Executive secretary jobs in belfast
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
We are looking for an experienced Finance Director to join our team of nearly 100 staff, ideally before the end of 2025.
This is a full-time, home-based, permanent position. You can be based anywhere in mainland UK or Ireland, with some travel and occasional overnight stays to meeting and conferences mainly in England and Wales.
We offer flexibility around working hours, including the option of a 9 day fortnight - time off in lieu is also available. We offer 25 days holiday pro rata (rising to 28 days) plus statutory public holidays. We are happy to make adjustments for people with disabilities and/or caring responsibilities, and we welcome applications from all communities.
The role is a grade 7 position with a starting salary circa £75,000 plus benefits including 9% employer pension contribution.
The Finance Director (“FD”) works alongside the Chief Executive and Operations Director to manage the finances and governance of The Rivers Trust, a leading conservation charity with three associated trading subsidiaries operating across the UK and Ireland, with a collective annual income approaching £10m.
Given the prospective retirement of the current postholder at the end of 2025, we are seeking a well-qualified and experienced individual to take on this senior leadership role as soon as possible to enable handover to occur.
The role is very varied and wide-ranging, including presenting financial information to the Trustees and senior management on a quarterly basis, reviewing monthly management accounts, leading on annual budgeting, appraising internal project concepts and contracts, statutory compliance administration and liaising with auditors.
The postholder will lead a team of eight in the Finance department and join a very welcoming team of 95 highly engaged and passionate staff at The Rivers Trust.
Main duties and responsibilities:
Working alongside the CEO, the Finance Director will provide commercial, financial and governance management and leadership for The Rivers Trust ("the Charity") and its associated subsidiaries (“The Companies”). The FD will not only be an exceptional accountant, with executive oversight of the finance function, but will be commercially astute and have the confidence to represent robustly the best interests of The Companies. The FD will also be an experienced manager of people.
Key Accountabilities:
- Act as a business partner to support and constructively challenge the CEO in the general management of the Charity and the Companies, reporting to the board.
- Lead all aspects of the finance function (including maintaining and developing the financial control environment; robust financial accounting; cashflow management; incisive management information; clear and concise reporting to Board) to ensure that the Charity and the Companies’ assets are secured, risks are managed, and the Board of Trustees, subsidiary boards and committees can make well-informed decisions.
- Manage relationships with auditors, funders, IT specialists, banks, investment platforms and other external organisations.
- Provide support to project bids and the development of other commercial opportunities to ensure that bids/opportunities are optimised for the Charity and the Companies as a whole.
- Provide input to project and programme delivery from time to time, to ensure that performance is maximised for the Charity and the Companies.
- Attend Board meetings and Business Audit and Risk Committee meetings to guide the Board and the Senior Management Team on financial, commercial and governance issues.
- Ensure compliance with the requirements of the Charity Commission and Companies House and, from time to time, provide guidance to members of the Rivers Trust movement on good governance practice.
- Maintain the finance department operational manual for business continuity.
- Serve as the Company Secretary for the Charity and Companies.
Staff Management:
- Lead, manage and develop the finance team (who work remotely) and ensure the team understands their respective and collective contribution to achieving the Charity's and the Companies’ objectives.
- Support the team in their professional development.
- Ensure the team delivers a high-quality service focused on internal and external customers and funders.
Knowledge, skills, experience, and personal qualities:
Essential
- Significant experience in financial management and senior leadership roles, ideally gained in a range of organisations.
- A strategic thinker, able to see the big-picture, shape long-term direction and balance this with attention to detail.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills combined with creativity and openness to innovate.
- Strong IT and digital skills, with experience of using technology to improve efficiency and automate processes.
- Proven people leadership experience, with a track record of managing, developing, and inspiring teams and creating a supportive, inclusive, and collaborative culture.
- Excellent relationship builder, with the interpersonal skills to influence, collaborate, and provide constructive challenge while maintaining positive relationships across the organisation, including with trustees and senior stakeholders.
- Experience reporting to boards of trustees and/or directors, with the confidence to contribute to board-level discussions as a trusted adviser.
- Strong written and verbal communications skills, able to distil complexity into pertinent, concise and understandable messages tailored to diverse audiences.
- The courage to make and communicate tough decisions and be open about risks and setbacks.
- Resilient and calm under pressure, with the ability to maintain focus and steady leadership in challenging circumstances.
- Impeccable standards of integrity and personal ethics, acting as a role model for the organisation values.
