Overview:

As a member and chair of the organisational leadership team, this pivotal role is responsible for all areas of finance, financial planning, accounting and treasury as well the core information technology and human resources functions. The COO has a central role in leading the organisation as it embarks on a period of growth and expansion. This position also has lead responsibility for communication with and support of the Board of Directors.

In addition to the day-to-day management of the key infrastructure functions, this position will have a central role in strategic planning and thinking for the organisation. Animals Asia is about to embark on its biggest challenge ever—to double its income base over the next 5 years so that it can expand its operations in both China and Vietnam. This challenge will require strategic management and coordination with the Global Director of Fundraising and Communications.

The organisation has highly experienced and dedicated staff members throughout. We need a strong manager who can work well in a collegial and culturally diverse setting during a time of challenge as we grow the organisation.

Job Description

The COO reports directly to the CEO. S/he is responsible for managing the following functions:  finance, administration, human resources and information technology. This position chairs the Leadership Team, which manages and coordinates activities across the entire organisation. The COO is responsible for the coordination and integration of the programmes and projects of the various departments under the umbrella of the strategic plan which s/he coordinates. This position is based in the Foundation’s head office in Hong Kong.

The successful candidate will have a thorough understanding of finance, information systems, and HR; broad experience with the full range of business functions and systems, including strategic development and planning, team management, budgeting, analysis, finance, information technology, and human resources.

The successful candidate will demonstrate evidence of the ability to consistently make good decisions through a combination of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment; the ability to think and plan strategically on highly complex issues; the ability to balance the delivery of programmes against the realities of a budget.  S/he also will demonstrate excellent skills in problem solving, project management, and coordination of the work of multiple divisions towards a shared mission and goals.

This is an outstanding opportunity for a highly motivated and experienced individual to assume a pivotal role in a growing organisation that is making a difference for animals in China, Hong Kong SAR, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. 

The successful candidate will have a bachelor’s degree and 10 years of progressively responsible management experience. Some experience in a public benefit organization is preferred (NGO, non-profit or government).

Job Responsibilities

• Manages the Finance Team, which is responsible for financial planning, budgeting, cash flow, investment priorities, and financial policy matters.
  • Maintains and implements an appropriate system of policies, internal controls, accounting standards, and procedures.
  • Develops and maintains sound financial practices that comply with relevant laws and regulations.
  • Plans, coordinates, and executes the annual budgeting process and ensures actual results are reported expediently. 
• Manages the Information Technology team.
  • Analyse the current technology infrastructure and scope out the next level of information technology and financial systems that support the growth of specific programmes and the organisation overall.
• Manages the Human Resources team.
  • Upgrade Human Resources functions including: training, development, compensation and benefits, employee relations, performance evaluation and staff.
• Serves as the management liaison to the board of directors and keeps the board updated on high-level matters related to finance and internal operations.
• Contributes to the development of Animals Asia’s strategic goals and objectives as well as to the overall leadership and management of the organisation.
• Coordinates the development of the Strategic Plan and ensures that Animals Asia is adhering to this plan, delivering regular status reports to the board.
• Maintains continuous lines of communication with other members of the Leadership Team and keeps the CEO informed of all-important issues.
• Oversees head office administration and day-to-day operations.
• Represents the organisation externally, as necessary.

Management Style:

• Promotes a collegial work environment that respects and values diversity.
• Promotes an organisational culture that fosters passion for the mission, cooperation, open communication, teamwork, learning and a commitment to quality.
• Ensures staff members receive timely and appropriate training and development.
• Mentors and develops staff using a supportive and collaborative approach: assigns accountabilities; sets objectives; establish priorities; and monitors and evaluates results.

Requirements:

Education: 

• Bachelor’s degree. Applicants with a Master’s level degree are preferred.

