Project Manager - College of Medicine and Health - 108117 - Grade 7

Position Details

• College of Medicine and Health, Research and Knowledge Transfer
• 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 March 2029
• Closing date: 28th October 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.

Department Overview: The Research Support Service (RSS) Network

The role will support delivery of the RSS mission – that being to support access to funding for healthcare research, from pre-application through to post-application phases for healthcare researchers (NIHR and non NIHR funded) in England.

With a central portfolio team based at the University of Birmingham, the RSS Network provides strategic leadership and coordination to 8 RSS expert Hubs and the 4 RSS Specialist Centres (2 for Public Health and 2 for Social Care) across England. Drawing on the breadth of expertise and experience across the partnership, we foster collaboration to maximise impact of the RSS Network to deliver a national service that is equitable, innovative, and responsive to the needs of researchers across health, public health, social care, and the industry sector.

A new national RSS Network strategy provides aligned strategic direction, to collaboratively deliver a ‘One-RSS’ mission. The national strategy will define and drive the brand identity, coordinate development of a consistent national network of research support, and surface-and-share innovations to continuously enhance the quality of the service. The RSS Network will contribute to the Government’s health and growth missions by delivering on the ‘three big shifts’ and NIHR’s mission to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research.

The role will be hosted within the University of Birmingham’s Research Delivery team, part of the College of Medical & Health Research Office. The Research Delivery team is a vibrant hub for Professional Service staff (~120 individuals) supporting high-value, strategically important projects and programmes.

We work closely with both Professional Services colleagues and Academics across the University and partner organisations, to maximise the impact of funded research, and lead on the development of renewals for large infrastructure awards. The portfolio of research supported is wide ranging (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/medical-dental/index.aspx ).

This role will be embedded within the Research Delivery team’s Applied Health pillar (currently providing programme and project management support to over £100m of research funding) and benefit from established relationships with programme partners and key stakeholders including NHS Trusts, collaborating research institutions both locally, nationally and globally, patient and public contributors, charities and funders.

Role Summary

Working to the Research Support Service (RSS) Network Chief Operating Officer and Director of Strategic Engagement within a central Portfolio Management Office, the postholder will manage designated activities throughout the portfolio life cycle, across the National Institute for Healthcare Research (NIHR) Research Support Service (RSS). While this post is specific to this portfolio, in order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.

Main Duties

Responsible for the delivery of one or more RSS workstreams, projects and overall portfolio deliverables, through the provision of project management and administrative support. This may include some or all of:

Developing, curating or coordinating delivery plans, including identifying and coordinating realisation of key performance indicators / milestones. There is a specific need for the postholder to manage the flow of data through the RSS Portfolio – including data capture, storage, curation, analytics and reporting.

Reviewing and auditing delivery progress across the RSS portfolio – proactively or by direction identify and act on improvements to effectiveness, efficiency and delivery.

Reporting on progress including the development of reporting mechanisms, writing reports (in particular with respect to using data to provide evidence-based performance and quality reporting and promotional activities as required), and presenting to appropriate governance forums or to key stakeholders as required.

Providing executive support to governance forums, working groups or stakeholder engagement forums as required; setting agendas, collating and distributing papers and minutes and ensuring any follow up actions are captured and actioned.

Management and coordination of portfolio level strategies as required. Includes assessing and escalating as appropriate issues and risks and management of risk register/s.

Stakeholder management, ensuring effective liaison with project partners, funders, Project Boards as appropriate.

Managing resources efficiently and effectively, including the portfolio plan and PMO documents and strategies, finance and commercial processes, data governance.

Coordinate and support where required the organisation of conferences/ meetings/ workshops/ dissemination events.

Support delivery of the RSS communication strategy, which may include developing, for example, newsletters, briefings for stakeholders and/or websites or other social media. This will also include translation of data into demonstrably evidence-based communications.

Develop and maintain an up-to-date knowledge of project management and data analytics methodologies.

Ensuring the wellbeing, development (where appropriate) and professional needs of the team and any line reports are managed as an accessible and compassionate leader. Foster a fair and equitable workplace for staff.

Excellent interpersonal skills. The postholder must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.

A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.

A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.

Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions within the RSS Network function.

Identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant university policies and procedures.

Supports the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working.

Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Other relevant criteria from our equality and diversity duties document.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Qualified to Degree level or equivalent, plus relevant experience demonstrated through project or programme management within a Healthcare setting.

Proven track record of adopting innovative project management approaches, preferably with a supporting professional qualification – for example PRINCE2 or similar.

Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly and for multi-professional audiences.

Candidates should be able to demonstrate experience in tools, platforms and processes for capturing, analysing and presenting information and data – in particular to drive evidence-based performance, quality and evaluative analytics.

Highly proficient IT skills, including MS Office applications. Candidates should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required.

Excellent people-management and demonstrable communication and engagement skills across a diverse programme portfolio.

Experience in processing, managing and administering budgets and contracts (this role does not require experience as a budget holder).

Excellent interpersonal, communication, relationship building and influencing skills with the ability to deal confidently with a range of internal and external stakeholders/contacts.

Excellent organisational, team support and multi-tasking skills, with a methodical approach to work.

Ability to prioritise / sequence workloads and deliverables in a fast-paced working environment.

Knowledge of the protected characteristics and duties under the Equality Act 2010. Including fostering good relations and advancing the universities Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Criteria up to and including ‘Grade 7’ from the equality and diversity knowledge, skills and experience document.

Further particulars can be found here

Informal enquiries to Matthew Aiello, email: [email protected]

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.