Operations Director

We have a fantastic opportunity to join The Queen’s Reading Room - an independent charity seeking to promote the joy of literature and the benefits of reading, and to support people in beginning a lifelong reading journey. Formalised as a charity in 2023, we’re a young charity; now is an exciting time to help shape our future direction. 

Here at The Queen’s Reading Room we are seeking a talented and experienced Operations Director to report directly to our CEO. As Operations Director, you will have strategic oversight of The Queen’s Reading Room’s core operations, act as the charity’s second-in-command and lead our team to be efficient, productive, and effective. The ideal candidate has proven experience of managing a team in a finance, events, operations or development role, and is comfortable in translating strategy into actionable strength for our charity’s growth.

Responsibilities:

• Analyse internal operations and identify growth opportunities for the charity, such as partnerships and venues for events

• Oversee financial planning and evaluations, including budgeting and leading the charity’s annual accounts and audit for the Charity Commission 

• Oversee daily operations of the charity, including Finance, Fundraising, Marketing and Content Production, leading our team to encourage maximum performance

• Helping our Events strategy to strong profitability 

• Keeping an eye on all governance issues, such as policies to implement and update

• Preparing board reports 

• Assist the CEO in fundraising ventures and manage relationships with donors

These cover the central duties of the role, but as we’re a small team the person in this role can also expect to work across many aspects of the charity, including: the creative vision for the charity; helping to design and manage events; helping to devise and manage neuroscience research projects; helping to devise and manage our grassroots strategy to increase the number of people reading in the UK and internationally; helping to devise the creation around national reading campaigns and helping to devise strategy around our content across our social media, website and podcast. 

The goal of the Operations Director position is to secure the functionality of the charity, to drive extensive and long-lasting growth, and to manage our small, dedicated team in their operations. The person joining now will have a direct influence on the long-term direction and legacy of the charity and it’s key that they find that prospect exciting and energising. 

The key qualities of our ideal candidate:
 

• Excellent at problem solving, with a positive, can-do attitude 

• Practical, logical thinking, with an ability to analyse the benefits of different strategies and to create strategy from scratch 

• Brilliant people skills and a team-oriented approach, including an ability to pay attention to the needs of the team and a willingness to muck in 

• Confidence and willingness to take the lead on projects, such as our first audit and annual report

• Resilience and focus, undaunted by the challenges that charities face, including on budget and fundraising 

• Confidentiality and discretion

• Energy! 

We’re not expecting a candidate to have all the skills needed at the start of their role, but it is essential that they have the desire and enthusiasm to learn new skills and to learn from the CEO about the running of the charity.

The role is home-based, with regular video meetings and occasional meetings in London (infrequently around the UK). 

The salary is available upon request.

If you think you could be a great fit in our small but expanding charity, please submit your CV and a cover letter of no more than 500 words by midnight on the 1st August. In your covering letter you should include: 

• How your experience aligns with the responsibilities of the role

• What you see as the challenges and opportunities of this role

• Why you would be interested in driving The Queen’s Reading Room’s growth 

Interviews are anticipated for mid-August. As a small team we regret that we may not be able to give feedback on every application. Good luck!