Experience:

• 10 years of progressively responsible management experience which includes supervision of finance, accounting, information technology and human resource functions.
• Preferably 2 years living, working or consulting in Asia.
• Good familiarity with Asian cultural and political climates, particularly in China and Vietnam.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills in English, both verbal and written, with the ability to communicate with internal and external stakeholders from varied cultural backgrounds.
• Proven leadership abilities in a dispersed global organisation.
• Fluency in Mandarin and/or Cantonese is advantageous.
• Proficiency with computers and skill in the use of a range of software applications.
• Interest and commitment to the protection of animals is highly desired.

Project Associate - Young Cities & YouthCAN

• Organisation: Institute for Strategic Dialogue
• Reporting To: Project Manager
• Contract: FTC to February 2022 with possibility of extension
• Location: London, UK
• Preferred Start Date; March 2020
• Salary Bracket: £25,000 - £28,000 depending in experience

ISD is looking for an exceptional individual to work on our YouthCAN and Young Cities programmes as a Project Associate based in London.

Founded in 2015, the Youth Civil Activism Network (YouthCAN) is one of ISD’s longest running programmes and works across the globe to empower young activists to challenge hate, prevent extremism and promote peace. We enable youth to find their voice and take action to help build a more peaceful world through the provision of training, support and resources. YouthCAN’s goal is to further the role of young people in P/CVE at all levels by ensuring that young people have the knowledge, skills and confidence to act effectively, as well as the opportunity to engage meaningfully at all levels both as partners and as leaders.]

Young Cities is a joint effort by YouthCAN and one of ISD’s other longest running programmes, the Strong Cities Network (SCN), bringing youth voices to city halls across Lebanon, Kenya, Senegal and the Western Balkans. Young Cities works in partnership with both young people and local government to enhance and support youth-led solutions to community challenges such as hate, polarisation, extremism and violence.

Young people have the insights, ability and creativity to affect change on deeply entrenched community challenges. YouthCAN and Young Cities support and amplify these efforts through local research, capacity-building, seed funding and direct support, giving young people the skills and freedom to develop programming that responds to the needs of their communities. 

Simultaneously, Young Cities works with local government to support city-level youth collaboration and to develop more effective policy that champions youth as key partners in resilience building efforts. By working simultaneously with both groups – youth and local government – our youth programmes foster a shared understanding of local youth issues, facilitates new opportunities for cooperation, and ultimately enhances both groups’ capacity to tackle community-level challenges of hate and polarisation.

Role Purpose

The Associate will work as part of the Young Cities and YouthCAN teams to deliver project activities predominantly with youth, but also local government stakeholders. This includes organising workshops, helping deliver project communications and social media presence, and providing research support. This is a global-facing role, and the Associate will engage with stakeholders across the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Australia and the Western Balkans. There is an opportunity to develop a larger focus on engagement in the Western Balkans, depending on language skills of the applicant. 

Responsibilities

1. Event organization: Assist the successful delivery of Young Cities and YouthCAN project activities in multiple regions

• Contributing to defining objectives and setting the agenda for events
• Helping drive recruitment and managing attendance
• Liaising with event venues and organisers
• Maintaining contact with external speakers
• Preparing collaterals and materials for events
• Coordination and participation on the day of the event as required
• Conducting desk-based research as required

2. Support project communications, including the projects’ social media and online presence

• Support the Youth Coordinator in managing the websites for YouthCAN and Young Cities
• Help manage YouthCAN‘s social media pages and drive engagement
• Help manage YouthCAN’s online community of more than 1,500 young activists globally
• Curate and help create engaging and relevant content that can support and inspire activists
• Liaise with YouthCAN’s activists in Lebanon, Kenya, Senegal, Pakistan, Australia and the Western Balkans to provide content for YouthCAN’s social media highlighting their work  

3. Support the development of youth-led and co-created campaigns and initiatives

• Support strategic development of locally-tailored policy advice and youth-led campaigns and initiatives in Kenya, Lebanon, Senegal, Pakistan, Australia and the Western Balkans
• Support coordination of small grants and project delivery, including stakeholder management with youth and local government as required
• Support delivery of tailored training sessions for youth groups
• Conduct research into local-level approaches, policies and programmes

