Current jobs related to Event Co-ordinator and Front of House - Birmingham, Birmingham - University of Birmingham

Position Details

Campus Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £29,647 to £31,460, with potential progression once in post to £35,388

Grade: 5

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 9th 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

Background

Campus Services is responsible for a large range of services within the University including student accommodation, catering, Sport and Fitness, cleaning and waste management, conferences and events, delivering the University's post, day nurseries, security and emergency response, Winterbourne House & Garden, ensuring we remain at the pinnacle of University sport in the UK and more. The event co-ordinator post sits within the Conferences & Events (C&E) team that resides within Venues and Events, Campus Services. C&E sells and delivers a vast number of conferences and events to underpin academic work, support the student experience and drive additional income. As with any commercial revenue generating department within a university, C&E seeks to strike a balance between enhancing the student and staff experience and ensuring a financial return to the University.

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an exceptional event professional to support a diverse portfolio of conferences and events. The post holder will act as front of house and be responsible for planning and co-ordinating events, greeting delegates, maintaining a tidy environment, and resolving customer issues, all while upholding high standards and ensuring an excellent customer experience.

The Event Co-ordinator will be responsible for managing and coordinating a wide range of events which will include liaising with clients and service providers, placing catering orders in a timely manner, checking allergens and gathering customer feedback. The post holder will be responsible for showing our facilities to prospective organisers and be expected to identify opportunities to upsell services.

The Event Co-ordinator will ensure all the customers' requirements are delivered to the highest possible standard and that events are run efficiently. Documenting all client details accurately on the booking system is essential, as it is imperative maintain up to date client records. The post holder must be financially aware as maximising income generated through the allocation of facilities and services is crucial. Customer service skills are a necessity as we take great pride in our high level of delivering customer excellence.

The post holder will need to work flexibly when events are held in the evening or at weekends and although most events will be based on campus, the post holder may also be asked to support events at the Exchange, Edgbaston Park hotel or any other appropriate location.

Main Duties

• You will be responsible for all aspects of event administration and delivery, co-ordinating a variety of events at any one time which will include:
• acting as first point of contact for a diverse range of enquiries, working with clients to understand the objectives for their event, making recommendations, identifying the most appropriate services and maximising opportunities to upsell as appropriate;
• organising catering for bookings, checking allergens, clearing catering, cups, glasses and topping up coffee machine, water jugs;
• being present on the day of the event, ensuring accessible access to the building is opened each morning ahead of organisers arrival, managing logistics, dealing with any issues which may arise and ensure the smooth running of the event;
• greeting delegates and organisers, explaining and supporting with AV use, confirming agenda timings, catering orders, allergens etc.;
• checking in with the bookings throughout the day to ensure organisers and delegates are happy with arrangements, if there are problems work to rectify these as quickly as possible;
• undertaking risk assessments, working with colleagues, recording all required control measures. Reviewing working practises and/or implement control measures as necessary, discussing with managers as appropriate;
• ensuring bookings are accurately recorded on booking system and circulated as appropriate prior to events;
• chair customer planning meetings and host familiarisation visits of University venues;
• Timely processing of financial requirements for each booking, requesting purchase orders to be created to confirm services are booked, requesting deposits when applicable and ensuring relevant deposit information is loaded to the events system, ensuring quotes are accurate, reconciling all items and figures before forwarding to Financial Administrator for final billing;
• following up post event with the customer to gather feedback, identifying if repeat bookings or new opportunities can be secured and using feedback to make improvements in the service.
• Arrange audio visual, exhibition, staging and decoration requirements.
• Provide advice to internal and external clients regarding national and international events, to market and to pro-actively encourage clients to use the event management service.
• Support the Event Manager with the organisation of larger scale conferences and events internally and externally, commercial and non-commercial across all venues when necessary.
• Achieve monthly and annual financial targets set by the business areas i.e. accommodation, catering, room hire.
• Analyse customer/delegate data to produce operational reports to ensure adequate and service provision is in place.

Other

• Demonstrate collaborative working by actively consulting with colleagues across Campus Services and the wider university.
• Promote knowledge sharing and strategies for best practice.
• Support equality and values diversity, moderating own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
• In order to flexibly use resource you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or wider University.
• Provide support for manager(s) in promoting sustainability across the University.
• Ensure that all activities and services comply with health and safety regulations, including the timely and accurate issue of risk assessments.
• Liaise with colleagues at all levels to ensure effective management of activities related to delivering conferences and events.
• Support equality and values diversity, moderates own behaviour to avoid unfair discriminatory impact or bias on others.
• Any other duties as may reasonably be expected by the relevant manager.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to A Level standard, or equivalent level 3 qualification such as a Level 3 NVQ, or level 3 national diploma or relevant work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Minimum of grade C in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent level 2 qualifications.
• Professional experience in an Events and/or Marketing role.
• Ability to analyse numerical and financial data.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office and website editing software. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required as in-house systems are used for procurement.
• Proven ability to plan ahead and anticipate requirements, proactively planning own (and sometimes others' workloads) to manage time effectively, progress tasks concurrently and work to deadlines.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. You must inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• A high degree of professionalism, tact, and diplomacy, and the ability to exercise discretion regarding the handling and management of sensitive information/issues.
• A high degree of initiative, personal judgement, resourcefulness, flexibility, and a self-motivating approach.
• Ability to work effectively in a large, complex organisation, and to develop a good understanding of how the University and higher education institutions work.
• Ability to understand policy and procedures and how to apply these.
• Understands the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Dimensions

This role will require the exercise of personal initiative within and beyond the department and with external contacts. Willingness to travel nationally and internationally as required by the post.

Planning and Organising

The role is required to work independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision. You will use your knowledge and experience to plan and deliver a number of events concurrently and effectively, with a strong focus on service level standards and the customer experience. Ability to work well under pressure and to deadlines and targets, with a flexible and adaptable approach to your work and working hours which will require evening and weekend working.

Problem Solving and decision making

You will work with direction from your managers but you will have a significant degree of autonomy. You will deal with more complex queries and be expected to resolve any problems in your area of responsibility. You will need to proactively recognise possible challenges and provide innovative solutions before they become an issue.

Internal and External relationships

You will liaise with internal colleagues and stakeholders University-wide and also with external stakeholders. Develop and maintain a professional working relationship with the team, clients and stakeholders and lead and deliver departmental briefings.

Informal enquiries to Sally Badham, email:

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 .