Team Manager - Campus Services - 105979 - Grade 5

Position Details

Community Safety and Security

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £30,062 to £31,900, with potential progression once in post to £35,883

Grade: 5

Full Time (1820 hours annualised, plus 364 hours guaranteed overtime)

Permanent

Closing date: 9^th November 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

Campus Services (CS) employs over 1000 staff with a turnover exceeding £50m in the last financial year. CS plays a key role in the quality of the student, staff and visitor experience, providing services across diverse areas such as the University’s sporting facilities, food and beverage, cleaning, conferencing, hotel operations, day nurseries, portering, post, branded and own-brand retail outlets, visitor services and attractions (e.g., Winterbourne House & Gardens), student housing, transport, waste disposal and recycling. CS is a highly commercial organisation operating within the University context and has an ambitious strategic agenda, in terms of growing our service profile across both our Birmingham and Dubai campuses.

Community Safety and Security Services

The aim of Community Safety and Security Services (CS&S) is to create a safe and secure University environment where our students, staff, visitors and partners can thrive. CS & S has three key functions: Security Operations, Community Safety Operations and Emergency Planning. Security Services is comprised of 4 teams operating 24 hours a day, all year round, patrolling campus, responding to incidents, monitoring CCTV, greeting visitors and supporting events. Our Security Teams work alongside the Community Safety Team (CST). The CST puts prevention at the heart of its activity, working with students and the wider University Community to promote safety. The team runs a drop-in advice service at the Community Safety Hub for both staff and students, offering help and support with safety and crime prevention. A Business Improvement and Resilience Manager is responsible for emergency planning and continuous improvement, ensuring the University is prepared as it can be, in the face of adversity so that it can quickly return to business-as-usual activity.

Role Summary

Our Security Teams are integral to our ability to provide 24/7 security provision at the University of Birmingham. Your role will be to manage, lead, coach, train and develop a team of Security Officers to provide exceptional levels of safety, security, and customer service to the University community.  You will respond to all serious and major incidents as the Bronze Incident Commander in the first instance, until relieved, and deploy the Security Team appropriately to safely manage each event, working with the emergency services and other specialists, as relevant. You will support the delivery of departmental business plans to achieve the aims and objectives contained within the Vision and Mission Statements for Community Safety and Security, which align with the University’s 2030 Strategy.

As a Team Manager (TM) you will be responsible to the Community Safety and Security Operations Manager.  You will provide effective leadership for your team of Security Officers to ensure the team is delivering the highest standards of security, operational effectiveness, professionalism and customer service.  You will work with your Deputy Team Manager, (DTM) to set standards, train and develop your team. You will help create an inclusive, listening culture where the wellbeing of all staff is paramount in support of the People Strategy for the department and wider Campus Services.

Main Duties

Leadership and Team Management

• Support the Head of Service and Operations Managers to deliver departmental business plans to achieve the objectives of the Community Safety and Security Strategy.
• Be part of the Community Safety and Security Extended Leadership Group attending regular meetings and delivering actions set by the group.  Work closely with other Team Managers to share best practice and deliver consistently high standards of professionalism.
• Be a positive role model for the security teams providing leadership and management direction for operational security issues that arise whilst on duty as well as professional representation of the security function.
• Lead and manage staff on the operational teams to deliver high standards of performance in line with HR policies and guidance. Implement University HR Policies around Absence management and Performance management as required within your team, consulting with HR Advisory staff as appropriate. 
• Conduct regular documented 1-2-1 meetings with your staff ensuring that PDRs are updated with objectives, development plans and wellbeing needs.  Ensure action plans are implemented where appropriate.
• Train, mentor, coach and manage security staff to ensure a high level of professionalism as well as securing engagement, inspiring confidence and raising morale at an individual level, always ensuring that communication messages are concise, consistent and positive.
• Support the health, safety and welfare of staff within your team.
• Engender an inclusive culture where colleagues, students and visitors are dealt with in accordance with equality, diversity and anti-discrimination legislation.
• Support change management processes and create and maintain a culture of continuous improvement, undertaking associated training and development as required. 
• Manage and audit Security Industry Association licences for security officers and report upon any compliance related issues.
• Lead the recruitment, induction and probation of new starters, for your team, proactively identifying training needs and liaising with POD to secure training where appropriate.
• To work with the Community Safety and Security Operations Manager and other Team Managers to share best practice across the security function.

Service Delivery

• Lead a team of Security Officers to deliver exceptional customer service and professionalism by prioritising tasks, delegating duties, and deploying staff effectively, making best use of resources. 
• Provide leadership and direction for operational security issues that arise whilst on duty, representing the security function professionally and competently with colleagues, external partners, students and visitors.
• Provide expert security advice to internal stakeholders pertaining to physical security and the management of incidents and events.
• Take initial ownership for the management of operational security incidents, mobilising and organising security resources. Escalate, where necessary, and lead the response pending the arrival of more senior personnel, establishing good relationships with the police and emergency services to provide effective responses.
• Support and lead the delivery of security operations, working with other departments to deliver safe and secure conferences and events.
• Lead by example when dealing with challenging and at times distressing situations. Make sound decisions in critical situations, always remaining impartial, objective and professional. Remain polite and courteous even in the face of provocation and ensure your teams do the same.
• Ensure teams capture, record and report intelligence and information relevant to community safety and security for the university and its environs.
• Review CCTV and Body Worn Video evidence and download footage for investigations, internally and for the police, engaging with Legal Services to ensure compliance with data protection legislation.
• Assess requests for information from the police out-of-hours and release sensitive personal date to police in emergencies, up to and including ‘special category’ data.
• To ensure that safeguarding incidents involving children and adults are reported in line with safeguarding duty.
• Provide competent and accurate reports, assessments, analysis and other documentation pertaining to security or other matters, including the completion of a weekly incident summary.  Capture and share lessons learnt.
• Supervise routine security operations and events to meet the needs of the customer in compliance with security policy and Freedom of Speech legislation and procedure.
• Support the wellbeing of security staff with formal debriefs following traumatic incidents and signposting to EAP and other support mechanisms.
• Oversight of all security systems and equipment in compliance with legislative requirements such as the Data Protection Act.
• To support the effective use of security systems such as CCTV, access control, incident reporting software and intruder alarms etc. ensuring that these are properly utilised and to assist staff who are training on these systems.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Good experience in a leadership capacity within a security environment or related function, leading a team in a customer focused environment with a proven track record of achieving high standards of delivery.
• Good knowledge of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Loss Prevention Certification Board Standards and relevant Industry Standards for security
• Proven experience of relationship management with internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience of managing a security control environment and operating PC based security systems i.e., access control, CCTV, intruder and fire alarms.  Able to demonstrate a good understanding of current and evolving security technology.
• Extensive knowledge of legislation and regulation as it affects the security industry.
• Good experience of emergency and incident management, including knowledge of police and evidence procedures.
• Competence with office computer systems such as MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as bespoke systems
• Strong verbal and written communication skills
• Able to lead teams to deliver high standards of performance and integrity and able to manage change.
• An understanding of the importance of equality and diversity in the workplace
• The ability to identify and respond to equality and diversity issues in line with relevant policies and procedures.

Informal enquiries to Tanya Kalsi, 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.