The vacancy
We are seeking to appoint one lay member to sit on our GOC Council.
About the GOC
We are the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Our purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education, performance and conduct. For more information about us please visit our website:optical. org.
About the Council
The role of Council is to lead on the GOC’s mission to protect the public by upholding high standards in eye care services. The Council is composed of six lay members (including the Chair) and six registrant members (i.e. registered optometrists and dispensing opticians). At least one member of the Council must work wholly or mainly in each of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. One Council member acts as a Senior Council Member whose role is to carry out the Chair’s appraisal as well as provide a sounding board for the Chair and serve as an intermediary for Council members, Executive and stakeholders as necessary.
The successful candidate will contribute to Council by exercising oversight, ensuring effective corporate governance, and making high-level policy decisions. They will be able to operate strategically and impartially; listen, communicate, and influence effectively; exercise judgment; and inspire confidence and support amongst our stakeholders.
Remuneration and time commitment
Council members are remunerated in accordance with our member fees policy (£13,962 per annum plus reasonable travel and subsistence expenses). The member fee includes time for reading and preparation.
The appointed member will be expected to commit approximately 2-3 days per month. Meetings will usually take place via MS Teams but may on occasion be held at the GOC Offices at Level 29, One Canada Square, London, E14 5AA. There are occasional online catch-up meetings - these are currently scheduled on a Tuesday evening every 6-8 weeks, from 5.30pm – 6.30pm.
How to apply:
Please email the the following to appointment@optical. org
· your CV outlining your employment history, any relevant voluntary work, public service or other experience; together with any relevant professional, academic or vocational qualifications;
· the application form, stating how your experience matches the criteria for the vacancy you are applying for; and
· complete the EDI monitoring form linked in the candidate pack (this is an online form and does not need to be included in the email with your CV and application form).
APPLICATION DEADLINE: midnight on Sunday 10 August 2025.
Online interviews will be held on between Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 October 2025.
If you have any questions, please email them to appointment@optical. org and we will aim to respond to you within 48 hours.
We welcome applications from individuals who are disabled and from diverse ethnic backgrounds as these are currently under-represented on our council and committees.
We strive to be as diverse as the public we protect and welcome applications from everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy, maternity and geographical locations outside of London.
Registered Charity 
51 - 100
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Head of Finance
Salary: £50,000 - £55,000
Based: Oxford, OX1 1BP
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time – 40 hours per week (flexible)
The Head of Finance is a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) of Modern Art Oxford and is responsible for managing and reporting on the finances of the charity, acting as Company Secretary.
The role is supported by the Senior Finance Officer and Finance Assistant.
Responsibilities
Finance
- To work closely with the Director on the preparation of the business plan and to take a leading role within SMT on monitoring and reporting to ensure its successful delivery.
- To lead on budgeting processes including three- to five-year plans, detailed annual budgets, cash flow forecasts and in-year re-forecasts.
- To be responsible for reporting on the overall financial position of the organisation, including the statutory accounts, management accounts and reports to budget-holders, ensuring that budgets are adhered to, that cash flow is managed, that effective cost control mechanisms are in place, that revenue is maximised and that there is timely and accurate financial reporting to SMT and the Board of Trustees.
- To ensure that best practice, statutory and organisational requirements are met in the operation of financial controls, the management of funds, charity accounting, Endowments Funds and investments, and taxation.
- To ensure the safety and security of the organisation’s financial assets.
- To prepare and submit the annual Museums & Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief (MGETR) submission, Gift Aid and all other tax rebates.
- To liaise with the external auditors for the annual audit of the statutory accounts and management of the pensions and other professional financial services as required, being the main contact in the organisation for the bank, auditors and pension providers.
- To liaise with pension trustees and other employers of the PSATSA closed defined benefit scheme, including triennial revaluations and negotiation of affordable repayments, reporting to the Trustees and Director.
- To work in close partnership with the Director and the capital project management team, to manage and report on the financial aspects of any future capital projects, reporting to the Director and the Capital Sub-Committee of the Board of Trustees, and managing all related financial administration.
- To be responsible for arranging Modern Art Oxford’s insurance.
Governance, Compliance & Trustee Reporting
- To attend Board meetings as required and support the Director in providing background briefing and financial material to enable the Board to make considered decisions about all matters of finance and finance policy.
- To manage, attend and prepare reports for the Finance & Property sub-committee.
- To coordinate the production of the Annual Trustees Report for the statutory accounts and ensure compliance with Companies House and Charity Commission requirements, including maintaining Trustees and Directors’ records and details.
Other
- To contribute to the overall strategic direction of the organisation as a member of the Senior Management Team, and actively participate in new developments including audience development, capital planning, communications, partnerships, reporting and fundraising.