4. Project administration

• Assist Managers and Coordinators in the administration of projects, including contributing to the Project Operations Document
• Support tracking of budget expenditure
• Contribute to reporting processes

What success looks like

• Contribute to the organization of at least 4 events per year
• Increase following and engagement on social media pages and in online activist community
• Productive working relationships developed in multi-regional environment
• Developed expertise in youth, peace and security-related issues 
• Positive 360 feedback from team colleagues

Person Specification

Essential:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent relevant work experience (such as conflict studies, peacebuilding, international development)
• Previous experience in project or programme delivery, with proven ability to meet deadlines and contribute to team project work
• Previous experience with communications and social media management 
• Clear, fluent and concise oral and written communication
• Highly organized with the ability to be flexible, multi-task and respond proactively in a fast-paced environment
• Highly IT literate, with willingness and ability to quickly learn new online tools and content management systems
• Online and offline research skills
• Intercultural and interpersonal awareness
• Willingness to travel internationally

Desirable

• Masters degree from reputable university
• Previous experience with youth-led peacebuilding work and/or general youth engagement projects and passion for working with youth
• Previous experience with projects building resilience against hate, violence and polarization
• Skilled writer for public audience
• Experience working with international stakeholders
• Ability to work well independently and in a team
• Fluency in Macedonian, Albanian, or Serbo-Croatian highly desirable.
• Fluency in Arabic, Swahili, Urdu or French desirable.
• Previous work experience and/or living in the Western Balkans, West and/or East Africa or Middle East desirable.

How to Apply

If you would like to apply for this position, please submit a one-page cover letter and up-tp-date CV (no more than two pages) by Friday 31st January, 5pm UK time.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted and applications without a covering letter will not be considered. All applicants who are invited to interview will be asked to produce evidence of their right to work in the UK.

Interviews will be held between 6th-7th February 2020 in London.

ISD reserves the right to assess any applications throughout the application process and may conduct interviews earlier than the closing date of the vacancy as stated above.

The Natural History Museum (NHM) is a world-class visitor attraction, leading science research centre and commercial event space. We use our unique collections and unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million specimens, both in our London and Tring museums, spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually.

We are at a pivotal moment in our history as we launch a new strategy setting out our role as the natural world faces increasing threats. Building on our world-leading collection, global reputation for science and as one of the world's leading visitor attractions, the NHM has ambitious plans leading up to the 150 anniversary of the opening of the Waterhouse Building in 2031, making this a truly exciting time to be part of the NHM team.

About the role

You will manage our Estate's in-house Facilities Management (FM) Projects team alongside a portfolio of wider Museum Capital Programmes.

Taking responsibility for projects from initial proposal and feasibility through all subsequent project stages, and up to completion; you will also present project stages to stakeholders including senior decision-making boards. As a part of this, you will maintain a resource capacity plan, ensuring PM resources are appropriately resourced.

Acting as the Intelligent Client for projects across the Museum, you will provide support on all Estates matters particularly in relation to integration with existing infrastructure and services. Furthermore, to identify and manage problems, risks and issues which may affect the successful delivery of Museum projects.

About you

This role requires a professional working knowledge of the RIBA Plan of work, to ensure consultants/ contractors are producing information to the required level of detail to ensure successful project delivery. You will bring significant experience working as a project/programme manager at a senior level on Estates projects, from proposal to closure, in a multidisciplinary environment.

You must demonstrate an understanding of planning and co-ordination of Estates projects (infrastructure and planned maintenance) to ensure delivery of the services to the highest possible standards with the ability to identify, resolve and make recommendations to rectify issues.

With the ability to work to tight deadlines and be responsible for preparing accurate and concise reports and documentation, you will strong skills in producing high quality reports and written information.

Closing date: 9am on Thursday 6 February 2020
Interviews will be held on: 17 or 18 Feb

To apply, please visit and upload your CV with a covering letter, which clearly outlines how you meet our person specification.