We’re looking for a highly numerate, well-organised person to support our finance and operations functions, being vital to the smooth and effective running of the organisation and contributing to some client projects. 

About the role

You will provide a vital link between our finances and the wider organisation, bringing an operational understanding of our projects to support our effective financial administration. This role also enables our practice delivery team by supporting our business development and external communications. All of this work will require a high level of attention to detail and adept prioritisation and organisational skills.

Working through a period of change will: 

  • require a willingness to be adaptable and develop new skills
  • bring genuine opportunities for learning and to shape new processes
  • require prioritisation and organisation

As with all of our roles, you should seek to embody the values of the organisation in all that you do.

Job responsibilities

You will be supported by and work closely with the Director of Organisational Development & Operations (OD & Ops) and will liaise with our external accountants.

In a varied role you will respond to the needs of your colleagues, clients and the organisation. Typical tasks include, but are not limited to, the following: 

Finances

  • Accuracy – ensure we have complete and accurate organisational financial records and information
  • Improvement focus – identify, develop and implement improvements to our financial and operational processes and systems
  • Communication – be the first point of contact internally and with our clients with queries, supporting us to get paid in a timely way
  • Cashflow management – manage our invoicing schedule and sending out invoices; tracking our expected payments

Operations

  • Project management support – eg. during contracting, project set-up, monitoring against, project closures and supporting with any reporting or analysis
  • Information clarity and accuracy – for our projects on our project platform 
  • IT point of contact – with our IT agency and for our team; set up new users or devices
  • Data management – support the Director of OD & Ops to ensure we adhere with our data processing obligations under GDPR and manage our systems and information securely

Organisational responsibilities

  • Business development support – monitor opportunities, contribute to bids and proposals through research, compiling information, proof reading, developing budgets and project visuals
  • External communications – keep our website up-to-date with new posts; coordinate Collaborate’s LinkedIn posts
  • Values-alignment – contribute to a positive and collaborative team culture, contributing and sharing insights, and reflecting Collaborate’s values of purpose, equity, learning, relationships and trust through all aspects of your work

Skills and experience we are looking for:

We don’t expect that you will already have experience of doing all of the tasks above. We believe in appointing based on potential rather than simply on past performance. You should have some demonstrable experience in the skills below, which could come from a combination of work, voluntary and/or personal experiences. 

You will be supported by and work closely with the Director OD & Ops and will work alongside our external accountants, all of which will support your ongoing learning and development.

Essential Experience

Some professional experience in a role

  • working with numerical data/finance, on Excel and/or databases
  • coordinating operational processes, with some project management

Skills Required

  • Meticulous attention to detail will be required, whether checking financial data or checking our website for typos
  • Good communication skills, balancing clarity with friendliness to clients where appropriate and building strong working relationships with colleagues
  • Excellent organisational skills, being able to prioritise effectively and sequence tasks and activities to improve efficiency and the quality of outcomes
  • Ability to work independently and able to take responsibility for tasks through to completion
  • Ability to know when to ask questions and knowing when to escalate
  • Learning mindset and improvement-focused

Important to know:

Salary: £30-£33,000 pro rata

6-month fixed term contract, with potential to be extended

Location: we’re a London-based office in SE1, open to hybrid working arrangements, with at least one day in the office per week

Working hours: 33.75-37.5 hours per week across Monday-Friday, open to exploring flexible working requests that match organisational needs with personal preferences 

Additional holiday over Christmas, on top of 25 days’ holiday (pro rata) and bank holidays

Pension contribution (currently 5% employee and 3% employer within qualifying thresholds)

Options for multi-purpose loans, bike-to-work scheme, eye tests, enhanced parental leave pay and we’re open to exploring more…

Being part of an inclusive, team-led, learning environment!

Our commitment to our team

We seek to be a genuinely collaborative organisation, sharing ideas across the team through weekly team meetings and regular learning sessions. We collectively consider our broader strategy, examine and share learning across our projects, and explore how we might develop our work and our thinking.

As a Living Wage employer, we believe in paying our team fairly, support flexible working and are committed to promoting equity of opportunity for all. 

Being equitable, inclusive and fair is not easy or simple and we are challenging ourselves, talking, working and learning about how we can continue to do this better. We aim to create an inclusive working environment in which all individuals are able to make the best use of their skills and are enabled to thrive.

The process

  • Read the full Job Description and Apply here by 12pm on Monday 9th March
  • First interviews with Hannah Tomlinson, 17th March
  • Second interviews will allow you to meet two further members of the team, Victoria Walpole and Sarah Thomas, 19th March
  • We hope to offer by the end of March for an ASAP start date!

Our approach to recruitment

Over recent years we’ve been continually reviewing and improving our recruitment processes and are proud to use anonymous recruitment for applications to increase inclusivity, where you are encouraged to demonstrate your skills and potential to do the job. Answering questions allow you to show how your values align with ours, and how your skills suit the needs of the role and organisation. We review all answers individually, without any personal information, so that any possible unconscious bias is removed.

In our work and in our team we have a strong learning culture and it is important to us that we have a diversity of perspectives. Please contact Hannah at [email protected] if you have any questions about the process or have any needs to support your application.