Pa to group director of people and change jobs in crouch end, greater london

The Executive Assistant will manage the CEO's diary, emails, coordinate meetings, handle key communications, and lead the CEO's office. The Executive Assistant will also support the CEO in strategic planning and liaise with stakeholders on the CEO's behalf.

Experience:

• Thrives in a fast-paced environment: Colleagues can be surprised by the fast pace we operate at. The Difference is an agile organisation and the candidate will need to adapt quickly to shifting priorities on a frequent basis.
• Works with high autonomy: Staff who thrive at The Difference have a demonstrated ability to take full ownership of tasks, proactively anticipate challenges and take initiative without constant direction to ensure seamless support and operational success.
• Ability to take ownership over self-development: This role promises insight into how a start up organisation grows and is run, with opportunity for the candidate to grow in areas of interest.
• Strong communicator: A clear communication style which is concise and effective - both verbally & written - as well as strong interpersonal skills.
• Stakeholder management: Evidence of having established, developed and managed effective relationships with a range of senior stakeholders.
• Organisation & project management: A track record of coordinating projects to tight timelines and a high standard, communicating proactively if timelines need to shift; as well as sharp attention to detail and thorough approach to organisation and project management.
• Agility in problem-solving: Ability to thrive in a fast-paced start-up environment, comfortable with making decisions in ambiguous contexts and rapidly diagnosing any need to reprioritise and change course; ability to think creatively/laterally and strategically to find the most effective solution.
• Values: A career or personal experience which evidences shared values with The Difference (see above) and a person

Job Profile

CAFOD’s mission in the Catholic community of England and Wales is to inspire and equip Catholics to actively engage in the Church’s efforts to overcome poverty and injustice. Our regional teams focus on recruiting and supporting a dedicated group of volunteers within parish and school communities, empowering them to educate, engage, and inspire others to act in solidarity for the common good. Regional teams also collaborate with clergy and other representatives across the Catholic community to ensure CAFOD’s volunteer programme is aligned with faith life.

The primary purpose of this role is to provide administrative and communications support to the Community Participation Coordinators across England and Wales, with a focus on the West & Wales region as the first point of contact. This includes coordinating administrative tasks performed by office volunteers and identifying opportunities for process improvements. The role also involves volunteer recruitment administration, overseeing and training Office Volunteers, and ensuring effective database management.

This role can be based anywhere in the UK including our head office in London, working from home, from one of CAFOD’s Volunteer Centres, or a combination of both. The role requires occasional travel to London and other areas within the East & West side of the country. Travel expenses will be reimbursed, and time off in lieu will be granted for travel beyond normal working hours.

This is a full-time position (35 hours per week) and reports to the Volunteer Support and Development Coordinator.

Key Responsibilities Overview
The post holder will play a key role in driving smooth, efficient operations across CAFOD’s West & Wales region. As the go-to person for admin excellence and volunteer support, you’ll work closely with your line manager and colleagues in the East to streamline processes, improve systems, and keep everything running like clockwork.

You’ll lead on volunteer recruitment and engagement—welcoming new volunteers, managing onboarding, and ensuring everyone feels valued, equipped, and inspired to support CAFOD’s work. Your people skills and attention to detail will shine as you manage applications, data entry, and training coordination.

Communications will be at the heart of your role. You’ll create engaging e-bulletins and social media content that keeps our community informed and motivated, while ensuring messages are clear, consistent, and aligned with CAFOD’s wider goals.

You’ll be the guardian of accurate data, working with office volunteers to maintain up-to-date records that support smarter outreach and efficient workflows. Your collaborative spirit will help strengthen connections across teams, share best practices, and contribute to creative new approaches for engaging communities.

This is a role for a proactive, organised, and people-focused individual who’s excited to innovate, solve problems, and make a tangible impact in a supportive, values-led organisation.

Safeguarding

All CAFOD staff share responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities.

Person Specification

Understanding our context

1. Understanding Catholic identity: sympathetic knowledge of the life, culture and structure of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and an ability to work effectively within it and especially an understanding of parish community life.
2. Understanding CAFOD: ability to express what motivates people to volunteer for, and support, CAFOD and the main activities in which Catholic community primarily participate. Being informed about, supportive of, and actively promoting our anti-racism work.

