Operations Officer

Rainbow Migration is the longest-running charity in Europe dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people through the asylum and immigration system and has been campaigning for their rights since 1993. We are recruiting for an Operations Officer to play a key role in supporting the effective day-to-day operations of the organisation.

This is an exciting time to join the organisation. We have grown rapidly in recent years from a small charity generating £200k income in 2019 to £1M in 2024. We are now expanding our operations team to support the larger staff team and delivery of our strategy.

This role will support the organisation’s ongoing development by helping ensure the charity has necessary systems in place and operates in line with its policies and procedures. You will support the organisation’s IT systems, digital transformation, HR, finance and administrative processes. Your responsibilities will include:

·        Supporting the operation and improvement of systems that maintain delivery of our mission such as office management and administration, IT and HR

·        Work closely with the Operations and Officer Manager to implement digital transformation to ensure that the organisation is using the best tools and working in as efficient a manner as possible

·        Work closely with the Operations and Officer Manager and Administrator to ensure financial reports are produced accurately and in a timely manner

·        Support the drafting of policies, procedures and systems used by the organisation

·        Act as our day-to-day administrator for our database on Salesforce, with training provided as needed

·        Provide first-tier support for IT problems within the organisation and liaise with our IT support provider when issues need escalation.

Rainbow Migration’s vision is that LGBTQI+ people can settle in the UK and lead fulfilling lives. Our values are: 

·        Safety: We believe everyone should be safe from persecution and safe to be themselves. We strive to create a safe workplace culture, and we place importance on the wellbeing of everyone involved with Rainbow Migration. 

·        Integrity: We are thorough and honest in everything we do, and we take responsibility for our actions. We want to be accountable to our communities and those who support us. 

·        Belonging: We welcome and include all LGBTQI+ people, and we celebrate and value their range of experience in terms of gender, religion, race, age, disability status and class. We try to remove obstacles to participation, champion equality and promote a sense of family or home through our services. 

·        Respect: We believe that every person is equal and deserves the same level of courtesy, care, and attention. We respect the rights, wishes and feelings of our service users, and campaign for their rights to be respected as they go through the asylum and immigration system. 

Diversity, inclusion and anti-oppression

At Rainbow Migration, we don’t just accept difference – we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity. We do not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, gender identity sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status. We consider all qualified applicants, consistent with any legal requirements.

We strive to build a team that reflects the diversity of the community we work in and welcome applications from candidates who have been through the UK asylum system and people of colour, who are currently underrepresented among our staff in relation to our service users.

We are also reviewing what we do and how we do it through an anti-oppression and anti-racism lens, as well as investing in being more informed and led by LGBTQI+ people who have sought asylum.

We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for anyone considered as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 if they meet all the necessary criteria in the person specification. If you wish to qualify under this scheme, please make this clear when applying.

We send a selection of questions in advance of job interviews to give applicants more thinking time. You are welcome to take notes in interviews to help process information. If your interview is online, we can also put questions in the meeting chat. Please let us know if you would like other adjustments to support your interview process.

Role overview

Contract type: Permanent

Hours: Full-time (35 hours per week). Working part-time (minimum 21 hours) will be considered. Occasional work in the evenings and at weekends may be required but with plenty of notice. Rainbow Migration encourages staff to maintain a good work life balance and has a TOIL system in place.

Salary: Starting at £31,294 with potential annual step increases up to £35,086 (pro rata if working part time), plus statutory employer’s pension contribution. In addition to an annual step increase, we consider giving a separate inflationary increase every April.

Location: Rainbow Migration’s wheelchair accessible offices are located between Vauxhall and the Oval, London. This role will have an office-based contract but the postholder can choose to work from home for part of the week in agreement with their line manager as per our hybrid working policy. You must be available to work from our offices in London when necessary. The successful candidate would also be welcome to work from the office full-time if that is their preference. At the time of posting this advert, none of our staff are going into the office every day. There might also be occasional travel outside London with plenty of notice. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Annual leave: Initially 25 days per year. After two years of employment, this will increase by one day per year up to a maximum of 28 days (pro rata if working part-time).

