Implementation Manager - External Relations - 107892 - Grade 8

Position Details

External Relations

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £47,389 to £56,535 with potential progression once in post to £63,606

Grade: 8

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to July 2027

Closing date: 8th September 2026

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

Department overview 

External Relations is the division responsible for delivering our University to the world and prides itself in seizing opportunities that will enhance the profile and reputation of the University. We engage with many different audiences to build purposeful relationships internally, locally, nationally and internationally. We enable those who wish to apply to study on our courses to make informed choices. We recognise that we are strongest when we work together and take pride in upholding our core values of being ambitious, innovative, open, collaborative and responsible.

The External Relations Portfolio Team is a key enabling function within External Relations with responsibility for ensuring that our key strategic projects and initiatives are delivered efficiently and effectively. The team also acts as a point of oversight and coordination of the flexible resourcing requirements across the division.  

Role Summary

This is an exciting opportunity to lead the successful implementation of business, process and technology-enabled change across External Relations. This role will specifically serve as Implementation Manager for the ‘Transforming Student Acquisition Programme’, a major institutional change project focused on updating student recruitment, marketing, and admissions via implementation of a single Microsoft Dynamics based platform. 

The role is focused on ensuring that strategic initiatives are translated into practical, sustainable outcomes that deliver measurable benefits. You will work with stakeholders across the University to understand business needs, shape implementation approaches, coordinate delivery activities and support the adoption of new processes, systems and ways of working.

Acting as the bridge between operational teams, technical specialists, suppliers and senior stakeholders, you will play a key role in ensuring change is successfully embedded into day-to-day business operations. You will combine implementation expertise, business analysis capability and project management skills to ensure that solutions align with organisational objectives and deliver intended benefits.

As a senior member of the team, you will use your knowledge and experience to define and lead your assigned programme(s) towards successful completion, unblocking any challenges encountered along the way. 

You will exemplify our values and will build strong relationships with colleagues across our University. You may also work with a range of external suppliers and ensure they deliver upon contractual agreements.

Main Duties

Implementation Management

• Lead successful implementation of business, operational and technology-enabled change related to the Transforming Student Acquisition Programme for External Relations.
• Work with stakeholders to understand business needs, shape implementation approaches, and coordinate delivery activities. 
• Act as the primary link for External Relations between operational teams, technical teams and delivery partners.
• Support business readiness, transition and post-implementation support. 
• Define and maintain benefits realisation plans and establish mechanisms to monitor the achievement of business outcomes following implementation.
• Ensure resultant business processes are aligned and standardised across teams.
• Monitor outcomes, risks and benefits and take corrective action where required. 
• Effective stakeholder management, including the development and delivery of a communication strategy for implementation and support the development of change adoption activities.
• Provide challenge to ensure that programmes meet the strategic needs of the University and that the proposed beneficial outcomes are realised and leveraged to their full potential. 

Business Analysis

• Work with stakeholders to understand current challenges, opportunities and business objectives.
• Analyse and document business processes, user journeys and service requirements using various techniques including workshop facilitation, writing user stories, process mapping etc. Identify opportunities to streamline processes, improve services and increase operational effectiveness across External Relations.
• Support the development of future-state processes and operating models that align with strategic priorities including the development of business cases as appropriate. 

Project Management

• Provide senior project management expertise to lead and coordinate projects undertaken by the department to ensure consistent standards, acting as an escalation point as required. 
• Report on project progress, including preparation of reports, e.g., financial, or other regular progress reports to internal and external stakeholders and presenting to Project Boards and other key stakeholders.
• Manage project resources (including any external contractors) efficiently and effectively and ensure project documentation is maintained. Taking a lead on ensuring activities are undertaken as required to successfully achieve the delivery of key milestones.
• Work with subject matter experts within the business to understand desired outcomes and benefits from transformation projects and work with colleagues, including in other divisions such as IT Services, to identify packages of work that will deliver or leverage those benefits.

General

• Actively manage equality, diversity and inclusion through monitoring and evaluation and actively challenging unacceptable behaviour in line with University policies.
• Plan, monitor and evaluate relevant processes for equality impact in line with the Equality Act 2010 and the objectives of the University EDI strategy.
• Any other duties commensurate with the grade.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Relevant degree or relevant equivalent professional qualification, plus significant experience leading implementation, business change, operational improvement or systems deployment activities.
• Experience supporting or managing business system implementations and organisational change initiatives.
• Experience gathering, analysing and documenting business requirements.
• Strong process analysis, process improvement and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Evidence of literacy and numeracy, with the ability to write clearly for a variety of audiences, and to produce and analyse source material, information and data.
• Proven ability to meet targets, with minimal supervision to deadlines.
• Proven analytical and problem solving skills that will help to identify and implement improvements and efficiencies across the project or projects you work on.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence and negotiate effectively with a range of stakeholders.
• Experience managing third-party suppliers and implementation partners.
• Highly proficient IT skills, including the MS Office suite. You should be confident and able to quickly learn new IT skills and software packages as required. 
• Excellent people management skills, with proven experience of leading, motivating and managing teams. 
• High level of self-motivation and personal accountability with ability to plan and deliver goals to deadlines under pressure.
• Ability to identify issues with the potential to impact protected groups and take appropriate action.
• Other relevant criteria from our equality and diversity knowledge, skills and experience document.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience 

• Experience delivering projects involving CRM platforms (ideally D365), digital engagement technologies, marketing technologies, student recruitment systems, customer journeys or stakeholder engagement processes. Experience of working in student acquisition in an educational environment would be beneficial but not essential.
• Experience of managing large financial budgets along with experience of budget planning and forecasting.

Informal enquiries to Zoe Waliszewska, email: [email protected] 

View our staff values and behaviours here

Use of AI in applications: We want to understand your genuine interest in the role and for the written elements of your application to accurately reflect your own communication style. Applications that rely too heavily on AI tools can appear generic and lack the detail we need to assess your skills and experience. Such applications will unlikely be progressed to interview.

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.