Head of secretariat jobs in london
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!
‘Communication is one of the most important things, and I feel the ESU has set us up for life.’ Schools’ Mace 2024 participant
Oracy gives young people the skills and confidence to shape their lives and to build a more connected and cooperative world
Both nationally and internationally, public discussion and political debate are increasingly polarised and divided. Social media, fake news and new technologies such as AI can create echo chambers, where claims pass unchallenged, and different views are hard to find. The English-Speaking Union shows that there is a more constructive and collaborative path. The ESU was founded in 1918 to build greater understanding and friendships between people and nations. We are an educational charity with international reach, with an ESU in over 50 countries. Today our work is focussed on training young people in oracy – speaking and listening skills, in critical thinking and self-expression - to build skilful communicators and engaged citizens and leaders.
The English-Speaking Union and our work is more important now than ever.
Overview of the Team
The Corporate Services team provides essential strategic and operational support across the organisation. Our governance function oversees compliance, risk management, and performance frameworks. The finance team manages budgets, financial planning, and reporting. All of this contributes to effective decision making. We are also responsible for looking after our properties, which includes maintaining oversight of two commercial leases, and maintaining Dartmouth House which is a grade II* listed events venue and our Head Office in Mayfair.
Purpose of this role
The Senior Governance Officer will provide high quality support to the Board of Trustees and its sub-Committees, and the Chief Operating Officer. This role will work closely with the Executive Assistant to the Director General.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys being at the heart of an organisation’s operations—helping to keep the corporate services running smoothly, so that our Education and Supporter teams can focus on delivering impact through our programmes.
Responsibilities and Expectations
- Provide governance support including the preparation and timely circulation of agendas, papers, minutes and action logs for Board and Committee meetings.
- Monitor and report on progress against Board and Committee actions, ensuring timely follow-up and delivery.
- Ensure the charity complies with statutory, regulatory and sector best practice, including maintenance of key registers including the risk register, gift & hospitality register, declarations of interest, and compliance trackers.
- Maintain the organisation’s contract register, tracking review dates and supporting internal contract reviews and renewals.
- Provide high-quality administrative and organisational support to the Chief Operating Officer, helping to ensure smooth day-to-day operations.
- Assist with the planning and delivery of the annual external audit, working with colleagues and auditors to meet key deadlines.
- Support the delivery of the annual Board effectiveness review, gathering feedback and helping to implement improvements.
- Facilitate due diligence checks as needed, liaising with legal advisors to ensure accuracy and compliance.
- Deliver one-off projects and provide flexible support across the Corporate Services team as required.
Skills and Experience
- A good understanding of Charities Act and Charity Governance Code.
- A track record of providing secretariat support, including minute taking.
- Excellent administrative skills, highly organised with very good attention to detail.
- A tactful and conscientious individual who can navigate through complex situations
- Understands the importance of maintaining confidentiality
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- A motivated self-starter who can quickly translate issues into solutions.
- A team player who can quickly build trusted relationships at all levels.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
- Can confidently and professionally challenge and hold people to account.
- The ability to manage several projects simultaneously whilst working at a high standard.
- Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office.
- 28 Days Annul leave plus bank holidays
- Enhanced pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Group life cover
- Employee Assistance
- Virtual GP
- Season Ticket Loan
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
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!
Location: Wenlock Road, London N1
Salary: £40,560 per annum (DEC Grade 5 Manager)
Contract status: Full time. 2 years fixed term (subject to a further extension)
About the role
We are seeking an experienced and enthusiastic Social Media Manager with strong content creation skills who will lead on our organic presence across multiple channels. This is an exciting time to join the Communications team as we develop our social media platform strategies, increase our collaboration with talent and influencers, align our organic and paid digital presence and experiment through a test-and-learn approach. If all of this excites you then this could be the role for you.
***Please download the job description for full details***
About you
You will have expertise in driving engagement and awareness across multiple channels, be skilled at producing and commissioning creative content, strong experience in community management and be up-to-date on the latest trends and changes in the social media landscape. Experience of working in the charity sector and a sound understanding of what makes good fundraising content would be a distinct advantage.
The ideal candidate will be experienced in working within the parameters of an established brand whilst driving innovation and maximising creative opportunities. You will be equally at home with the day-to-day management of social media accounts as with working with the Head of Communications and Content to develop and deliver our strategic objectives using data and insights.
What we offer
Flexible working hours (outside of an appeal)
25 days annual leave, rising with length of service (3 years: 27 days. 5 years: 30 days)
3% employers’ pension contribution, rising to 8% post probation.
