Education Jobs

English for Action 

Operations  Lead

Salary: £23,595 (£39325 pro-rated) (likely increase from August 1st to keep up with inflation) 

Hours: 22.5 (3 days) per week

Location: Work from home, with occasional meetings in London required (travel at employee’s expense). 

Duration of contract: permanent 

Closing date for Easy Apply applications: Tuesday May 7th, end of day
Closing date for further applications: Wednesday May 15th, end of day

Interviews to be held on: Friday May 17th in the afternoon

Reporting to: The trustee HR subgroup and a line manager on the Executive Team

The role at a glance: Leading on EFA’s operations, with particularly emphasis on financial management and HR support for our small team of (currently) 8 employees. You’ll develop and administer our People policies, practices and culture to support EFA as a happy, equitable place to work and an effective mission-focused organisation. Scope for both day-to-day care for our systems and creative improvement of how we do things. In addition, to oversee EFA finances; payments received and paid, budgeting, monitoring any financial risks and advising with records/reports to the board of trustees and staff team on a monthly basis.   Read more about the role.

You at a glance: You’re passionate about the community organising and education work we do with migrants in London and the radical participatory ethos of EFA London. You bring strong experience of ‘People work’ and governance of groups or organisations (whether paid or unpaid), with an interest in how to bring the best of conventional operations practisce into a team interested in a more equal distribution of power. You’re a ‘people person’, combining strong communication skills with a strategic eye on moving towards solutions. You’re committed to anti-oppression and promoting healthy workplaces for staff. You have a fastidious approach to the administration which underpins all of this. 

About EFA

English for Action provides free, participatory, and empowering English language classes (ESOL) for migrants in London. Our classes are spaces to build community and support students to organise collectively around issues like employment and housing rights. Our work currently supports around 500 adult migrants across London. We’ve become a national centre of good practice for a radical participatory approach to ESOL, informed by the work of Paulo Freire, and we share this approach through trainings, research and partnerships. 

Organisation: We are a staff team of 8 people supported by a larger team of volunteers and 9 trustees. EFA promotes shared leadership and collaboration and we aim for our organisational structure to reflect this. In the last 4 years we’ve transitioned away from having a CEO to an executive team to oversee operations and decision-making - which you could be elected to join following your probation period. We’re still in transition and there is scope to make a real contribution to developing innovative practice within our workplace. As a charity, ultimate responsibility for, and control of, the organisation lies with the Board of Trustees. 

EFA employee benefits include: 

• Pension scheme with employer matched contribution, currently at 6%. 

• Pay rises in line with inflation wherever possible (we have a flat pay structure) 

• Tech and cycle scheme

• Flexible working possible based on your needs 

• Continuous Personal Development actively encouraged and training opportunities explored. 

• Enhanced annual leave: starts with 24 days per annum pro rata, rising to 32 days per annum pro rata plus Bank Holidays (pro-rata for part-time hours) after probation, with some restrictions on when holidays must be taken.

• Full entitlement to days off for sickness (including mental ill-health), compassionate leave, bereavement leave, and parental leave 

• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental leave pay 

• Enhanced sick pay 

• Collaborative decision making on organisational strategy and practice

• Working within an organisation that makes a huge difference in communities across London and the UK. 

Recruitment process / how to apply

We know applying to jobs can be time consuming! And often candidates with lots of relevant experience can be put off if they don’t fit every part of the job description. 

So, we’re using an ‘Easy Apply’ form, where you can attach a CV and fill out three questions to express interest in this role. Even if you are not sure you quite fit all the specifications - give it a go. It may take as little as 10 minutes. 

We’ll then encourage you to apply at Stage 2 if we feel you have relevant skills and
experience. You’ll then have another  week  to complete a few further questions. 

Get in touch if you’d like to chat informally about any aspect of this job description or the role: