Assistant director of finance and support services jobs

Job Title: Executive Assistant
Salary: £32,000 per annum
Hours: Full-time, 37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday 9:30am – 5:30pm
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: Birmingham, with some home working and travel to other centres across the UK
Reports to: Director of Finance and Resources 
 
THE CHARITY 
Suicide is the leading cause of death of men under 35 and three quarters of those who die by suicide are men. James’ Place exists to save the lives of men in suicidal crisis through delivering clinical services. We are a charity currently offering free, life-saving therapy to suicidal men at our centres in Liverpool, London and Newcastle. 
 
James’ Place was set up by Clare Milford Haven and Nick Wentworth-Stanley in 2008 after their twenty-one-year-old son, James, died by suicide ten days after a minor operation. James had no history of mental illness or depression and had sought urgent help for anxiety and suicidal thoughts but didn’t find it.    
 
James' Place was set up to make the experience of finding help as easy as possible. We offer men who are experiencing a suicidal crisis a brief, intensive, therapeutic intervention in a safe environment. Men who walk through the door at James’ Place will be in a space where they feel valued and respected.  We provide a calm and peaceful environment both inside the centres and in our outside spaces, accessible to men who visit us as well as their friends and families. We have so far treated over 5,100 men who might otherwise have been unable to access the support they desperately need.
 
In early 2026 we have opened our fourth centre in Birmingham. Our new centre in Birmingham will be there to support suicidal men living in the West Midlands.
 
THE OPPORTUNITY 
We are excited to offer a new opportunity to join a growing charity and support our Executive Leadership Team, as well as the administration and operational processes across the organisation, as an Executive Assistant. You will provide high level administrative support to the CEO, Directors, and the Consultant Suicide Prevention Therapist, and will take a key role in facilitating a professional and well organised executive function.
 
You will be expected to set and maintain the tone of the executive office and provide efficient and effective administrative support to senior leadership. Under the guidance of the Director of Finance and Resources, you will manage communications, coordinate schedules, conduct accurate record keeping and help to ensure the day-to-day operations of the organisation's leadership team runs smoothly and effectively.
 
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 
Executive Administration
Covering daily administrative tasks and duties including:

• Being the first point of contact for the CEO, Directors and Consultants, managing enquiries, greeting visitors, answering the phone, and responding to email enquiries.
• Dealing with enquiries over email and telephone, scheduling/amending meetings and taking messages as required.
• Managing multiple complex calendars, booking appointments, meetings, and making travel arrangements.
• Supporting the CEO, Directors and Consultants with day-to-day administration and coordination.
• Preparing, formatting, and issuing correspondence, reports, and presentations.
• Recording and sharing meeting minutes and tracking actions.
• Maintaining accurate records at all times in line with administrative procedures.
• Supporting communication between senior leadership and internal/external stakeholders.
• Maintaining effective systems to ensure time and resources are used efficiently.
• Always managing confidential information with discretion.

 
Operations

• Maintaining a professional and well-organised office environment.
• Supporting the CEO and Executive Leadership Team to ensure smooth operational processes.
• Completing electronic filing, document management, and general office administration.
• Supporting the coordination of meetings, events, and senior-level engagements.
• Providing occasional administrative support to the wider team as required.

 
Values

• Maintaining a professional, calm, and approachable manner in all interactions.
• Treating every person who contacts the organisation with respect and professionalism.
• Demonstrating discretion, integrity, and confidentiality at all times.
• Demonstrate commitment to the James' Place values of Focus, Bravery, Compassion, Professionalism, Collaboration, Respect and Hope through all aspects of work.

 
PERSON SPECIFICATION
This role requires someone with both excellent people and organisational skills and the ability to communicate professionally and effectively, both verbally and in writing, with a range of stakeholders. Your administration skills will be vital, and you will be able to work with a broad range of IT, including shared Outlook inboxes and calendars.
 
You will feel comfortable using the full Office 365 suite and have the necessary organisation skills to maintain the highest standards of record keeping. You will have experience of supporting senior leadership to deliver organisational priorities, and an ability to work collaboratively is essential. You will be able to work proactively and have a high level of attention to detail.
 
