Job Description

Position Details

Development and Alumni Relations Office

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,546 to £29,171, with potential progression once in post to £32,595

Grade: 4

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 1st June 2026

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

Office Overview

Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village’ in the 1960s. In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, raising £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London.

The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in our local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015. We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to address global health epidemics, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from underrepresented backgrounds: one of the highest proportions in the UK.

The Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities. The Office, which is comprised of five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research projects, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships, as well as providing a versatile programme of engagement opportunities for our global alumni community.

The Operations Assistant will provide a range of operational and administrative support to the Development and Alumni Relations Office. This will predominately include administrative support for day-to-day office operations, diary support for the Deputy Director and Associate Directors, and support for UK and international travel. The post holder will also provide support for alumni and donor campus visits, undertake general financial administration, and assist in preparing materials for new starters. The Operations Assistant will be expected to manage a varied workload and assist the Office Manager with tasks and activities as they arise.

Main Duties

• Provide support to the Deputy Director and Associate Directors; to include diary support, event planning, arrangements for day-to-day portfolio activity and financial administration.
• Assist cross-office fundraising teams with logistical arrangements for campus donor visits and ad hoc operational support with pre or follow-up activity.
• Responsible for booking UK train travel and accommodation across the office. You will also work with the Office Manager to coordinate office-wide international travel and associated requests.
• Act as a main point of contact for day-to-day general office queries (i.e. maintenance, office supplies, post queries), responding in a timely manner and escalating more complex queries to the Office Manager.
• Act as a superuser for internal University systems and offer guidance and advice to the wider office, to help teams navigate these.
• Help to maintain the office environment and undertake training to support the wider office i.e. fire warden, evac chair training.
• Work with the Office Manager to provide administrative support for staff inductions, interviews and other operational processes.
• Support the Office Manager in the administration of DARO sustainability initiatives.
• Note-take and provide support to relevant committees and meetings, as required.
• Maintain working relationships with key stakeholders.
• Support equality and value diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade that may be reasonably expected by the Office Manager.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• GCSEs to a minimum of grade C/4 in English and Mathematics grade C minimum (or equivalent Business Administration qualification).
• A critical and intelligent attention to detail, including high standards of accuracy
• Ability to work both as part of a team and independently and prioritise own workload with minimum supervision to ensure tasks meet agreed deadlines.
• Ability to identify and break down potential problems using past experience and knowledge of good practices.
• Ability to proactively suggest improvements to working procedures under supervision.
• Excellent IT skills, including competence with all aspects of MS Office.
• Organisation skills and ability to multitask
• Excellent Interpersonal, communication skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and effectively with others
• Ability to work with a diverse range of stakeholders courteously, diplomatically, and confidentiality in order to establish and maintain personal credibility
• Willingness to engage in continuing professional development and training
• Ability to remain positive, adaptable and flexible when dealing with change and uncertainty.
• A good understanding of the UK HE sector.
• An understanding of the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace
• The ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures and how to respond to issues in line with relevant policies and procedures

Dimensions

You will not be required to line manage anyone in this role or manage a budget.

Planning and organising

You will be required to manage and prioritise a varied workload to deliver within required time frames. There is also a need to maintain an awareness of activity across the department and wider University as appropriate.

Problem solving and decision making

You will be working under the direction of a manager, but with the autonomy to deliver the outputs required. You will be working within the framework of existing policies, processes and procedures for the department. You will take day to day decisions on what advice to give and for responding to and resolving queries.

Internal and external relationships

This role will be liaising with internal colleagues and stakeholders, and external stakeholders as well with an expectation on maintaining good working relationships with all.

Informal enquiries to Rosemary Price, email: r.e.price@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