Receptionist jobs in birmingham

Job Tile: Operations and Office Administrator

Reporting To: Fundraising and Operations Manager & Health & Safety Officer

Days & Hours: Monday to Friday. Full-time - 37.5 hours per week

Salary: Depending on experience. This will be discussed with the shortlisted candidates.

Additional Benefits:

• An additional week of holiday (vs national entitlement)
• Four discretionary days of holiday over the Christmas period when the office is closed
• Discretionary Christmas bonus
• Discretionary paid compassionate leave
• Discretionary Occupational Sick Pay
• Discretionary paid time-off for dependents
• Discretionary paid time-off for public duties
• Discretionary additional bank holidays (if any announced by the government)
• Flexible working
• Training
• Long Service Awards
• Private Healthcare Scheme
• Death in Service Benefit
• Pension enrolment (optional)
• Invitation to Charity conferences and webinars

Job purpose

The Operations and Office Administrator will provide wide-ranging administrative & operational support to ensure an efficient office environment, contributing directly to the delivery of the international Missionary Society of St Columban’s mission priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Office Operations: Ensure the smooth running of the office through the management and coordination of IT systems, office supplies, post, telephone/internet, document filing and retention, and oversight of maintenance and improvements to equipment and the working environment.

PA & Administration: Provide IT and administration support to the Regional Director, the Fundraising and Operations Manager, Regional Council, the Board of Trustees, Mission Appeals Team and the community living at St Columban’s House; including minute-taking, arranging meetings, drafting and sending correspondence, database administration, preparation of reports, and booking travel and appointments.

Venue Hire & Events Administration: Coordinate room and grounds hire at St Columban’s – handling enquiries and bookings, diary management, health & safety compliance, preparing the venue, maintaining and improving the facilities, advertising – and assist with the planning and administration of events organised by the Charity.

Reception: Host visitors and handle enquiries by telephone and email; including deliveries/collections, maintenance and supplier visits, and members of the public contacting the office to donate, request a Mass, update their record details, meet with a priest, or for any other reason.

Health & Safety Administration: Manage the online system for health & safety, coordinate the review and update of risk assessments for the office, house and grounds, organise training and briefings, monitor and re-stock first aid supplies, act as a health & safety marshal and organise staff appointed as first aiders and fire marshals.

Principal Tasks

Under the supervision and management of the Fundraising and Operations Manager, you will:

Office Operations

• Champion Microsoft 365 and provide support and guidance to staff in how to make best use of its capabilities.
• Oversee the performance and maintenance of our IT server and network, maintain regular contact with our IT services provider to ensure all issues are resolved.
• Maintain, service and replace office equipment and furniture as required, including IT and telephone systems.
• Monitor and order stock of office supplies, including stationery, cleaning and sanitary products.
• Oversight of office cleaning arrangements.
• Organise and promote recycling to staff for equipment and supplies no longer required.
• Oversee and develop systems for document filing and storage.
• Arrange for confidential disposal of documents in accord with the Charity’s retention policy.
• Oversee arrangements, equipment and systems for receiving and sending out post.
• Process monthly Charity ‘Response with stamps’ claims.

PA & Administration Assistance

• Assist the Regional Director with day-to-day IT and administration tasks.
• Assist the Columban Fathers with administration tasks, when needed.
• Assist with arranging parish appeals and processing the response to appeals.
• Support with direct mail and other fundraising activities.
• Update supporter records in our CRM database.
• Attend and take minutes at Charity meetings.
• Book travel and appointments for the Regional Director and the Columban Priests.
• Prepare and send correspondence by letter and email.

Venue Hire & Events Administration

• Develop a robust and efficient system for the hire and use of the facilities at St Columban’s, covering both external bookings and internal use by staff and volunteers of the Charity.
• Handle all enquiries and bookings.
• Maintain a bookings diary/calendar that is available to all who need access.
• Keep a complete record of all bookings, related documents and correspondence in our CRM database.
• Ensure hirers and users of the facilities are briefed in all matters related to health & safety.
• Ensure the facilities are clean and ready to use before and after each booking.
• Host or arrange hosting for each booking.
• Process payments/donations made for the hire/use of the facilities.
• Collect and record feedback on their experience from external hirers and users.
• Work with the Buildings & Maintenance Manager to maintain and improve the facilities.
• Advertise/market the facilities to agreed target audiences.
• Provide planning and administration assistance for events organised by the Charity.

