Centre Administrator

Role: Centre Administrator

Grade and Salary: Grade 5 - £27,241-£31,861 per annum

FTE and working pattern: 1 FTE (full-time - 35 hours per week) fixed term until 2033.

Holiday Entitlement: 28 days annual leave plus 9 buildings-closed days (and Christmas Eve when it falls on a weekday). Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

Purpose of Role

The role holder will be responsible for providing administrative support within the Centre for Doctoral Training in Applied Photonics to both students undertaking the programme and staff leading the Centre. The job will be varied and interesting covering the areas of application and recruitment, admission, enrolment, monitoring, event organisation and general student support in a small multitasking team. This role is hybrid with flexible working on request. 

The role holder will report to the Centre Manager based at Heriot-Watt University but will also have to interact with staff with the partner universities of the CDT.  Some flexibility and the ability to travel between partner universities of the CDT is required by the role holder. There will be occasional working outside normal working hours.

The role holder with liaise with external bodies such as industrial partners, partner universities and funding bodies.

The role holder will be willing to help and be supportive of students, colleagues and partners, and will be committed to the diversity and inclusion aims of the CDT as outlined in the ED&I document: https://www.cdtphotonics.hw.ac.uk/equality-and-diversity

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Enquiries

Dealing efficiently with general enquiries by telephone, e-mail, in person and via MS Teams to provide a high level of customer service.

Committee Organisation and Minutes

Organising Committee meetings; room booking, catering, circulation of meeting papers, accurate minute-taking for various CDT committees.

• CDTAP Executive (monthly meeting) 
• CDTAP Programme Committee (biannually)
• CDTAP Management Committee (biannually) 
• CDTAP Independent Advisory Committee (biannually) 

Event Organisation 

Assisting with the organisation of events including the Centre Conference, International Summer School and organising small events such as induction events to ensure they run smoothly, including event venue booking, organising catering and for small events organising key speakers.

Travel Booking

Booking travel, accommodation and conferences for students and staff and recording expenditure for students’ travel budgets. 

Finance

Use of ERP Finance for preparing purchase orders, invoicing and catering orders. Using and reconciling the HWU purchasing card.

Industry Projects and Liaison with External Bodies 

Dealing with external bodies such as Industrial Sponsors, partner higher education institutes and Funding Councils

• Liaising with industrial sponsors and Centre Director regarding industrial project approval
• Communicate with Funding Councils regarding meetings and events
• Post projects on CDTAP website, FindAPhD, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media
• Filing project proposals & maintaining projects logs
• Correspond with academic partner institutions securely to exchange information

Students Records 

Maintaining highly accurate student records throughout the academic year. 

• Setting up new students and maintaining information on the Student Database & Banner
• Initiating, recording and maintaining flow of processes for new students e.g. Code of Practice and Approved Supervisors and ensuring the process is concluded
• Maintaining email distribution lists (students, academic and industrial supervisors, alumni).
• Adding new student records to Student Data System and updating fee/stipend information on an annual basis

Marketing

• Assisting with Centre marketing activities including CDT Annual Report and posting news on the CDT website, LinkedIn and Instagram
• Maintaining marketing mailing lists ensuring compliance with GDPR 
• Gathering and updating information for publications such as the CDTAP Annual Report
• Preparing Marketing material

PA to Centre Director & Centre Executive

Providing support services to the Centre Director and members of the CDT Executive, including diary management, booking travel/accommodation, arranging meetings and other tasks as required.

Student Recruitment 

Assisting with the annual student recruitment and admissions process to ensure the Centre recruits students of the highest calibre.

• Responding to pre-application enquiries from applicants
• Downloading and filing applications, obtaining supporting documentation, preparing the application pack and recording and maintaining applicant records 
• Processing offers and rejections using CRM-Recruit and CDT offer letters
• Organising applicant interviews
• Liaising with industrial sponsors
• Preparing recruitment statistics

Reviews, Appraisals and Progression

• Assisting with quarterly reviews and annual appraisal for students using Microsoft Flow. 
• Initiating, recording and maintaining flow of Amendment to Registration and Submission of Thesis Titles & Appointment of Examiner through to approval by Research Degrees Committee. Including processing limited access to thesis and confidentiality requests
• Processing, recording, and maintaining Amendment to Registration requests. Including updating Banner and CDT database. Processing Temporary Suspension of Studies 

Please note that this job description is not exhaustive, and the role holder may be required to undertake other relevant duties commensurate with the grading of the post.  Activities may be subject to amendment over time as the role develops and/or priorities and requirements evolve. 