Essential
Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience as an assistant to senior leaders or experience in a similar administrative role at this level
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to work effectively with a range of colleagues including board members, external stakeholders, staff colleagues and peers
• Ability to manage time effectively, prioritise workload and meet deadlines
• Ability to maintain accurate records and follow set procedures
• Strong IT skills with the ability to learn new systems quickly and efficiently
• Competency with current office technology including MS Teams, Microsoft 365 applications, emails and calendars, and associated communication tools.
• Ability to manage confidential information with discretion
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team

 
Values

• Ability to engage with organisational values
• Ability to promote equality, diversity and inclusion
• Ability to work collaboratively
• Ability to be transparent, honest and show discretion when needed

 
Desirable

• Experience supporting multiple senior stakeholders
• Knowledge of governance or board-level administration
• Experience working in a fast-paced environment

 
WE OFFER

• A 7% employer contributory pension scheme
• Family friendly policies
• Death in service insurance scheme 
• 25 days plus bank holidays leave entitlement (FTE), including enhanced holiday allowance with incremental rises after qualifying period 

 
HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please use the online application system to submit your CV detailing your experience, roles and responsibilities, and answer the screening questions. 
 
If you have any queries or experience challenges with the application process, please contact us directly.
 
Closing date: Wednesday 17th June 2026, 5pm
Interviews to be held w/c 29th June.
 
Here at James' Place, we want you to feel comfortable in sharing your authentic selves and personal experiences, so we ask that you do not submit an application that has been formulated by AI. You may wish to use AI to support with structural aspects such as grammar and formatting, however your application must reflect your own genuine experiences, critical thinking and creativity.
 
James’ Place is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community. Our aim is that no job applicant, temporary worker or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender and transgender status, race and ethnicity, religion and belief (including no belief), marriage or civil partnership status or sexual orientation.
 
If you have a disability or health conditions which means you'd benefit from any adjustments to the interview process to help you perform at your best, please do let us know in advance.
 
Any job offers made are subject to the receipt of two relevant satisfactory employment references. We expect this to include one from your most recent or current employer. Any job offers made are also subject to a satisfactory DBS check and a Right to Work in the UK check.
 
REF-228 901

About NEON 

NEON is a not-for-profit organisation committed to accelerating social movements. We build capacity and infrastructure to accelerate the transition to a new economy. We work across a wide range of progressive issues including climate, housing, healthcare, and migration and we support over 1,000 organisers across the UK working towards political, environmental, and social justice. Our theory of change is rooted in understanding both the strategies, stories, and structures required to sustain a movement. Short term, this results in improved movement infrastructure, skills, and connections; long term, it leads to robust relationships and movement alliances capable of systemic change. 

Context

NEON’s People & Operations Hub makes sure all our internal systems run smoothly and that our team is happy, high-performing and cared for. The People & Operations Hub brings together people, culture, operations, fundraising and finance, and plays a key role in making sure NEON is both high impact and a joyful place to work, at the heart of this is ensuring our values of respect, generosity and solidarity and anti-oppression principles are embedded into all internal practices.

As part of this, we’re currently looking for someone to support us for a defined period of time to review and refresh some of our core operational and compliance areas, and support us with discrete ops tasks as they arise. This includes reviewing, updating and embedding key systems and processes so that they are clear, usable and consistently followed across NEON. Alongside this, we want to create a NEON-wide handbook, so that we have a simple accessible place where people can find everything they need to know about how we do things at NEON. We also want to strengthen our guidance around event safety, both online and in-person, so staff feel comfortable and supported when planning and delivering work. It’s crucial for us that this work is developed in collaboration with the People & Operations Hub as well as the wider team. 

Who we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone who is comfortable moving across operational and compliance work. Someone who has a solid understanding and experience in delivering high-level health and safety, data protection, IT and systems work, and other operational aspects of running an organisation, and can turn that into something practical, usable and genuinely helpful for our team. Someone who is self-motivated, comfortable working independently, and able to take ownership of pieces of work from start to finish

We’d love someone who has experience working closely in or within people and operations teams in small- medium sized not-for profits or charities, and who knows how to take complex or messy systems and make them simpler, clearer and easier to embed in day-to-day practice. We’re looking for someone aligned with our values of respect, generosity and solidarity and is well-versed in including anti-oppression principles into operational work. Someone who is motivated by working in a values-led organisation where decisions factor in culture, trust and care as well as the technical elements.

This person should be confident reviewing and improving systems and understands and is experienced in working closely with other people to do this, whether that’s with the Director of People and Operations to receive direction or troubleshoot, working alongside our Ops Assistant to put things into practice and draw on their organisational expertise, or engaging the wider team to elicit their ideas and challenges, and incorporate them into improvements. Similarly someone who is able to work with external support we have in place around IT, HR and data protection and translate their recommendations into practical action.

