Functional Expert - HR & Payroll - Finance Office - 105901Z26 - Grade 6

Position Details

Finance Office

University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £33,002 to £35,608 with potential progression once in post to £39,906

Grade: 6

Full Time, Fixed Term contract up to July 2027 

Closing date: 9th August 2026

This role is also open as an internal secondment opportunity which would need to be agreed by your current line manager.

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 Core Systems Optimisation team, (CSOT), are responsible for quarterly release management, helping to stabilise and optimise the Oracle and Worktribe systems that support Finance, HR and Research support. The team also co-ordinates and delivers end-user support and training and oversees the work of the Managed Support Provider.

Role Summary

Reporting to the relevant Functional Lead within CSOT, the post holder will possess in-depth knowledge of the relevant business processes and a strong understanding of the University’s Oracle SaaS and enterprise systems. This expertise will enable them to identify opportunities for process and system improvements and implement configuration changes as required. The role includes responsibility for incident resolution, enhancement deployment, training support, and the coordination and oversight of regression testing. In addition, the post holder will maintain a broad awareness of the business processes and system capabilities across the other two functional areas to support effective cross-functional collaboration.

Main Duties

Process ownership 

• Maintain an in-depth knowledge of all business processes, from the perspective of both the system owner and the end-user. 
• Have the ability and confidence to challenge and influence staff who are unfamiliar or resistant to the new business processes and the new ways of working.
• Work across the University to develop the right behaviours associated with the new system.
• Support the on-going documentation of business process rules.

System Functionality

• Develop an in-depth knowledge of system functionality across all modules.
• Develop an in-depth knowledge of the data requirements for each module, including quality management issues such as accuracy, completeness and consistency, covering all data elements including Suppliers, Customers, Chart of Accounts, Departmental structures, Grade Ladders, Person Types etc.

End-User Support

• Resolve all Level 2 calls assigned from the ITS Service Now Desk, including break/fix calls, configuration issues, troubleshooting requests including data issues or dealing with issues associated with user-error.
• Undertake configuration changes, (integrations, conversions, enhancement, forms), as required.
• Keep all documentation up to date and accurate.
• Develop reports to satisfy business intelligence requirements for the relevant processes. 

Release Management

• Evaluate forthcoming releases associated with the range of modules.
• Undertake all necessary regression testing to ensure that functionality is configured appropriately. Review requirements and specifications and define test conditions. Design test cases and test scripts under own direction, mapping back to pre-determined criteria, recording and reporting outcomes. Analyse and report test activities and results. Identify and report issues and risks associated with own work. Compile results for feedback.
• Ensure all process maps are kept fully up to date.

Data Integrity

• Maintain data integrity ensuring appropriate master data management creation.
• Investigate data issues and identify ways of resolving them. 

Training 

• Contribute to the updating of all relevant training materials, including online self-service training modules and hard copy training materials. 
• Support end user training, as required.

Skills Development:

• Develop knowledge across all functional areas over time, to ensure that cover can be provided during absence or during periods of heightened activity.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

Relevant professional experience preferably in Higher Education, a comparable complex public sector body or significant commercial organisation. Experience in one or more modules of:

• Core HR 
• Payroll
• Absence Management 
• Time and Labor 
• Recruiting
• Talent Management 
• Performance Management 
• Learning
• Compensation
• Knowledge and experience of system implementation within a complex organisational environment. Candidate should have experience in the following:
• Investigating production issues Example: Troubleshooting Fast formulas 
• Supporting quarterly Oracle updates
• Performing impact assessments
• Co-ordinating Oracle Service Requests (SRs)
• Support UAT and Production deployments
• Build and maintain technical configurations where required
• Maintaining configuration workbooks, technical design documents, Knowledge Databases
• End -user support

The following are Desirable:

• Oracle Visual Builder Studio (VB Studio) 
• Redwood Extensibility 
• Oracle AI capabilities within HCM
• HDL loads
• Oracle Certifications
• Good communication and inter-personal skills including: 
• the ability to communicate effectively.
• establishing and managing collaborative stakeholder relationships and networks with academics, professional services staff and other partners demonstrating credibility
• interacting with all levels of staff
• influencing, negotiating and facilitating skills
• the ability to work using own initiative and mange own workload within agreed deadlines and tolerances.
• A creative, imaginative and enthusiastic approach to problem solving and process improvement activities
• Well-developed administrative and organisational skills with a proven ability to pay attention to detail
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office
• Collaborative and flexible working style
• Ability to prioritise work, particularly under pressure 
• An understanding of and empathy for the activities/objectives of the University

Personal characteristics: 

• Strong intellectual abilities 
• Eye for detail
• Judgement and resilience
• Problem solving
• Honesty and integrity 
• Energy and resilience 

OH required

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 Occupational Health to appointment.

Informal enquiries to Soumi Nandi, 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.