School Administration Manager

Position Details

• Birmingham Law School
• Full time starting salary is normally in the range £27,511 to £30,046. With potential progression once in post to £33,797 a year.
• Full time - This is a full-time post however part-time applications of 60% FTE/22.5 hours per week or more will be considered.
• Permanent

Background

Birmingham Law School is a diverse, civic and global law school within the College of Arts and Law with over 70 academic staff and 1,700 students. We are one of the world's Top 100 Law Schools and consistently named as one of the UK's best law schools.

We seek to appoint a School Administration Manager who has ene enthusiasm and the ability to work with confidence to support the delivery of School and College strategic objectives. The School Administration Manager is critical to the smooth running of the School and manages significant areas of operational activity (eg workload planning, financial monitoring, academic staff recruitment, committee management) whilst also providing high level administrative support for senior staff in the School. The post holder will work without direct supervision and exercise a high level of discretion. He/she/they will have a good understanding of the University's policies and procedures and be able to advise staff within the School accordingly.

The post holder has line management responsibility for the School Administration team and reports to the School Head of Operations.

Birmingham Law School values diversity and inclusion and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to those of all backgrounds and identities.

Job Purpose

The role is designed to manage business administration processes within the Law School but is not involved in taught student activity. To manage day-to-day processes and provide a customer service support for staff within the School. Administering processes relating, but not exclusive to, HR, Finance, Facilities, contractual agreements, seminar and events planning. Providing advice and support on University processes and systems to enable the efficient and effective running of daily administrative activity. The post holder will work with the School Head of Operations to help plan and prioritise the cycle of business for the School and to plan operational activity. The post holder will act as Secretary to senior level committees within the School and advise on procedures and policies relating to those committees. The role is central to the School, acting as a key source of promoting knowledge, leading and advising staff on policy whilst being approachable and dependable.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Staff Management

• Provide leadership, supervision and direction to the School Administration team, anticipate and establish priorities to ensure workloads are managed efficiently, all objectives and deadlines are met.
• Line management responsibilities for the School Administration team ensuring they are fully trained, conducting regular 1:1 meetings and annual PDR meetings.

Finance

• Responsible for the management and monitoring of School budgets: planning, monitoring, advising and remedial responsibilities in accordance to the University's financial regulations.
• Recognised as the School expert in Core Systems. The ability to advise on processes and coaching staff as required. To identify opportunities in these processes and recommend improvements.
• Approval of transactions, such as requisitions and expenses, within agreed budget limits.
• Carry out month-end, quarter-end and year-end procedures, such as reviewing open purchase orders, identifying incorrectly coded transactions and processing correcting journal entries, and accruals/prepayments.

Human Resources

• Responsible for the contracting and recruitment of academic staff, ensuring that all processes and procedures are followed.
• Work with the School Head of Operations in the planning of contractual bought in teaching activity for the School and other contractual arrangements for funded posts.

Planning

• Establish and manage policies and procedures for the annual cycle of business for the school. This includes drafting cycles of business, standard operation procedures, checklists, setting dates for committees/meetings/events in line with the College and University schedule of meetings.
• Responsible for collating and managing the Workload Allocation Model for the School. Ensuring timely update and process of this information within the School cycle and reporting data to senior staff.
• Administrative management of School processes for academic staff and related activities. This includes the study leave scheme, peer observation, probation, performance and development reviews, and research support.
• Responsible for planning School events e.g. Away Days, staff welcome events and public lectures.

Governance and Compliance

• To manage the School's committee structure which includes ensuring terms of reference are accurate and adhered to, setting committee cycles of business and servicing committees. The post holder will provide advice on University protocols and policies, ensuring meetings are planned/terms of reference are applied and meetings are quorate. To actively ensure dissemination of information as appropriate.
• Support the School Head of Operations to ensure the School complies with University Regulations, all University policies, procedures, guidelines and relevant legislation, including freedom of speech, UKVI and GDPR. Able to identify omissions and failures in policy and take remedial action where required.
• Maintain accurate computer based records and associated documents with the highest level of confidentiality.

Facilities

• Input to managing facilities for the School: working as part of a virtual team with the College Facilities Manager/Team to plan, monitor and implement facilities, Health and Safety and office relocations.
• Represent the School on the College Health and Safety Committee.
• Ensure all new starters are processed and have access to facilities, including buildings, equipment, IT and other relevant facilities.

Communication

• Responsible for managing and promoting internal School communication and developing suitable strategies in line with College directives.
• Circulating information to staff that is clear and accurate.
• When dealing with confidential information knowing when and when not to impart information.
• Oversight of the School's intranet site and webpages.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Other

Person Specification

• Develop effective working relationships with the other School Administration Managers within the College.
• Assist with the contractual responsibilities for external organisations through involvement with Legal Services.
• To take on projects as requested by the School Head of Operations for the benefit of the wider College.
• Perform other duties as requested, consistent with the classification level of the position and in line with the principle of multi-skilling.
• Essential
  
  1. Educated to a degree level or substantial experience in an education environment or a complex organisation.
  
  2. Demonstrated leadership and people management skills in a culturally diverse environment to prioritise workloads and to lead the team to deliver on challenging objectives and meet competing deadlines.
  
  3. Superior analytical skills, with capacity to conceptualise, develop, implement and review administrative processes to deliver business improvement solutions.
  
  4. Proven ability to manage time and resources effectively and responsibly, with good organisation and planning skills, including managing competing deadlines.
  
  5. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; both written and oral, and an ability to deal with people at all levels.
  
  6. Proven ability to manage a budget effectively in accordance with policies and procedures, including experience using financial packages such as Oracle or similar.
  
  7. Demonstrated high level IT skills with experience using Microsoft Office and the ability to manipulate computer systems and databases. Advanced skills in Excel be highly regarded.
  
  8. Experience of Committee support, including drafting agendas and taking minutes.
  
  9. Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Desirable

1. Experience of providing support for academic staff recruitment.

2. Previous experience of working in close partnership with academic staff and senior professional services staff to deliver objectives.

In order to apply for this role please make sure that you upload the following documents:

• Covering Letter/Personal Statement addressing the Person Specifications outlined below (3 pages maximum).
• A current curriculum vitae (CV) which includes the names and contact details of at least three referees (preferably including a current or previous supervisor). If your CV does not include referees you can complete these online when prompted in the application form.

Informal enquiries about the role may be made to Georgia Foster, School Head of Operations ( G.M.Foster@bham.ac.uk ).

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.

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity at The University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community '