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Job Title: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Location: Remote (UK-based preferred)
Travel: Travel to Calais and UK operational sites required
Contract: Full-time, permanent
Salary: £40,000 per annum
Deadline to Apply: 16 July 2025
How to Apply: Please submit your CV and a cover letter outlining your suitability for the role and motivation for working with Care4Calais.

About Care4Calais

Care4Calais is a volunteer-led humanitarian charity providing essential aid and support to refugees and asylum seekers in Northern France and across the UK. Founded on principles of dignity, compassion, and solidarity, we are committed to creating a fairer, more inclusive society for those seeking refuge.

From providing warm clothing, English classes to legal access, education, and social support, we work tirelessly—through a network of grassroots volunteers and a small, dedicated staff teams—to deliver life-changing help to displaced people. With operations in Calais, Dunkirk, and over 70 locations in the UK, our impact is wide-reaching and continually growing.

About the Role

We are seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer (COO) to lead and oversee the strategic delivery of Care4Calais’ operational (direct aid provision) work across all regions. This is quite a newly created role that will play a central part in shaping the charity’s growth, resilience, and day-to-day effectiveness—ensuring our humanitarian aid reaches those who need it most.

The COO will work closely with the CEO, Senior Leadership Team, and Trustees, to develop internal systems, guide operational teams, maintain consistency across all projects, and strengthen our digital communications, training, safeguarding, and volunteer engagement. You will also play a key leadership role in fostering innovation, implementing policy, and coordinating multi-regional delivery across the UK and Northern France.

This is a remote-based role, but regular travel to operational sites in Calais and around the UK is essential to ensure quality, cohesion, and morale across our field teams and volunteer network.

Key Responsibilities

➣ Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Oversee the delivery of all operational activities across the UK and French field sites, ensuring they align with Care4Calais’ mission, values, and strategic goals.

• Lead and support UK Field Operations Managers and France Operations Coordinators in planning and executing aid distributions, support services, and community engagement.

• Monitor performance across regions, using data and feedback to drive improvements in impact, efficiency, safety, and volunteer satisfaction.

➣ Volunteer Coordination & Digital Community Oversight

• Supervise volunteer communication channels, including Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats, and other platforms, ensuring all messaging is consistent, safe, and in line with our organisational tone and values.

• Support the recruitment, onboarding, training, and retention of a diverse and inclusive volunteer base.

• Work daily with Field Operations Managers to provide hands-on guidance, motivation, problem-solving and support for regional leads and volunteer teams.

➣ Training, Safeguarding & Compliance

• Develop, maintain, and implement comprehensive training programmes for volunteers to ensure service quality, safety, and dignity for people seeking asylum.

• Ensure that safeguarding policies are understood by all team members, staff and volunteers alike, and rigorously implemented, acting as a point of escalation for issues that arise.

• Oversee incident reporting processes, risk assessments, and other compliance-related procedures to safeguard both volunteers and people seeking asylum.

➣ Organisational Development & Governance

• Contribute to strategic planning and policy development with the CEO, and SLT.

• Identify opportunities for innovation in service delivery, volunteer management, and infrastructure.

➣ Field Engagement & External Representation

• Conduct regular visits to UK and French operational sites, meeting with local teams, assessing needs, and providing in-person leadership and support.

• Represent Care4Calais in meetings with partner organisations and local authorities, and at public events.

Person Specification

Essential

• Demonstrable experience managing multi-site teams.

• Strong leadership, organisational and communication skills, with the ability to delegate effectively and manage competing priorities.

• Deep understanding of issues affecting asylum seekers, displaced people, or those facing immigration challenges.

• Commitment to anti-racism, inclusivity, and the promotion of human rights.

• Ability and willingness to travel frequently to field operations across the UK and Calais.

Desirable

• Proven experience in a senior operational, COO, or equivalent leadership role within the charity, humanitarian or grassroots community sector.

• Experience working with refugee communities or within the UK asylum system.

• Understanding of safeguarding, compliance, and humanitarian best practices.

Equality & Safeguarding

Care4Calais is an equal opportunities employer. We actively encourage applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, people from refugee and migrant backgrounds, LGBTQ+ individuals, disabled candidates, and those with lived experience of immigration system.

All appointments are subject to enhanced safeguarding checks.

Lived Experience Inclusion

We are an anti-racist organisation and a proud member of the Experts by Experience Employment Network (EBE), which aims to create a charitable sector led by individuals with lived experience of the asylum system.

As part of our membership, we are dedicated to creating inclusive employment practices that recognise and accommodate the unique circumstances and strengths of people with lived experience. We actively move away from a one-size-fits-all approach, ensuring our recruitment processes are fair, supportive, and accessible.

We warmly encourage applicants with lived experience to make use of the guidance and resources available on the EBE website (ebeemployment).

In addition, applicants with lived experience are welcome to connect with the EBE support team for tailored assistance with completing the application form and, where available, one-to-one interview preparation. 

Importantly, we recognise the significant cultural, linguistic, and experiential insights that individuals with lived experience of the UK asylum system bring to this role. As such, all applicants from this background who meet the essential criteria will be automatically shortlisted and invited to interview.