Head of finance and administration jobs in milton keynes, england
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
This is a senior leadership position offering a pivotal opportunity to shape our organization's financial and operational future. The Head of Finance and Operations will provide strategic guidance while ensuring the efficient and effective daily operations of all financial and administrative functions.
Reporting directly to the CEO, you will deputize in their absence, contribute significantly to our organizational growth and success, and ensure a robust and compliant financial framework.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Financial & Operational Leadership
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Partner with the CEO to develop and implement long-term financial and operational strategies, including horizon scanning and risk management.
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Manage the organization's financial systems, specifically overseeing and optimizing the use of QuickBooks for all accounting and reporting functions.
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Identify and implement operational improvements to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
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Develop, review, and implement financial policies and procedures to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
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Oversee reviews and renewals of organizational insurance policies.
2. Financial Management & Oversight
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Oversee all financial activities, including budgeting, forecasting, payroll, and taxation.
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Lead the annual audits for UK and US entities, ensuring accuracy and transparency and managing relationships with auditors.
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Maintain and manage banking relationships.
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Conduct regular variance analysis and recommend corrective actions to the CEO and leadership team.
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Oversee management of restricted funding.
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Develop and implement robust financial controls.
3. Fundraising and Data Systems
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Ensure accurate and timely financial reconciliation between CiviCRM and QuickBooks.
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Provide financial insights and analysis to support fundraising strategies and donor reporting.
4. Leadership & Governance
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Deputize for the CEO as needed, ensuring continuity across all operations.
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Maintain strong relationships with board members, providing comprehensive and insightful quarterly financial reports to foster understanding and engagement.
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Provide strategic leadership to your team, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
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Be responsible for managing relationships with our US bookkeeper (consultant) and both UK and US auditors, and for the line management of the UK Finance and Admin Officer.
5. Operational Excellence
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Lead and manage a team of finance and operations professionals.
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Develop and implement efficient systems and processes to optimize performance across all administrative functions.
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Monitor and assess operational activities, proactively identifying and addressing potential issues.
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Conduct regular cost analysis and implement cost-saving initiatives.
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Oversee HR and payroll functions
Person Specification
Essential
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Professional accounting or finance qualification (e.g., ACCA, CIMA, ACA or equivalent).
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Proven experience in a senior finance and operations role (at least three years experience).
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Experience in preparing UK statutory accounts and managing external audits.
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In-depth knowledge of UK FRS 102 and Charities SORP. Exposure to/experience of US GAAP.
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Experience in preparing the annual budget, working closely with budget holders.
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Experience in supporting grant management.
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High proficiency in using financial software. (e.g. QuickBooks, Xero etc.)
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Experience in driving continuous improvement of financial processes and systems.
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Strong strategic and financial planning skills.
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Experience leading and managing a team.
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Excellent communication and relationship-building skills.
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You enjoy a mix of leadership and rolling up sleeves to get hands-on.
Desirable
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Experience working in a not-for-profit sector.
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Experience working in an international organization.
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Experience with CiviCRM or other similar donor management systems.
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Experience in remote working.
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Strong commitment to Humanists International’s mission.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
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!
About the DEC
The Disasters Emergency Committee brings together 15 of the UK’s leading humanitarian charities to raise funds and respond quickly to global disasters. Since our founding in 1963, we have raised over £2.5 billion through 79 appeals, providing life-saving assistance to millions of people around the world.
Our mission is to save, protect, and rebuild lives through effective humanitarian action. As a team, we operate with urgency, transparency, and compassion.
The DEC is an equal opportunities employer and provides opportunities to learn and grow in an inclusive, supportive, and productive environment. We encourage applications from anyone who can meet the criteria, regardless of gender, race, age, disability, sexuality, or religion.
About the Role
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is seeking a qualified Systems Accountant with strong expertise in Infor SunSystems (including SunCloud) and financial systems optimisation. This consultancy role will ensure the effective use of Infor SunCloud and help maximise its potential. You will play a key role in a strategic initiative to enhance financial management, reporting, and operational efficiency through system improvements and automation.
***Please download the job description for full details***
About You
You are skilled Finance Systems Consultant with experience in Infor SunSystems (including SunCloud), financial reporting, and process automation. Ideally a qualified or part-qualified CCAB accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA), you will support system optimisation, enhance internal controls, and improve financial reporting using tools like Power BI. You will work closely with internal teams and third-party providers to streamline key processes and help shape DEC’s financial systems roadmap. Strong analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills are essential.
