Operations Assistant

Job description

An experienced and dedicated Operations Assistant is required to provide high quality general administrative support to the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences based at St Thomas' hospital, and specific support to the Cardiovascular Imaging.  

 

The post is the principal point of contact for staff, students and visitors, providing efficient day-to-day operational support. This includes personal assistant support to four busy Professors (diary management, arranging meetings, organising travel, processing expenses) and administrative support to the Senior Operations Officer.  

 

The post holder will prepare and support meetings including minute taking, and organising events. Supporting the Department with day-to-day financial matters, such as purchase orders, expenses, invoices and providing budget/grant reports will also be required along with basic research support for the Department and the School. 

 

The post holder will interact with a wide range of people, including senior level colleagues from a variety of clinical, academic and government organisations. As such the post requires someone with a confidential and methodical approach and a flexible and adaptable manner. The post holder will be enthusiastic and confident, with a good level of education, previous office experience and excellent interpersonal, organisational, communication and IT skills.  

 

After initial direction, the post holder will be expected to work with minimum supervision, with the post holder managing their own time and workload efficiently and effectively. They will be able to use their own initiative, as well as to work as a part of a team, enjoy a challenge and undertake a wide variety of tasks. 

 

This post will be offered on an indefinite contract   

This is a full-time post, and the post holder will be expected to work at least 3 days on campus .

 

 

Key responsibilities

Work closely with the School’s core professional services team to ensure operational support for the Department of Cardiovascular Imaging 

•        is professional, well-executed and timely  

•        is compliant with external regulations and university policies and  

•        adopts best practice. 

 

The post holder will: 

•        Provide a range of day-to-day operational support to staff and students in the Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, using established processes and systems to specified standards  

•        Provide personal assistant support to the Professors within the Department including the Head of the Cardiovascular Imaging. Duties to include full diary management, travel and meeting arrangements, minute taking, drafting correspondence, and processing expenses  

•        Maintain shared resources, including data and online information, as well as physical resources, such as supplies, actively adopting financially and environmentally sustainable approaches 

•        Work independently, prioritizing their own workload and tasks to meet their agreed objectives, responding to changing priorities and an evolving environment/context 

•        Resolve routine and less frequent complex problems that have an impact of 6-12 months on the area of responsibility, discussing more complex matters with their line manager and responding to problems as they arise using both standard procedures and own initiative based on analysis of trends and patterns 

•        Work with colleagues and form a network to support the post holder in meeting their objectives  

•        Provide advice, guidance and training to colleagues as required 

•        Communicate in a clear and precise way in writing and when speaking both routine and specific specialist information, deciding how best to communication the information for it to be fully understood and appropriately presented to the recipient(s) 

•        Access and understand a large amount of information, using judgement to determine who needs the information and when  

•        Gather and analyse data from primary sources, to identify trends and resultant actions/tasks 

•        Implement and monitor compliance with regulations governing the area of responsibility, such as general data protection regulations, the university’s IT and finance regulations, and assist colleagues’ understanding of requirements and best practice for compliance with these 

•        Lead and/or support the organisation and operations associated with meetings, including committees, events and delegations 

•        Facilitate an inclusive culture and ethos working with academic, research and other professional services staff and colleagues external to King’s 

•        Participate in cross-Faculty/university projects and initiatives for up to 10% FTE 

•        Engage in continuing professional development and training initiatives 

 

The above list of responsibilities may not be exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post.

 

Skills, knowledge, and experience  

Essential criteria

1.      Minimum level 3 qualifications, e.g., NVQ3, HNC, A levels, AS levels, International Baccalaureate diploma or other Level 3 qualification, plus work experience in relevant operational/administrative posts OR Considerable knowledge and skills gained through work experience in relevant operational/administrative posts with a clear progression in increasingly demanding jobs 

2.      Evidence of an active commitment to career development with the application of learning to the work context 

3.      Knowledge and practical use of a range of operational/administrative skills, systems 

4.      Clear spoken and written communication skills, with strong interpersonal and influencing/behavioural skills 

5.      Proactive and responsive to contacts in immediate area, across the wider organisation and externally to build relationships and network 

6.      Solutions-focused self-starter, with strong planning and analytical skills, able to manage competing priorities and work with minimal supervision 

7.      Numerate with basic/intermediate analytical skills 

8.      Experience of organising and managing one or more of the following: events, projects, meetings and committees, writing notes and reports  

9.      Finance administrative experience in processing purchase orders, expenses, invoices, credit card reconciliation  

10.  Good knowledge of MS Office including Word Processing, Excel, PowerPoint and use of email/internet  

11.  Committee servicing - experience in organising meetings and taking minutes 

 

Desirable criteria

1.      Experience of providing personal administration support including diary management  

2.      Experience of working in the higher education sector 

3.      Experience of working in a medical/clinical environment 

4.      Working knowledge of regulations and best practice governing area of work, including General Data Protection Regulations 

5.      Training or qualification relevant to the post 

 

Further information

The selection process will involve a panel interview. 

 

For more information about the School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences please visit:  

  https://www.kcl.ac.uk/bmeis