Position Details

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences 

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £34,980 to £44,263 with potential progression once in post to £46,974

Grade: 7 

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 7th May 2024 

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

Role Summary

The University of Birmingham’s High Temperature Research Centre (HTRC) is a new, purpose-built £40 million, 5,800m2 facility enabling production scale research and experimentation to deliver rapid high-quality product and process innovation in casting.

The Centre undertakes research and development projects supported by a number of funding bodies, both academic and industrial. Projects’ use of the Centre facilities is costed on a time and materials basis, controlled and monitored by a suite of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software. 

Reporting to the HTRC Operations Director, the post holder will facilitate use of the HTRC Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Manufacturing Execution system (MES), to support setup and tracking of projects both with and for project teams, reporting required information to the University finance team for invoicing and support project teams in tracking resource usage against budget. They will use the information to support the Centre Management Team in preparation and tracking of the annual operating budget. Additionally, the successful candidate will assist users in operating and administering the ERP and MES systems, prepare manufacturing plans, and maintain operational reports, to aid the HTRC operations team to transact processes optimally.

The post holder will facilitate use of the ERP system, support setup and tracking of projects both with and for project teams, report required information to the University finance team for invoicing and support project teams in tracking resource usage against budget. They will use the information to support the Centre Management Team in preparation and tracking of the annual operating budget.

Main Duties

The post holder will:

• Provide key user operation and front-line administration of the HTRC Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to set up, record and report on research and development project use of the Centre’s Process Hall facilities and resources.
• Prepare and provide reports of research project usage of facilities and materials to the university financial teams and to check correct apportionment of costs within the HTRC accounts.
• Assist other users in the operation and administration of the ERP and MES system.
• Prepare manufacturing plans using the Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) within the ERP system.
• Ensure that the materials required to fulfil the manufacturing plan are available for operations.
• Prepare and maintain operational reports from the data derived from the MES system.

This role will involve:

• Setting up projects within ERP, launching into MRP plans and tracking and reporting against milestones in support of Operations: 
  • Inputting bills of materials, routes and resources in to the ERP system for new projects
  • Updating and amending bills of materials, routes and resources in to the ERP system for active projects
  • Ensuring all project costs are captured and allocated correctly
  • Closing out of projects in the ERP system
• Providing day-to-day support to ERP system users.
• Use MRP tools within the ERP system to develop a Manufacturing Plan and work with centre operations to optimise the plans to support production.
• Use MRP/ERP systems to advise Operations on material ordering requirement in order to fulfil the Manufacturing Plan.
• Maintaining and updating WIP and material stock records to ensure alignment of ERP data to actuals and reporting of variances.
• Undertaking routine system administrative upkeep tasks including :
  • ERP WO closure
  • Updating Rapid Value tool
  • Stock Checking and update
  • Cleansing of MES data and archiving of records
  • Updating error messages
  • Capture of problems arising with MES and ERP systems
• Dealing with internal and external queries independently and proposing solutions, some of which would need further consideration by the Centre Leadership Team. 
• Contribution to improving and developing systems and procedures to enhance service and outputs, liaising with system suppliers.
• Raising tickets with systems suppliers to troubleshoot issues and seek resolutions to problems
• Preparation of costing reports for research projects and research opportunities.
• Reporting to, and liaising with, the University Finance teams to ensure correct invoicing of facility and material usage to individual projects.
• Liaising with research partner finance teams to obtain costings for materials required to support projects
• Ad-hoc jobs for the HTRC Management Team including assistance with budget preparation, production of reports and management information, re-organisation of paper and computer records.

The post holder will be expected to develop a detailed knowledge of the HTRC MES/ERP systems, HTRC Launch Preparation and Manufacture Execution procedures and the university financial policies.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Educated to A level or equivalent, GCSE passes in English and Mathematics
• A further qualification in accounting is desirable
• Experience of Enterprise Resource Planning and Manufacturing Resource Planning software or financial control and reporting, preferably in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience in the use of Microsoft Dynamics (AX 2012).
• Knowledge of python and SQL is desirable.
• Highly proficient use of Microsoft packages particularly spreadsheets (e.g. sound understanding of formula use). 
• General Ledger accounting practices

DBS required 

Pre-employment DBS

The University is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice, therefore all associated pre-employment checks will be undertaken before any appointment is confirmed. Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role all successful applicants will be subject to a satisfactory DBS clearance prior to appointment.

BPSS Required

Due to the nature of the work undertaken in this role, all successful applicants will be subject to a BPSS check prior to appointment.

Informal enquiries to Ben Goodyer, ben.goodyer@htrc.bham.ac.uk

View our staff values and behaviours here 

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.