Director of Operations – Finance & Support Services
Dartington (& Torquay as required)
Working Hours: 37.5 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, ideally Monday-Friday 08.30-16.30
Salary: £51,663.00 - £59,597.00 per annum (DOE)
Are you a skilled operations professional with a background in finance?
We have a brand-new opportunity at Lifeworks Charity, for a Director of Operations (Finance & Support Services) to play a crucial role in our Central Support team. You will drive the sustainable growth and operational efficiency of the charity, directly contributing to our charitable impact.
You'll blend your financial expertise with your keen eye for operational oversight in this hybrid role, ensuring our resources are managed effectively to benefit the young people and families we support.
Who we are:
Since 1996, we've been empowering people with learning disabilities in Devon to achieve their dreams and build fulfilling lives. Our core values of kindness, respect, and positivity guide everything we do.
What you’ll do:
Finance
- Manage and maintain all financial aspects of the charity, including (but not limited to), budgeting, forecasting, reporting, ledgers, balance sheets, bank reconciliations, debtor accounts, cash flow management, insurances, property and procurement.
- Take a lead on the development of financial and fundraising processes and strategies.
- Manage and be the main point of contact for all aspects of ESFA and DfE funding compliance and reporting.
- Lead a small team to deliver outstanding support to the charity and act as a key financial advisor to managers across the organisation.
- Produce clear and concise monthly management accounts and provide financial insights to senior managers and the Board of Trustees.
- Working closely with external auditors, prepare and oversee our year end accounts.
Operations
- Ensure that charity governance and compliance is upheld, by contributing to record maintenance, managing registers and supporting with reviews of policies and procedures.
- Work with our external IT partners to manage our technology. You will make sure that the correct infrastructure, systems and processes are in the right place at the right time.
- Lead on IT security for the charity, implementing regular reviews to monitor compliance.
- Act as the Data Controller and manage all areas of data protection regulations, always prioritising data security.
- Develop and review charity policies as necessary, ensuring they align with best practices and legal requirements.
- Ensure compliance of Health and Safety policies, liaising with external advisors to maintain safety within the workplace.
Last but not least, we are looking for someone that is an advocate for people with learning disabilities and shares our common goal of making sure the people we support achieve their best lives with us. You may not be involved in the day-to-day work with our service users, but the work you will do is vital to the success of our charity.
What we're looking for:
You'll be a motivated and experienced professional who is passionate about making a difference. You should be:
- ACCA/CIMA/ACA part-qualified with significant experience (or fully qualified is a bonus!).
- A proven leader with the ability to inspire and develop a team.
- An expert in financial management, from budgeting to reporting.
- An excellent communicator who can clearly explain complex financial information to all audiences.
- Experienced in managing a broad portfolio, ideally including Health and Safety, IT, or facilities.
- Knowledgeable about governance frameworks and risk management.
If you are a strategic thinker with a hands-on approach and a desire to contribute to a vital cause, we would love to hear from you.
We're passionate about supporting our staff just as much as we are about supporting our service users. When you join our team, you can expect:
- An hourly rate above the Real Living Wage
- A holiday entitlement of 33 days’ holiday (inclusive of bank holidays)
- A fully funded DBS check and update service to ensure a smooth onboarding process
- Access to valuable resources including an employee assistance program to support your mental and emotional health
Building a diverse and safe team:
At Lifeworks, we're committed to fostering a workplace that reflects the diversity of our community. As a Disability Confident Employer, we actively encourage applications from individuals with disabilities who meet the job criteria, and we guarantee qualified candidates with disabilities an interview.
Lifeworks is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk. To achieve this commitment, we will ensure the continuous development, improvement and review of robust safeguarding processes and procedures that continuously promote a culture of vigilance in respect of safeguarding within our organisation. All staff undergo Safer Recruitment checks which include pre-employment checks, reference checks, and a DBS check with Barred List checks (where applicable).
Early applications encouraged!
This vacancy is scheduled to close on the 19th of July, but may close earlier if suitable candidates are identified. So, to ensure your application is considered, ensure you apply early!
The interview format will consist of 3 parts; a formal interview assessment, a short presentation and a Q&A with staff members. If you are selected for interview, further details will be shared ahead of the above date.
Apply today and tell us why you'd be a great fit for our team.
Please note that this role was previously advertised as Operations Manager. We ask that previous applicants of this role need not reapply.
We’d appreciate no contact from agencies regarding this role. We are only accepting direct applications.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank 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 This Vacancy
Barnabas Aid is recruiting an exceptional leader to serve as Regional Director for Asia. This is a senior leadership role within the International Programmes Team, sitting on both the Programmes Leadership Team and the Strategic Leadership Team, and offering an outstanding opportunity to shape how BAI serves persecuted and suffering Christians across one of the world’s most complex and spiritually significant regions.
