Description Position Details Birmingham Law School Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Full time starting salary is normally in the range £28,397 to £30,210, with potential progression once in post to £33,938 Grade: 5 Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to February 2026 Closing date: 26th January 2025 This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager. 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 Birmingham Law School (BLS) is one of five Schools in the College of Arts and Law with over 2,000 students and around 130 members of staff. We seek to appoint a highly organised and efficient Personal Assistant within the Birmingham Law School Professional Services Team, you will provide support for a broad range of administrative duties, some of which may be complex. You are required to provide executive support for the Dean of Birmingham Law School and use your excellent organisational skills and attention to detail to ensure the people you support are well prepared, and that the tasks you carry out are completed to a high quality in a timely manner. Tasks will include managing diaries, juggling demands from a range of sources; providing comprehensive meeting and committee support; drafting and responding to correspondence as appropriate; and maintaining high-profile working relationships with key stakeholders. The post holder will also be required to prepare a variety of communications (for example emails, briefing papers, social media posts) and lead on projects, systems and processes across the School as necessary. You will be responsible for supporting operational activities within the School, such as the facilities management, supporting the CAL facilities team to plan, monitor and implement facilities, health and safety and office relocations. The post holder will work in a busy, fast paced and professional environment. The post holder will work in close partnership with other mutually supportive members of the School Business Operations Team (Senior School Administrator, School Administration Manager, and Academic Administration and Quality Manager, Deputy Head of Operations and Head of Operations) to provide a well-integrated and comprehensive level of professional services support. This will include covering for and working with colleagues during periods of absence or high levels of work. The post holder will be line managed by the School Administration Manager. An excellent communicator, the post holder will have outstanding attention to detail, be flexible whilst using initiative, be extremely well organised with the ability to manage a varied and busy workload, understanding the need for prioritisation, and the ability to learn new processes and skills. They will be a positive and enthusiastic team player, whose proactive and efficient approach will support the School on a daily basis. The post sits within the Business Operations team at Birmingham Law School, supporting the Senior Leadership team, which has responsibility for providing strong academic leadership and ensuring that the School achieves the highest possible standards in its varied activities. Applying Please submit your application with an attached CV and a 1 page covering letter, evidencing your transferable skills and capabilities against the job description below. For informal enquiries, please contact Sarah Anderson, School Administration Manager s.anderson.4bham.ac.uk or David Rice, Head of Operations, d.ricebham.ac.uk. We also recognise that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job unless they think they match every requirement. Don’t let that hold you back. If you are excited about the role and think you can do what we have described but aren’t sure if you are quite who we’re looking forgive it a try or contact us with any questions. Interviews are likely to take place week commencing 3rd February 2025. Main Duties Diary Management Undertake complex diary management and meeting planning, usually 6-12 months ahead, making decisions on the best use of time. This will require you to understand the priorities and deadlines you and your manager(s) are working to and will involve developing relationships across the University and beyond. Inbox Management Proactive inbox management, with confidence to make decisions on behalf of others where appropriate. Managing email using the most relevant and up-to-date software available (SharePoint, OneDrive etc.) for the Dean of Law and where applicable. Independently manage correspondence, determining which items should be actioned by self and others, composing correspondence, exercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University, ensuring that background papers are prepared and available and urgent items drawn to the attention of the Dean of Law or appropriate person. Relationships and Communication Maintain high-profile working relationships with key stakeholders, fielding enquiries and ensuring that appropriate information is disseminated to stakeholders as appropriate. Communicate clearly and openly with others both within and external to the University, and use a range of communication skills and strategies to gain commitment to a course of action. Demonstrate collaborative working at all times, including with others outside the immediate work area. Planning and Organising Proactive preparation and collation of meeting-related papers, working collaboratively to determine what information might be required in advance of a meeting, articulating clear deadlines for submission and proactively chasing where necessary. This may include attending meetings to provide high-quality committee support, taking minutes and following up as appropriate. Set priorities and quality standards for a wide range of tasks and duties. 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. Organisation of events including booking a venue, sending invitations, arranging refreshments, liaising with speakers, manage bookings, co-ordination of colleagues, advertising. Facilities Management of facilities and maintenance issues within the School – working as part of a virtual team with the CAL facilities team to plan, monitor and implement facilities, health and safety and office relocations. Keeping room plan of Law building and Arts offices and records updated. Acting as the School’s point of contact for facilities and maintenance issues, including logging calls via Plan On and Emergency Helpdesk and chasing to progression. Support with office and teaching room inspections, logging issues. Work with CAL Facilities to ensure all Law staff and students have swipe access to the Harding Moot room. Health and Safety Co-ordinator, sending accident/incident report forms to CAL Facilities, reporting any problems to the Operations Manager for attention of College Health and Safety Committee. Acting as Fire Co-ordinator for Law building. Reporting back any problems with execution of fire drills to CAL Facilities team. Working closely with Deputy Operations Manager to ensure monthly fire safety checks on fire extinguishers, alarms and emergency exits, and reporting back any problems to the facilities team. Responsible for reporting any leaks, hazardous damages etc. to CAL Facilities and Estates if they pose a health and safety risk. Regular meetings with CAL facilities to provide and receive updates on facilities issues in the School. Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience You will need to evidence: Experience of working in an administrative role (ideally Higher Education) and adhering to internal and external regulations. GCSEs to a minimum of grade C/4 in English and Mathematics (or equivalent qualifications) and; A levels or an equivalent level 3 qualification, such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma. You will be: Comfortable in a role where you take significant responsibility and where you are expected to proactively propose new ways of working. Comfortable working on your own initiative to complete tasks and projects without close supervision. Demonstrable ability to manage own time effectively and the time of others. Able to become authoritative quickly on complex systems and be able to advise colleagues on these. Able to set the standard for other colleagues, acting as a role model and coaching staff as appropriate. You will be able to communicate and delegate effectively as required. Well organised with the ability to prioritise work (your own and the work of others) proactively, independently and as part of a team. Comfortable of working with confidential materials. Able to solve problems and implement effective procedures. Comfortable servicing committees, taking minutes and ensuring follow-up actions are completed. In addition to the above, you should be able to demonstrate and/or evidence the following: The ability to work to tight deadlines in a collaborative team environment. The ability to supervise and support the work of other team members. Can evidence a flexible, positive and creative approach to work and meticulous attention to detail. A good understanding of delivering excellent customer service and the ability to influence others to deliver it too. The ability to interact with individuals at all levels of internal and external organisations. Experience of using and maintaining complex work systems e.g. student databases/record systems or equivalent. Exemplary attention to detail and the ability to work confidentially, use judgement and make appropriate decisions within the constraints of the role. The ability to cope with change in a fast moving, dynamic environment where change is often required immediately. An understanding of 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. Informal enquiries to Sarah Anderson, email: s.anderson.4bham.ac.uk or David Rice, email: d.ricebham.ac.uk 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 .