- Knowledge of Sage financial software packages.
- Work to a good standard in Microsoft 365, especially Excel, Word, Outlook and Teams.
Desirable
- Experience of working in the charitable sector.
- Experience of being a Company Secretary.
- Understanding of the environmental sector or a passion for making a positive impact.
- Familiarity in using Sharepoint, Sage and Slack.
- Knowledge of Partial Exemption VAT rules.
- A basic understanding of Irish tax law, Irish and UK payroll taxes and corporate governance.
Qualifications/ Education
- Qualified Accountant, preferably ICAEW or ACCA.
Additional information
Everyone who works for us is expected to contribute to a respectful and inclusive working culture and follow our policies and procedures including Health & Safety, EDI, Cybersecurity and GDPR.
Please note we can only accept applications made through this site, and not sent by email or other methods.
We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. We warmly welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. If you would benefit from any adjustments to support you through the process, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.
To apply please send your CV and a covering letter.
Closing date: Wednesday 24th September 2024
A leading environmental charity, and umbrella body for the Rivers Trust Movement, our vision is for wild, healthy, natural rivers, valued by all.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Womankind Worldwide are exclusively partnering with Robertson Bell in their search for a new Director of Finance, People & Culture to join their team on a permanent basis. Womankind Worldwide is a global women's rights organisation working in partnership with women's rights movements and organisations to transform the lives of women and girls.
Reporting into one of the Co-CEOs, the Director of Finance, People & Culture will lead Womankind’s finance, HR, and Resources functions while ensuring regulatory compliance across jurisdictions (UK and Kenya). You'll work closely with their Finance & Resources Committee and serve as Company Secretary, supporting their ambitious Strategy to 2030.You will also lead the people strategy that strengthens Womankind’s culture, enhances employee wellbeing, drives engagement, and aligns talent with their strategic goals.
The organisation:
Womankind Worldwide strengthen and support women’s movements in their focus countries in Africa and Asia, and take collective action at regional and global levels, to ensure women’s voices are heard, their rights are realised, and their lives are free from violence. Currently, Womankind has staff based in Kenya and the UK. They’re undertaking a strategic transformation to strengthen their impact through a grantmaking and partnership review, an updated business model and a strategic alignment process. Staff wellbeing - one of their core feminist principles - will remain central as they navigate this journey. These changes reflect their deep commitment towards a feminist future and will position them to provide more strategic support where it is most needed across their focus countries during these unprecedented times in the development sector.
The key duties of the Director of Finance, People & Culture are as follows:
- Lead strategic financial and HR planning in collaboration with Co-CEOs and Finance & Resources Committee
- Drive implementation of Strategy 2030 particularly those strategies pertaining to Womankind’s goals to value our team and decolonise our practice
- Support assessment of funding landscape and sustainable financing strategies
- Ensure effective 3-year rolling budgeting and planning cycles
- Line manage Finance, People & Culture team, provide coaching, supervision, and development support, whilst building team capacity through process improvement
- Oversee budgeting, forecasting, and reporting processes
- Lead annual audit and statutory accounts production in the UK and Kenya
- Act as Company Secretary to Board of Trustees
- Ensure consistent quality and delivery of all finance processes (internal and external)
- Strategic development and review of Human Resource management, policies and processes
- Shape and model a feminist, inclusive, and high-performing organisational culture that aligns with Womankind’s values
- Oversee design and implementation of a wellbeing strategy
- Lead on information technology, ensuring systems meet needs of the organisation
- Provide oversight of facilities in the UK and Kenya
The successful candidate will have:
- Qualification: A full, recognised accounting qualification
- Leadership: Proven track record delivering strategic plans as part of senior leadership team
- Experience: Significant experience leading Finance and HR functions
- International: Experience working across multiple jurisdictions
- Charity Sector: Understanding of charity governance, SORP accounting, and charity financing
- Management: Strong staff management and development experience
- Communication: Ability to explain complex financial matters to non-financial
- Governance: Experience working with and being accountable to Board of Trustees
- Values: Strong commitment to feminism, anti-racism, and social justice
This role can be based in either the UK or Kenya, with flexible hybrid working policies in place. The team are also open to considering candidates with strong experience on a 0.8 FTE basis.
Applications are open until Sunday 28th September, with first stage interviews due to take place the week commencing 6th October. CVs will be under continuous review in advance of this date and we reserve the right to close the advert early, so please submit your application today to make sure you don’t miss out!