Operations Manager

We are seeking an experienced, highly organised and proactive Operations Manager to play a central role in keeping our London office running smoothly and supporting our wider team and organisation. The ideal candidate will have strong liberal instincts and support our mission to defend civil liberties in the UK.

This is a varied and hands-on role with responsibility across multiple operational areas, ensuring everything runs smoothly behind the scenes. It is a new role to the organisation, initially offered as a 12 month fixed term contract, with the possibility of extension.

Why join Big Brother Watch?

• A genuinely flexible, part-time role designed to support work-life balance

• A dynamic, successful and friendly team in a supportive working environment

• The opportunity to take ownership of an important and varied role

• The chance to contribute to an organisation at the forefront of defending freedom in the UK

Flexible working that works for you

• 16 hours per work, with flexibility as to how these are worked

• We’re open to a range of working patterns (e.g. school hours, shorter days across the week, or compressed hours, potentially variations across term times / school holidays)

• Hybrid working, in practice will likely require min. 50% office attendance

The rest of our team works full time in-office. However, for this particular part-time role we aim to agree on a working pattern that provides consistency and predictability while fitting around your other commitments. We particularly welcome applications from experienced candidates returning to work after a career break, including parents and carers.

About you

You’ll have strong experience managing or co-ordinating a busy office or operational environment. You’ll be confident in taking on tasks proactively, looking for ways to plan ahead to ensure smooth operational running and improved efficiency, and independently finding solutions. You’ll have excellent communication skills, liaising with all team members and providing the team with essential operational support as needed. You’ll have good IT office skills.

Operations Manager job description

• Take ownership of the day-to-day running of the London office, ensuring it is organised and efficient

• Help co-ordinate logistics for meetings and staff travel

• Co-ordinate IT support, equipment and asset management

• Lead IT migration projects (e.g. changing software/support suppliers, as directed)

• Ensure the office and kitchen are adequately supplied

• Support with HR admin including recruitment of staff, volunteers and contractors

• Organise staff socials

• Organise cycle to work scheme

• Liaise with accountants, support basic book-keeping (receipt filing)

• Support with internal file storage, physical and digital

• Support with maintenance of databases

• Assist with postage and physical mailouts to our supporters

• Commit to highest standards of data protection

• Periodically undertake required office risk assessments

Big Brother Watch

Big Brother Watch is a UK civil liberties campaign group fighting for a free future. We’re determined to reclaim our privacy and defend freedoms at this time of enormous technological change. And we fight to win.

We’re a fiercely independent, diverse, non-partisan and non-profit group of campaigners and researchers who work to roll back the surveillance state and protect rights in Parliament, the media or the courts if we have to. We publish unique investigations and pursue powerful public campaigns to pursue real change. We work relentlessly to inform and empower the public to collectively reclaim privacy, defend our civil liberties and protect freedoms for the future.

We’re a small, dedicated and highly effective team of 7 (growing to 8) staff members and 5 volunteers.