Benefits:

·        Two days of wellbeing leave to be taken at short notice in each calendar year (pro rata for part-time staff)

·        Enhanced parental leave and pay

·        Full pay for jury service (up to four weeks), compassionate leave (up to two weeks) and dependants’ leave (up to four days, pro rata for part-time staff)

·        Separate salary step and inflationary increases considered every year

·        TOIL system

·        Hybrid working policy, including possibility of working abroad for 10 working days (pro rata for part-time staff) each year

·        Policy on staff loans or salary advances for difficult times

·        Work laptop and mobile phone

·        Training and learning opportunities

·        Occupational health assessments to disabled employees to understand how we can support and make reasonable adjustments

·        Employee assistance programme which includes counselling service, wellness advice, legal and money advice, and other matters

·        Clinical supervision for staff delivering services (a safe space with an independent therapist to offload and discuss about feelings and challenges)

How to apply:

Closing date: 9am Monday 28th April

Interview dates: Initial interviews will be 8th and 9th May by Zoom. A second round of face-to-face interviews in London will follow.

Please read the job description and person specification. If you have any questions about the role or would like to find out more before applying, then you can contact us via the email address on the website

Please send to the email address on the website:

1.     Your CV

2.     A written statement (max 1,000 words). Instead of a written statement you may submit your statement by video or audio recording (max 8 minutes)

We would also be grateful if you could complete this optional monitoring form

In your statement, please:

1.     Explain why you are interested in this role and give examples of how you meet the person specification. In addition to what is on your CV, we want to hear about any relevant skills and experience that demonstrate how you meet the necessary (and, where applicable, advantageous) criteria for the role. Skills and experience could be from training, volunteering, interests or life experience

2.     Confirm if you wish to be considered under the guaranteed interview scheme for anyone considered as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 (physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ effect on your ability to do normal daily activities)

3.     While AI can be a helpful tool, we expect all applications to be original and authentic. Please ensure your final submission personally reflects your own experiences, qualifications and style of writing. Transparency is valued, if you used AI to help with your application in any way, please explain why. Applications that are obviously written with AI without explanation will not be considered.

By submitting an application, you:

1.     Confirm that you have the right to work in the UK and will produce the necessary documentation if you are offered this post.

2.     Declare that to the best of your knowledge and belief, the information provided in your application is true and correct and that you understand that any false information or statement given will justify your dismissal from Rainbow Migration if appointed.

3.     Accept that owing to the nature of the work, if successful, you will be required to disclose all unspent criminal records at the point of conditional job offer and subsequently to undergo a basic DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check

We are proud to be a member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network, which aims to create a charitable sector that is led by people with lived experience of the asylum and immigration system. As part of this network, we challenge the one-size-fits-all approach in our employment practices and respect the personal circumstances and needs of people with lived experience.

If you are an expert by experience (a refugee or a migrant with direct, first-hand experience of issues and challenges of the UK asylum or immigration system), you can ask for independent and confidential support for your job application from the Experts by Experience Employment Network. Please complete this form to request support and they will confirm if they can match you with a mentor to support your application.

In addition to the mentoring support, we have also partnered with Experts by Experience Employment Initiative to offer an online drop-in session on 17 April 12:00-13:00 to provide application guidance and tips to support experts by experience in their application. Please complete this form to register for this session.

Privacy notice

If you apply for this role, the information you provide will be processed according to Rainbow Migration's privacy policy. Rainbow Migration will not share your information with any third parties unless part of the recruitment process or are legally required to do so. By applying, you are permitting Rainbow Migration to access and use the information for recruitment purposes. Rainbow Migration will store data on unsuccessful applicants for 12 months after the conclusion of the recruitment campaign. Monitoring information is kept separately and is pseudonymised to avoid identification of applicants. It is amalgamated for statistical purposes and the original data is then deleted after six months.