Business and Operations Manager (Newcastle, GB)

Salary: £35,116 to £37,174 with progression to £45,413 per annum

Newcastle University is a great place to work, with excellent benefits. We have a generous holiday package; plus the opportunity to buy more, great pension schemes and a number of health and wellbeing initiatives to support you.

Closing Date: 16 April 2025

The Role

The purpose of this role is to provide administrative support to ensure the operational aspects of the Workforce Research Partnership (WRP) are managed and carried out effectively.

The Partnership is a new venture, funded by the NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme, aimed at addressing workforce sustainability challenges in key areas of the NHS. The partnership brings together researchers across five universities, and will work with policymakers, healthcare professionals and system leaders to generate high-quality evidence and develop actionable solutions to workforce challenges.

You will provide comprehensive professional support to the Partnership leads, Partnership Management Group, seven workstream leads and WRP governance structures (Research Advisory Group, Community Inclusion & Engagement panels and Oversight committee).

You will be based within the School of Medicine and will work within their policies and procedures where possible. You will have a key outward facing role, working with partner HEIs, NHS Integrated Care Boards across the UK and other national stakeholders in supporting the WRG.

As a senior Professional Services leader, the postholder will have collective responsibility for the vision of the Faculty, fostering a culture of service excellence. They will ensure a truly inclusive and respectful environment by role modelling behaviours and ensuring the implementation of all Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (ED&I) policies and action plans such as Athena SWAN.

Candidates wishing to discuss the post may contact Professor Gill Vance or Dr Bryan Burford, WRP co-leads at gillian.vance@ncl.ac.uk and bryan.burford@ncl.ac.uk.

For more information about the Faculty of Medical Sciences, please visit:https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-sciences/

For more information about the School of Medicine, please visit:https://www.ncl.ac.uk/medicine/.

This role is fixed term for 5 years.

Key Accountabilities

You will provide professional administrative support to the co-leads, team and governance structures of the NIHR Workforce Research Partnership (WRP). Over 5 years the Partnership will carry out research to address system-related workforce challenges in primary care and maternity services in under-served areas. Your role will include implementing administrative support structures for the co-leads and workstream leads to maximise quality, efficiency and continuity of the WRP’s work, and identifying, recommending and implementing improvements You will act as the main point of contact for all parties involved in the WRP programme on a day-to- day basis, communicating clearly with researchers at Newcastle and other HEIs, public contributors, ICB representatives, collaborators, other stakeholders, externally contracted staff and University professional services staff You will act as the main point of liaison with other NIHR workforce partnerships to ensure effective cross-partnership communication and coordination of relevant activities You will support WRP co-leads and workstream leads in ensuring that milestones are identified and met, including timely reporting to the Partnership management and advisory groups You will provide effective financial management in support of the WRP’s activity, including developing processes to report to the funder (NIHR), co-leads and Partnership management group. You will liaise across workstreams and HEIs to ensure appropriate budget management You will liaise with the University’s Contract Financial Management Team and those of partner HEIs to ensure financial transactions and reporting are managed in line with the contract You will work flexibly to support the community inclusion and engagement strategy for the WRP, ensuring cooperative and effective relationships are maintained and that the objectives of the strategy are met You will support planning and lead coordination of Partnership events, including establishing processes to capture markers of success and suggestions for further development and improvement You will manage the reporting and dissemination of WRP events and outputs, including the online and media presence of the Partnership to ensure regular and accessible information sharing and ongoing interest and engagement of relevant parties You will provide line management of the administrator employed to support the WRP activity, including recruitment, induction, performance management and training and development Any other duties as required upon request from line manager and academic leads

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Experience of working in an administration/ project management role with significant responsibility Planning and progressing work within general guidelines, using initiative and judgement without recourse to senior staff Excellent financial management and budget monitoring skills Experience of negotiating with a range of staff in other organisations Excellent IT skills, including competent use of Microsoft Office, particularly for the purposes of data management, manipulation and reporting Experience of developing public-facing resources (such as website content), in liaison with professional designers/developers. Experience of staff management Initiative and a creative approach to problem solving

Attributes and Behaviour

Is able to work effectively as a member of the team and to develop close and effective working relationships with School and partner colleagues, clinical and external stakeholders Has the ability to work across department and cross-organisational boundaries to build effective relationships both internally and externally Attention to detail A proven ability to be adaptable, innovative and proactive in project work A positive and supportive attitude; ability to work flexibly and cooperatively with others An ability to work to deadlines, organise own workload and that of others, and work independently Has proven ability to use their initiative to think strategically, contribute to projects planning and adopt an active approach to problem solving. The ability to handle difficult and often sensitive situations

Qualifications

Degree or equivalent level qualification plus experience in a similar role or significant vocational experience, demonstrating development through progressively more demanding, relevant roles

Newcastle University is a global University where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. As a University of Sanctuary, we aim to provide a welcoming place of safety for all, offering opportunities to people fleeing violence and persecution.

We are committed to being a fully inclusive university which actively recruits, supports and retains colleagues from all sectors of society. We value diversity as well as celebrate, support and thrive on the contributions of all of our employees and the communities they represent. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams, we believe that success is built on having teams whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of our university and student population.

At Newcastle University we hold a silver Athena Swan award in recognition of our good employment practices for the advancement of gender equality. We also hold a Race Equality Charter Bronze award in recognition of our work towards tackling race inequality in higher education REC. We are a Disability Confident employer and will offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role as part of the offer and interview scheme.

In addition, we are a member of the Euraxess initiative supporting researchers in Europe.

Requisition ID: 27957

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