Position Details
Development and Alumni Relations Office
Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK
Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906
Grade: 6
Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to September 2027
Closing date: 2 nd September 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.
Office Overview
Our University has a proud history of philanthropy stretching back to its foundation in 1900. With a clear vision to change the lives of the people of Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain raised the funds required to build the University from citizens and corporations based locally and around the globe. Since then philanthropy has continued to play an important role in shaping the University. There have been a number of fundraising campaigns, including a £1m urgent capital appeal after the Second World War and a £1.4m campaign to fund the Vale ‘student village’ in the 1960s. In 2015 we closed the Circles of Influence Campaign, raising £193 million, making it the largest HE fundraising campaign outside Oxbridge and London.
The University has global reach, including several partnerships with other leading universities around the world, and is grounded in our local community, having opened the first fully comprehensive University secondary school in the country in 2015. We are an ambitious and successful research-intensive University (one of the top 100 research-led universities globally) and have produced 10 Nobel Prize winners, including three who received their awards in 2016. Academics here are exploring the impact of climate change, helping to address global health epidemics, and changing our understanding of Shakespeare. Our students come from nearly 150 countries and our flagship outreach programmes mean that almost 25% of our student population come from underrepresented backgrounds: one of the highest proportions in the UK.
DARO exists to support this academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities. The Office, which is comprised of five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research projects, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships, as well as providing a versatile programme of engagement opportunities for our global alumni community.
Role Summary
Do you want to be part of a dynamic and creative team? We are recruiting an Events Officer to work in the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) to deliver creative, sector leading events. The Events Officer has responsibility for delivering both in-person and online events for our global community of alumni, donors and volunteers. From our mass engagement ‘Bringing Birmingham to You’ event series, to bespoke events hosted by senior members of University staff, and stewardship events to thank our donors and volunteers at all levels, the Events Officer will ensure a high-quality, engaging, and tailored experience for alumni, donors, volunteers, and VIPs.
DARO is an ambitious office and we support our team to succeed. You will contribute to a busy programme of events in the lead up to the close of our fundraising and volunteering campaign, Birmingham in Action. You will have the opportunity to shape a creative and impactful programme which engages our alumni and supporters with the University.
You will be provided with a robust induction and an ongoing training program that will include support from the University as well as expert external providers.
Main Duties
- Working as part of the Events team to deliver the overall DARO events programme
- Supporting the Events Programme Manager with delivery of the full DARO events programme, which supports all DARO audiences as part of the Birmingham in Action campaign, including alumni, donors, volunteers, VIPs, staff and students
- Delivering a range of events from conception through to evaluation; scoping venues, approaching speakers, writing invitations, updating the website, overseeing the event budget, managing registrations, arranging briefings and debriefs
- Working collaboratively with the Events Programme Manager, Events Manager, and Events Co-ordinator to plan and deliver departmental events around the close of the Birmingham in Action campaign
- Together with the Events Programme Manager, Events Manager and Events Co-ordinator, participating in the review, evaluation and creative planning activity of the events programme, seeking out new opportunities and proposing improvements
- Supporting the Events Programme Manager with - and potentially leading on – high profile events with the Vice-Chancellor, Chancellor and influential alumni
- Developing collaborative working relationships with key staff, both within DARO and across the University
- Managing a personal portfolio of our ‘Bringing Birmingham To You’ event series, which are held both in person and online, bringing academic expertise to our global alumni audience
- Identifying and working with key academics to shine a light on their research excellence, with a focus on taking their research out of the labs and lecture theatres and sharing it with alumni through our Bringing Birmingham to You event series
- Ability to produce newsletters, presentations, speeches and information in an interesting and informative manner
- Using the Customer Relationship Manager system efficiently to monitor registration, attendance, and event outcomes and to evaluate success to inform future programming
- Any other duties as deemed commensurate to the role
- Promoting equality and valuing diversity, acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture
- Supporting the University’s sustainability agenda through resource efficient working
Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience
- Educated to Degree level (or equivalent qualifications). Where no equivalent qualification is held, significant practical relevant experience and expertise in a similar role will be required.
- Significant experience of delivering complex events and events programmes.
- The ability to think and plan strategically, both in the short and long-term.
- The ability to work independently with initiative, to take decisions and think creatively and laterally.
- Experience of effectively managing a complex workload, with multiple projects running simultaneously.
- Able to perform effectively under pressure with excellent personal organisation and time management skills.
- Experience of working with senior stakeholders, internal, and external audiences.
- Ability to build rapport with alumni, donors, VIPs, academics, and colleagues in Professional Services at all levels.
- Strong negotiation skills and the ability to persuade and influence with diplomacy and sensitivity.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the confidence to write speeches, letters, articles, and reports for a range of audiences and stakeholders, modifying language and style accordingly.
- The ability to work calmly and effectively in a fast-paced environment.
- Adaptable and flexible when dealing with change and uncertainty.
- The ability to work effectively both in a team and independently.
- The ability to represent the University with confidence, diplomacy, and authority.
- The desire to support colleagues in the achievement of their individual and the collective goals, and to celebrate others’ success as positively as your own.
- Highly proficient IT skills, including the wider MS Office suite of programmes including excel and PowerPoint.
- The flexibility to work unsociable hours (evenings and weekends) when required.
- Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day-to-day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.
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Informal enquiries to Emily Meadway, 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 .