Key responsibilities:
- Drive automation and process improvements in finance operations.
- Provide expert SunSystems technical support.
- Manage third-party provider relationships and onboarding.
- Strengthen finance system controls and security.
- Enhance financial reporting and streamline month-end processes.
- Develop Power BI dashboards and support system integrations.
- Shape a 3–5-year financial systems roadmap.
How to Apply
If this role is of interest and meets your skills, experience, and knowledge, then please apply with your anonymised CV & cover letter [i.e. state your initials only, not your full name] by Tuesday 23 September 2025.
We are unable to support applications for our vacancies if you do not have the right to work in the UK
The DEC is committed to the safeguarding and protection of children and vulnerable adults and participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from successful applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment.
By applying, the job applicant confirms their understanding of, and consent, to these recruitment procedures.
ID: 1557
Job Title: Deputy Director of Services & Innovation, Central Region of England
Service: Services & Innovation
Salary: £65,782 - £72,959 Additionally, £480 home-based allowance FTE per annum
Location: Homebased with regular travel across the central region of England and occasional London Head Office.
Hours: full-time 37 hours per week.
We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.
Contract: Permanent
Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.
We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the
importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.
Are you an innovative, strong, team player, who is solution focused and passionate about making a difference in everything you do? Do you have a proven track record of growth and retaining services, delivering excellent, inclusive services and cultivating quality and diversity? Are you looking for a diverse, ambitious and fast paced organisation – if so, you have found it.
About the role:
The roles primary function is to lead the operational teams and lead on strategic development and growth across the region. The post holder will model the organisations values; people focus, can do, excellence and mutual respect.
The Deputy Director leads the strategic development and transformation of Family Action services across the Central region, and implements the organisation’s strategic plan and its 5 key objectives. The role focuses on stakeholder engagement, partnership, service development, and system leadership across sectors. It requires inclusive leadership and the effective line management of Operational Managers and one Assistant Director.
The role has responsibility for service delivery, risk management, performance, quality and practice, safeguarding, income generation and budgets across the region. The post holder drives accountable leadership, innovation, co-creation, and continuous improvement across all the Central region. The Deputy Director will be an excellent communicator, highly resilient, and a decision maker, while always championing Family Action’s values in delivering inclusive, outcome-focused support for children, families, young people and adults.
Main Responsibilities:
· Be accountable for service delivery across the region, contractual performance, safeguarding, quality assurance, risk management, ensuring services meet regulatory standards, delivering positive outcomes and embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in everything we do.
· Lead senior stakeholder engagement and foster strong cross-sector partnerships across the geographic area.
· Line manage Operational Managers, and an Assistant Director, oversee budgets to ensure efficient, cost-effective service delivery. Champion the sharing of learning, development of staff and volunteers and best practice across services to support continuous improvement and innovation.
· Strategic and accountable leadership, leading the region by motivating and galvanizing the team to achieve innovation, growth and quality services maximising outcomes for the people we support
· Working alongside the Business Development & Corporate and Marketing team, drive the region’s income generation through generating and responding to new opportunities, and by leading innovative service design and modelling.
· Be part of a dynamic and supportive team of other regional and national Deputy Directors, sharing and influencing cross-organisational decision making, resource allocation, strategy and organizational development and leadership.
Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
· Passionate about social justice and improving the life chances and supporting children, young people and adults who experience disadvantage.
· We are looking for someone who has senior level leadership and management experience and expertise in at least one of the settings in social care, health, young people and community sector. Who is highly robust, able to priorities multiple workflows and issues, with a good understanding of and leadership around service risks and decision making.
· We are also looking for someone who can think strategically across systems, contribute to innovation, creativity and diversity, and is an excellent inclusive leader that can inspire their teams as well as their peers and senior leaders in Family Action.
· Appointments are subject to Family Action receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service – Enhanced and children’s barred list.
· Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- flexible working arrangements and new starters have the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities
We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.
To Apply:
Click 'Apply Now' to complete our online application form by the closing date of Sunday 28th September at 23:59
Interviews and an assessment exercise will be virtual over Microsoft Teams – Week commencing 13th October.
For any queries, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please email: Helen Cantrell (full email address on advert document)
All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.
We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. For this vacancy, we are also applying positive action to improve the representation of people of colour in management roles at Family Action. As such, the guaranteed interview scheme is extended to applicants of colour who meet the minimum criteria.
