Student Communications Manager

Salary: Full time starting salary is normally in the range £36,130 to £45,413, with potential progression once in post to £48,149

Contract Type: Fixed Term contract up to July 2026

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity for an exceptional communications professional to be at the heart of delivering student communications at the University of Birmingham. The post holder is expected to deliver innovative and effective communications to our student audience, within a co-ordinated communications community of practice. 

You’ll need to have considerable experience in a communications-based role in a large and complex organisation. Ideally within an educational setting, but most importantly you’ll have a demonstrable background in successfully building relationships to create great results with people at all levels and the skills required to line manage staff and student workers.

You’ll have led innovative communications campaigns you are proud of and must be able to demonstrate experience of effectively developing and delivering a range of information across multiple channels including face-to-face and virtual events, digital, print, and social media. You’ll be expected to be across the latest developments in social media and have experience in content creation. You’ll have new and exciting ideas about how to develop the right content for our students. You must have the practical and technical skills to support your creative approach.  

Person Specification

• A degree or equivalent experience. 
• A communications professional with proven experience in a comparable role in a large, complex organisation, operating in a multi-channel, mixed media environment. 
• Experience of planning, implementing, and managing a multi-channel communications strategy. 
• Line management experience. 
• Advanced written and oral communications skills with the ability to engage stakeholders at all levels – to include effective presentation skills. 
• Ability to translate complex messages into engaging forms of communication. 
• Demonstratable experience of using emerging social media trends within a communications role. 
• Extensive experience of working with Customer Relationships Management (CRM) systems and Content Management System (CMS) platforms. 
• Experience of copywriting, proofreading and content editing. 
• Experience of commissioning design, video, and other content creation assets. 
• Ability to think strategically and translate strategy into operational plans. 
• Ability to work collaboratively with stakeholders and partners to achieve common goals. 
• An innovative and creative approach to stakeholder engagement, capable of developing exciting new initiatives. 
• Ability to prioritise and schedule workloads in the face of conflicting demands while maintaining a high degree of accuracy. 
• Ability to work on own initiative, taking a flexible, proactive, and creative approach to work. 
• Good knowledge and understanding of Higher Education and its environment, or a commitment to learn quickly about the sector. 
• Flexibility to work out of hours, on occasion, as required. 
• Commitment to continuing professional development and training. 

Informal enquiries can be made to Bec Vowles, Head of Student Communications (r.m.vowles@bham.ac.uk)

To download the full job description and details of this position and submit an electronic application online please click on the 'Apply' button above.

Valuing excellence, sustaining investment
We value diversity and inclusion at the University of Birmingham and welcome applications from all sections of the community and are open to discussions around all forms of flexible working.

Closes: 23 April 2024

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