Conference & Events Co-ordinator (Maternity Cover)
Department: Conference and Events
Employment Type: Fixed Term - Full Time
Location: Brasenose College
Reporting To: Conference & Events Manager
Compensation: £28,607 - £32,278 / year
Description
The College
Located centrally in beautiful Radcliffe Square and with several other local premises, many of which are listed buildings, Brasenose College is one of the older Colleges in Oxford and dates from 1509. It is a medium sized college with a friendly community of 370 undergraduates, 210 graduate students, 115 support staff and approx. 70 academics.
Role Overview
The Conference and Events Co-ordinator will support the delivery of the College’s external conferences, accommodation, commercial events, and internal functions, ensuring these are planned and delivered efficiently and to a high standard.
The postholder will assist with the full event cycle, from initial enquiry through to event delivery and invoicing, while providing excellent customer service and maintaining effective communication with clients, colleagues and College departments. The role also contributes to sales activity, marketing and promotion, administration, reporting, and the co-ordination of vacation accommodation and event logistics.
Above all, the postholder will help provide a warm, professional and efficient experience for students, Fellows, alumni, visitors, conference delegates and other guests, while supporting the College’s wider academic purpose.
Please note this vacancy will close at 12 noon on the 1st September 2026.
Duties and Responsibilities
1. Conference and Events
- To act as a key point of contact for conference and event enquiries, providing excellent customer service in a professional, helpful and responsive manner.
- To welcome clients and visitors to the College, which may include greeting prospective clients at weekends from time to time.
- To support the administration of event bookings from initial contact through to final arrangements and delivery.
- To input all conference and events enquiries promptly and accurately into the Kinetics software system for planning and record-keeping purposes.
- To assist with conference and further events planning, event logistics and operational arrangements, liaising as necessary with other College departments.
- To take responsibility for the smooth running of allocated events, resolving issues where they arise, including but not limited to at conferences, internal events, weddings, and other assigned functions.
- To ensure all accommodation, catering, dietary, and technical delivery requirements are met across the range of events run within College.
- To liaise professionally and efficiently with the departments involved event delivery, including but not limited to the Buttery, Housekeeping, Kitchen, Lodge, Finance, IT and HR teams.
- To assist with Conference Oxford enquiries, including responding to requests and preparing proposals.
- To assist with room set ups where required, including furniture set ups and flip charts.
2. Sales, Finance and Administration
- To assist with preparing proposals, quotations, invoices, contracts and event paperwork for conferences and commercial events.
- To support activity to maximise income from the College’s conference, events and bed and breakfast business.
- To support invoicing, internal costing and recharging processes in accordance with agreed procedures, liaising with the Finance Department to ensure all charges are accurate and raised in a timely manner.
- To assist with compiling and producing reports relating to conference and events activity, occupancy, sales and event operations, both written and financial.
- To identify and raise any issues, risks or concerns with the appropriate colleague in a timely way.
- To assist with general Domestic Bursary administrative tasks, including data entry, room allocation, diary management, website updating and minutes, where required.
3. Marketing and Communications
- To help maintain a consistent and professional presentation of the College’s conference and events offer across marketing materials and online platforms.
- To assist with the creation and distribution of marketing literature and promotional materials for conferences, events, seasonal accommodation and other commercial activity. This includes but is not limited to promotional copy, work on digital and print channels, case studies, and social media.
- To assist with maintaining the intranet and website, ensuring information is accurate and engaging, contributing suggestions for website updates and improvements.
- To assist in monitoring enquiries generated through marketing activity and help track campaign effectiveness.
- To contribute ideas for promoting the College’s facilities to new and returning clients, including seasonal campaigns and targeted promotions.
- To assist with post-event communications, including follow-up correspondence, feedback requests and related materials.
- To prepare relevant internal and external communications and ensure these are circulated in a timely and effective manner.
4. Accommodation
- To work alongside colleagues responsible for accommodation to anticipate and plan for conference and vacation accommodation requirements, ensuring relevant departments are kept informed of changes and developments affecting accommodation provision.