Reception

• Welcome and host all visitors to St Columban’s during normal opening hours.
• Maintain a visitors log and ensure all visitors sign in and sign out when leaving the building.
• Handle enquiries by telephone and email.
• Process requests from Charity supporters to donate, request a Mass or to update their database record.
• Receive and keep a daily log of deliveries, collections and service/maintenance visits.
• Ensure the Reception area is kept clean and tidy.

Under the supervision and management of the Health & Safety Officer, you will:

Health & Safety Administration

• Maintain and update BrightSafe, our health & safety planning and records management tool.
• Maintain regular contact with Peninsula, our Health & Safety service provider
• Review and update risk assessments for the office and conference room areas.
• Prompt and assist those responsible to review and update all other risk assessments.
• Ensure actions identified following a review are completed and updated in BrightSafe.
• Check and restock First Aid kits.
• Recruit and organise a team of first aiders and fire marshals.
• Provide and monitor accident books for the whole site and keep a central record of accidents reported.
• Arrange training for staff and volunteers in liaison with their line managers.

Some weekend and out of hours work may be required occasionally.

Person Specification:

Qualifications/training:

Essential:

• GCSE or equivalent in English and Maths (grade C or above)

Desirable:

• Business Administration Level 3 or equivalent qualification or experience.
• Microsoft 365 qualifications or equivalent training
• Health & Safety related training
• Other qualifications or training relevant to the role

Skills/competencies:

Essential:

• Competency in Microsoft 365 applications, especially Outlook, Word, Excel, SharePoint and Teams
• Accuracy, attention to detail and an aptitude for problem solving
• Excellent verbal & written communication skills
• Capable of working independently and collaboratively as part of a team
• Confidence in building relationships with various stakeholders

Desirable:

• Competency in Microsoft 365 admin centre and other 365 applications
• Competency in Donorflex or similar CRM database systems
• Knowledge and understanding of office IT systems and requirements
• Knowledge and understanding of workplace health & safety

Previous experience:

Essential:

• A minimum of 5-7 years’ experience of office-based administration work

Desirable:

• Employment within a Charity
• Reception/front of house
• Office filing systems
• Event administration

Special aptitudes and knowledge:

Essential:

• Confident and courteous with people on the telephone, in person and in correspondence by letter and e-mail
• A team player
• Ability and willingness to learn and adapt to new ways of working
• Responsible for undertaking core learning for the role
• Determined, innovative, target driven and self-motivated

Desirable:

• Empathy with the charitable aims of the Columban Missionaries.

Are you passionate about creating unforgettable experiences that drive real-world impact? Pratham UK is seeking a dynamic and detail-oriented Special Events Officer to lead the delivery of our flagship annual Gala—this year hosted at the iconic V&A Museum—and support a calendar of high-profile and community-focused events. Working closely with our Director of Philanthropy and an ambitious, collaborative team, you'll play a vital role in helping us raise vital funds to support millions of children through Pratham’s groundbreaking education programmes in India.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a fast-growing charity in a pivotal role, ideal for someone with experience in event planning and a passion for supporting children in India to thrive. You’ll help shape events that not only inspire donors but also celebrate our global impact—from an exclusive House of Lords reception to grassroots fundraising campaigns. If you're ready to bring creativity, precision, and purpose to your next role, we’d love to hear from you.

Reporting to: Director of Policy and Engagement 

Direct reports: 1 x Scotland Policy and Public Affairs Manager and Legislative Lead, 2 x Policy and Public Affairs Officers, 1 x England Policy and Public Affairs Manager 

Location of work: Home-based. The post holder must be easily and quickly commutable to London and will require frequent meetings in London. The role may involve some irregular travel throughout England and Scotland to attend events and meetings.

