeholders and communities. Together, we are fostering a culture of shared, deliberative, and ethical leadership for a more equitable and sustainable future. This is an exciting time to join Birmingham Business School which, along with just a handful of the world’s business schools, holds the gold standard of ‘triple-crown’ accreditation from the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), AMBA (Association of MBAs) and EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and has recently been awarded a Bronze Athena Swan Award for its commitment to gender equality.

Role Summary

The Birmingham MBA is a truly global experience and consists of a UK based full-time programme, a part-time Executive MBA and an Online MBA. The school also delivers an MBA Programme at the university’s Dubai campus and in Singapore.

Birmingham Business School is seeking an experienced and collaborative Operations Manager to play a key role in the delivery and development of our MBA portfolio. Reporting to the school’s Director of Business School Operations you will work collaboratively with the Programme Director, MBA Suite, and lead the professional and efficient delivery of the Full-Time MBA and ensure consistent delivery across the MBA suite of programmes, ensuring an exceptional student experience and supporting the school’s ambitions for continued growth and innovation. You will work closely with academic and professional service colleagues across the School and College and contribute to the strategic development of the MBA portfolio.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced manager who enjoys combining operational leadership, people management and strategic planning within a fast-paced and internationally focused environment.

Main Duties

• Work closely with the MBA Director to set and monitor budgets and resources, identify efficiencies and ensure effective financial and operational management
• Support the MBA Directors to identify the strategic direction of MBA within the framework of the school’s overall strategic goals
• Lead on the procurement and management of relationships with external providers for the MBA immersive modules, producing reports of the efficacy and RoTI of the arrangements. The role holder will be expected to support academic colleagues and students in country as appropriate and therefore must be prepared to travel abroad.
• Play a leading role in the delivery and development of existing and new initiatives including international residencies, global learning experiences and student enhancement activities, for example the MBA Symposium, including partnerships with external organisations and undertake projects in the MBA as required.
• Attend meetings on behalf of the Programme Director where appropriate, contributing to planning, delivery, stakeholder engagement and problem-solving activities.
• Work closely with Programme Directors, faculty and professional services teams to support programme delivery, curriculum enhancement and continuous improvement.
• Work collaboratively with Education Support colleagues to ensure support for student experience is commensurate with the prestige nature of the programme, including weekend and online provision.
• Collaborate with colleagues across Careers, Student Support Services, Alumni Relations, Recruitment and Admissions, and Marketing to deliver a seamless student journey from recruitment to alumni engagement.
• Actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture
• Play an active role in the overall management and development of PS Services as part of the School’s Professional Services management Group (PSMG).
• Develop effective working relationships with the other senior professional services colleagues across the University.
• Perform other duties as requested, consistent with the duties commensurate with the grade. As a Birmingham Professional at the University of Birmingham, you are expected to support key university activities and projects, for example, graduations, confirmation and clearing, and key events and work flexibly across the University if required.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Qualifications

Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications) plus relevant operational experience preferably but not exclusively in a higher education context.

Skills

• Proven capability as a leader or manager, with a flexible and inclusive management style, appropriate to the complexity and diversity of the University
• High levels of organisational skill, with an agile and adaptive approach
• Demonstrable success of building relationships across a complex organisation with evidence of exceptional negotiating and influencing skills
• Evidence of excellent communication skills including the ability to interact with different audiences
• High degree of self-motivation and ability to motivate and lead others
• Evidence of digital skills and capabilities to succeed in an evolving digital environment including MS 365
• Ability to manage conflict effectively and handle sensitive and confidential issues

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

• Significant experience of leading and developing teams
• Evidence of a commitment to excellent service delivery
• Experience of preparing and presenting reports in a clear and well-structured manner for senior management, and to produce and analyse source material, information, and data
• Experience of monitoring and reporting on budgets and an understanding of financial management procedures
• A readiness to challenge the status quo with evidence of developing and implementing service excellence, and identifying continuous improvement opportunities
• A commitment to people development and the organisational values that underpin the culture of the University
• Experience of championing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in own work area

Desirable

• Knowledge of the Higher Education environment, the national and international landscape, and its business requirements

Informal enquiries to Keith Portman, email: k.portman@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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.