Job Description

Position Details

School of Social Sciences

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,636 to £46,049 with potential progression once in post to £48,822

Grade: 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 26th February 2026

Interviews Scheduled: 6th March 2026

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

To manage designated projects across a School, College or professional service area, or make a contribution to larger University-wide projects as part of a project team. In order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.

The Project Manager will lead the delivery of complex projects, ensuring robust planning, governance, and compliance across all stages. In addition to high-level project management, the role provides operational oversight with a strong emphasis on financial leadership and contractual integrity. The post holder will manage project budgets, monitor financial performance, and produce accurate reports to support informed decision-making. They will act as the key liaison for contractual processes, ensuring agreements are legally compliant and risks are effectively mitigated.

Main Duties

• Responsible for the delivery of one or more projects or for contributing to larger University projects, 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
  • Ensure robust planning, governance, and compliance across all stages of project delivery, maintaining high standards and mitigating risks.
  • Provide operational oversight with a focus on contractual integrity, acting as the key liaison for agreements and ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.
• Coordinate the organisation of conferences/ 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.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Qualified to Degree level or equivalent plus 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

Informal enquiries to Elizabeth Goodyear, email: e.goodyear@bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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.