Development consultant jobs

OPERATIONS AND FINANCE OFFICER, POLITICAL STUDIES ASSOCIATION (PSA)

Contract type: Fixed-Term (initial 12-months, potential for extension)

Hours: Part-time, up to 30 hours per week (0.8 FTE). We are open to these being flexibly worked over the week.

 Location: Camden, London (Hybrid working - 1 or 2 days in the office per week) 

Salary: £32,000 pro rata, £25,600 per annum

 Are you ready to play a vital role at the heart of the Political Studies Association (PSA)?

We’re looking for a proactive and organised Operations and Finance Officer to join our small but dynamic team. This is a varied, hands-on role providing day-to-day support across finance, operations, HR, and governance. You’ll work closely with our Head of Operations & Finance and CEO to help keep everything running smoothly.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone with experience in, or a strong interest in developing finance and digital administration skills. We welcome applicants with a solid background in operations or administration who are keen to grow their knowledge of finance systems, bookkeeping, and compliance in a supportive, mission-driven environment.

In this vital post, you’ll take the lead on day-to-day operational administration, including office management, managing payments and maintaining accurate records in systems like Xero.

 You’ll also:

• Support HR administration and payroll processes
• Manage office contractors and supplies
• Provide excellent service to our tenants and shared workspace users
• Ensure good data management and GDPR compliance
• Assist the CEO and Head of Operations & Finance with admin and logistics
• Contribute to PSA operations and adapt flexibly to changing priorities

We support flexible working arrangements, but the ability to work from our Camden office when required, including on our regular team day (Wednesday) is essential.

For full details of the role, please see the job description available here.

Please send your CV and covering letter, explaining how you meet our criteria and why you wish to join the team by 14th July at 10am. We look forward to hearing from you. We would be grateful if you could also complete our equal opportunities monitoring from when you apply which can be found here. 

Studies indicate that women and people from other historically marginalised are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single criteria.  If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t perfectly fit our essential criteria, please do not be discouraged from applying.  We are keen to recruit the right person for the role and welcome applications from those who have transferable skills.

Interview will be held on 18th July

To apply for the role, you must be eligible to work in the UK - the Political Studies Association is not a sponsoring Organisation.

You’re passionate about supporting volunteers and creating a positive experience for those who give their time to make a difference.  You thrive in a role that brings people together and ensures they are set up for success.

As Operations Volunteering Experience Coordinator, you’ll play a key role in ensuring that volunteers in operations-based roles feel valued, prepared, and supported throughout their journey. Working closely with internal teams, you’ll coordinate recruitment, training, and engagement efforts that enhance the volunteer experience and contribute to the smooth running of essential services.

You’ll oversee the flow of volunteers into operations-based roles, ensuring they are matched effectively to support Guide Dogs’ canine, children, and adult services. Working in collaboration with service and volunteering colleagues, you’ll support planning and resource allocation to ensure volunteer programmes align with national and local needs.

By ensuring volunteers receive comprehensive training and induction, you’ll help them build confidence in their roles. You’ll coordinate face-to-face and virtual induction sessions, facilitate ongoing training opportunities, and provide regular communication to ensure volunteers remain engaged and informed.

A key part of your role will involve monitoring and evaluating the volunteer journey, gathering feedback and insights to improve processes and experiences. You’ll manage volunteer data and compliance, ensuring records are accurate and up to date. Additionally, you’ll support the recognition and celebration of volunteers, helping to coordinate award events and initiatives that highlight the incredible contributions of those who give their time.

To excel in this role, you’ll have experience managing and supporting volunteers, ensuring they have a positive and rewarding experience. You’ll be confident in advising on best practices and processes, with the ability to build strong relationships across different teams.  You'll need to be adaptable, self-motivated, and comfortable working both independently and as part of a wider team, using technology to stay connected.

Experience with volunteer management systems, CRM databases (such as Salesforce), and Microsoft Office will be beneficial. A strong understanding of GDPR, safeguarding principles, and best practices in equality, diversity, and inclusion is also essential.

Strong organisation and communication skills will be key, as well as the ability to problem-solve and handle enquiries efficiently. Whether facilitating training, providing advice, or coordinating new volunteer initiatives, you’ll bring a solutions-focused approach to ensure volunteers feel engaged, valued, and equipped for success.

No two people with sight loss are the same, and none of our people are either. So, we are proud to offer a range of person-centred benefits that can support each member of staff in ways that really mean something to them – and show them how much they mean to us. We offer a flexible benefits package, discounts and cashback scheme, a generous holiday allowance and matched contributory pension scheme to care for our people.

This role will be based from our Reading site a minimum of 3-days per week with the remainder of the week working from home, there will be an occasional requirement to travel to our Cardiff site. This is a full time position working 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

For high volumes of applications, we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than advertised.

About Us

Further details on the full role are attached below. When you are ready to apply, submit an online application form via our careers website.

If you would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, or require any accessibility support to apply, our friendly recruitment team is ready and waiting to help.

As part of your application ensure you provide evidence and examples of how your skills & experience meet the criteria as set out in the attached job description. You will also be asked to complete a few job-specific questions as part of this application process, so please be prepared to write your answers to these questions.If you want to know more about the teams who work at Guide Dogs, you can find it on our Careers Page.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

Guide Dogs welcomes applications from all sections of the community and actively encourages diversity to maximise achievements, creativity and good practice. We positively welcome and seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce and that all job applicants and employees receive equal and fair treatment, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, disability or nationality. 

As a Disability Confident Employer, we are proud, whenever possible, to offer an interview to all candidates that meet our selection criteria, and who indicate they wish their application to be considered under our Disability Confident interview commitment. For more details, visit our careers site.

If you are successful you will need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK via our digital ID checking supplier; in addition, we cannot offer visa sponsorship at this time.

Every day is different at Guide Dogs. And no person with sight loss is the same. We work side by side, on our sites and in the community, in schools and on our streets, supporting people to live the life they choose. Our staff therefore also work in different ways to support the delivery of our life changing work.

Safeguarding

Guide Dogs is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk of harm with whom we work. We expect all our employees and volunteers to fully share this commitment.

At Guide Dogs, we believe in fair and equitable hiring practices. A criminal record will not automatically disqualify an applicant from consideration for a position. Each case will be evaluated individually, taking into account the nature of the offense, its relevance to the role, and the time that has passed since the incident. We encourage all candidates to disclose relevant information, and we assure you that it will be handled confidentially and fairly.

Guide Dogs follow Safer Recruitment practices to ensure we are safeguarding the vulnerable people we work with. As part of this, we require a full work history with any gaps accounted for & a minimum of 2 professional referee details fully covering the past 5 years. If you are applying for a disclosure role, please note that you will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check and sign up to the DBS update service.