They’ll need to be able to hit the ground running and pick up discrete pieces of work, working thoughtfully and collaboratively with a team that’s juggling lots of different priorities. Aside from improving key pieces of work, the other core part of the role is bringing people with them, which will involve coaching and mentoring skills, a learning and development approach, and helping others feel confident taking on and owning this work.

Above all, we’re looking for someone who understands how to make organisations compliant and well-run in a way that feels proportionate, caring, and realistic for a team of our size. Someone who can embed these pieces of work, without overcomplicating things, and who can foster a sense of shared ownership. We’re also looking for someone who really cares about how operational work is truly embedded and put into practice across organisations, who thinks carefully about what happens after their involvement or support ends and knows how to build internal capability so work doesn’t stay dependent on them.

 

Key deliverables

By the end of the service period, the following outputs will have been delivered and fully embedded into NEON’s ways of working:

IT and systems

The freelancer will complete a high-level review of NEON’s current IT systems, identify key risks and gaps, and produce a set of recommendations. 

Outputs will include working with the People & Operations Hub to lead implementation and embedding of agreed improvements across tools and ways of working, including an improved GDrive structure, Google Workspace and IT security improvements and an IT and phones policy.

Data protection

The freelancer will complete a high-level review and strengthening of NEON’s GDPR and data protection approach.

Outputs will include updated core policies (GDPR policy, privacy notice, retention policy) and practical guidance to support consistent implementation across the organisation. It also includes delivery of staff training and further strengthening of our “Data Champions”.

Event processes

The freelancer will assess our current event-related practices (online and in-person).

Outputs will include clear, practical recommendations, strengthened guidance for managing event safety and risk in practice and staff training and support.

Health and safety

A review and update of NEON’s health and safety approach will be completed to ensure policies and processes are clear, practical and consistently applied.

Outputs will include an updated H&S policy, incident reporting process, risk assessment templates, and a simple event safety framework with guidance and checklists. It also includes delivering staff training and embedding of H&S practice across the organisation, including clarification of roles and responsibilities.

AI policy and guidance

The freelancer will research and develop NEON’s approach to AI use across the organisation, considering best practice, risks, opportunities, and the impact of AI on staff and NEON’s work. It should also include thoughtful consideration of the harms and ethical concerns associated with AI.

Outputs will include engagement with staff to understand current use and concerns, alongside the creation of clear and practical AI guidance and an organisational AI policy to support safe, thoughtful and consistent use of AI tools across NEON.

NEON Handbook

A NEON-wide handbook will be created, bringing together key processes, guidance and signposting to essential organisational information in one accessible place.

The handbook will be co-developed with staff and People & Operations Hub members to ensure it reflects day-to-day practice and is maintainable internally after completion.

Day-to-day operations support

The freelancer will provide additional operational capacity to support the Hub with emerging priorities, and time-sensitive pieces of work that arise during the contract period.

Outputs may include support with operational problem-solving and decision making, maintaining processes and procedures, providing subject knowledge expertise, maintaining documentation and other discrete operational tasks agreed with the Director of People and Operations.

A key part of this work will be ensuring that all outputs and improvements are properly embedded within the People & Ops Hub and the wider organisation. This includes creating clear documentation, guidance, training and handover processes so that NEON staff can confidently hold and maintain this work after the consultancy ends.

 

Timescales and fee schedule

The freelancer will be appointed and ready to engage from the end of July/ start of August 2026. We expect this work to be completed across two-three days per week for up to six months, ideally finished by the end of January or February 2027 (depending on start date). There may be a possibility of extension if other relevant and discrete projects arise and in agreement with the Director of People and Operations.

 

Call out information required

Interested freelancers are asked to provide the following information in response to this call out:

1. Brief career history and details of relevant assignments undertaken (this could be in the form of a CV)

2. A statement not exceeding 800 words on your proposed approach to the deliverables, including:

   1. Your technical and subject matter expertise

   2. Your personal style and approach to working with others

   3. How you will embed our values of respect, generosity and solidarity and anti-oppression principles into the deliverables

3. Your day rate, indicating whether VAT is payable (please note our indicative day rate that is aligned with our internal budget is £375)

4. A clear commitment to undertake the work within the timeframe set out above

5. Two testimonials from suitable clients or professional partners

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 28th June 11.59pm

Please find email address for submission of applications on our website.

We may wish to discuss submissions with you on Monday 6th July or Wednesday 8th July 2026. We will inform you if this is the case.

For any further information or clarification prior to submission, contact us at our website.