Programme Administration Co-ordinator

Salary: £30,895 per annum

Hours: Full time or Part time (minimum 25 hours per week)

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract (18 months)

Location: Science and Technology Facilities Council, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell, Oxfordshire OX11 0DE, with some opportunity to work remotely

Together, our scientists, technologists, engineers and business support team explore the unknown and turn what they find into work that changes the world around us. Whether it's sending probes into space or finding new ways to treat cancer, everyone here plays a vital role in making a positive difference to society.

Come and discover how much you can achieve when you're surrounded by world-leading experts, encouraged to constantly learn and empowered to explore your curiosity.

As part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) develops and exploits frontier research in particle physics, astronomy, nuclear physics and space science through activities at UK universities and its own national laboratories, working internationally through a range of long-term collaborative research projects. STFC also builds and operates many of the UK's largest multi-disciplinary research facilities at our research and innovation campuses.

About the role

As part of STFC, the Transformation Programme Team is responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive transformation programme that addresses efficiency and improvements in specific areas, whilst enabling STFC to deliver on its core mission.

The key purpose of this role is to provide seamless administrative and logistical support to the Transformation Programme and its workstreams, ensuring smooth operations, efficient use of resources, technology and well-organised activities.

We're looking for a professional individual who is flexible, self-motivated and highly organised, who can work independently and as part of a team to provide the underpinning range of support required to meet the diverse needs of the programme. The role is based at STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory campus.

Key duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Workshop and Event Support – Plan, schedule, and coordinate workshops and events across the programme and its workstreams. Gather and document event requirements to ensure all logistics and timetables are effectively managed. Record key outcomes and outputs from events to support post-event analysis.
• Travel and Calendar Support – Co-ordinating travel arrangements to support the core team members, including hotels and transport etc., including collaborating closely with meeting organisers and using initiative to make judgements on the most efficient way for individuals to travel both between sites.
• Secretariat support – provide for core programme and workstream meetings. This includes establishing and maintaining cycle of meetings drafting agendas, taking and circulating minutes, producing actions logs and proactively following up on action completion with workstream activities and action owners.
• Workstream Support – provide administrative support to individual workstream leads (e.g., scheduling, tracking, collating inputs, managing logistics) to enable effective delivery.
• Budget and Procurement Administration – support budget tracking, process purchase orders, liaise with suppliers/contractors, and reconcile invoices.
• Office and Supplies Management – order equipment, manage supplies, and maintain an efficient, organised workspace.
• Information and Document Management – maintain trackers, action logs, filing systems, and information and knowledge repositories for both programme and workstreams (Teams and Sharepoint), ensuring version control and appropriate access (involves handling confidential and highly sensitive information).
• Team and Workstream Communications – manage shared inboxes, format newsletters/updates, upload material to intranet/Teams, and support clear, consistent comms, liaising with core communications contacts.
• Onboarding and Induction – coordinate access, welcome packs, and setup for new programme/workstream team members, secondees, or suppliers.

Person Specification

The criteria below will be assessed at Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I)

• 5 GCSE level passes (or equivalent), subjects to include English and Mathematics (grade 5 min). (S)
• Experience of co-ordinating and planning project/programme resources in a multi-stakeholder environment, or equivalent experience. (S&I)
• Clear verbal communication skills and strong writing skills to create clear, concise, and professional documents. (S&I)
• Experience of maintaining document and information management systems. (S&I)
• A proficient user of Microsoft Office packages including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams and SharePoint, able to learn new IT systems and processes quickly. (S&I)
• Experience and ability to analyse and work accurately with data. (S&I)
• A proactive decision-maker with the ability to work independently, using own initiative, knowing when to seek guidance or escalate issues to senior staff. (I)
• Organisationally effective with the ability to manage competing deadlines whilst switching between multiple workflows and engaging at pace with new environments/systems and processes. (S&I)
• Proven ability to build strong relationships and collaborate effectively within a team to achieve shared goals. (S&I)

Additional Information

Interviews will be held on Monday 8th December and Tuesday 9th December 2025.

This is an in-person role based at STFC's Rutherford Laboratory site (Harwell Campus, Oxfordshire), with some opportunity to work remotely.

There may be some business-related travel with the costs covered by STFC.

How to apply

To apply for this position, please submit a CV, and a covering letter in which you describe your motivations for applying, focusing on your relevant experience and skills, and how you meet the criteria in the person specification. You are advised to write no more than 1 page, and applications without a covering letter will be excluded from shortlisting . CVs should be no more than 2 pages long.

STFC values their employees by offering a benefits package designed to provide an excellent work/life balance including 30 days' annual leave, 10.5 public and privilege holidays, flexible working hours, exceptional average salary pension scheme, social and sporting activities and societies and a subsidised restaurant.

We ask some of the biggest questions in the universe, to answer some of the biggest challenges in the world. Whatever our role, we have the freedom to explore, learn and connect, as part of a community that loves to share knowledge and support one another.

As one of Europe's largest research organisations, this is a place where there's always something new to learn – about the world around us, about your career, but most of all, about yourself.

Join us and discover what's possible

Although this role could be eligible for sponsorship unfortunately the proposed salary precludes sponsorship unless the individual currently receives sponsorship for another role/sponsor issued under a certificate of sponsorship dated prior to 4 April 2024, and who continues to meet the New Entrant criteria (see: ).

Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visit or contact