Facilities Team Supervisor

Position Details

Academic 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: 4th November 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

LRAT is the University department that looks after teaching and study spaces, These spaces have capacities between 4 and 500. A small team of 6 regularly checks rooms and carries out small repairs to room fabric and furniture and reassure students. Some of the 400 spaces are in our 6 entire buildings, which are subject to the greater regime of whole-building management.

The Facilities Team are in the front line of ensuring students are safe and happy. The team carry out many tasks – building reception, health and safety checks, furniture repair and layout resetting, minor repairs and looking after the needs of disabled students. The team cover from 08:00 to 22:15 weekdays and 09:00 to 19:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. We are looking for a flexible person as supervisor, who can motivate and look after this team.

Role Summary

You will manage facilities support for the department including implementation of the Health and Safety Policy and the development and delivery of minor work projects. In order to flexibly use resource, you may be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere in the department or University.

Main Duties

• If in a supervisory role, you will line manage all staff and take responsibility for co-ordinating and prioritising the work of others, normally as the head of a small team or sub-unit of a team. If not in a supervisory role you will still be expected to act as a role model and coach members of the team.
• Working closely with relevant managers, oversee the development and delivery of minor work projects, and support on larger projects. Working with colleagues, other departments, and external contractors you will develop the project brief and monitor that the standard of work meets requirements. Where appropriate, coordinate work schedules against the department's priorities, organise relocation of staff and equipment during work to ensure minimal disruption to department business.
• Provide support for your manager(s) in promoting sustainability across your area.
• Provide support for accessibility issues, including understanding the requirements and developing solutions.
• Ensuring stock levels are maintained for Facilities managed items and procure goods through the University system. Liaise with contractors and other internal suppliers to provide services to required standards.
• Maintaining accurate records, produce reports and statistics relating to the Facilities operation using a service management tool where available. As required, ensure Management Information is available to all relevant stakeholders.
• Monitoring service standards and working with internal customers to ensure that the Facilities service is effective and efficient.
• You may be required to organise office moves, working with customers to understand their requirements, ensure the appropriate resource is deployed, providing regular updates to relevant managers and stakeholders.
• Providing facilities support for events and activities. Maintaining an oversight of planned events and providing facilities support assessing impact on daily activities and identifying mitigating actions.
• Taking responsibility for allocated elements of health and safety implementation and documentation. Working with colleagues to deliver a suitable and compliant process.
• Liaising with colleagues at all levels to ensure effective management of facilities including cleaning, security and co-ordination of essential maintenance and shutdowns at times which minimise impact on services. This may involve managing a range of complex issues to ensure the organisation can focus on its core activities.
• Evaluating and making recommendations on new developments relating to facilities management, briefing managers and implementing agreed changes to procedures.
• Providing specialist input to project teams and implementing actions relating to facilities management.
• You may liaise with colleagues in other institutions – to share and develop expertise in all areas of facilities management.
• As required, reset furniture in a wide variety of rooms, on at least a weekly basis.
• Supports 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 facilities work experience evidencing the skills and ability to undertake the role.
• Minimum of GCSE grade C/4 in Mathematics and English at GCSE or equivalent level 2 qualification.
• Demonstrable experience of working in a facilities or buildings management role, including experience of project work.
• In-depth knowledge of Health and Safety legislation; a Health and Safety qualification such as IOSH would be an advantage.
• Membership of a recognised Facilities Management Association eg British Institute of Facilities Management would be an advantage.
• Experience of managing budgets and procuring goods.
• Highly proficient IT skills including Microsoft packages. The post holder should also be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required as in-house systems are used for procurement.
• Excellent communication skills, including the ability to write for different audiences, and to required deadlines.
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to evaluate the service offered and identify improvements.
• Excellent interpersonal skills. You will need to inspire confidence and command authority with a range of colleagues and provide excellent customer service at all times.
• 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. You may manage a team or budgets.

Planning and Organising

You will be required to independently on daily, weekly and monthly tasks but also on projects with medium-longer-term horizons without daily supervision. May manage other staffs' workloads.

Problem Solving and decision making

You will be working under the direction of a manager, with 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 may also manage the workload of others or coach others to achieve results.

Internal and External relationships

You will liaise with internal colleagues across the University and stakeholders.

Informal enquiries to Gareth Rainford, 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 .