JOB DESCRIPTION

Employment status and working hours

Permanent, full time.

Full time hours at the University are 35 per week with the standard working pattern Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:00.

Organisation structure

Education and Students, Academic Operations.

Your line manager will be Fiona Dawes, Head of Academic Planning and Operations.

Place of work flexibility

Your time will be split between the Horizons, Reading office and your home*. The exact split of days/hours is negotiable but must include a minimum of two working days each week in Horizons only on the core days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). *Working from home is only possible if your environment is suitable.

High level summary of job role

As the Academic Operations Manager, you will oversee a range of processes, such as academic planning, resource and workload allocation, management of the Academic Operations team, supervision of Associate Lecturer contracting, deployment and payments, and continuous development of the academic operations database.

Where necessary, you will work with the Head of Academic Planning and Operations to implement changes which further optimise the team’s processes.

You will also assist the Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor – Academic Performance and Head of Academic Planning and Operations in other areas of the wider team’s remit, including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, research, risk management, and enhancement projects.

Specific job role accountabilities and responsibilities

Academic Operations

• Work with the Academic team to manage Associate Lecturer onboarding, training, credentialling, resourcing, contracting, performance management and payment.
• Liaise with the Head of Academic Planning and Operations and oversee preparation of the Associate Lecturer resource plans for the year.
• Allocate roles based on information provided in terms of internal workload planning, module resource requirements and budget. This includes project module and End Point Assessment resourcing, managing the supervisor questionnaire, and liaison with CIOB and CABE regarding requirements.
• Maintain data within the Academic Operations Database and work with the Project team to ensure continuous development. Ensure Associate Lecturer data is collected, stored, maintained, and managed in line with data protection policies and procedures.
• Support the Head of Academic Planning and Operations in the areas of Academic Risk and the Academic planner.
• Assisting the Head of Academic Planning and Operations in identifying problems and delivering solutions to facilitate smooth internal processes.

Knowledge Exchange Administration

• Support the administrative operation of the Graduate Research School – including admissions, awarding body liaison, student queries, programme documentation, internal and external reporting.
• Support arrangements for student in-person days.
• Assist with research events.

Enhancement Projects

• Support the Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor - Academic Performance with enhancement initiatives and projects, e.g. on improving student achievement and satisfaction, legacy programme phase-out, and preparation for the Teaching Excellence Framework.

Other important features of the job role

Line management responsibilities: Yes, and the number of direct reports is four.

Budget responsibility: None.

In this role you will liaise with the following: Deans and Heads of School, Programme and Module Leaders, Academic Registry team, HR and Payroll team, Technology team, Associate Lecturers.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

E = Essential person requirement; D = Desirable person requirement

How the person requirement will be assessed:

A = Application; I = Interview; T = Test or other assessment

Please be aware that as part of onboarding processes, we will seek original documentary evidence of the relevant academic and/or professional qualifications which you include within your job application. This is all part of our comprehensive pre-employment screening which also includes checking your identity, right to work, criminal record history (basic disclosure), and three years employment history.

Qualifications and training

GCSE Maths and English language Grade C or 4 or above (E, A).

Degree level qualification (D, A).

Previous experience

In a similar role (E, A, I).

Previous experience leading implementation projects (E, A, I).

Within the education sector / built environment / higher education (D, A, I).

Line management experience (D, A, I).

Skills, knowledge, and aptitudes

Sound administrative skills with good attention to detail and the ability to co-ordinate activity across teams (E, A, I).

Project management skills (E, A, I).

Strong verbal and written communication skills; the ability to communicate with a range of stakeholders (E, A, I).

Ability to manage a diverse and varied workload (E, A, I).

Ability to make and build relationships at all levels both internally and externally, and work well within a team (E, A, I).

Organisational skills and the ability to meet deadlines (E, A, I).

Digital skills confidence: We use MS Office which includes Teams, Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and several other systems/technology (E, I, T).

Other requirements or special requirements

Alignment to the University’s core values of Passion, Integrity, Excellence and Support; all employees are expected to demonstrate our values at work (E, I).

Commitment to delivering positive outcomes for our students; we want our students to be successful (E, I).

You must be prepared to undertake mandatory online training should you be appointed including Data Protection, Health and Safety, Safeguarding, Prevent, and EDI (E, I).

PAY AND BENEFITS

Salary: Salary range £35,000 to £38,000 per annum.

Holiday: 26 days paid holiday (rising to 28 with service) plus paid bank/public holidays plus up to five paid closure days (typically between Christmas and New Year); all per holiday year Full Time Equivalent. Our holiday year runs from 1 August to 31 July. We also have a holiday buy and sell scheme in place. Sometimes the University does not need to close for five days per year and any balance (for example one day), can be used as a paid Wellbeing Day to take time out for your own physical or mental health.

Pension and life assurance: Pensions auto-enrolment to the People’s Pension which is a default salary sacrifice scheme. You may opt out of salary sacrifice but remain in the scheme, or you may choose to opt out altogether. We provide life assurance (death in service) cover as standard to all employees.

Family-friendly policies: Policies in place for all types of family-friendly statutory leave with enhanced pay available from day one of employment for some leave types. Access to Tax-Free Childcare (Government scheme).

Wellbeing: Full access to the Employee Assistance Programme as well as the Thrive Mental Wellbeing app. Several employees are trained Mental Health First Aiders and can support staff. We have a wellbeing policy and we focus on five pillars of wellbeing.

Sustainable travel: Cycle to Work and Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice schemes.

Parking: We have locked sheds for bicycles. For cars, for Horizons based roles, we may in the future be able to offer parking on site however you must not assume this will be possible. Every now and then we may have a spare parking space become available and you can ask to join the waiting list. The University is keen wherever possible, to encourage staff to commute as sustainably as possible.

Other health related benefits: Employer-funded Health Cash Plan (Simplyhealth) and voluntary dental insurance (Unum).

Other valuable benefits:

• Charity giving options available including one voluntary paid day, per annum.
• You will have access to Microsoft Office 365 applications for personal use.
• You will have access to range of lifestyle discounts and everyday savings.
• We offer learning platforms including LinkedIn learning.

On the Join the team page of our website, you will find the full list of employee benefits.

APPLICATIONS - THINGS TO CONSIDER

For an informal discussion about the role please contact Fiona Dawes on 0118 921 4362 or email f.dawes@ube.ac.uk. For any other enquiries please contact HR on 0118 467 2454 / 2433 or email recruitment@ube.ac.uk

Did one of our employees recommend you? If you apply on the recommendation of an existing employee, please make sure to mention their name within your application.

We're passionate about sustainability and we have a five-year strategic plan: We expect job seekers to be curious about who we are and what we do. We point you towards a couple of resources about who we are and sustainability.

Closing date and next steps

We will receive applications until the advert closes on Tuesday 09 December 2025 at 17:00. We will not consider late applications. Our ATS does not screen applications, we humans do. Applications may be reviewed prior to the closing date and occasionally, you may be invited to interview ahead of the closing date.

Interview details

Dates for interview will be advised to you later in the process. We'll ask you to tell us about any dates you cannot make, up to 4 weeks from the closing date; this helps us to plan interviews should you be shortlisted, prior to contacting you.

Interviews are normally carried out over Microsoft Teams or Zoom. Depending on the job role and place of work, your interview may be at our Reading or London office. Please be prepared for a two-stage interview process, held on different dates. As part of the interview process, you will likely meet a member of the Senior Leadership Team.

Note for internal candidates

If you are an existing employee, we request you inform your current line manager of your intention to apply for this role.