Operations Officer

National Voices

Making what matters to people matter in health and care

National Voices is the leading coalition of health and social care charities in England. We have around 200 members covering a diverse range of health conditions and communities, connecting us with the experiences of millions of people. We work together to strengthen the voice of people: patients, service users, carers, their families, and the voluntary organisations that work for them.

Our Vision:

People shaping their health and care.

Our Mission:

We advocate for more inclusive and person-centred health and care, shaped by the people who use and need it the most.

We do this by:          

·       Understanding and advocating for what matters to people especially those living with health conditions and groups who experience inequalities

·       Finding common cause across communities and conditions by working with member charities and those they support

·       Connecting and convening charities, decision makers and citizens to work together to change health and care for good.

The Role

The post holder will provide administrative support to all aspects of National Voices work from a governance and operational perspective. Responsibilities include supporting our Board and committees, supporting our finances, human resources,  contract, grants and project management, and our governance.

This role provides an excellent opportunity to learn more about what an organisation needs to run well, but we are looking for someone who already has some experience of working in an administrative, operational or financial role. Working in a small organisation you will work closely with the senior leadership, trustees and a wide range of stakeholders. We can provide training on any of the more technical skills (book-keeping, annual reporting, HR) – we are looking for aptitude, a willingness to learn and an ability to confidently work with a range of systems and processes.

Responsibilities

Governance

Support administrating governance across the charity, working closely with our Director of Operations & Finance, Trustees, and senior management.

·       Support our Audit and Risk Committee

·       Support the CEO’s EA (Executive Assistant) in the organisation of our Annual General Meeting

·       Work with the EA to the CEO to ensure an effective approach to managing the Board of Trustees, its meetings, policies and inductions

Financial management

The post holder will manage the day-to-day finances of our busy team, working closely with our by our Director of Finance and Operations. This will involve:

·       Raise invoices and follow up on payment issues

·       Support our day-to-day banking including setting up payments and undertaking bank reconciliations

·       Process expenses, ensuring compliance with policy

Business systems and processes

Support the team by maintaining fit for purpose systems, premises, and processes for HR, project management and office management.

HR/Personnel

·       Support the team with recruitment and onboarding of new staff

·       Maintain and support the use of our HR platform capturing absence and compliance

Systems and premises

·       Assist the EA with the management of the day-to-day relationship with our serviced office provider

·       Support staff with using the office and facilities, including ordering stationary and refreshments, setting up passes, booking meeting rooms etc.

·       Manage incoming mail

Events

·       Support our events programme working closely with the EA to provide cover where needed, leading on some events and supporting across our entire events programme.

·       Provide technical support to events and larger meetings

·       Supporting the creation and editing of materials for events and presentations

·       Be prepared to cover for full day events as and when necessary

Person specification

 Attitudes and behaviours

·       Highly organised, with the ability to stick to timelines and follow processes.

·       Excellent people skills, able to work collaboratively and flexibly in a small, friendly team, and communicate and collaborate with a wide range of people at all levels

·       Ability to embed clear and reliable processes amongst a team of creative and busy people

·       Discretion when dealing with confidential, for example HR related information

·       Able to work independently

·       An appreciation of and commitment to National Voices’ vision, mission and values.

·       As part of this role, you will need to understand other team members roles and to support the team on a wider set of activities where required, in response to capacity or demand. This will include other members of the team being on annual & other leave.

Experience and knowledge: Essential

·       Experience of providing administrative or office support

·       Demonstrably numerate

·       Confident in using the full suite of Microsoft 360 applications

Experience and knowledge: Desirable

·       Experience of governance and/or operations and finance, ideally in the voluntary sector

·       Experience of working with contractors and suppliers

·       Knowledge of IT systems and ability to troubleshoot minor IT issues

·       Knowledge of CRM systems

·       Knowledge and understanding of health and care sector, or voluntary sector

Our approach to hybrid working

We recognise the importance of coming together regularly, in-person, as a team, so we can share learnings and spend social time with each other. We also recognise that people need flexibility, and that homeworking enables focused work and can fit well in people’s lives.

We ask all staff to take part in pre-arranged team meetings which take place every six weeks in our office space. We also might ask you to meet in-person with members of your team from time to time, or to be available for face-to-face meetings with clients and partners where this enhances the work.

We assume that this would usually not amount to more than one day per fortnight for people who work full time.

We are happy to discuss how this sits in your life. This can be agreed by your line manager.

Application guidance

Please submit a cover letter (max 800 words) along with a CV to apply.

Applications should be addressed to our Director of Finance and Operations, Matthew Haslehurst and submitted through CharityJob.

Please specify any access or other requirements of which we need to be aware for the online interview. 

The deadline for applications is Sunday 8 September 2024 at 11:59 pm.

The interviews will take place the week commencing Monday 16 September 2024 on Microsoft Teams. 

Details of an interview task and interview questions will be emailed to you prior to the interview.

We are committed to diversifying our team in order to broaden the insight and experiences we can draw on, and to do our work more credibly. So we strongly encourage people from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background, and people who live with health conditions or disability to apply. Our offices are fully accessible. Women are currently overrepresented in our team, and we particularly invite applications from men and non-binary people.