Job Description

Job Category: Manager
:
Position Details
School of Engineering
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range 36,130 to 45,413 with potential progression once in post to 48,149
Grade: 7
Part Time (30 hours per week)
Fixed Term contract up to October 2027
Closing date: 14th September 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
Background
This role is based within the School of Engineering (College of Engineering and Physical Sciences). The School, which is the largest in the College, is a multi-department School comprising the disciplines of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering. The post holder will be expected to take a lead role in Project Management for the BreatHE IN: Building Healthier Environments Indoors Network. The post holder is an integral member of the School's research Professional Services staff which is led by the Head of Operations and the Research Administration Manager. The post holder will provide research support to the Principle Investigator and Project Team to ensure successful delivery. The post holder will be part of a wider network of Project Manager and Project Officer staff in the School of Engineering, the College of EPS and wider University.
Role Summary
To proactively manage research networks and projects as part of a project teams. The main responsibility is to coordinate BreatHE IN, a UK-based research network aiming to improve population health by focusing on the indoor built environment. It brings together researchers, industry partners, and policymakers to promote healthier indoor spaces through cross-disciplinary collaboration. The network seeks to lead innovation in tools, strategies, and knowledge exchange to embed health and wellbeing into how we design, retrofit, and monitor buildings. The role also includes supporting and managing other related projects led by the same project lead, Dr Bruno Fraga, such as Fusion Forest, a research project where we seek to design new ways to plant and manage treescapes to halt the dispersion of tree epidemics. In order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.
Main Duties

• Responsible for the delivery of one or more projects and networks, through the provision of significant and high level project management support. This may include some or all of the following:

• developing project plans, identifying (as appropriate) key performance indicators and milestones;
• reviewing and auditing progress on projects to identify and act on improvements to effectiveness, efficiency and delivery;
• reporting on progress including the development of reporting mechanisms, writing reports (eg on project budgetary management), and presenting to appropriate meetings such as Project Board or to other key stakeholders;
• providing executive support to Project Boards, work streams and working groups as required; setting agendas, collating and distributing papers and minutes and ensuring follow up action is taken;
• assessing and escalating as you deem appropriate issues and risks, including monitoring risk registers;
• Stakeholder management, ensuring effective liaison with project partners, funders, Project Boards as appropriate;
• managing project resources efficiently and effectively, including budgets, and ensure project documentation is maintained.
• Proactively contribute to the delivery of network objectives. Coordinate the organisation of meetings/ workshops/ dissemination events if required.
• Develop and deliver communication strategy for the project(s), which may include developing, for example, newsletters, briefings for stakeholders and/or websites or other social media.
• Ensure that priorities are balanced, taking action to deliver agreed deliverables against timelines.
• Maintain an up to date knowledge of project management methodologies.
• Source, analyse and develop insights from the data to inform evaluation and review of projects.
• Promotes equality and values diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.
• Supports the University's sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.
• Post holder to travel for project delivery when required.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Qualified to Degree level or equivalent and/or practical managerial experience or significant relevant experience demonstrated through increasingly more demanding roles evidencing the experience necessary for this role.
• Proven track record of successful project management, preferably using one or more project management tools such as Prince2.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly, and to produce and analyse information and data.
• Excellent people-management skills.
• Excellent budgetary management skills and experience.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, relationship building and influencing skills with the ability to deal confidently with a range of internal and external stakeholders/contacts.
• Excellent organisational and multi-tasking skills with a methodical approach to work and the ability to prioritise workloads in order to meet deadlines.
• 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

• Experience/knowledge of managing projects in disciplines related to engineering, air quality, architecture or physics
• Experience of content management systems such as WordPress and social media platforms

Dimensions
Roles at this level will require a broad understanding and practical experience of an administrative or professional field which will be used to plan the running and development of services and/or lead shorter term projects or contribute to larger projects. You will work with information which needs interpretation and analysis; you will use your judgement to identify the best solution to differing problems and issues, offering recommendations for managing more complex situations. You may also need to liaise and support activity within the wider department or with external bodies as appropriate.
Planning and Organising

• plan the running and development of the project, overseeing resources and inputting into resource planning as appropriate;
• develop, agree and implement standards for delivery for own area;
• plan relevant training and development;
• provide professional advice, guidance and support to others within and outside their immediate work area;
• oversee resources and make recommendations about future resource requirements.

Problem Solving and decision making

• review, develop and propose solutions for problems with (for example) staff, budgets, services and/or systems;
• deal effectively with unexpected issues, such as changing priorities;
• deal with sensitive people matters/issues;
• provide specialist advice and recommendations to support decision-making of others.

Internal and External relationships

• understand their own and closely-related working areas and how they contribute to the success of the University;
• has an understanding of how the University operates; actively seeks to share this knowledge with others;
• developing empathy with the academic endeavour;
• influence decision makers and win support for proposals;
• develop excellent working relationships within and outside of own area and potentially with external stakeholders;
• co-ordinate activities across a number of areas.

Informal enquiries to Ali Wright, email:
View our staff values and behaviours
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 .