To help remove financial barriers to working with us, we will reimburse travel costs if you are invited to attend an interview in person.
Family Action is an award-winning national charity working from the heart of local communities across England and Wales.




Are you adaptable, eager to learn, and motivated by making a real difference?
We’re looking for someone with an adaptable and pro-active attitude and willingness to grow to join our dedicated Services and Partnerships team at the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association.
This is an excellent opportunity to develop your skills while supporting vital services that have a meaningful impact across the organisation. As our Administrator, you’ll help ensure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, enabling colleagues to provide timely and effective support to those living with and affected by MND.
If you bring enthusiasm, flexibility, and a proactive approach, we can teach you the technical skills you’ll need to succeed.
Key Responsibilities:
- Responding to information and literature requests promptly and accurately
- Managing stock and supplies of information materials internally and externally
- Creating and maintaining records in our CRM system, and producing reports
- Sending welcome letters and GDPR consent forms to new referrals
- Handling sensitive correspondence, including condolence letters
- Co-ordinating the creation and delivery of memory, treasure, and teenage boxes
- Raising purchase orders and liaising with suppliers to ensure timely delivery and payment
- Processing service user feedback and supporting continuous improvement
- Keeping SharePoint documents and resources up to date
- Always working in line with our values, and policies around data protection and confidentiality
About You:
- A positive attitude and willingness to learn new skills
- Adaptable and open to change in a fast-paced environment
- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage and prioritise your workload
- Excellent attention to detail, accuracy, and a proactive approach to problem-solving
- Clear and professional communication skills with the ability to deliver excellent customer service
- Confidence using Microsoft Office – especially Outlook and Excel (full training on other systems will be provided)
- A respectful, team-focused approach, with a commitment to maintaining confidentiality at all times
About Us:
Our vision is a world free from MND. Our mission is to improve care and support for people with MND, their families and carers. We fund and promote research that leads to new understanding and treatments and brings us closer to a cure for MND. The Association also campaigns and raises awareness so the needs of people with MND, and everyone who cares for them, are recognised, and addressed by wider society.
What We Offer:
- 28 days holiday, increasing to 33 days after 5 years, plus Bank Holidays.
- Access to UK Healthcare, including dental, eyecare, health screenings, and therapies.
- 24/7 GP access via phone and video.
- Life assurance and confidential counselling helplines.
- Salary sacrifice schemes (Cycle to Work, Buy/Sell Annual Leave).
- Access to Benefit Hub for discounts on everyday shopping.
- Enhanced pension scheme.
- Opportunities for training and personal development.
- Hybrid working.
The full job description is available in the candidate pack.
We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusivity. We work to remove barriers for everyone affected by MND, employees, volunteers, and stakeholders.
As part of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee interviews for disabled applicants who meet the role's requirements.
Hybrid Working and Flexibility: This role offers hybrid working, with the expectation to attend the office 4 days per week. For the initial 6 - 8 week training period, 5 days per week office attendance is required.
We are open to part-time applications or job shares – please indicate your preferred working arrangement in your application.
This is a great opportunity to grow and develop within a supportive team that truly values your contribution. If you’re ready to play a key role in helping others deliver life-changing support, we’d love to hear from you.
Apply now and help us make a difference.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Do you have experience of providing high-quality administrative and governance support in a complex organisation?
We are recruiting a Governance Co-ordinator to join our Governance Team at the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association. This is a key role providing essential company secretariat support to the Board of Trustees, Committees, the CEO Office and the Head of Governance & Compliance. As Governance Co-ordinator, you will help to ensure the Association maintains the highest standards of governance through efficient administration, effective meeting support and accurate record keeping.
Key Responsibilities:
- Support the Head of Governance & Compliance to provide efficient and effective administration for Board and Committee meetings, including maintaining the meeting calendar and timetables.
- Organise logistics for meetings, including dates, venues, travel and accommodation.
- Provide full secretariat support to the Board and Committees, including preparing Chair briefings, attending meetings, drafting minutes and actions.
- Collate and distribute papers and presentations in line with agreed timescales, ensuring accuracy and clarity.
- Liaising with senior leadership, Trustees and others at senior levels on all aspects of Board and Committee meetings.
- Prepare, proofread, collate and distribute Board and Committee papers and presentations on time.
- Provide administrative and planning support for the Annual General Meeting and Trustee elections.
