Research Student Advisor

**Job details**

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**Responsible to**

Research Student Office Team Leader

**Location**

Kedleston Road, Derby Campus

**Closing date**

Sunday 29 March 2026

**Salary**

£26,981 to £28,213 per annum (for exceptional performers, there is scope for further progression up to £32,445 per annum)

**Job grade**

ATOS 4

**Reference**

0061-26

**Contract type**

Fixed term contract until 3rd July 2026

**Post type**

Full-time

**Adaptive working type**

Hybrid

This role will be based on site, primarily in the named location. Currently, this role offers the opportunity to work remotely, normally 2 day/s a week in line with our Adaptive Working Framework.

**About the University**

We have one simple promise – to make a positive impact. Through our ground-breaking research, teaching excellence and commitment to sustainable living, we are changing lives for the better.

The University of Derby is a modern university with a modern outlook. Everything we do is driven by delivering excellence and opportunities for our students, our staff and our region.

We have some of the best university facilities in the UK and achieve outstanding results for our teaching and research and have been awarded Gold in the prestigious Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) 2023 – making it one of the top universities in the country recognised for its outstanding student experience and student outcomes.

Financially strong and seriously ambitious we offer our employees an inclusive culture that centres itself around staff wellbeing, where you can be confident you will receive all the help and encouragement you need to build a rewarding career with lots of opportunities to enhance your skills.

**About the College/Department**

Innovation and research is at the heart of everything we do at Derby; it informs our learning and teaching, supports businesses, drives partnerships and provides real-world impact.

The University Innovation & Research Department (I&R) is responsible for our research and knowledge exchange activities including funding opportunities, knowledge transfer partnerships, researcher development, ethics, impact, the Doctoral College, postgraduate research students, and external returns including the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

**About the role**

In this role you will work as part of a small Postgraduate Research student support team with a focus on providing an excellent student experience. Based in our Doctoral College, you will work with Postgraduate Research students and Academics ensuring that University academic regulations, policies and processes are followed.

Working confidently across multiple systems, you will accurately process records, follow key workflows and maintain high-quality data to support management and statutory reporting. The role requires meeting KPIs, handling complex queries and managing fluctuating workloads during peak periods.

*This position is offered on a fixed-term basis to cover a period of maternity leave, with the contract due to end in early July 2026. There may be the potential for the contract to be extended beyond this date, however this cannot be guaranteed.*

**About You**

The successful candidate will have experience of student administration in a post-16 setting. You will have excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to understand complex requirements. You will have demonstrable experience of providing excellent customer service in addition to an ability to prioritise and manage a varied workload including meeting deadlines. Strong IT skills including MS Office and experience of using IT systems are essential.

**Principal accountabilities**

Assess, monitor and manage student records and enquiries effectively, acting as the key contact for students, academics and the Innovation and Research team.

Understand the importance and responsibility of producing an offer which constitutes the University contract with the applicant as well as the enrolment, attendance, financial, academic and assessment record of each student which drives the student fee charged, funding issued and award given.

Manage and maintain accurate student record transactions and data to enable concise reporting for institutional decision-making, strategy development, internal audits and external returns e.g. research grants, Student Loans Company, Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and university league tables. Be proactive and transparent in completing any required investigative and remedial work to maintain accuracy.

Maintain and help evolve further the applicant/student-centred culture to support institutional goals for student experience, retention and progression. In doing so, to continually adopt and adjust approach and methodology to manage conflicting priorities when supporting student needs.

Uphold and guard the student, academic and research regulations and policies for the institution and the interpretation of them. Hold the same regard for other internal/external policies and procedures.

Work with the Research Student Office Team Leader to implement practice which enhances the student experience and upholds the values of equality and social inclusion.

Ensure that customer service provided to University staff and students is delivered as expected and to a high standard. Assist in establishing service level agreements with internal customers and service providers.

Attend as required and feedback on information received from external meetings, conferences and training.

Support Student Lifecycle presence at all recruitment and conversion events as required e.g. open days, applicant days, outreach events which may be located off-site.

Help develop content/information and deliver presentations/talks as required for the purpose of training other teams as part of our governance role at the University and to assist with outreach activity.

Actively engage and participate in the buddy system in place to enable continuation of service during the absence of colleagues. This will entail working outside of the parameters of your own portfolio of work and focusing on priorities across your own and buddy’s portfolio. This also requires you to ensure own portfolio is in the most up to date condition and a comprehensive handover is completed before any planned absence.

Ensure clear, effective and timely communication as appropriate to internal and external stakeholders. Maintain accurate records to enable evidence-based challenge and support.

Work closely with key stakeholders to ensure the highest accuracy of the student record which captures their journey from enrolment through to assessment to generate the correct student fee, funding and award.

Using available audits and monitoring processes ensure quality assurance of own work and effective prioritisation to avoid creating bottlenecks and delays. Use initiative to resolve problems and queries relevant to responsibilities.

Engage fully with regular one-to-ones, objective setting and performance review processes. Understanding that these procedures are for individual feedback and development and will need your time and investment.

Help ensure that at all times the Research Student Office team act in a responsible, professional manner and comply with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and data security legislation/policy. In doing so, ensure data is extracted, shared, handled and stored appropriately and removed responsibly in accordance to the University’s retention policy.

Attend all training and development opportunities as required to ensure relevancy of practice and compliance.

Provide a good level of technical expertise, support and tactics to benefit effectiveness of operational activity, applicant/student experience and compliance. Engage and participate in service projects as required.

Contribute to and assist with preparing for committees/groups, service events, team meetings, conferences, briefings and training.

