Operations Assistant

Salary: £25,249 with progression to £26,707 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: 10 November 2025

The Role

Estates and Facilities are a large multidisciplinary team that look after the development, maintenance, safety and security of over 150 buildings across various sites including a wide variety of world class teaching and research facilities, a range of diverse accommodation for over 3500 students across three student villages as well as caring for our beautifully landscaped grounds.

Working in a friendly office in the heart of our city campus, you will be the first main contact for internal and external calls for the whole University, providing customer focused support, directing them as necessary. You will support the delivery of our service using effective administration skills.

Please can you outline how you feel you meet the essential criteria in the job description in your covering letter that you should upload with your application.

Please note this vacancy is fixed term for 1 year.

For informal enquiries please contact Joanne Smith, Administration Manager at

Key Accountabilities

• Act as the first point of contact for Estates & Facilities/University queries for both internal and external customers, directing to colleagues within Estates & Facilities as appropriate.
• Provide, along with other members of the Helpdesk Team a high-quality front of house service.
• Routinely provide Estates & Facilities colleagues with information from various systems within the department.
• Be responsible for ordering office stationary, PPE and equipment, ensuring any issues with office equipment are reported as necessary and purchases are made in line with the University's financial regulations.
• To undertake tasks in accordance to the University's purchasing processes.
• Support the Helpdesk with tasks i.e. timetables and processing defects through Planon.
• Provide support in the arranging of meetings, including diary arrangements, room bookings and organisation of catering.
• To contribute to the review, development and implementation of new/replacement systems and procedures within the helpdesk and admin function, ensuring that these systems meet the needs of colleagues and customers and continually improve efficiency.
• Carry out any other duties which may be required and to provide cover where appropriate for sickness and absence.

The Person

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Up to date and comprehensive knowledge of Microsoft Office packages (including Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams and Zoom)
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Ability to deal diplomatically and calmly with difficult situations
• A high level of attention to detail
• Experience of operating a customer service system
• Experience of working in a similar customer focused environment and role
• Experience of gathering and collating information
• Knowledge of the University finance regulations (Desirable)

Attributes and Behaviour

Communicating

• Uses clear, concise and accurate communication. Tailoring the approach accordingly and encouraging a two way communication process
• Chooses communication tools appropriately
• Tailors content of communication to the audience, changing style, tone and format appropriately

Gathering Information

• Gathers relevant information from a wide range of sources
• Is thorough in checking information
• Has an eye for detail, spotting errors and ensuring accurate information

Team Working

• Share relevant and useful information with others
• Respects the value that different views bring to the team
• Ask others' opinion

Finding solutions

• Recognises urgency and takes decisive action when required
• Uses initiative to sort things out
• Confidently deals with a broad range of information
• Keeps an open mind to alternative ways of doing things

Qualifications

• Academic or vocational qualification to GCSE (A-C)/NVQ Level 2 standard including Maths and English

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 gold 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: 28741