- Assist the Head of Governance and Compliance with implementing recommendations from governance reviews, including updating templates, policies and processes.
- Maintain accurate statutory records with Companies House and the Charity Commission.
- Manage the Board of Trustees SharePoint page.
About You:
- Experience of Board or Committee administration, including minute taking and organisation of Board/Committee meetings.
- Experience of working with meticulous attention to detail accuracy in all aspects of work.
- Experience managing confidential information with discretion and diplomacy.
- Excellent planning and organisational skills.
- Strong communication skills, with experience of building effective relationships at all levels.
- Ability to work both independently and as part of a team, with a flexible approach.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, SharePoint and MS Teams, including experience of supporting hybrid meetings.
- Awareness of the principles of good governance.
About Us:
Our vision is a world free from MND. Our mission is to improve care and support for people with MND, their families and carers. We fund and promote research that leads to new understanding and treatments and brings us closer to a cure for MND. The Association also campaigns and raises awareness so the needs of people with MND, and everyone who cares for them, are recognised, and addressed by wider society.
What We Offer:
- 28 days holiday, increasing to 33 days after 5 years, plus Bank Holidays.
- Access to UK Healthcare, including dental, eyecare, health screenings, and therapies.
- 24/7 GP access via phone and video.
- Life assurance and confidential counselling helplines.
- Salary sacrifice schemes (Cycle to Work, Buy/Sell Annual Leave).
- Access to Benefit Hub for discounts on everyday shopping.
- Enhanced pension scheme.
- Opportunities for training and personal development.
- Hybrid working.
The full job description and further information about working for the MND Association is available in the candidate pack.
We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusivity. We work to remove barriers for everyone affected by MND, employees, volunteers, and stakeholders.
As part of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee interviews for disabled applicants who meet the role's requirements.
This role is home-based, with attendance once a week in either Northampton or London.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
WHO WE ARE
Animal Equality is an international animal protection organisation working with society, governments and companies to end cruelty to farmed animals. Animal Equality has offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and India.
Animal Equality releases investigative materials captured from inside factory farms and slaughterhouses, exposing the conditions that farmed animals face around the world. We publish our findings on television, in newspapers and online. We routinely secure mainstream media coverage, including on the BBC, ITV, Sky News, The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times and many more.
Animal Equality also advocates for political change. Our current campaigns include a UK ban on foie gras imports, increased enforcement of existing animal protection laws, legal protections for farmed fish, and Government subsidies for transitioning towards a plant-based food system.
We focus on farmed animals because of the scale and severity of the issue. More than a billion animals are confined and killed for human consumption every year in the UK. Farmed animals also often suffer in some of the worst ways: pigs typically endure painful mutilations, many chickens die of heart attacks, fish are confined in underwater cages, and some farmed animals are victims of deliberate abuse and neglect. But the problem is solvable! By utilising effective campaigning strategies, Animal Equality is having an impact for animals around the world and building a future where all animals are respected and protected and are no longer exploited for human consumption.
Animal Equality UK’s current key campaigns include:
- Strengthening enforcement of animal protection laws.
- Halting the expansion of Scotland’s salmon farming industry.
- Achieving a ban on foie gras imports.
- Securing species-specific slaughter legislation for fish.
- Inspiring the public to eat plants, not animals.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We are seeking a highly organised, detail-oriented Operations Officer to play a central role in ensuring the smooth running of Animal Equality UK’s internal operations and supporter services.
This is a varied role covering administration, finance, data management, supporter care, and event coordination. You will be the first point of contact for many of our supporters and stakeholders, providing excellent service while supporting team members across all departments.
The ideal candidate will be proactive, solutions-focused, and comfortable balancing multiple projects in a fast-paced environment. You will have a ‘can-do’ attitude and a calm and professional demeanour, thrive on problem-solving, and take pride in ensuring that systems and processes run efficiently behind the scenes.
JOB DESCRIPTION
- Culture and internal support: Act as a culture ambassador, upholding Animal Equality’s values of professionalism, resilience, accountability, and compassion. Strengthen communication between teams and ensure effective use of project management tools. Identify and lead process improvements with guidance from the Operations Manager.
- Supporter and donor care: Serve as the first point of contact for supporter queries via phone, email, post, and social media. Provide excellent donor support, including thanking donors, resolving payment issues, and sending mailings. Maintain supporter and volunteer records accurately in CRM systems and ensure compliance with GDPR.
