Job Description

Position Details

IT Services


Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK


Full time starting salary is normally in the range 29,647 to 31,460, with potential progression once in post to 35,388


Grade: 5


Full Time, Permanent


Closing date: 4th May 2025

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

This is an important role within IT Services working within Client Services to provide a much-needed function across End User Services. As part of the Client Services team, this role will centralise the procurement and licensing of standard / non-standard items ensuring that local teams have more time to focus on other issues.


The post holder will provide a highly responsive, cost effective and efficient purchasing and management service to the University, enabling hardware and software to be made available to staff and students according to agreed standards and expectations. They will support the implementation of strategies, policies, regulations whilst providing guidance to university staff and students.


The primary purpose of this role is to provide a responsive centralised service (as described above) for standard / non-standard items across End User Services. The post-holder will:


Process orders for Hardware and Software; this will include providing support to the existing hardware and software services function within the team. Identify opportunities for improving Hardware and Software Services and taking a proactive role in automating or streamlining the service whenever possible.

Main Duties

Tracking assets during the procurement process to ensure that equipment and software is correctly logged and tracked on the asset management system. You will be responsible for determining your own priorities for your workload, and for ensuring you co-ordinate with other team members to meet overall IT Services priorities. Provide up-to-date information on costs to enquirers, ensuring the University gets value for money. Place orders with suppliers, coordinating with budget holders and Finance Office. Processing orders for agreed items across the University. This will include using our call/incident platform, ServiceNow, to progress requests keeping the user informed. This will be done within the Service Level Agreement wherever possible. Support the undertaking of continuous improvement of software procurement and licensing processes, identifying areas for automation and self-serve provision whilst ensuring necessary controls and standards are in place. Ensure that recurring, annual software licences are recorded and renewal mechanisms pro-actively actioned in a timely manner to ensure continuity of service to customers. Act as primary contact for the University's main hardware and software suppliers, tracking performance to ensure the University is receiving the expected and agreed level of service. Liaise with counterparts at other institutions through forums such as Academic Applications Forum (AAF) to share knowledge and gain information on the current software licensing strategies being used. Maintain the University's various software delivery services for provision of software to non-managed devices to staff and students. Develop and maintain an effective hardware and software management process including licensing. Track usage of managed software and licences. Advising on non-standard requests use cases in conjunction with technical and business owners in support of projects and business as usual. The role will also be expected to ensure that centrally provisioned licences are kept up to date. This will involve establishing and maintaining communications with vendors and suppliers and key personnel within the university. Ensure the Universal Services Application Packagers and other parties are aware of any new software or new versions of existing software that are required to be delivered to end users. Liaise with Service Owners to update License Server with correct license versions and coordinate version release.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

5 GCSEs at grade C or above, including Mathematics and English (or equivalent level 2 vocational qualifications including demonstrable examples of the required level of literacy and numeracy). A demonstrable experience in administration and/or order processing. A good up to date general knowledge on current trends in IT. The ability to work effectively as a member of a team towards quality service goals and deadlines. Excellent communication skills, coupled with a strong customer service orientation, and the ability to tailor responses to specific technical and non-technical audiences. Ability to prioritise and schedule workload in the face of conflicting demands. Structured and methodical approach to problem solving. A willingness to adopt and champion new ways of working. A willingness to coach and train colleagues in your own areas of expertise. A good knowledge of IT hardware and specifications.

Dimensions

You will have no direct financial or staff management responsibility.

Planning and Organising

You will be working in response to more complex customer enquiries, and you will need to prioritise your own workload to deliver on schedule and at quality.

Problem Solving and decision making

You will use your knowledge and expertise to analyse problems and identify and deploy solutions. Some issues may need you to make recommendations on the implementation of a longer-term plan. You will be able to proactively suggest improvements. You will be able to consult with your manager to discuss non-core work which will need sign off.

Internal and External relationships

You will liaise with a wide range of staff and students, and colleagues in the wider IT team to ensure the delivery of a quality service. You will need to liaise with external suppliers to discuss hardware specifications.



Informal enquiries to Andrew Kilminster, email: a.r.kilminster@bham.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

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You can find out more about our work to create a fairer university for everyone

on our website

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