Contract type: Full-time, 35 hours per week,  flexible hours may be considered. The role may require occasional evening and weekend work 

Contract Length: Permanent 

Salary: £54,500 - £56,500 

BACKGROUND

Our work has never been more needed. The latest research suggesting that the number of children and young people at risk of hunger has rocketed to 2.6 million* means that one in five children don't have enough to eat.When a child is too hungry to learn, when they’re aching for something to eat, they can’t concentrate. They can’t absorb information. Big feelings and worries can be impossible to control. They fall behind in their studies.

Magic Breakfast provide a nutritious and filling breakfast to over 300,000 children and young people every school day. We work with schools in areas of high disadvantage, helping staff target the children most in need without barrier or stigma.  Magic Breakfast are ambitious to grow our impact to remove hunger as a barrier to learning for all children and young people in the UK.

 This is an exciting time to join Magic Breakfast if you wish to make a difference to the lives of children as we work to influence both policy implementation, with the national rollout of primary-aged universal school breakfast, and legislative change, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. There has also been commitment from the Scottish Government for a national breakfast scheme and we are seeking to expand our advocacy work into Wales. Magic Breakfast’s influence will be instrumental to ensuring school breakfasts are implemented in a way that is hunger-focused and barrier free.

In addition, thousands of secondary school children are at risk of losing their free school breakfasts from September next year. For many of these students, this is their only opportunity to have a nutritious meal before facing a demanding school day, including taking exams.  And for the very youngest, we know that the disadvantage gap begins before they even reach reception. With the Government commitment to another 100,000 places in school-based nurseries, early years is also a critical part of our advocacy work.

 Being part of the work of Magic Breakfast is your chance, together with parents, teachers and people across the UK, to demonstrate the power of school breakfasts and to shape the way forward to end morning hunger for good.

*Food Foundation Insecurity Tracker Jan 2025

JOB PURPOSE

The Head of Policy & Public Affairs will review, develop and implement our advocacy strategy and lead a team to influence the devolved legislatures across the UK to address child morning hunger, with a view to the underlying systemic causes of child poverty and hunger, by driving change through policy and legislation. The role operates at our ‘Head of level’ which is the most senior operational specialist level and provides both operational and strategic leadership.

This role will also provide wider leadership across the charity and input into organisational strategy development and planning as part of the Core Management Group. This role will ensure that the Policy and Public Affairs function is aligned to the wider strategic aims and outcomes of Magic Breakfast as well as the internal operational systems and delivery.

The strategic leadership will ensure an external and long term view, with an outward looking and forward thinking approach that builds thought leadership, relationships and partnerships, with positioning to anticipate and build on new opportunities to end child morning hunger for good.

It will require an experienced Policy and Public Affairs professional, with significant experience of high impact and demonstrable outcomes at a senior level in the field. The postholder will lead the policy and public affairs team to influence the Early Adopters Scheme, the national rollout of primary school breakfast provision in England and breakfast legislation in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill (CWB).

They will also develop, guide and lead plans to influence the Scottish government, particularly in the run up to the election in May 2026 and the influencing of manifestos; and will lead Magic Breakfast’s upcoming influencing work in Wales. 

In the external leadership that the role provides they will build relationships with politicians, political influencers, special advisors and civil servants to establish long-term, sustainable solutions to child morning hunger in the UK.

As a compassionate, people centric and inspiring leader they will work to enable their team to grow and develop in their skills ensuring they can step away from the detail whilst retaining accountability, build effective resource management and progression pathways. This role may manage external consultants where necessary, and work collaboratively with external organisations to amplify our voice and asks and strengthen our position as a thought leader. 

 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

· Review and define the advocacy strategy for 25/26 in line both with moving political environment and Magic Breakfast’s influencing agenda, considering the systemic barriers to ending child morning hunger for good.

· Develop and maintain close relationships with the Department for Education and other key departments including Department for Health and Social Care and Treasury, to secure hunger and child focus as key priorities for breakfast provision.

