Account Executive - External relations - 59807 - Band 400

Position Details

External Relations

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £22,050 to £23,535, with potential progression once in post to £28,631

Band 400

Full Time / Permanent

2 positions available

Closing date: 6th October, 2022

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  

Role Summary

We are a full-service agency at the University of Birmingham. We are part of External Relations, and our role is to support the University's strategic framework - striving to make an even greater difference to the world around us through world-class research and outstanding education.

The work we do is across a variety of audiences, numerous clients and sectors - not only education but also arts and entertainment, B2B, charity and construction. We deliver high quality, innovative solutions across creative, design, digital, media and print.

As part of the Account Management team reporting to the Account Manager, the Account Executive will support them in managing a portfolio of key clients across the University delivering an excellent, innovative, high quality service. This will involve ensuring the smooth running of the agencies key accounts through account management duties and administrative tasks.

Main Duties

As the Account Executive, your responsibilities will include:

• Preparing quotations, writing up briefs and detailing schedules for clients, as well as ensuring purchase orders are received before a project commences

• With the support of the Account Manager, ensuring the smooth organisation and operational delivery of general Creative Media projects such as reprints and repeat business

• Liaising between clients, third party suppliers such as external printers and/or internal CM teams so as to ensure that the project is successfully delivered in the most suitable format within budget, within deadline and within the brief criteria

• Ensuring that all projects are managed through to successful completion including the timely management of closing down jobs and passing onto the Finance team

• Updating and maintaining the WIP system (the MIS system for Creative Media) to ensure all projects details are accurately recorded including quotes, project briefs, schedules and design hours

• Following the quality assurance process in liaison with the Design & Media Studio and other areas in Creative Media (Print) to ensure all projects are checked effectively before sending back out to the client

• Working with the Production Co-ordinator to ensure all projects are booked in with the right resource and allocated the right amount of time for each stage. Update the Production Co-ordinator should content/amends be delayed to avoid any lost design time
• Being the main point of contact between the client and the creatives about any queries on content/design/film/amends ensuring client expectations and briefs are met
• Supporting the Account Manager on the portfolio of Creative Media projects that are high profile, complex, high value projects often with a high reputational and/or strategic impact. This may involve elements of research activity to prepare for pitches.

• Supporting the Account Manager on meetings with a wide range of clients at various levels across the University from College Marketing Managers to Senior Management. Hosting some of these face to face meetings on their own at their Manager's discretion

• Working with the Account Manager/Head of Account Management to ensure quarterly review meetings are booked with clients and prepare any documentation as necessary for the meetings

Person Specification

Level of knowledge and/or educational qualifications required:

Good numeracy and written skills - a minimum of GCSE English and GCSE Mathematics

• Proven client relations/account management expertise or other relevant experience
• IT literate, with a good working knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint
• Experience of working in a customer service environment
• Knowledge of print and digital design projects and their production processes is desired but not essential

Skills/Attributes required:

• A proven high standard of verbal and written communication skills to be able to deal confidently, professionally and efficiently with clients at all levels
• Ability to work on multiple tasks simultaneously, under pressure and meet strict deadlines
• Excellent organisational skills with great attention to detail at all times
• A desire and determination to deliver excellent customer service
• A team player willing to provide support for the whole Account Management team as necessary
• Ability to work flexibly and effectively both in a team an independently
• Confidentiality and discretion as appropriate

Level of previous experience required:

• Account management/customer service or relevant experience

Informal enquiries can be made to Laura Airston - l.airston@bham.ac.uk

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment

We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.