Chief Operating Officer

Chief Operating Officer 

Salary:  £46,000 -£52,470 p.a. (dependent upon experience, with scope to increase as the role develops)
Location: Home-based (with the opportunity to work in our Sheffield co-working space)
Hours: 35 hours per week (flexible working available)
Contract period: Permanent

SUMMARY

Community Energy England (CEE) is looking for an experienced experienced operations manager. This is a key role for CEE as we start to implement a new strategy, bring in new funding streams, and explore new ways to meet the needs of our growing membership. You will form part of our small senior leadership team and be an integral support to the Chief Executive. As we are a small organisation, this role will by necessity be a hands-on role too; “doing the doing” will be an important part of enabling you to develop this area of our activity and impact. Part of this will involve working collaboratively across the team and with our members to ensure that we work effectively and strategically. 

ABOUT US

Community Energy England (CEE) is a membership association for and created by the community energy sector. Our mission is to create the conditions within which community energy is able to thrive and scale. 

We have a growing network of over 320 member organisations, including community energy enterprises and other supportive organisations from the private and public sectors, and we work with a wide range of other associations and networks.

We are a small team but with an increasingly big reach and growing impact as we work with our members and key stakeholders to enable the growth of the sector.  With this small core size comes flexibility and the opportunity for all team members to shape the direction of the organisation and get involved in all levels of delivery.

We have four outcomes that we are working towards:

• Enable: Community energy organisations across England have access to the resources, support and skills needed to grow in capacity, scale and impact
• Influence: The policy and regulatory environment supports significant growth of community energy
• Collaborate: There is increased demand, both regionally and nationally, for collaborating and investing in CE
• Thrive: Community Energy England is a strong and sustainable organisation that can serve the community energy sector into the future

ABOUT THE ROLE 

The Chief Operating Officer will lead on our ‘Thrive’ outcome: ensuring that CEE is a strong and sustainable organisation that can serve the community energy sector into the future. 

Working closely with our Chief Executive, this role will be responsible for further developing the operational foundations - our systems and procedures - that allow our Heads of Departments to deliver their services with increasing professionalism and impact, and to grow the team to enable us to continue to impactfully support our growing membership. This role will suit someone who would relish the opportunity to lead and shape new ways of working.

As a member of the CEE team, you will be given the opportunity to continue developing your skills and contribution to the organisation and the sector. Community energy has broad and exciting impacts, and this role will provide varied experience and reach. 

Please see the Supporting Document and Job Description for full details of the role responsibilities. 

PRINCIPAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Strategy implementation - developing systems for tracking organisational objectives and delivery, overseeing progress and reporting to the CEO
• Operational oversight - Actively collaborate with the senior leadership team and our Membership & Operations Officer to review and refresh our policies, procedures, and operational systems to ensure they meet the needs of our plans for growth
• ​Governance - working with the CEO and board to ensure good governance and effective risk managemen
• Finance and funding - supporting CEE’s financial management procedures and fiscal activities (working with our external bookkeeper) including budgeting, reporting requirements, and development of new funding sources (working with the senior leadership team)
• HR - (with support from our external HR service and Membership & Operations Officer) updating and implementing staff policies and processes which contribute to staff wellbeing and retention, supporting the senior leadership team to regularly review the range of skills required to deliver CEE’s strategy, identifying mechanisms for ensuring that we have access to the knowledge and skills required, monitoring implementation of policies & processes
• Membership services - oversight of our membership processes, relations, and communications
• People management - line managing our Membership & Operations Officer and Events & Communications Officer, liaising with our external bookkeeper and HR service, supervision of senior leadership team priorities
• Oversight of key projects - this will include ongoing oversight of the website (we have a new website in development), ensuring our events and new projects align with our strategy, and reviewing how CEE functions as a remote working team
• Team working - working collaboratively across the team and with our members to ensure that we work effectively and strategically. This will include working with the Chief Executive to grow the team to enable us to continue to impactfully support our growing membership.

SALARY, BENEFITS AND CONDITIONS

• Location: Working from home with the option to work in our Sheffield co-working space. There will be the need for occasional travel to other parts of the country such as CEE’s base in Sheffield.
• Hours: 35 hours per week. We are open to flexible working requests and many of our team work flexibly. Occasional weekend/evening travel and working (with notice) may be required, for which you’ll get time off in lieu.
• Salary: 46,000 -£52,470 p.a. (dependent upon experience, with scope to increase as the role develops).
• ​​​​​​​Contract Period: Permanent.
• Start date: ASAP.
• Reporting to: Chief Executive (Emma Bridge).
• Leave: 25 days paid holiday a year plus bank holidays (pro rata if part-time), with an additional day after 2 and 5 years.
• Pension: 7% employer pension contribution.
• Climate Perks (extra annual leave for staff who choose low-carbon holiday travel).

HOW TO APPLY

If you need specific support to fully engage in the recruitment process, or would like an informal conversation about the role or organisation before applying, please email Lisa West. 

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK.

To apply, send the following documents to Lisa West. 

1. CV (no more than 2 pages)
2. Covering letter clearly demonstrating why you are interested in this role, and how you meet the “About you” criteria.

The closing date for applications will be 8am on Tuesday 18 March. Late submissions will not be considered. All applications will be acknowledged, but only shortlisted candidates will be given feedback. Interviews will take place in Sheffield on Thursday 27 March. Reasonable travel expenses will be covered.

Referees will only be contacted once the successful candidate has been offered the job subject to references. At least one of the two referees should be your current or most recent employer.