Student Experience Officer - College of Engineering and Physical Sciences - 106287 - Grade 6 presso The University of Birmingham

Position Details

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

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, Permanent

Closing date: 5th October 2025

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

Role Summary

Our mission is to work in partnership with students to empower them to get involved, achieve their goals and grow at university.

It is important that students have a positive and distinct experience at each step of their University career. The post holder is therefore responsible for enhancing student engagement, driving continuous improvement in the student experience through a range of projects, and ensuring that students are appropriately supported throughout their journey to graduation and beyond. 

Whilst some of these improvements to the student experience and engagement will be informed by student feedback, the post holder will adopt a proactive approach, engaging with students and staff on a day-to-day basis and also looking at best practice across the University and the wider-sector to continuously review, evaluate and enhance services, support and teaching and learning. 

Working with academic and professional services colleagues across the University, the post holder will largely work in a project coordination capacity to: develop and coordinate the delivery of an annual programme of activity to support students; manage student feedback mechanisms in order to identify opportunities to enhance student experience; and, deliver a range of dynamic communications to all students. They will also provide the first point of contact for a broad range of issues associated with student transition, mobility, progression and retention. 

Although focusing on current students, the post holder will also provide a critical role working with colleagues in Student Recruitment and Admissions, Careers, Business Engagement and Alumni Relations to join up activity across the complete student journey.

Main Duties

• Working with key staff, develop a sense of inclusion and belonging at university for a wide range of students, with a focus on underrepresented students.
• Project coordination of improvement of processes - studying particular ‘problem areas’ within the student experience and working with colleagues to assess interrelationships with other activities to introduce initiatives to support the student experience and improve processes and procedures. Analysis of project components, managing milestones and timelines of projects to deliver objectives.
• Working with academic leads and appropriate professional services staff, develop and coordinate the delivery of an annual programme of student engagement activities (from student recruitment and induction/re-induction through to graduation and alumni engagement) which support and enhance the student journey; acting as the first point of contact for staff, student societies and groups and supporting the development of student led activities e.g. networking events. 
• Ensure the effective operation of a range of student feedback mechanisms e.g. student surveys, module/programme review, Staff Student Forums, Student Reps etc., providing professional services support for the development and coordination of the delivery of action plans in response to the student feedback received to ensure the continuous enhancement of the student experience. 
• Develop and deliver a range of dynamic communications to all students and staff around student engagement and enhancement activities and key messaging, continuously reviewing and improving the effectiveness of these communications. 
• Working with the appropriate professional services and academic leads, contribute to the development and delivery of the Student Experience and Wellbeing Strategy and related policies, processes, operational plans and budget; ensuring that appropriate KPIs and targets are included and that mechanisms are in places for monitoring and reporting on their delivery, sharing and learning from best practice, and that these are periodically reviewed to remain up-to-date and relevant. 
• As part of a network of Student Experience Officers, contribute to the delivery of a number of College and University wide projects and support each other as appropriate. 
• Working with colleagues across the institution, assist in the planning, promotion and delivery of a range of personal skills development activity, supporting mentoring, employability, student mobility (international and industrial, and generic skills development etc. 
• Prepare as required regarding key themes related to student engagement making recommendations as appropriate. 
• Working with external partners to purchase services and internal teams to process payments.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent relevant experience in a similar role
• Considerable experience of supporting students in higher education (either in a voluntary or paid capacity)
• An understanding of undergraduate, postgraduate, international and Distance Learning education and the student lifecycle and specifically, issues affecting higher education (nationally and internationally) and the importance of the student experience
• An understanding of the importance of student feedback systems
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent interpersonal skills and a proven ability to work with a range of stakeholders including students, academics and senior managers, across the institution and a high degree of personal accountability with the ability to influence, motivate and win support
• Proactive, highly motivated and well organised, with the ability to work on own initiative and prioritise workloads in order to set up and coordinate new activity or initiatives with a flexible, creative and proactive approach to problem solving 
• Willing to do things differently and has the experience of delivering projects and initiatives with measurable outcomes and deliverables 
• Ability to analyse data and to use the outcomes to inform action planning 
• Effective team working skills 
• A track record of delivering an excellent customer experience 
• Excellent IT skills and an aptitude for learning new packages to support analysis, presentation and communication of information (including VLEs, social media and other digital communications) 
• Willingness to work flexibly, occasionally often outside of normal working hours 
• Commitment to continuing professional development and training 
• Experience in project management/coordination

Desirable 

• Experience in developing web-based and social media materials 
• Prior experience of supporting the successful implementation of student survey and feedback action plans 
• Prior experience of supporting a diverse blend of academic programmes 
• An understanding of relevant external accreditation organisations

Informal enquiries to Jen Cotter, Student Experience Manager, email: [email protected] 

View our staff values and behaviours here 

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.