Working together

1. Managing ourselves: strong interpersonal skills including an ability to develop personal relationships quickly and to convince others.  Ability to be self-motivated and able to work in isolation linking with different people in a variety of contexts; confident with articulating support required for you to work well.
2. Working with others: builds positive and fruitful partnerships, particularly with volunteers; works effectively as part of a team which may work at a distance to ensure sharing of good practice and shared workload; being willing and able to help other team members and be helped to achieve delivery of shared objectives.
3. Communicating: ability to identify how best to communicate instructions and processes clearly and how this helps achieve the objectives CAFOD seeks to deliver and how to share knowledge and information across teams.

Making change happen

1. Managing resources: confident with processing data for planning, monitoring and reporting:  proven time-management, data-management and organisational skills/experience of delegating tasks clearly and making improvements to processes.
2. Achieving results: ability and willingness to focus on achieving efficiencies, especially in support of regional plans for community participation and income growth.
3. Managing our performance: ability and willingness to work to targets and achieve results.

Job-Specific Competencies

Administrative Process Improvement:

Proven ability to assess, streamline, and document administrative processes. Strong organisational skills are required to manage a variety of tasks and ensure efficient delegation to volunteers. Ability to identify inefficiencies and propose practical solutions to enhance office operations.

Volunteer Recruitment & Engagement:

Expertise in recruiting, onboarding, and maintaining volunteer engagement. You will build strong relationships with volunteers, ensuring their experience is positive and aligned with CAFOD’s mission. Experience in using volunteer management systems and managing volunteer data is essential.

Communication & Content Creation: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with experience in producing engaging content for e-bulletins, newsletters, and other media resources. Ability to tailor messaging to different audiences, ensuring clarity and consistency in CAFOD’s communications.

Data Management & Accuracy:

Attention to detail is crucial for maintaining accurate records. Experience with databases, data segmentation, and ensuring data integrity is essential. A strong understanding of data protection standards, including GDPR, will be necessary.

Collaboration & Team Communication:

Effective communicator with internal teams, ensuring smooth communication and alignment across various regions. Ability to foster positive working relationships and collaborate across teams, both virtually and in person. Proficiency with communication tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom is required.

Training & Support:

Experience in delivering training to volunteers and staff, ensuring they have the necessary skills and knowledge. Ability to provide ongoing support to regional office volunteers, helping them succeed and contribute effectively to the team.

Adaptability & Problem-solving:

Flexible and resourceful, able to adapt to changing priorities. You will be expected to identify challenges and propose solutions to keep operations running smoothly.

Commitment to CAFOD’s Mission & Values:

A deep understanding of CAFOD’s mission and Catholic social teaching, with the ability to align volunteer engagement and administrative activities with the organization’s goals of addressing poverty and injustice.

Use of Digital Tools & Systems:

Competence in using databases, Microsoft Office Suite, and collaboration tools. Ability to train volunteers in these systems to ensure smooth operations across teams.

Project Management & Accountability:

Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, ensuring tasks are completed within deadlines and to a high standard. You will be responsible for delivering results aligned with CAFOD’s objectives.

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect.  CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse.  CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.  Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behaviour as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents. This post involves contact with children, young people and vulnerable adults, or has responsibility for people who will do, and applicants will be subject to specific checks related to safeguarding issues.  If based in the UK the post holder is required to present or obtain a Disclosure from the DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service).  If the post is based outside the UK the post holder will be subject to a different checking process.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job 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 submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures.

Please click here for a full list of CAFOD’s Staff Benefits

Come and join us and help make a real difference in the lives of the world’s poorest communities.

CAFOD is an equal opportunities employer. Recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.

We are seeking a dynamic and skilled PR & Media Officer to join our team. This role requires a creative thinker with excellent communication skills who can manage media relations and promote our initiatives through various channels.

Responsibilities

Press

• Field enquiries from stakeholders including journalists and police forces
• Write press releases and media statements and share these when appropriate via digital & social
• Support the team with the rewards process and promotion
• Draft assets for press
• Be part of the on-call rota system currently 1 week in 7 (training and support provided)
• Effectively manage Vuelio to manage the daily tagging, produce media reports demonstrating PR coverage for all campaigns in a timely way.

