Administration Assistant (Milton Keynes, ENG, GB, MK7 6AA)
Salary: £
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About the Role
The Admin Assistant plays a pivotal role providing a confidential, proactive, high quality administrative service within the Academic Services (AS) Admin Hub, Business Services, in the Open University (OU).
This role is to provide comprehensive administrative support to sub-unit Associate, Assistant and Deputy Directors (Service Users) across the entire Academic Services unit, encompassing sub-units; Central, Student Support Hub (SSH), Student Support Services (SSS), and Tuition, Assessment, Curriculum and Quality (TACQ), whilst being responsible for a specific sub-unit of focus. The Admin Assistant will be a versatile team member, capable of seamlessly transitioning between sub-units as required, ensuring effective support across the broader Academic Services team.
The role requires a high degree of professionalism and discretion, whilst having a good understanding of business administration and the importance of working in a fast-paced support function. This role will also involve coordinating projects and helping to support the wider AS colleagues in setting up events. The Admin Assistant reports to and takes direction from the Admin Hub Manager.
Key Responsibilities
Administrative Support:
* Provide proactive general administrative support to Academic Services Associate, Assistant and Deputy Director Service Users, prioritising and managing competing demands across all sub-units.
* Support the Academic Services sub-unit meetings, ensuring efficient coordination, documentation and action/decision notes.
* Maintain and manage email groups and creating mailing lists that span the entire Academic Services Department.
* Adhere to established governance, processes, and procedures, ensuring compliance in all administrative activities.
Communication and Collaboration:
* Act as a central point of contact for administration for Service Users, liaising with colleagues across all four sub-units and external contacts where necessary.
* Work closely with the PAs who support the Executive Directors, supporting and enabling seamless coordination of administrative activities across Academic Services.
* Collaborate effectively with other Admin Assistants within the Amin Hub team, fostering a culture of open communication and mutual support.
* Collaborate with colleagues from different sub-units, building relationships and fostering a cohesive and supportive working environment within the Admin Hub.
* Handle enquiries with tact, diplomacy, and discretion, maintaining a high level of professionalism in all interactions.
* Be open to innovation and actively share and communicate ideas on improving service delivery for both Assistants and Service Users.
Documentation and Record Keeping:
* Maintain the Academic Services (AS) documentation, including but not limited to; organisational charts, distribution lists, handbooks, CDSA trackers and compliance training trackers.
* Assist with the preparation and updating of documentation for AS sub-units including but not limited to, action trackers, decisions logs, meeting agendas, and SharePoint collaboration sites.
* Induction, Leavers and Equipment Support:
* Working with the Operational Support Hub to request new IT equipment and procurement activities on behalf of Service Users.
* Working with the Operational Support Hub to support Service Users in the retrieval of equipment, the organising of departures and arranging exit interviews of Leavers.
* Supporting the effective induction arrangements for new staff, facilitating a smooth onboarding process.
Event Planning
* Support the planning and preparation of events which Service Users require, using the tools and checklists available, ensuring:
* Meeting rooms are booked university-wide, ensuring the availability and suitability of equipment, stationery, and essentials.
* Catering requests are managed, taking account of dietary requirements and numbers catering for in a cost-efficient manner.
* Ensure a risk assessment form is completed for medium to high-risk events, one month prior to an event.
* Look to implement technology solutions and tools to facilitate effective and efficient event planning and coordination.
Cross-Functional Coverage:
* Provide cover for the Admin Hub Assistants when they are on leave, with the ability to step in and cover Admin Assistant roles across all sub-units.
* Have a dedicated sub-unit as an area of focus on a day-to-day basis while supporting the entire Academic Services Unit.
* Provide ad-hoc planned administrative support to sub-units during peak times as appropriate to workload.
For further information, please see the job description.
About You
Essential:
* English and maths at GCSE C level or equivalent.
* IT skills, including proven experience in Microsoft Office, Excel, Teams, Outlook, Word, Visio, and OneNote.
* The ability to communicate effectively with team members, managers, and external stakeholders.
* Able to accurately prioritise work and cope with competing demands and peaks in workload.
* Accurate data entry and record-keeping skills.
* Excellent attention to detail.
* Excellent team working skills.
* Excellent interpersonal skills.
* Self-starter, self-motivated and proactive in seeking change and improvements.
Desirable:
* Knowledge and competence in screen sharing on multiple devices.
* Knowledge and competence in the use of MS PowerPoint and having the creativity, and communication skills to create draft presentation materials including animation and graphic’s creation.
* Strong problem-solving abilities.
* Excellent use of initiative.
Support with your application
If you have any questions, or need support or adjustments relating to your application, the recruitment process, or the role, please contact us on or email quoting the advert reference number.
What's in it for you?
At The Open University, we offer a range of benefits to recognise and reward great work, alongside policies and flexible working that contribute towards a great work life balance. Get all the details of what benefits we offer by visiting our Staff Benefits page (clicking this link will open a new window).
Flexible working
We are open to discussions about flexible working. Whether it’s a job share, part time, compressed hours or another working arrangement. Please reach out to us to discuss what works best for you.
It is anticipated that a hybrid working pattern can be adopted for this role, where you can work from home and the office. However, as this role is contractually aligned to our Milton Keynes office it is expected that some attendance in the office will be required when necessary and in response to business needs. We’d expect this to be every Thursday and ad-hoc to support activity such as Unit meetings and away days.
Next steps in the Recruitment process
Interviews are expected to take please w/c 16 February 2026. Interview stage will consist of a panel interview and a short presentation task.
Early closing date notification
We may close this job advert earlier than the published closing date where a satisfactory number of applications are received. We would therefore encourage early applications.
How to apply
To apply for this role please submit the following as separate documents;
* CV
* Supporting statement, up to 1,000 words, you should set out in your statement why you’re interested in this role and provide examples of where your skills and experience meet the required competencies for this role as detailed in the job and person specification.
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