The Asia region spans South Asia, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia — some of the most sensitive and complex contexts in which Barnabas Aid works. Many of the communities we serve face active persecution, operate in restricted environments, and depend on the careful, sensitive stewardship of their relationships with BAI and our partners.
This is an extraordinary opportunity for a strategically minded, relationally gifted Christian leader to shape how BAI serves the persecuted Church across one of the world's most complex and spiritually significant regions.
The Role
The Regional Programme Director — Asia will provide strategic leadership for the development and delivery of Barnabas Aid's grant making and project management across the Asia Region. You will lead and develop a team of Programme Managers, build and sustain a strong partner network, and oversee a portfolio of high-quality, biblically grounded projects that deliver measurable impact for persecuted and suffering Christians.
As a member of both the Programmes Leadership Team and the Strategic Leadership Team, you will contribute to BAI's global Programmes strategy and to organisational strategy, culture, and effective cross-departmental working.
Key Responsibilities
Regional strategy and portfolio leadership
- In collaboration with the International Chief Programmes Officer, lead the development, review, and implementation of the global Programmes strategy within the assigned Region, translating strategic priorities into a clear regional plan and pipeline.
- Maintain a balanced regional portfolio aligned with organisational priorities, donor intent, and restricted fund requirements.
- Identify emerging needs, risks, and opportunities in the Region and recommend strategic responses, including new initiatives and partnerships.
- Ensure that the Region is balancing its portfolio of Programmes according to the Country Classification framework.
Grant making and programme cycle management
- Oversee the end-to-end grant making process for Programmes in the region, ensuring proposals are assessed, costed, and approved in line with delegated authority, Gate processes, and Programmes Subcommittee requirements.
- Take lead responsibility for one sub-region and/or a portfolio of countries, leading on partner engagement and the whole project management cycle.
- Ensure robust needs assessments, project design, logical frameworks (where applicable), budgets, partner due diligence, risk assessments, and monitoring plans are in place before grants are committed.
- Oversee project implementation across the regional portfolio, including milestone tracking, reporting, learning, and close-out, ensuring records are maintained accurately and on time.
- Proactively identify project delivery issues and work with team members and partners to resolve them promptly.
- Maintain proficiency in the use of all systems and processes used to manage the workflow of the team.
- Work closely with the Programme Quality Team to ensure best practice standards, continuous improvement, and consistent application of policies, processes, and templates.
Leadership and people management
- Support the staff in the regional team by providing clear leadership, coaching, and line management, including goal setting, supervision, performance management, and development.
- Ensure capacity planning across the Region so that project management workloads are realistic and risks are appropriately managed.
- Lead recruitment, onboarding, and succession planning for the regional team, contributing to wider Programmes Team workforce planning as required.
- Deputise for the international Chief Programmes Officer when requested to do so during their absence
- Ensure Regional team members plan overseas trips appropriately and adequately, always factoring in security and safeguarding risks.
Partner engagement and external representation
- Ensure the regional team builds and sustains a strong partner network, with relationships that are effective, mutually accountable, and aligned with Barnabas Aid's mission and values.
- Develop and implement a plan for regular partner engagement and capacity building (including visits where appropriate and safe) to strengthen project delivery, monitoring, and safeguarding.
- Represent Barnabas Aid professionally with partners and other stakeholders, managing sensitive information and security considerations appropriately.
- Engage proactively with peer organisations and networks to bring insight on sector best practice into BAI's work.
Cross-organisational collaboration and governance
- Work closely with Outreach and Support departments to provide timely, high-quality project information and updates that enable supporter communications, fundraising, and reporting.
- Contribute to organisational planning and decision-making through active membership of the Programmes Leadership Team and the Strategic Leadership Team (as applicable).
- Prepare quality papers, dashboards, and narrative updates for internal decision-making meetings and governance forums as required.
Compliance, risk, and safeguarding
- Ensure compliance with Barnabas Aid policies and external requirements relevant to grant making and project delivery, including data protection and information security.
- Maintain effective regional risk management, including project, partner, fraud, security, and reputational risks, escalating issues promptly and recommending mitigations.
- Champion safeguarding and ensure safeguarding considerations are integrated into partner due diligence, project design, implementation, and reporting.
Other duties
- Carry out any other reasonable duties as the organisation requires.
Registered Charity
51 - 100
We aim to support Christian communities, churches and individuals around the world who face persecution and discrimination because of their Faith.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.