Communications Assistant (Digital) - Development and Alumni Relations Office - 107792 - Grade 5

Position Details

Development and Alumni Relations Office

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

Part Time, 0.4 FTE (14 hours per week)

Fixed Term contract up to April 2027 

Closing date: 24th 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

The University of Birmingham is a global institution working within a diverse and vibrant City, offering an inspiring education to our students, and undertaking critically important research.  We are a place of open, critical thinking, and the creation, sharing and dissemination of knowledge.  Professional Services put students at the heart of all they do and enable an exceptional educational experience. They provide outstanding support to our researchers and help the University to grow its influence regionally, nationally, and globally. They ensure the University’s resources are used wisely, manage and improve the infrastructure which sits at the heart of the institution, and support decisions to be made quickly and based on sound evidence.  Our Birmingham Professional programme operates across the University, supporting colleagues to network and collaborate, offering opportunities to learn and develop, contributing to the delivery of the University’s objectives, and helping everyone to understand the broader context within which we work.   

Department overview 

DARO exists to support our academic and student community by engaging, inspiring, and celebrating alumni, individuals, and charitable funders who give their money, time, and networks to support the University’s strategic priorities.  The Office, which comprises five teams, is focused on fundraising and volunteering from alumni, organisations and individuals who are passionate about changing lives, through funding various research projects, supporting student bursaries, mentoring students, and providing internships, as well as providing a versatile programme of engagement opportunities for our global alumni community.

As an office, we are committed to sustainability and value green working practices. The environment is an integral part of our campaign and we encourage eco-friendly ways of working in order to have a positive impact on our campus and global surroundings.

Role Summary

The Communications Assistant (Digital) works as part of the Development and Alumni Relations (DARO) Communications Team to help deliver our social media communications strategy. They will produce high-quality, impact-driven copy, videos, and other digital content, tailored to target audiences, creatively and effectively using DARO’s social media platforms. 

The role holder will identify opportunities to promote University achievements, fundraising priorities and alumni success stories, helping to strengthen engagement, participation and affinity with the University.

The role requires creativity, strong communication skills and the ability to work collaboratively with colleagues across DARO and the wider University to deliver effective and impactful digital communications.

Main Duties

The Communications Assistant (Digital) will support the following areas:

• Working as part of the DARO Communications Team to support the delivery of our social media communications strategy for alumni and friends of the University, with a particular focus on: 
  • Strengthening global reputation and profile 
  • Enhancing graduate employability 
  • Increasing high quality student recruitment
• Using video and image editing software (CapCut/Canva) to plan and create content for social media channels
• Providing creative input to teams across DARO to maximise opportunities to showcase DARO activity and engage audiences. 
• Developing communications to tie in with key dates throughout the year, including religious festivals and awareness days (e.g., International Women’s Day, Black History Month and Christmas)
• Working with colleagues to support the delivery of graduation content on social channels that help students transition from study to becoming alumni.
• Supporting key DARO objectives including increased participation rates, greater warmth and affinity to the University, generating leads and supporting donor engagement by continually reinforcing giving messages, especially in relation to our fundraising and volunteering campaign Birmingham In Action
• Identifying opportunities to appropriately share newsworthy stories with alumni, students, staff, international and other key audiences.
• Building relationships with colleagues in DARO, the University’s Marketing and Communications team and Professional Services colleagues across the University
  • Through these relationships identifying opportunities for DARO messages to be communicated to appropriate audiences
  • Identifying and gathering story leads on an ongoing basis, using editorial expertise to maximise the value of all content
  • Providing advice and guidance to colleagues across the office on digital content and social media best practice to support effective and consistent communications
• Ensuring digital content adheres to accessibility standards and inclusive communications principles across all platforms.
• Contributing to a weekly schedule of social media content to ensure timeliness of messages and the most effective use of all channels available
• Contributing to social media reporting using Hootsuite.
• Undertaking research, providing creative content and design proposals, and identifying subjects of interest (or of other value within the DARO strategy) to feature in different communications channels
• Promoting equality and valuing diversity, acting as a role model, and fostering an inclusive working culture
• Developing an understanding of key areas of University research strength and innovation and identifying opportunities to highlight these areas through DARO communications.
• Efficiently responding to alumni enquiries and comments, and escalating issues where necessary as part of monitoring our social media channels and Communications Inbox
• Being able to create an accurate and concise brief, and follow a brief, to/from colleagues on collaborative projects

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Experience in a communications role including managing social media accounts and writing copy for different social media channels. 
• Experience of digital communications, including filming and editing videos and an understanding of social media, ideally through experience of working on an organisational social media presence
• Ability to translate complex messages into understandable and engaging content 
• Educated to degree level or equivalent experience
• Ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with a wide variety of people
• Creative thinker
• Excellent attention to detail
• Good all-round IT skills including competence with all aspects of MS Office, email, website management tools and video editing software 
• The ability to work effectively both in a team and independently and to produce calm, positive responses to negative feedback on social media when appropriate
• Flexibility to work outside normal working hours occasionally to meet deadlines
• Experience of writing for student and supporter audiences 
• Understanding of accessibility requirements for social media, video, and websites
• Good understanding of the UK HE sector
• Experience in producing content for young people and international audiences, and in fundraising communications would be highly desirable.

Informal enquiries to Beck Lockwood, 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.