Job Description
Position Details
Conferences and Events
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883
Grade: 5
Full Time, Permanent
Closing date: 12 th April 2026
UK travel may be required for this role
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 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.
Campus Services is responsible for a very large range of services within the University including conferences and events, student accommodation, catering, Sport and Fitness, cleaning, and waste management, delivering the University’s post, day nurseries, security and emergency response, Winterbourne House & Garden.
The Event Manager post is part of the Event Management Team that sits within Conferences & events (C&e). C&e sells and delivers a vast number of conferences and events to underpin academic work, support the student experience and drive additional income. As with any commercial revenue generating department within a university, C&e seeks to strike a balance between enhancing the student and staff experience and ensuring a financial return to the University.
Role Summary
The Event Manager is responsible for supporting the management and delivery of a number of events per year that are predominantly academic conferences. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, setting up and managing delegate registrations sites and online payment portals, creating and managing event websites, management and support for abstract submissions, booking speakers travel and managing expense claims,, supporting client meetings, and attendance on the day of the events. The role will cover a wide variety of tasks essential to delivering complex, multi day events and cover a range of residential conferences, through to evening functions, day events and exhibitions.
Documenting all client details accurately on the booking system is essential, as it is imperative to build and maintain up to date client records.
The post holder will need to be financially aware, to effectively support the management of event budgets, as well as maximising income generated through the allocation of facilities and services, which is crucial. Customer service skills are a necessity as we take great pride in our high level of delivering customer excellence.
The postholder will need to work flexibly when events are held in the evening or at weekends. Although most events will be based on campus, the postholder may also be asked to support events at the Exchange, Edgbaston Park hotel or any other appropriate location. To flexibly use resource, the postholder may be asked to work elsewhere in the department or across the University.
Main Duties
* SupportingtheSeniorEventManager/swith allaspectsofeventlogisticsandadministrationforanumberof academic events which will include;
o acting as one of the main points of contact, working with the clients to understand the objectives for the eventandmakingrecommendationstoidentifyingthemostappropriateservicesandvenues,maximising opportunities to upsell as appropriate.
o monitoringtheindividualevent projectplan/timelinesforeachevent,ensuring allocatedactionsaremet within set deadlines.
o ensuringtheeventandpersondetailsareaccuratelyrecordedonoureventmanagementplatformand circulated to relevant teams as appropriate prior to events.
o creatingwebsitesviaourin-houseeventmanagement platform.
o supportingthemanagementofdelegateregistrationsand payments.
o supportingthemanagementofspeakers,abstractsubmissions,andevent sponsors.
o beingpresentonthedayoftheevent,managing allocatedlogistics,dealingwithanyissueswhichmayarise, ensuring the smooth running of the event.
o supportingthefinancialrequirementsforeachevent,requestingpurchaseorderstobecreatedtoconfirm services are booked, ensuring quotes are accurate, reconciling all items and figures before forwarding to Financial Administrator for final billing.
o ensurelegaldocumentation,includingFreedomofSpeechandriskassessmentsaresubmittedinatimely manner.
* Supportingthearrangementsforaudiovisual,exhibition,staginganddecorationrequirementsforinternaland external clients.
* Providingadvicetointernalandexternalclientsregardingnationalandinternationalevents,tomarketandto pro-actively encourage clients to use the event management service.
* Asappropriatetakingfullresponsibilityforthemanagementofsmaller events.
* Supportingtheteaminworkingtowardstheannualfinancialtargetsetforeventmanagement income.
* Collating,analysingandinterpretingdatainrelationtometricsandreviewingactivitiesinlinewith these.
* Dealingwithawiderangeofmorecomplexenquiriesandcorrespondenceindependentlyorexercising judgement to redirect them to senior colleagues or other departments within the University.
* Providingotheradministrativesupportfortheteamincludingarrangingtravel,servicingmeetings,diary management.
Financialand Systems
* Ensuringthatalladministrativeworkiscompletedaccuratelyandconformtouniversityfinancialrulesand procedures.
* Ensuringallsystemsareusedcorrectly,makingsureeventdetailsarecapturedcorrectlyandchargesloaded correctly.
* Processing financial requirements for each booking, requesting purchase orders to be created to confirm servicesarebooked,requestingdepositswhenapplicable,ensuringquotesareaccurate,reconcilingallitems and figures before forwarding to Financial Administrator for final billing.
Other:
* SupportingtheUniversity’ssustainabilityagendathroughresourceefficient working.
* Providingsupportformanager(s)inpromotingsustainabilityacrosstheUniversity,andour services.
* Ensuringthatallactivitiesandservicescomplywithhealthandsafetyregulations,includingthetimelyand accurate issue of risk assessments.
* Liaisingwithcolleaguesatalllevelstoensureeffectivemanagementofactivitiesrelatedtodelivering conferences and events.
* Supportingequalityandvaluesdiversity,moderatesownbehaviourtoavoidunfairdiscriminatoryimpactorbias on others.
* Anyotherdutiesasmayreasonablybeexpectedbytherelevant manager.
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
* Educatedto ALevelstandard,orequivalentlevel3qualificationsuchas aLevel3NVQ,orlevel3national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
* MinimumofgradeCinMathematicsandEnglishatGCSEorequivalentlevel2 qualifications.
* ProfessionalexperienceinasimilarEvents role.
* Abilitytoanalysenumericalandfinancial data.
* HighlyproficientITskills,includingthe MSOfficeandwebsiteeditingsoftware.Youshouldbeconfidentand able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required as in-house systems are used for procurement.
* Provenabilitytoplanaheadandanticipaterequirements,proactivelyplanningown(andsometimes others’
* workloads)tomanagetimeeffectively,progresstasksconcurrentlyandworkto deadlines.
* Excellentcommunicationskills,includingtheabilitytowritefordifferentaudiences,andto required deadlines.
* Excellentinterpersonalskills. Youmustinspireconfidenceandcommandauthoritywitharangeofcolleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
* Ahighdegreeofprofessionalism,tact,anddiplomacy,andtheabilitytoexercisediscretionregardingthe handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
* Ahighdegreeofinitiative,personaljudgement,resourcefulness,flexibility,andaself-motivating approach.
* Abilitytoworkeffectivelyinalarge,complexorganisation,andtodevelopagoodunderstandingofhow theUniversity and higher education institutions work.
* Abilitytounderstandpolicyandproceduresandhowtoapply these.
* Understandstheimportanceofequalityanddiversityinthe workplace.
* Abilitytoidentifyandrespondtoequalityanddiversityissuesinlinewithrelevantpoliciesand procedures.
* Goaboutdutiesinaresourceefficientway,minimisingimpactstotheenvironmentwherever possible.
Informal enquiries to Louise Walczak, email: l.walczak@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. #J-18808-Ljbffr