Essential & Desirable Criteria

Essential

• Educated to SVQ Level 3 or equivalent
• Good level of competency in written and spoken English
• Experience of working within a confidential office environment as outlined above 
• Competent in the use of Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Word and Teams
• Well-developed interpersonal skills 
• Demonstrable excellent customer service 
• Demonstrable ability to work quickly, flexibly and accurately in a dynamic, changing and pressured environment
• Demonstrable professional and proactive approach
• Experience of organising interviews, meetings and minute-taking 
• Experience in organising events such as conferences and seminars

Desirable

• Experience in Higher Education
• Competent in the use of Microsoft PowerPoint, SharePoint, OneDrive and Power Automate
• Experience of booking travel and accommodation with Key Travel
• Experience of social media and electronic newsletters
• Commitment to ongoing personal development 
• Competent in the use of Ellucian systems - CRM Recruit and Banner
• Competent in the use of Oracle 12 for preparing purchase orders
• Experience in the use of Adobe Creative Cloud software packages

How to Apply

Applications can be submitted up to 11:55pm (UK time) on Wednesday 11th November. Interviews are expected to take place during the week of the 23rd November.

Please submit via the Heriot-Watt on-line recruitment system (1) Cover letter describing your interest and suitability for the post; (2) Full CV.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We therefore encourage you to submit your application promptly.

We recognise that many candidates use AI tools during the application process and are comfortable with AI being used as a supporting aid. However, we want to hear from you, not AI.

Your application should be an authentic representation of your skills, experience and achievements. Applications that appear to have been fully generated by AI may not accurately reflect your suitability for the role and are therefore discouraged.

At interview, candidates will be expected to discuss and provide evidence of the experience, skills and examples included in their application.

We welcome and will consider flexible working patterns e.g., part-time working and job share options.

Heriot-Watt University is committed to securing equality of opportunity in employment and to the creation of an environment in which individuals are selected, trained, promoted, appraised, and otherwise treated on the sole basis of their relevant merits and abilities.  Equality and diversity are all about maximising potential and creating a culture of inclusion for all.

Heriot-Watt University values diversity across our university community and welcomes applications from all sectors of society, particularly from underrepresented groups. For more information, please see our website https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/equality-diversity.htm and also our award-winning work in Disability Inclusive Science Careers https://disc.hw.ac.uk/ .

Use our total rewards calculator: https://www.hw.ac.uk/about/work/total-rewards-calculator.htm to see the value of benefits provided by Heriot-Watt University.

About the Team

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Applied Photonics (http://www.cdtphotonics.hw.ac.uk/) is recruiting an Administrator to provide administrative support to both students undertaking the programme and staff leading the Centre. Established in 2001, the CDT is the UK's longest-running centre of doctoral training in photonics. Comprising 100 academic research groups across six universities, we work with industry to deliver solutions to critical scientific and engineering problems and provide advanced technical and business training to future industrial research leaders. The CDT is led by Heriot-Watt University and is in partnership with the universities of Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Huddersfield, St Andrews, Strathclyde and the National Physical Laboratory.

About Heriot-Watt University

At Heriot-Watt we are passionate about our values and look to them to connect our people globally and to help us collaborate and celebrate our success through working together. Our research programmes can deliver real world impact which is achieved through the diversity of our international community and the recognition of creative talent that connects our global team.

Our flourishing community will give you the freedom to challenge and to bring your enterprising mind and to help our partners with solutions that can be applied now and in the future. Join us and Heriot Watt will provide you with a platform to thrive and work in a way that also helps you live your life in balance with well-being and inclusiveness at the heart of our global community.