Operations Officer (Communications & Events)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Council: ESRC (Economic & Social Research Council)

Salary: £30,895

Band: C

Contract Type: Open ended – programme funding is fixed term until 31 March 2031

Hours: Full-time

Location: Polaris House, Swindon, Wiltshire - Hybrid working available. Regular travel to London office required.

About the role

ADR UK (Administrative Data Research UK) is a partnership transforming the way researchers access the UK’s wealth of public sector data, to enable better informed policy decisions that improve people’s lives. The programme is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The partnership is coordinated by a UK-wide Strategic Hub which promotes the benefits of administrative data research to the public and the wider research community, engages with UK Government to secure access to data, and manages a dedicated research budget and commissioning process.

This post will support two teams within the ADR UK Strategic Hub: Communications & Engagement, and Research Commissioning & Capacity Building. These teams include responsibility for ADR UK’s communications activities, including digital communications (website content, social media channels and audiovisual) and a growing virtual and in-person events programme, alongside leading on ADR UK commissioning, funded fellowships and our researcher training events programme.

You will primarily provide operational and administrative support to priority communication and events workstreams within this busy team, working collaboratively with the teams and independently on specific tasks. You will also support the administration of our commissioning and fellowship programme where needed.

This role is fundamentally an administrative role, tasked with the operational delivery of a range of projects within the team’s objectives. As a new role you will also be provided with opportunities to develop your skills and participate on specific workstreams and projects end-to-end to build your operational and administrative experience in a communications, events and research context.

Your responsibilities

Providing general operational and organisational support for a range of projects within the ADR UK Strategic Hub, with a focus on communications and events, including managing shared mailboxes, supporting the implementation and ongoing maintenance of administrative processes (such as project or publication trackers), supporting the purchase order process.
Being a first point of call for enquiries in relation to assigned projects you will support, providing answers and guidance in a timely manner or using judgement to escalate where needed.
Engaging with and supporting continuous improvement project work and initiatives, seeking to refine processes and ways of working within both your team and the wider organisation to ensure smooth delivery of our projects and workstreams.
Supporting meetings, webinars, and events both internally and externally and both in-person and virtually; tasks include securing venues (or virtual meeting space), maintaining invitation lists, arranging logistics, making travel and accommodation arrangements, and processing expenses claims.

These tasks are illustrative and not exhaustive.

Personal Specification

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

Essential knowledge, skills and experience

Each criteria will be assessed shortlisting (S), at Interview (I) or both (S&I)

You have excellent organisational and administrative skills gained within a communications, events, research or transferable context, including the ability to work flexibly and multi-task with good attention to detail while working 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).

About hybrid working

We support a hybrid approach, and you can expect a mix of working from home, the office, and occasionally at other UK locations.

ESRC staff will be assigned to Tier 2 meaning a standard expectation of 40–60% onsite attendance (pro-rated against working time) including those hosted by ESRC. This will come into effect on 1st October 2026.

At times, this may involve overnight stays and/or occasional work outside of standard office hours.

Employee Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!

We are offering this position with a whole host of benefits including:

30 days holiday (in addition to 10.5 bank holidays and privilege days).
Flexible working hours.
An excellent defined salary pension scheme.
Easily accessible public transport links/ free parking
Excellent learning and development opportunities.

For further information on our benefits please see: https://stfccareers.co.uk/rewards-and-benefits/ or Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact ***email_hidden***.