HealthCare Cash Plan, providing an array of health services, (~£1, 660 cash value, per year)
Wellbeing support
Discounted access to various health club providers (via Gympass).
Discounts schemes for various retailers and businesses
Discounted tickets for events
Season ticket loan (post probation)
Financial hardship loan (post probation)
Cycle-to-work & Car scheme (post probation)
About us
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of humanitarian crisis overseas. This role will require you to lead on organic social media as part of the DEC Communications team, working closely with the Digital and Innovation team in Fundraising, collaborate with social leads across our 15 member charities and public figures through our talent agency. During appeal launch periods it will also involve managing a small social media team of volunteers.
All roles at the DEC are based in our London office. We operate a hybrid working model, with some non-negotiable office attendance. Please note, during the two-week appeal launch period, staff are required to work extremely long hours, in a faced-paced busy environment, with mandatory office attendance.
How to apply
If this role is of interest and meets your skills, experience, and knowledge, then please apply with your anonymised CV and cover letter [i.e. please state your initials only, not your full name]. If you include links to social media work or an online portfolio please state clearly what your role/contribution was.
Please send your application by 9am, Monday 21st July 2025. Early application is advised as we will be reviewing applications as they arrive and may hold initial interviews before the application deadline.
We are unable to support applications for our vacancies if you do not have the right to work in the UK.
The DEC is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from anyone who can meet the criteria, regardless of gender, race, age, disability, sexuality, or religion.
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.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We have an exciting new opportunity to join Icebreaker One as a Senior Administrator
About Icebreaker One
We are a diverse collection of like minded people whose expertise spans policy and science, finance and engineering, data and systems—working together to tackle one of the greatest challenges of our time. We need your help.
Our mission is to make data work harder to deliver net-zero outcomes.
The role
Reporting
You will be a member of the PMO team, working closely with Icebreaker One’s project managers. You will be responsible for supporting the successful delivery of projects and secretariat functions as directed by the Programme Director, Head of Project Management and the Programme and Policy Manager.
Responsibilities
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Project administration
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Creating meeting templates, slide decks and documents
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Attend meetings to take meeting minutes
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Proof-reading project documents and artefacts
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Assisting the project manager with task management using the Jira tool and preparing meeting agendas
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Icebreaker One secretariat administration for Steering and Advisory Groups
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Preparation:
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Oversee diary management, meeting planning and scheduling
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Creating Zoom meetings
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Logistics, and room bookings for in person meetings/events
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managing and updating attendee tracking lists
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Prepare, collate and distribute meeting materials well in advance to attendees
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Creating voting forms for items needing endorsement
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Ensuring co-chairs are supported in meeting logistics
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Execution
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Host / managing Zoom/Teams for online meetings
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Attend meetings to take meeting minutes, and post-meeting cleaning up the notes afterwards (for easy reading)
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summarising outputs
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Tracking voting form responses and, if required, following up with individual members to ensure quorate is reached
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Post-AG wash up
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Writing, disseminating, and publishing Advisory and Steering Group minutes
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Writing/summarising, coordinating and sending post-event follow up emails and voting summary reports
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Updating the SG/AG action tracker log of actions, ensuring follow-up with action owners before each meeting.
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Inbox Management: Oversee the Secretariat mailbox to ensure effective communication, timely responses, and coordination of meetings, while maintaining organised records and distributing information as needed
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Public webinar and in person events administration
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Coordinating panellists, preparing agenda and slide deck templates
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Managing Eventbrite & calendar invitations, Zoom administration
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Assisting with the coordination of onsite logistics
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Participating in weekly Show & Tell meetings
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Additional ad hoc administrative tasks as appropriate
Results
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Ensuring the smooth running of IB1 projects, meetings and Steering and Advisory Groups
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Ensuring project managers and meeting participants have all the required information to carry out meetings and activities
Knowledge, Skills, Experience
Demonstrable experience of:
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Attention to detail and administrative skills
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Ability to understand and take real-time notes in complex meetings
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Working with and in support of a group of team members
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Highly organised and capable of managing time and tasks effectively and independently
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Familiar with using and applying Google Suite/Workspace, Slack, Zoom, social media and other tools for working remotely and in the open
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The ability to work in a collegiate, collaborative and open environment
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Experience in supporting, coaching and delegating to junior administrators
Desirable
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A working knowledge of the UK’s Net Zero landscape
Our approach
Fundamental to the success of our programmes is that solutions are developed in collaboration with the sector, for the sector and by the sector.