· Develop, monitor and evaluate influencing plans for each devolved nation

· Support the development of influencing plans with coalition groups and organisations to influence school breakfast policy, commitments and implementation

· Review policy positions in Wales and Northern Ireland and define our advocacy approach, gaining external insights and analysing available research and data to shape the plan

· Develop a vision for advocacy beyond current demands, considering political appetite and gaining insight from lived experience communities and relevant sectors, to ensure that we are clear on future asks, and can build the foundation towards them.

· Work with Impact and Insights team to define future research needs to meet our longer-term advocacy plans

· Enhance and establish internal processes and ensure good internal information dissemination 

· Work closely with key internal stakeholders to shape advocacy work and support broader organisational objectives

· Embed learnings and develop a fail fast, learn fast culture in the team

· Coach, support and lead direct reports enabling increased professional development, strategic decision making, proactive project management and robust political influencing

· Contribute to and help shape the work of the Core Management Group to ensure ongoing alignment for in year implementation of the strategic plan and create integrated future year plans which meet organisational goals

· Monitor and review KPIs to monitor and measure both team and cross organisational performance, using the results to guide teams and surface learnings

· Assess areas of risk and escalate where necessary and according to policy

· Develop and monitor annual team budgets

General

• Work collaboratively across the organisation, building good working relations and providing ad-hoc support to other teams and members of staff

• Passion and commitment to Magic Breakfast’s aim of alleviating morning hunger as a barrier to learning for children in the UK.

• Help to maintain a positive working environment; keeping the vision of Magic Breakfast at the heart of everything we do. 

• Share Magic Breakfast’s commitment to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

• Establish and ensure existing Ways of Working are adhered to across team

• Adhere to all Magic Breakfast policies and procedures and ensure that all activity is compliant with current legislation, GDPR, data protection and child safeguarding requirements

• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role

 PERSON SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

· Strategy development, demonstrating a deep understanding of how to craft, implement, and evolve strategies that align to operational outcomes for the Policy and Advocacy function as well as enabling our organisation strategy in our aim to end child morning for good.

· Stakeholder management and partnership building with extensive experience of engaging, influencing, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including senior political figures, policymakers, funders and sector leaders.

· Ability to confidently and flexibly deal with volatile political environment, anticipating potential developments and adapting to emerging situations to meet aims

· Highly experienced in developing and shaping policy positions, using insights, research and data sets to inform and guide decision-making

· Understanding and experience of the role of the broader external environment to shape policy asks and political influencing, including the implications of a policy ask in one sector on another.

· Experience of influencing key political events such as budgets, national elections and the legislative process.

· Significant experience of coaching, supporting and managing the development of a team, with the ability to make difficult decisions and challenge where needed to deliver the organisational strategy.

Desirable

· Experience of education, food insecurity, child poverty or childcare sectors

Skills and Abilities

• Effective leadership mentality with confidence to step away from the detail and delegate responsibility, enabling others to use judgements, make decisions, learn from failures and continuously improve.

• Analytical and evidence based decision making, with the ability to turn data and analysis into policy and advocacy related recommendations or outcomes for action.

• Effective planning, prioritisation and project management skills. Able to organise self and team to meet planned objectives and strategic direction with the ability to pivot and manage the unexpected.

• Strong, influential and impactful interpersonal and communication skills and to advocate for own specialism, department and Magic Breakfast's mission, effectively conveying the organisation's impact and needs to a wide range of audiences.

• Operational and financial acumen and analysis: understanding and practical application of knowledge as required around funding considerations, budget development and management, risk management, and ensuring systems in place for efficiency by setting and maintaining policy and procedural frameworks.

• An outward looking and forward thinking approach that drives a sense of curiosity, innovation and continuous improvement. Always thinking what can we learn from others, what new developments can be explored and what are the opportunities for the function to improve and grow with others too.

WHAT WE OFFER

At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to bring their whole self to work.

Please find attached our job pack

APPLICATION PROCCESS

Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, recruitment @ magicbreakfast. com

Shortlisting - w/c 5th May

Interview 1 - 15th and 16th May

Interview 2 - w/c 21st May

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.