SERENE Senior Project Administrator - School of Engineering - 107705 - Grade 5

Position Details

School of Engineering

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 (Part time can be considered)

Fixed Term contract up to June 2029

Closing date: 17th August 2026

UK travel may be required for this role

This vacancy may be closed early if we receive sufficient applications for the 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

This role is based within the School of Engineering (College of Engineering and Physical Sciences). The School, which is the largest in the College, is a multi-department School comprising the disciplines of Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering. The post holder is expected to provide administrative and operational support to the Space Environment and Radio Engineering Research Group (SERENE). The SERENE Research Group is supported by a dedicated Professional Services team comprising a Space Environment Programme Manager, Project Officer, and Facility Manager. The post holder will provide administrative support to the SERENE Project Management Team to ensure successful delivery of the research portfolio. They will also continue to support the wider SERENE group comprising of approx. 20 members. They will also be an integral member of the School’s research Professional Services staff, which is led by the Head of Operations and the Research Administration Manager. The post holder will be part of a wider network of Research and Operations staff in the School of Engineering, including the School Operations Hub, the College of EPS and wider University. 

The SERENE group seeks to bridge the gap between academia and industry and has strong links with Dstl, the UK Met Office, QinetiQ and the European Space Agency as well as traditional UK Research Councils, primarily NERC and EPSRC. The group has a number of active research themes, including Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR), space radar, and the impacts of scintillation on satellite communication systems.

The primary research focus of SERENE is, however, modelling. SERENE has developed an operational first-principles data assimilation model of the Earth’s ionosphere and thermosphere, that uses state-of-the-art mathematical techniques coupled with tens of thousands of globally distributed observations to make accurate and actionable real time space weather forecasts.