Executive Officer

Executive Officer

Kentish Town, London

circa £26,000 per annum

We are looking for an Executive Officer to be an integral part of War Child’s company secretariat, working with the Senior Leadership team, the Chair and the rest of the Board of Trustees to lead excellence across the management and governance of the organisation. Reporting to the Director of Resources, you will be an energetic and organised self-starter with a positive and proactive attitude. You will work directly with the Chief Executive Officer, supporting the CEO across all their responsibilities through providing a mixture of executive assistance and project co-ordination. As Assistant Company Secretary you have responsibility for ensuring War Child meets its statutory and regulatory requirements through compliance and reporting to the UK Charity Commission and Companies House.

If you share our values and believe that children’s lives should not be torn apart by war, we want to hear from you.

About us

War Child, the specialist charity for children affected by conflict. 

Our benefits

• Flexible working - we recognise the considerable benefits that flexible working can bring and are happy to discuss any possible flexible working options with our employees from hiring. For most roles, the following types of flexibility are usually possible: flexible hours, an element of working from home, compressed hours.
• Annual leave – 28 days per year (full-time) rising to 33 days with service, plus UK bank holidays
• Pension - all eligible employees automatically enrolled into a Group Personal Pension Plan with a 5% employer contribution, with minimum employee contribution on a salary sacrifice basis
• Family leave – we offer enhanced maternity, paternity & shared parental leave, and family friendly policies
• Health & wellbeing - employees may take advantage of a healthcare cash plan and a range of wellbeing initiatives and training. In addition, all employees have access to free, confidential one-to-one  wellbeing consultations with trained counsellors.
• Learning & development - dedicated to the investment in learning and continuing professional development for all our employees
• Range of flexible benefits such a Cycle to Work scheme and season ticket loans

How to apply

• Please click the Apply button to apply.
• All applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on 28/11/2021
• Due to limited resources, we will contact only the shortlisted candidates
• Interviews will be held w/c 6th December 2021

Child safeguarding and Adults at Risk

Our work with children and at-risk adults to keep them safe is the most important thing we do. We are committed to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in all areas of our work. We have zero tolerance for any behaviours and practices that puts children and/or vulnerable adults at risk of abuse and/or harm.

Your role

The Executive Officer is a multi-faceted role, encompassing company secretarial duties for War Child, professional services to the Chair and the Board of Trustees and executive assistant support and project coordination for the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and support to the Director of Resources. You hold a key position at the heart of governance within War Child, supporting the Senior Leadership Team to develop the organisation’s overall direction, effectiveness, supervision and accountability. You have responsibility for ensuring War Child meets its statutory and regulatory requirements through compliance and reporting to the Charity Commission and Company House. You have a critical role in facilitating the CEO in fulfilling their key responsibilities, ensuring that they have the organisation to effectively discharge their leadership duties and deliver on the organisation’s ambitions for children. The Executive Officer is the external and internal representative of the CEO and is responsible for co-ordinating a range of strategic and operational projects on behalf of the CEO’s office.

Your responsibilities

• Facilitate and support effective consultation and decision-making through leading on the organisation of Board, Committee and AGM meetings and events, by ensuring that appropriate documents and information are sent out on time in accordance with agreed schedules through compiling agendas and commissioning and circulating papers;
• Support the governance of War Child by taking comprehensive, high-quality minutes and undertaking appropriate post-meeting action to ensure accurate recording and implementation of decisions arising from all Board and Committee meetings;
• Operate as the first point of liaison between the Board and the Senior Leadership Team;
• Ensure War Child’s Board is fit for purpose by managing the process for trustee recruitment, induction and training and running Board performance reviews and provide comprehensive analysis of results with proposed follow up recommendations;
• Liaise with regulatory bodies including the submission of timely updates, annual returns and Serious Incident Reports to Companies House and the Charity Commission and keep the Board and management informed of Charity Commission alerts by monitoring the Charity Commission Website;
• Draft and execute key legal documents such as Power of Attorneys and monitor and manage compliance with War Child’s Memorandum and Articles, Governance documents and other strategic/legal frameworks;
• Identify issues that require the CEO’s attention through managing their in-box, prioritising e-mails and correspondence and actioning them directly where possible;
• Build and develop on-going relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders on the behalf of the CEO, communicating in a timely and effective manner and setting up meetings for the CEO;
• Ensure long term strategic items are well planned, as well as managing an on-going reactive workload in line with expectations and needs while managing the CEO’s schedule;
• Develop solutions and exercise initiative whilst leading on the co-ordination and delivery of projects on the behalf of the CEO’s office, such as co-ordinating the drafting of the annual report, including writing the Governance and Board sections;
• Provide administrative and communications support to the CEO and Director of Resources;
• Ensure the efficient and effective running of Senior Leadership and Executive Leadership meetings through co-ordinating agendas, commissioning and circulating papers, taking minutes, and chasing actions;
• Contribute to creating a culture committed to the safeguarding of children and adults and compliant to WCUK’s Child Safeguarding and Adults at Risk Policies.

These duties provide a framework for the Executive Officer role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the role.

This role is open to occasional homeworking Working Hours: Full-time is 37.5 hours. This Executive Officer role is open to flexible working, including compressed hours and flexi-time

All candidates for roles based in the UK are required to have the right to work in the UK.