Operations Officer

Job Description

Contract Type: Fixed Term (9 months). Ends 31st March 2027.

Hours: Full-time (minimum 0.8 FTE) (flexible working available).

Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire - Hybrid working available.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) supports world-class arts and humanities research. Part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. We fund academic research in over 50 subject areas – from archaeology to linguistics, law to visual arts – as well as supplying to cross-cutting research agendas addressing the major challenges facing the world today, such as climate change, global poverty, gender inequalities and health crises.

About The Role

The role is fundamentally an administrative role tasked with the operational delivery of the team’s objectives.

Your Responsibilities

• Providing general operational and organisational support to the AHRC Grants Operations team including managing shared mailboxes, supporting the implementation of grants policy and process updates, supporting the purchase order process, creating online surveys, processing disabled student allowance claims and supporting the research outcomes reporting process.
• Being a first point of call for external enquiries; engaging directly with prospective applicants, grant holders and other external stakeholders in relation to AHRC grants policy, funding provision and processes, and providing answers and guidance in a timely manner.
• Engaging with and supporting continuous improvement project work and initiatives, seeking to refine processes, policy, and ways of working within both your team and the wider organisation.
• Occasionally you may also support meetings, webinars, and events both internally and externally and both in-person and virtually; tasks include securing venues (or virtual meeting space), arranging logistics, making travel and accommodation arrangements, and processing expenses claims.

Personal Specification

The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).

Essential

• You have excellent organisational and administrative skills, and the ability to work flexibly and multi-task with good attention to detail, often at pace (S&I).
• You have sound numeric skills, including handling and analysing data sensitively, accurately, and responsibly (S&I).
• You have excellent written communication skills and can draft and understand complex written documents and interpret them clearly (S&I).
• You can work independently, think creatively, solve problems, and make effective decisions (S&I).
• You are a great team player and can provide support to colleagues, sharing knowledge and information, and giving towards the achievements of your team and the wider organisation (S&I).
• You are an excellent communicator with good social skills, working effectively with colleagues at different levels both inside and outside the organisation, while being an effective ambassador for the AHRC (S&I).
• You have a good working knowledge of IT and programmes (Outlook, MS Word, Excel, MS Teams, etc.) with the ability to quickly learn new software and systems. (S&I).