AV Designer and Project Lead - Academic Services - 101087 - Grade 7

Position Details

Academic Services

Location: University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham UK

Full time starting salary is normally in the range £35,880 to £45,163 with potential progression once in post to £47,874

Grade: 7

Full Time, Permanent

Closing date: 27th January 2025

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 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.

Role Summary

The University is investing in the development of new buildings, many with a wide range of teaching facilities. In addition, the University is looking at the way it manages its AV signal distribution, and the expectation is that all AV equipment will eventually sit on IP networks. This major change in the way we operate requires a designer and planner who can devise the best configurations and protocols for our use of the network.

A skilled AV Designer and Project Lead will ensure that our high design specification standards will be maintained across the University. With each project, the post holder will ascertain whether the University’s needs are best served by using quality in-house staff or an integrator, and write a business case to support their findings and influence decision making.

The post holder will form part of a dedicated and technically proficient team of in-house AV professionals, experienced in implementing a range of projects across the University and providing expertise and support to the wider business.

Main Duties

• Be the University’s expert in AV design, specification, commissioning and testing, contributing expertise to development plans particularly with regards to new buildings or major refurbishments.
• An accomplished practitioner in technical system design and product specification, the post holder will prepare technical drawings and schematics for tender submission and subsequent compliance checking.
• Engage and influence decision making across all stakeholders including service users, the University’s Estates department, other technical departments and building contractors and their sub-contractors.
• Utilise specialist knowledge of innovation in teaching and learning technology to be an evangelist for its adoption in University teaching rooms.
• Work collaboratively with IT Services, contributing to the development and implementation of a high bandwidth dedicated network provision for AV across the University, allowing full remote control and diagnostics of equipment.
• Design, create and maintain a comprehensive AV and Teaching Room Design Guide, to be utilised by architects, project managers and contractors.
• Be part of the development team for new buildings on any of the University’s campuses.
• Manage the AV element of large projects, liaising with the AV Manager regarding the use of internal AV staff.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, support and advice on technology and systems to other Library Services staff in LRAT (Learning Resources Accommodation Team) and TAMU (Teaching Accommodation Management Unit).
• Develop skills through participation in technical and other training courses.
• Undertake such other duties as may be required from time to time to further the work of the division.
• Promote equality and value diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Health & Safety

Staff are expected to observe all Health & Safety at Work Regulations as set out by the University:

• Reporting of accidents and incidents.
• Safe use of fire extinguishers and comply with fire evacuation procedures.
• Act as Fire Warden, after receiving appropriate training and carry out fire evacuations in the event of emergencies.

Required Knowledge, Skills, Qualifications, Experience

• Accreditation to at least AVIXA CTS standard, preferably also CTS-I or CTS-D or another industry qualification such as CEDIA.
• A degree level qualification in a technical or numerical subject, or equivalent work experience.
• A project management qualification such as PRINCE2 would be an advantage.
• Full clean driving licence is essential.
• Experience of designing and implementing successful Extron IP control installations and large scale AV systems in a complex environment.
• Detailed technical knowledge of the Audio-Visual equipment market and landscape including digital projection, control systems, lecture capture, digital signage, sound systems, higher definition and standard signal distribution, Dante and video protocols such as Pure3.
• Ability to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and design professionals including integrators, architects, contractors and M&E specialists, anticipating their technical requirements and offering solutions that help meet their needs.
• Excellent influencing and persuasion skills are required.
• Experience of working collaboratively within a complex team.
• Knowledge and understanding of networks and deployment, including HDBaseT and Dante protocols.
• High attention to detail to ensure complete contractor compliance.
• Good practitioner in design software such as AutoCAD LT and Visio.
• Ability to comprehensively understand drawings, BIM Level 2 output and simulations, including M&E plans in a short timescale.
• Experience of AV in a University setting is desirable.
• Previous project management experience would be an advantage.
• Specification of IP network requirements would be desirable.
• Knowledge of the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, and how to actively ensure in day to day activity in own area that those with protected characteristics are treated equally and fairly.

Informal enquiries to Gareth Rainford, email: g.d.rainford@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.