Our Icebreaking approach underpins all our work and feeds into continuous iterative development.
Research sits at the heart of our systems-based approach and spans climate, finance, policy and industrial sectors (e.g. energy, water, transportation, built world, agriculture).
Our Data Services team deliver market-facing services, including Trust Frameworks
Our Membership, Community and Communications teams develop strategies that allow us to work in open, transparent ways and continuously seek industry feedback.
All work is delivered using an agile-based, modular and iterative approach that includes continuous feedback from research and open consultations. Feedback and documentation are published alongside responses and actions taken on our website.
All outputs, reports, developments and deliverables undergo internal quality assurance. Early-stage research is presented in a weekly Show and Tell for internal, external and peer feedback; fortnightly heartbeat sessions with clients and funders, checks on direction of travel and shows work early; sharing draft materials for feedback is core to our process.
Benefits of being an Icebreaker?
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Flexible working - to help you work around your needs and commitments we operate a four-day week, and don’t have work or meetings booked on a Friday.
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Remote working - we may all be working remotely but it doesn't get in the way of us working closely. Regardless of whether working remotely is by choice or by necessity - daily standups and regular work and non-work related hangouts mean you are connected to the team.
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Supportive working - Bring and share what you know as you’ll be working with people willing to learn and share knowledge. Foster support in getting the most of the virtual/remote TX from using GoogleDocs/GSuite to Show & Tell sessions
Apply today
Email your cover letter and CV/links to pages that show us what you have done, and can do, to help us achieve our mission
Applications must be received by 0900 GMT 2025-07-03
As a team, we are committed to equality and creating an inclusive culture with diverse and balanced backgrounds. We actively encourage applications from everyone and will help to support you to reach your full potential and to be yourself in a working environment based on dignity, respect and mutual support. Before applying you will need to ensure you have the right to work in the UK and can provide documentary evidence of this.
The role does require the applicant to be able to work within a UK time zone
Full details are avaialble on our website
Our mission is to make data work harder to deliver net zero.

The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
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!
Do you have experience in research funding? Or a keen interest to apply a scientific degree to funding impactful child health research? If so, then we have a fantastic opportunity for you.
Following a promotion, Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity is hiring for a Research Officer is responsible for ensuring charitable funding supports the highest quality projects within our funding priority areas of: research; patient and family experience; technology and medical equipment; hospital staff support; education; and environment (through supporting redevelopment projects and capital builds).
Salary
The salary for this position is £31,935 per annum and we operate a hybrid working policy of a minimum of 2 days per week in the office.
In line with our EDI strategy and Total Reward policy, we calculate our salaries based on benchmarking data across the charity sector. To ensure fairness for existing staff and new joiners, we do not offer salaries above the advertised rate.
Key Responsibilities
Research grant management
- Managing the delivery of GOSH Charity’s response-mode funding schemes, including our National Research Project Grant and ‘Lift Off’ pilot study funding call and others.
- Supporting potential applicants via email, phone or in person to ensure we receive high quality grant applications.
- Processing, reviewing and validating grant applications.
- Leading the peer review process using our Grant Management System.
- Project managing the delivery of the Research Assessment Panel.
- Supporting the input of patient and public voice, to ensure they’re built into our research funding decision making.
Committee management
- Providing operational and secretariat support to the Research Assessment Panel and Lift Off Scientific Assessment Panels, and other expert research review panels as required.
- Managing agendas and meeting logistics, including face to face meetings as they are arranged.
- Preparing papers and reports, and collating these from across the team for delivery to the Committee in good time.
- Preparing high quality minutes that provide a clear record of discussions, decisions, and actions, and disseminating these following internal and Chair approval.
- Support the regular review of the Committee membership and tenure.
- Evaluating and recommending improvement and applying sector best practice to the Committee operations.
- Being a first point of call for Committee members, supporting them to deliver their role and ensuring they have a good experience working with GOSH Charity
This is a varied role with high impact, please refer to the full role profile for all the information.
Skills, Knowledge and Expertise
- Previous experience working in grants management or within relevant scientific research.
- Knowledge of research principles and the UK research funding environment.
- Sound knowledge of paediatric research or similar discipline.
- Demonstrate experience of research quality assessments, including peer review.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with high attention to detail.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple projects at once.
- Strong relationship builder, with the ability to network in the scientific, clinical and research communities.
- Either an undergraduate degree in a relevant scientific discipline, or equivalent relevant work experience.
We are Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity. We stop at nothing to help give seriously ill children childhoods that are fuller, funner and longer.