- Finance and reporting: Process expenses, supplier payments, and support budget forecasting. Assist with Gift Aid claims, monthly data uploads, and finance reports. Prepare scheduled reports and presentations to track progress against objectives.
- Team processes: Support recruitment processes, including application handling, interview coordination, and onboarding/offboarding schedules. Ensure smooth induction for new staff and manage equipment, training resources, and access.
- Events and operations: Assist with the organisation of internal training, team meet-ups, and supporter events. Support health and safety measures for team members and volunteers at peaceful protests, undertaking risk assessments and first aid training. Manage stock and campaign materials, fulfil supporter requests, and oversee mailing logistics.
- Data and systems: Conduct database cleansing and maintain accurate supporter, volunteer, and executive records.
- Represent Animal Equality’s culture: Support Animal Equality’s life-saving work by producing high-quality output, embracing and representing the organisation’s culture principles proudly at all times, and supporting our philanthropic efforts.
- Support with other ad hoc duties, as requested by your line manager.
ABOUT YOU
You are a reliable, proactive, and solutions-focused team player who takes pride in creating order and efficiency. Embracing Animal Equality’s culture principles and reinforcing them proudly, you balance meticulous attention to detail with a flexible, positive, level-headed approach and are motivated by helping the organisation succeed for farmed animals.
You actively seek constructive feedback and use it to continuously improve your work. You show ownership and a growth mindset that is focused on improving the world for farmed animals. Knowledge of farmed animal issues and alignment with Animal Equality’s mission is a must, as is professionalism, adaptability, and discretion.
You must have a minimum of one year’s experience in operations, administration, project management, or a related role. With exceptional communicational and time-management skills, you are comfortable balancing competing priorities and will bring a friendly, professional attitude at all times. Adaptable and solutions-focused, you are confident when learning new technologies.
You will be based remotely in the UK. In addition to monthly meet-ups, some travel within the UK may be required for demonstrations, meetings, and events. While not common, occasional evening or weekend work may be necessary to support campaigning activities. Any additional hours worked and agreed with your Manager can be reclaimed as TOIL.
BENEFITS
- Holiday entitlement equal to 33 days per year (including standard public holidays).
- Personalised employee assistance programme (EAP): An Animal Equality-funded benefit that offers employees confidential counselling and advice on a wide range of work and personal issues. The programme offers several services, such as a 24/7 confidential helpline and expert cognitive behavioural therapy.
- Flexible hours, with the option to start between 8am and 10am and finish between 4pm and 6pm.
- Able Futures Support: The service is a nine-month, practical and confidential support service for employees whose circumstances or mental health may impact their wellbeing or work. Employees can work with a mental health professional to deepen their understanding of how their mental health may impact them and build coping skills and resilience to thrive at work.
- Yearly stipend to access learning and development resources to help employees further grow their personal and professional skills.
- A free vegan lunch every month at the Animal Equality monthly meetups.
APPLY NOW
For more information and to apply, please visit our vacancies page.
Closing date: 5.00pm on Friday 19th September 2025.
Animal Equality’s vision is a world in which all animals are respected and protected.


The National Youth Agency is looking for a new Chief Operating Officer to join our Executive Leadership Team.
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time - 37 hours per week
Salary: £85,000 per annum
Remote: This role is homebased (within the UK) with occasional to meetings, events and conferences.
What we do
As the national body for youth work, the NYA has a dual function. We are the professional statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) responsible for qualifications, quality standards, and safeguarding for youth work and services in England. In line with our charity mission and aims, we also champion youth work through research, advocacy, campaigns, and programmes.
We work in partnership and believe in collaborative leadership, listening to youth workers and the youth work sector so that we can understand their needs and respond to the challenges they face. We are ambitious for youth work and for young people and integrate youth voice and influence across our work
About the Role
Responsibilities will include:
- The COO leads the day-to-day functioning of the organisation to ensure smooth, efficient, and effective delivery of services. This is vital for maintaining operational stability and achieving strategic outcomes.
- They design and execute strategies that align with the organisation’s mission and long-term goals ensuring resources are used effectively and priorities are clear.
- They promote a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement through supporting employee engagement, productivity, and organisational success.
- The COO collaborates closely with the CEO/CFO and other senior leaders to drive strategic initiatives and business growth, ensuring unified leadership and coherent decision-making.
