Job Purpose 

The post holder will be part of the School Leadership Support Team and support the delivery of a range of administrative, business and operating functions within the School. This will involve a range of administrative activities to directly support the Deputy Heads of School and the School Senior Leadership Team to facilitate the balance of their full range of professional and management responsibilities, as well as the development and implementation of key operating processes. The post holder will also act as a key contact to a range of internal and external stakeholders supporting the administration of HR, Governance, and other operational processes.

Main Duties and Responsibilities 

1. To provide administrative and business support to the school Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to facilitate the balance of their full range of professional and management responsibilities. This will involve active management of correspondence, diary management and scheduling, undertaking administrative and secretarial duties and assisting with managing queries in a timely and appropriate fashion.

2. Coordination of relevant Committee dates and schedules, planning, in advance and in liaison with other key contacts. This will involve administrative and secretarial support to the School SLT, Research and Teaching Groups and School Committees (and other meetings as directed by School SLT members/Operations Manager) working with the Chair to prepare and disseminate agenda and papers, and minute in a standardised way across the school.

3. To provide operational support to the School Senior Leadership Team(SLT) in order to ensure the efficient running of operational activities within the School. This will include contributing to the development and implementation of process improvements that enhance customer experience by adopting and advocating standard operating procedures and work systems within the broader support team remit, with a key focus on continuous improvements that can be made to service quality.

4. To prepare professional business documents, presentations, reports, and correspondence using standard formats, information from university systems and other appropriate sources, much of which will be confidential in nature and require strict University records management protocols and relevant General Data Protection Regulations to be adhered to, including the appropriate storage, archiving and destruction as per agreed retention schedules.

5. To act as a representative for internal and external contacts and to take appropriate action upon their own initiative where possible to ensure all issues are dealt with effectively. This will involve liaising with stakeholders across the School, College and University Services, as well as external resources to diagnose and troubleshoot any administrative and service-related issues.

6. To provide excellent customer service to internal and external stakeholders and to contribute to the enhancement of the University's international profile in line with the Universities strategic plan.

7. Undertake any other reasonable activities dependent on the needs of the customer/team and as directed by the Operations Manager.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills and Experience 

Knowledge/Qualifications 

Essential: 

A1 Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this post, having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar role, or:

A2 A Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework Level 7 (Advanced Higher / Scottish Vocational Qualification Level 3, Higher National Certificate) or equivalent, and experience of personal development in a similar role.

Desirable:

B1 Knowledge of higher education policies and procedures.

Skills

Essential: 

C1 Excellent planning, prioritising and organisational skills.

C2 Ability to develop a range of written and/or graphical materials such as guidance notes, procedures, briefings and short reports.

C3 Strong email inbox and diary management skills.

C4 Proven interpersonal and communication (oral and written) skills.

C5 Self motivated with the ability to work proactively, multi-task and to use initiative in order to resolve problems.

C6 Able to work independently and as part of a team.

C7 Excellent attention to detail and to production of accurate, high quality outputs.

C8 Effective IT and numeracy skills, especially in Word and Excel.

Desirable:

D1 Ability to understand and engage with process improvement principles.

Experience 

Essential: 

E1 Demonstrable relevant work experience with qualifications above or evidence of progression and development gained through working in a similar role.

E2 Experience of working with and providing business support to senior management in an organisation.

E3 Experience of minute taking and circulating documents for internal meetings.

E4 Experience of email inbox and complex diary management.

E5 Analytical and problem solving ability. Proactive approach to problem-solving; able to take initiative within agreed guidelines.

E6 The ability to work within a team and as an individual, organising and planning own work activities, with minimal supervision, to contribute to the achievement of School objectives.

Desirable:

F1 Experience within a higher education setting, including comprehensive knowledge of administrative and organisational systems.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 5, £26,038 - £30,505 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours per week) and open ended (permanent).

Closing Date: 26 January 2025 at 23:45