Description Position Details Campus Services Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK Full time starting salary is normally in the range £25,977 to £27,506 Grade: 3 Full Time, Permanent Closing date: 29th April 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 Background The post-holder supports the Customer Operations Team Leader and Management Team in the delivery of a quality frontline accommodation service appropriate to the needs of students. The post holder provides advice and guidance to prospective and existing students covering a variety of accommodation issues including maintenance repairs and wellbeing and complaints, making referrals where appropriate. Under the direction of the Team Leader and Customer Service Manager, the post holder will take responsibility for ensuring that maintenance repairs, statutory checks and all communication within the residences are addressed in a timely and orderly manner to establish and promote a positive experience. The post-holder must work collaboratively as a team member and take an active role in the provision of their administrative support. The post holder will liaise with internal and external bodies to produce and deliver an excellent and pro-active Accommodation Service. The post holder will require excellent interpersonal skills, ability to prioritise, be organised, resilient, and diplomatic. Demonstrating commitment to best practice regarding customer care. The post holder will engage in problem solving, the establishment of good communities and the resolution of conflict and dispute. The Customer Service Advisor position at The Vale Village is a 35 hours per week position – hours of work are shift based with shifts of either 07:00 – 15:00, 10:00-18:00 or 14:00-22:00 five out of seven days a week. Shifts are set in advance. Role Summary At the University of Birmingham, students are at the heart of all we do. Provide support to dedicated area including visitors, administration, staff and students, organise and manage all aspects of incoming mail and deliveries, dealing with and resolving the vast majority of initial requests and queries. In order to flexibly use resource you may be given the opportunity to work in different areas of the department or wider University. Main Duties You will be responsible for providing a professional and friendly “meet and greet” first point of contact for all customers and visitors to your designated area. Responsible for ensuring person being visited is aware of visitor arrival. You will answer incoming calls, positively, and warmly. Accurately directing the caller to the appropriate people courteously and professionally. You will be able to respond to and resolve the vast majority of queries you receive without needing to escalate, although you will judge when this is appropriate. This will include complaint handling, and resolving where possible. Promptly report any system failures which have been reported to reception (such as IT, Door access, fire alarms, phone system) to the relevant department or supplier, chase progress and escalate as necessary. This may require requisition orders to be raised. Where this is the case the post holder will ensure goods are received and invoiced checked and paid. Take and deliver accurate phone messages, with call back numbers, area codes and promptly relays messages via email to the proper person. Maintains office and other supplies in stock, and reorders on own initiative. Maintains a neat and tidy reception area, replenishing marketing material, replacing magazines as received, clearing up any clutter on an ongoing basis, and maintains a professional, comfortable general office atmosphere. Offers coffee or other refreshments to visitors who are waiting. Maintains and updates the Welcome Board to keep announcements current. You will also carry out administrative duties such as word processing, photocopying, laminating, filing and data inputting. Opens, sorts, separates, and distributes mail neatly and accurately within the department. You may be involved in organising outgoing bulk-mail projects. Receive monies or take card payments as set out in the cash handling procedure. May be asked to support others in administrative duties. You may occasionally be asked to supervise temporary or casual staff. You will be expected to treat everyone with dignity and respect, supporting equality and valuing diversity. Performs other tasks and duties, as requested or required. Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience GCSE grade A-C/9-4 or equivalent in English and Maths or equivalent level 3 qualification. Where no equivalent qualification is held, relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role will normally be required. Experience of working in a busy customer service or reception role. Experience of handling issues from beginning to resolution. Ability to prioritise own work, work unsupervised and own initiative as required. Good communication skills, including tactful and confident telephone manner. Articulate, confident and competent in the use of electronic communications. IT skills – proficiency with Microsoft office programmes including word, excel, and Outlook. Good organisation and administrative skills. Excellent interpersonal skills. Fast and accurate working with close attention to detail. Ability to learn and understand how diversity considerations affect own area. Dimensions This role does not directly manage others but may check work of others This role does not own a budget Planning and organising You will be working mainly in response to customer enquiries but you will be required to prioritise duties within your overall objectives. You will need to maintain an awareness of how your work links with the department and the activities of the department. Problem solving and decision making You will complete day to day duties on your own initiative, and will be able to prioritise tasks within your workload. You will be able to resolve day to day queries. Complex queries will be referred elsewhere. Internal and external relationships Internal - Team members, Line manager, Senior managers, colleagues from other departments, students External – External bodies e.g., prospective students, parents, customers Informal enquiries to Chloe Yelland, email: c.yelland@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 .