Position Details
Birmingham Business School
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, Fixed Term contract up to August 2027
Closing date: 2nd April 2026
This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.
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 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 University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research. We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge. Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.
The College of Social Sciences comprises the Schools of Social Policy, Government and Education and the Birmingham Business School. It is a vibrant community with over 12,000 students as well more than 500 academic staff and nearly 300 Professional Services staff across a range of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields. Our work impacts all areas of society from business and politics to education, justice, health, and social care. We have a highly diverse international staff body, teach programmes in Dubai, Singapore and online as well as in Birmingham, and we have over 100,000 alumni in more than 185 countries.
Professional Services play a crucial role in this by providing outstanding support to our researchers, enable an exceptional educational experience for our students, and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence. Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.
School Overview
Birmingham Business School’s vision is to be the preferred business school for those who act in the knowledge that socially responsible decisions are the foundation of a sustainable future. We convene those who want to learn, share, and create knowledge and practices around responsible business, and broker meaningful relationships among our stakeholders and communities. Together, we are fostering a culture of shared, deliberative, and ethical leadership for a more equitable and sustainable future. This is an exciting time to join Birmingham Business School which, along with just a handful of the world’s business schools, holds the gold standard of ‘triple‑crown’ accreditation from the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), AMBA (Association of MBAs) and EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and has recently been awarded a Bronze Athena Swan Award for its commitment to gender equality.
Role Summary
The post holder will report to the school’s Head of Operations (Business Operations) with a dotted reporting line to the Head of Marketing & Communications for the College of Social Sciences and will work with a range of professional services staff to leverage opportunities for enhanced engagement across a broad set of stakeholders.
Main Duties
* Provide strategic guidance and counsel to the School’s Senior Management Team on reputation initiatives and communications
* Support the development, execution and ongoing refinement of a Business School Communications Strategy that enhances the Business School’s reputation amongst pre‑defined target audiences. This will involve close working relationship with the College team to plan, execute and evaluate activity
* Within the broader strategy, a key theme of activity will be to work in partnership with the College Communications Manager to lead the work for the Business School within the University’s Global Top 50 Communications Strategy.
* Champion the school’s identity and voice, ensuring a consistent and integrated approach to enhancing reputation and brand
* Line management of the school’s Events and Project Officer role and Dean’s EA
* Lead on maximising the school’s reputation and external recognition through award applications and internal/external events
* Build relationships with academic and professional services members of staff across the school to provide consultative advice on how to increase the amplification of stories the school wishes to promote and using these relationships – proactively gather content from internal and external University sources that can help improve our reputation and ensuring it is used effectively
* Be the central link between the School, The College’s Marketing and Communications Team to ensure the Business School’s reach is being maximised and develop the processes required to enable the school better to communicate about itself to an external audience
* Proactively build relationship and provide a link between the school and the College Marketing and Communications team, playing a crucial role in the identification of potential content, media and campaign opportunities – and relaying feedback and requests back to the right individuals within the school
* Work alongside colleagues in Marketing and Communications, Careers, Business Engagement, Business Operations (Events) and Alumni Relations, to ensure maximum profile and communications value from these initiatives, particularly in relation to Rankings
* Build relationships internally and externally to support the delivery of these programmes through enhanced academic engagement and commitment
* Work as a brand ambassador within the school – utilising the pre‑existing guidelines and ways of working to aid colleagues in the production of marketing assets that utilise pre‑existing templates – and leading on briefing additional design projects into our in‑house creative agency, ideally in collaboration with the Marketing and Communications team, who have sign‑off accountability for newly designed assets
* Champion existing good practice and identify areas of concern or risk to the strategy, providing briefings to the senior management team as well as more widely to influence strategic development in responsible business allied to the school’s reputation
* Work proactively to leverage institutional initiatives for the benefit of the school’s reputation strategy, identifying communications opportunities and engaging existing resource
* 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.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
* Education: Bachelor Degree level or equivalent experience
* Strategic Planning: Proven experience in supporting the development, execution, and refinement of communications strategies to enhance organisational reputation.
* Leadership & Management: Direct experience in line management, specifically overseeing roles such as Events and Project Officers and Executive Assistants.
* Stakeholder Engagement: A track record of building professional relationships with academic staff, senior management, and diverse professional services teams (e.g., Marketing, Careers, Alumni Relations).
* Brand Advocacy: Experience acting as a brand ambassador, ensuring consistent identity and voice across a large organisation.
* Reputation Management: Experience in maximising external recognition through award applications and high‑profile internal/external events.
* Project Oversight: Experience briefing and collaborating with in‑house creative agencies for the production of marketing assets.
Knowledge
* Strategic Communications: Understanding of how to align school‑level activities with broader institutional goals, such as a "Global Top 50" strategy.
* Higher Education Context: Knowledge of the business school landscape, including "triple‑crown" accreditations (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS) and EDI frameworks like the Athena Swan Award.
* Content Identification: Knowledge of how to proactively gather and identify media, campaign, and "amplification" opportunities from internal and external sources.
* Risk & Best Practice: Familiarity with identifying areas of risk to a reputation strategy and championing existing good practices.
* Global Perspectives: Understanding of working within a diverse, international environment involving multiple global campuses (e.g., Dubai, Singapore).
Skills
* Consultative Advice: Ability to provide strategic counsel to Senior Management Teams on reputation and communication initiatives.
* Collaboration: Strong interpersonal skills to act as a "central link" between different departments and colleges to maximise reach.
* Asset Production: Ability to utilise pre‑existing brand guidelines and templates to aid colleagues in creating marketing materials.
* Analytical Thinking: Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of communication activities and relay feedback to relevant stakeholders.
* Process Development: Skill in developing the necessary processes to improve how an organisation communicates with external audiences.
Informal enquiries to Charley Hafiz, email: c.hafiz@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.
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