Administrative Assistant

Who we are

REDRESS is an international human rights organisation based in London and The Hague that pursues legal claims on behalf of survivors of torture in the UK and around the world to obtain justice and reparation for violations against their human rights. We empower survivors to access justice through human rights cases against governments, civil cases against individuals, and cases where we advocate for law enforcement bodies to prosecute perpetrators under the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Our approach is strategic, so that as well as representing an individual we target the policy reasons that enabled the torture to take place, by building a campaign that uses advocacy, community engagement, and communications to influence change.

REDRESS has undertaken a process of growth and modernisation over the last few years. You can find information about the organisation in the latest Trustees Annual Report. We are strengthening our processes to improve staff development, further enhance our diversity, build our survivor-centred approach, and ensure people with lived experience are part of REDRESS. 

The Team

The Administrative Assistant will work within the operations team to support the smooth running of the London office including managing the office environment, managing suppliers, liaising with our IT support, and ensuring administrative tasks are completed efficiently.  This role will also support REDRESS’ projects with administrative tasks including support with the delivery of events and organising travel.  

Position Profile

The main responsibilities of the role are:

Events support: Assist with delivering internal and external events, including booking flights, hotels, catering, venues, checking VISA requirements, organising interpretation, preparing logistics, drafting forms.

Projects support: Assist with project tasks and support the delivery of activities to strengthen our ‘Community of Practice’ (partner NGOs globally) which includes support with workshops, surveys, follow-up, and newsletters.

Office operations: Support the effective operation of the office, including liaising with our IT providers and supporting staff IT requests, maintaining office supplies, opening and closing the building, helping to keep the office tidy and welcoming, assisting with visitors, and preparing for meetings.

General Responsibilities

The position will contribute to the work of REDRESS as follows:

Human Resources: Assist with the delivery of human resources functions, including the recruitment process. Assist with the recruitment and onboarding of new staff, fellows, and interns.

Financial operations: Support financial operations, including processing expenses claims and expenditure requests.

Managing enquiries: Deal with enquiries by phone, email, and post, and engage with colleagues to respond to them.

Health and Safety: Assist with health and safety assessments and any changes required as a result.

Wellbeing: Assist with the staff peer support group, wellbeing portal, and the social committee.

Database: Support to create and maintain our databases, including mailing lists.

Platforms: Support platforms including the website by uploading content and creating mini sites on Office365 platform.

Communications: Support the Communications team with social media when necessary.

Support to other departments: Provide general administrative assistance to staff, fellows, and interns.

The position is also expected to carry out such further duties as may reasonably be required from time to time by REDRESS.

Person Specification

This is an entry level position, and so we will consider candidates at the beginning of their career, with some relevant experience.

Essential Competencies

The successful candidate will need to have the following essential competencies:

·       Educated to degree level and/or at least two years’ relevant experience.

·       Relevant experience through internships, volunteer roles, work experience, educational work placements, or other practical experience.

·       Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

·       Excellent organisational skills: multi-tasking, attention to detail, flexibility, time-management etc.

Desirable Competencies

A strong candidate will also have other desirable competencies:

·       At least two years' relevant work experience, preferably in the non-profit sector or in an international environment. 

·       A qualification in administration.  

·       Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 suite of software, particularly Excel., and Microsoft Platform.

·       Skills in a language other than English, in particular French, Arabic or Spanish. 

Personal Attributes

To work for Redress, the candidate should have the following personal attributes: 

·       Happy to work collaboratively as part of a small and energetic team with a wide range of personalities. 

·       Highly efficient and organised, with an ability to multi-task, show initiative, solve problems, and take a hands-on role when necessary.

·       Able to think and work strategically, creatively, and under pressure.  

·       Able to understand and support the aims, objectives and values of REDRESS and reflect them in all aspects of work. 

·       Able to work with survivors of human rights abuse with a range of specific needs. 

Terms

Reporting. The position is part of the Operations team and will report to the Operations Manager.

Hours. This is a full-time position at 35 hours a week. Evening and weekend work may be required from time to time.

Location. The position is based at the REDRESS office in London.

Flexible Working. REDRESS is an “in-person” organisation and we value team work, but we have a flexible working policy which allows for working from home. This role is currently required to be in the office at least three days a week.

Salary. REDRESS has fixed salary scales, with annual cost of living increases, and the possibility of step increases with strong performance. This is an entry level assistant position, and the salary is £31,681 which is A1 on our salary structure.

Duration. The contract is for a fixed-term of 12 months, but is expected to be extended, subject to funding.

Start date. The position would start in January 2025.

Probation. There is a six-month probationary period. 

Pension. REDRESS offers a pension contribution of 10% of salary.

Holiday.  There are 25 days of holiday per year, in addition to UK public holidays. The office is also closed between Christmas and New Year.  

Status. The candidate must have the right to live and work in the UK. Unfortunately, we cannot sponsor a UK immigration process for this role.

Interview process. We expect to do two rounds of interviews. We may ask candidates to complete a brief written test as part of the process but will provide information on that nearer the time.

·       First round Interviews will take place on a rolling basis and will be on-line.

·       Final round interview will take place on 27 November 2024 and will be in-person at our office in London.

How to Apply

Please upload to our recruitment portal a single PDF file with: 

·       A cover letter of no more than one page explaining (a) why you would like to work for REDRESS, (b) how you fulfil the personal specification for the role, and (c) how you will contribute to the diversity of REDRESS.

·       Your CV or resume.

Please also complete the anonymous Diversity Monitoring Form. We use the information from the form to tell us about the diversity of the applicant pool for each of the positions that we advertise. We keep the conclusions of the analysis for our records, and the underlying data is destroyed three months after the recruitment closes.

Deadline:  19 November 2024