Assist with delivering a programme of induction and training for new staff to help ensure a deep understanding of relevant procedures, delivery schedule, systems, data/reporting, compliance requirements and technicalities. This includes full participation in mentoring new team members in day-to-day activities.

Assist with collating information for responses to Freedom of Information (FOI), Subject Access Requests and informal/formal admissions complaints as expected.

**Person specification**

### **Essential Criteria**

#### **Qualifications**

• Level 3 qualifications such as A-Levels, BTEC Extended Diploma or equivalent qualification, with GCSE Maths and English at Grade 4/C or equivalent or comparable knowledge and transferable skills gained through professional experience
• Customer service qualifications or equivalent/comparable knowledge and transferable skills gained through professional experience

#### **Experience**

• Experience of working in a team within a busy administrative environment
• Experience of student administration in a post-16 setting
• Experience of using data to manage workload
• Experience of servicing committees and minute-taking
• Demonstrable experience of adapting to and managing change in the workplace at a personal level
• Experience of providing excellent customer service and working with a range of stakeholders

#### **Skills, knowledge & abilities**

• Good interpersonal skills including the ability to demonstrate tact and diplomacy in dealing with a wide range of contacts both internal and external to the University
• Strong customer and service focus
• Strong capabilities in MS Office suite or equivalent
• Understanding of complex requirements (e.g. rules and regulations) and applying them in practice
• Ability to plan work and manage priorities
• Contributing to the creation of innovative solutions to problems, addressing the root cause and thus making a positive impact
• Working collaboratively across boundaries to achieve common goals
• Building and maintaining strong working relationships at all levels across an organisation
• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent writing skills and telephone manner
• Good judgement of situations and people and the ability to respond appropriately, professionally and commendably
• Ability to review, refine and refresh processes
• Ability to work independently and take ownership of a portfolio of work
• Ability to adapt and be flexible
• Ability to understand and apply regulations/rules e.g. GDPR
• Demonstrate digital competency across a range of technologies
• Good analytical skills and ability to convey messages

#### **Business requirements**

• Able to recognise the need and be willing to work outside of normal hours at times as relevant to achieving service delivery, targets and deadlines
• Able to recognise the need and be willing to travel and work at any of the University sites as relevant to support staff, attend events, meetings or for presence
• Willingness to provide support at University events from time to time e.g., Graduation, Clearing and Open Days, (some of these events occur outside of normal working hours, such as evenings and weekends)

### **Desirable Criteria**

#### **Qualifications**

• HND or equivalent
• IT qualifications e.g. web development, Share-point, MS 365, MS Teams
• Relevant professional body membership

#### **Experience**

• Experience of working in a research, admissions, records management, fees/funding, exams or awards team
• Experience of working in the Higher Education sector

#### **Skills, knowledge and abilities**

• Understanding of a post-16 vocational institution

**Benefits**

• Generous annual leave entitlement of 38 days inclusive of bank holidays and concessionary days (pro rata)
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Suite of holistic wellbeing benefits and support including family-friendly policies, generous sick pay provision and comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
• Access to a variety of staff discounts at high street retailers
• Discounted onsite gym
• Cycle to Work scheme
• A flexible working environment
• A commitment to personal and professional development

**Key contact**

For further information and informal enquiries regarding the role, please contact Jill Warren, Interim Research Student Office Team Leader via j.warren4@derby.ac.uk

For enquiries regarding your application and for sponsorship eligibility, please contact the recruitment team via recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

**Important information**

#### **Visa Sponsorship Eligibility**

The University is unable to sponsor the employment of international workers under the Skilled Worker route for this role; however, applications are welcome from candidates who are able to demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

#### **Equity, diversity and inclusion**

The University of Derby is committed to promoting equity, diversity and inclusion, regardless of age, disability, trans status, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (or none), sex and sexual orientation.

We are Disability Confident Employers, demonstrating our commitment to disability inclusion, and invite applicants to highlight adjustments they may require to ensure equitable participation in our recruitment processes.

Further, we are committed to ensuring an environment which is trans and non-binary-inclusive for all our staff, students, partners, and visitors, and continuously review our policies, guidance and training.

When applying to join the University, you can choose your preferred title, including the gender-neutral title 'Mx'. We also ask our candidates if they would like to share their preferred pronouns. This is voluntary but demonstrates our commitment to inclusivity for trans and non-binary candidates. Once employed, you can add pronouns and preferred names onto our system.

The University of Derby undertakes anonymised shortlisting during the staff recruitment process. This means that, when shortlisting, panel members will not be able to see an applicant’s name and will see an applicant number instead. This demonstrates the practical steps we are taking to remove barriers to recruitment by minimising the possible impact of our unconscious bias.

However you identify, we actively celebrate the knowledge, experience and talents each person brings. Our students come from a wide range of backgrounds; therefore we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who will help our leaders and teams be more reflective of our student population.

Read more about equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of Derby.

#### **Environmental Sustainability**

At the University of Derby, we are passionate about embedding sustainability into everything that we do. We aim to bring environmental sustainability into all aspects of the University, including teaching, research and operational activities. In line with the University's strategic framework, we expect all our staff to embed sustainability into their working practices and support the University's objective to reach net zero carbon by 2050.

**Be part of something extraordinary, apply now.**

**How to apply**

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You can apply by submitting an online application. Once you have signed in or registered with us you will be able to begin your application. If you are creating an account for the first time, please ensure you provide an email address that you access regularly as this will be our main means of contacting you regarding your application.

**The University reserves the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.**

If you require any assistance, including the provision of any documentation in an alternative format, please contact the Recruitment team at recruitment@derby.ac.uk.

Please note all applications must be submitted online by Midnight GMT on the closing date of the vacancy.