- To liaise with relevant departments on room allocations and related arrangements.
- To support the co-ordination of the College’s bed and breakfast and vacation accommodation activity as required.
5. Customer Service and General Duties
- To take a proactive approach to the planning, running and delivery of events.
- To communicate effectively with a wide range of people at different levels, maintaining effective working relationships across the College, demonstrating professionalism, tact, discretion and a friendly approach.
- To deal calmly and effectively with unforeseen situations, using sound judgement and escalating where appropriate.
- To monitor client and guest feedback and identify opportunities for service improvement.
- To develop and maintain systems to ensure that information is shared with key contacts across the College in a timely manner.
- To provide cover for other members of the Conference & Events team when they are absent, as required.
- To participate in project work relating to new facilities, training and other developments as required.
- To attend training as required, including mandatory training and team development activity.
- To ensure all personal data is handled confidentially and in accordance with college policies and data protection regulations.
- To be familiar with and work in accordance with all College policies and procedures.
- To represent the College professionally in all dealings with clients, visitors and external contacts.
- To undertake any other reasonable duties in support of the Conference and Events operation.
Person Specification
Essential
- Experience of working in conferences, events, hospitality, or similar environment
- Strong customer service skills and ability to build relationships
- Experience coordinating events or bookings from enquiry to delivery
- Ability to manage multiple tasks and maintain attention to detail
- Ability to remain calm and professional under pressure
- Clear written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to work proactively and solve problems
- Flexible and adaptable approach to work
- Confidence using IT systems, including Microsoft Office
Desirable
- Experience supporting marketing or promotional activity
- Experience in an educational, hospitality, or institutional setting
- Experience with financial or administrative processes
- Awareness of current trends in the events or hospitality sector
Terms & Conditions of Appointment
Appointment: This is a fixed-term, full-time post, running from November 2026 to November 2027, with an initial probationary period of 3 months. This post is to provide support to the conference and events team during a period of maternity leave. The appointment will be conditional on verification of the successful candidate’s ‘Right to Work’ checks and subject to the receipt of satisfactory references and medical clearance.
Salary: Equivalent to Brasenose College salary scale, Grade 4, £28,607 - £32,278 per annum according to experience. This is inclusive of the Brasenose Oxford Weighting of £1900 per annum. Advancement up the scale is on merit.
Hours of Working: Full-time, 35 hours per week, usually working Monday - Friday, with an unpaid hour for lunch. Evening and weekend work as required and contactable in emergencies, and when necessary to attend on site.
Benefits:
- Pension - Eligibility to Brasenose College's pension scheme, OSPS (Oxford Staff Pension Scheme). The successful candidate will be entered into this scheme automatically on joining, but on-going membership of the scheme is optional.
- Salary Exchange Scheme - Staff who are eligible for OSPS, and who join our pension scheme will be enrolled into the Salary Exchange Pension Contributions Scheme on or around three months after joining Brasenose. This scheme is financially advantageous both to the employee, and the College as the employer.
- Annual leave - The paid holiday entitlement for an equivalent full-time contract for a year is six working weeks (30 days) of annual leave (5 days to be taken over Christmas break when College is closed) plus 8 Statutory Bank Holidays. Annual leave shall be taken at mutually convenient times agreed in advance with the Department Manager. The holiday year begins on 1 January and ends 31 December. For part years of service, the entitlement will be calculated as 1/12th of the annual entitlement for each completed month.
- Meals - Employees are entitled to take lunch free of charge in Hall when the kitchen is open.
- Welfare Support - Employee Assistance Programme; a free confidential telephone helpline and online medical guidance.
- Free annual flu jab.
- Travel Pass Loan - a discounted travel scheme is available with monthly deductions from salary.
- Cycle to Work Scheme/Bike Loan - monthly deductions from salary.
- Sports Facilities - access to the University Sports club.
- University Card - for discounts in shops, cafes and restaurants and University leisure facilities.