Digital

• Develop and update content for website news pages and social media platforms
• Spot trends and advise the team regarding innovative new ideas for PR & Media to share with the team

PR and Publications

• Produce, edit and distribute updates and materials for external and internal audiences, dealing sensitively with those whose personal experiences might be featured
• Provide communications support for regional managers along with other internal staff and teams in addition to police and business development campaigns
• Manage external freelancers and agencies as needed to agreed deadlines and budgets
• To lead on editing, co-ordinating and organising the editorial, design and production of corporate publications
• Ensure all publications are in line with brand and changing needs of the charity and to be delivered in a timely via post and digitally.

Brand

• Ensure Crimestoppers consistent branding is used along with the style and tone of voice
• Manage on a weekly basis the brand inbox queries
• Extend the network of journalists both regionally and nationally
• Plan/create multi-media communications material

Experience

• Minimum 2 years experience working in media relations and PR or related fields (Essential)
• Client, journalist and/or supplier management (Essential)
• Experience of PR & Communications software (e.g. Vuelio) (Essential)
• Digital & Social Media experience (Essential)
• Excellent written communication skills online and offline (Essential)
• Strong organisational, time management and prioritisation skills (Essential)

If you are a motivated individual looking to make an impact through effective public relations, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity as a PR & Media Officer. For full details, please see our website.

To apply, please submit a CV and covering letter.

Contract: Permanent 

Salary: £38,613- £41,852 p.a. (Inc London Weighting) 

Hours of work: Full time/35 hours per week 

Location: London Office/ Hybrid 

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. 

Who we are 

CAFOD is a leading international development agency in England & Wales and is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). 

CAFOD is part of one of the world’s largest aid networks (Caritas Internationalis) which has a presence in 193 countries and is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. We work through Catholic and secular organisations to reach people of all faiths and none, and in places that others can’t. 

About the role 

This is the perfect role for a press officer with great news judgement, who is proactive about hunting out media opportunities, and tenacious about seeing ideas through until coverage appears.

You’ll be comfortable pitching to a range of producers, journalists and editors, will have a sense of what makes a good broadcast spokesperson, and be confident helping colleagues to prepare for media opportunities. International development experience is not essential, but you’ll be able to show a strong interest in our work and be passionate about helping deliver our mission. 

We are looking for a creative go-getter with lots of ideas about how to secure media coverage for our work. You should be able to write well and build relationships with a wide range of people around the world. In return, you’ll be given room to flourish and supported to raise the profile of CAFOD, and will also have the chance to work on humanitarian appeals launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee.

Essential criteria for the role will include:  

• Experience of securing media and PR coverage 

• Experience working with digital teams, to ensure a “digital first” approach to media

• Experience turning complicated issues into newsworthy stories

• Experience coming up with your own ideas to generate media coverage 

• Experience creating captivating and inspiring content 

• A passion for international development and the values of CAFOD 

Safeguarding 

All CAFOD staff share the responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities.

Why Choose CAFOD?  

 At CAFOD we value our employees and are committed to offering a healthy work–life balance and promoting the well-being of our employees.  

Hybrid working with at least 40% of your time in the London Office.  

As well as the exciting opportunities this role presents, we also offer great benefits, some of which are below.  

• Generous annual leave package & annual leave purchase scheme  

• Enhanced Pension (6% - 17.5% contribution)  

• Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loan  

• Enhanced Maternity, paternity and adoption pay  

• Enhanced Sick pay & income protection  

• Life Assurance 

• Employee Assistance Programme  

 We offer all our employees learning and development opportunities, we provide training, coaching and mentoring to support your development in various aspects of our work.  

CAFOD is committed to being an anti-racist organisation and we are keen to increase the diversity of our teams. We are particularly keen to seek out applications from people of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.  

There's room for everyone: Catholics and non-Catholics; people of all faiths and none. We employ people of all ages and ethnicities in all corners of the world. The result? A friendly and open-minded organisation.  

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults  

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect.  CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse.  CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.  Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behaviour as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.   

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job 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 submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures.  

Please click here for a full list of CAFOD’s Staff Benefits 

Come and join us and help make a real difference in the lives of the world’s poorest communities.