- They partner with the CFO to manage budgets, forecasts, and resource allocation. Financial oversight ensures sustainability and supports informed investment in strategic priorities.
- Strengthen governance and risk management frameworks, aligned to regulatory expectations and best practice while proactively managing reputational and operational risks.
- The COO cultivates strong relationships with partners, clients, and stakeholders to enhance service delivery and reputation. These relationships are key to influence, collaboration, and impact.
- They lead efforts to improve processes and adopt best practices across the charity to enhance efficiency and keeps the organisation competitive and responsive.
- They ensure that daily activities support the charities long-term objectives.
- The COO mentors other directors and departmental heads and fosters leadership capabilities across teams.
- They establish and track KPIs to identify inefficiencies and guide improvements through data-driven decision-making to enhance accountability and results.
- They evaluate and refine workflows to boost productivity developing efficient processes to reduce waste and improve service quality.
- They act as a bridge between departments and the CEO to ensure cohesive execution of strategic plans preventing silos and promoting organisational synergy.
- The COO serves as a senior figure in national and cross-sector forums, conferences, and strategic partnerships to strengthens the organisation’s voice and influence.
- They demonstrate commitment to Equality, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in both internal culture and external programmes to foster a fair and inclusive organisation.
- They work with the CEO, CFO and Director of Growth to identify and pursue new revenue streams and strategic partnerships. This expands the organisation’s reach and sustainability.
- They engage in public speaking, media interactions, and external representation demonstrating clear communication, credibility, and stakeholder engagement.
- They develop and embed evaluation frameworks to assess progress against strategic goals. The measuring of our impact ensures accountability and informs future planning.
- They promote the organisation’s brand at events and through networking.
The COO takes on other responsibilities as needed to support the organisation’s mission.
About You
Essential competencies of the Chief Operating Officer:
- Extensive experience in senior leadership with a proven track record in operations, financial and risk management, and delivering high-performing teams, ideally in the charity sector.
- Strong understanding of business functions such as HR, Finance, Marketing, etc.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to think strategically and execute effectively.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Commercially astute, process-driven, and highly pragmatic in approach.
- Experience in driving performance and fostering a collaborative culture.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field; MBA preferred
Why Work for NYA?
- NYA operates as a people-first organisation, prioritising the well-being and needs of its employees.
- NYA offers an exceptional flexible working approach which encourages our team to balance professional responsibilities with their personal life.
- A remote based team, spread across England, fostering inclusivity and diverse talent. Despite geographical distances between team members, NYA maintains a highly motivated and connected team through the optimisation of digital tools.
- NYA is committed to supporting the continual personal and professional development of our team and helping them achieve their ambitions.
- We provide 25 days leave plus 8 days, life assurance scheme, 5% employer pension contribution and a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme via Spectrum.life with unlimited specialist support available to all NYA employees.
How to Apply:
To apply, please submit the following via our online application platform by 11:59pm on Monday 29th September 2025:
A detailed CV setting out your career history, with responsibilities and achievements in line with the person specification in the About You section.
A covering letter highlighting your suitability for the role and how you meet the requirements in the About You section.
We will request data for our EEDI monitoring purposes, providing this is optional.
Please note: The covering letter is an essential part of the application process and will be assessed as part of your full application. We use AI detector software, so cover letters or CV’s with over 80% AI generated content will be disregarded. We understand that AI tools can offer support to candidates who have learning differences, which is why we will accept applications with some AI assistance. CV’s will not be accepted without a cover letter.
The National Youth Agency is an equal opportunities employer.
At NYA our inclusive culture means that we embrace individual differences and understand that we need a diverse team to achieve our organisations mission.
We wish to recruit candidates from all backgrounds to ensure our team reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve. We encourage applications from anyone regardless of disability, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sexuality, religion, socio-economic background and political beliefs but we particularly welcome applications from global majority candidates and those from other minoritised ethnic groups in the UK as they are currently underrepresented in our team.
Youth Work changes lives
Which is why we’re committed to ensuring that as many young people as possible get to benefit from it.As the national body for youth work in England, the National Youth Agency (NYA) exists to champion its transformative power. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing impact of extraordinary youth workers and trained volunteers.
We help to grow youth work provision in ways that keep it effective, relevant, safe and engaging, to help millions of young people reach their potential and thrive. We do this by providing guidance, support, advice, training and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. At the heart of everything we do are young people themselves. We work hard to ensure their voices are integrated into all our work, to develop provision that truly meets their needs.
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