- To complete as required annual reports, including the annual submission for exhibition tax relief and other key reporting, including Arts Council England and Oxford City Council submissions and project-funding reports.
- To carry out any other duties, reasonably requested by the Director.
Person Specification
Essential
- Significant experience in financial roles at a senior level, managing all aspects of running a financial function and dealing with a range of activities, ideally in a small to medium-sized charity.
- Used to preparing budgets, management accounts and cashflow forecasts alongside cost control management.
- A good understanding of VAT regulations, the VAT return process and charity taxation.
- A good working knowledge of payroll and end of year audit processes.
- Experience of business planning for a medium-sized charity.
- A flexible approach to working in a busy environment requiring excellent multi-tasking and time-management skills.
- Experience of using a CRM Database.
- An understanding of IT and digital infrastructure.
- Strong planning and organisational skills.
- Experience of managing small teams.
- The highest level of commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.
- Good team worker.
- Excellent writing and communications skills.
- An ability to prioritise a complex range of tasks in a fast-paced working environment.
- A confidential and empathetic person of integrity.
Desirable
- Qualified accountant (ACA, CIMA, ACCA) and/or appropriate business, financial or postgraduate qualifications.
- An interest in and experience of working in the charity sector, ideally the arts.
- Experience in the not-for-profit sector and charity accounting practices including preparation of the annual Charity Commission return, partial exemption VAT processes, Gift Aid and MGETR.
- Experience of BreatheHR and Xero platforms.
- Experience of working with a board of voluntary trustees, a wide range of funders and public sector organisations.
- Good line management and coaching skills.
- Experience of managing the financial aspects of capital projects.
- Experience of fundraising, marketing, retail and e-commerce.
About Us
Modern Art Oxford is one of the UK’s most exciting and influential contemporary art organisations, renowned for its bold and ambitious artistic programme that promotes diversity and internationalism and celebrates contemporary art as a progressive agent of social change.
Modern Art Oxford welcomes approximately 100,000 visitors each year with approximately 15,000 attendances by schools and community groups in creative learning and participation activities. The organisation’s digital content reaches 450,000 through Modern Art Oxford’s digital channels annually. Through a wide range of high-quality content creation and programming, Modern Art Oxford aims to make contemporary art accessible and engaging to the widest audience and to promote creativity in all its visual forms. Over the last 60 years Modern Art Oxford has brought some of the world’s most important artists to the city, and the UK, and has developed an international reputation for pioneering emerging and under-represented artists.
Modern Art Oxford is a registered charity and receives core funding from Arts Council England and Oxford City Council, and the generous support of individuals, trusts and foundations, sponsors and friends.
Benefits
- 25 days annual leave plus public bank holidays (increasing by one day per annum of employment up to five additional days).
- Employees are entitled to a discount in our Modern Art Oxford Shop and Café.
- There is an Employee Assistance Programme through Gemelli.
- Discounts, Cycle-scheme and Tech-scheme program available through BHN Extras.
- An auto-enrolment pension scheme is in place with Legal & General. Under pension auto enrolment legislation, the employee will pay 5% (before tax relief) and the employer will pay 3% of qualifying earnings to the Legal and General plan.
Applications must be received by midnight on Sunday 7th September.
Interviews will be held on Friday 19th of September.
Interested?
If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.
We are committed to improving the diversity in our workforce in order to better reflect the diversity of our local communities. All job vacancies are advertised here as part of a fair and open process. We welcome applications from people of all cultures and ethnicities, including those that may experience racism, as part of our Anti-racism Action Plan.
No agencies please.
Thank you!
Today, 12 children and young people will be diagnosed with cancer. We’ll stop at nothing to make sure they get the right care and support at the right time.
- Home-based, with regular travel to London and Bristol
- Closing date: 11 August 2025
- Interview date: w/c 18 August 2025
Change lives in a life-changing career
When a child or young person is diagnosed with cancer, their whole world can feel like it’s falling apart. Independence is taken and confidence is stolen. Stability no longer exists. The future suddenly feels uncertain.
The impact of cancer on young lives is more than medical. That’s why we exist. Our specialist social workers help children and young people with cancer and their families navigate the emotional and practical impact of cancer. We remove barriers, solve problems and prioritise wellbeing. And we stop at nothing to make sure they get the right care and support at the right time.
We challenge the systems and policies that surround children and young people, we highlight gaps and campaign for change. Because we know what a better future could look like. And we know what we need to do to make that future a reality. We need to push harder, reach further and work smarter. And we need the right people on our team to help us get there. People like you.
About the role
We’re looking for a Digital Marketing Officer with paid advertising and organic social media experience to join our Digital team.
As Digital Marketing Officer, you’ll be responsible for creating email marketing campaigns, running paid advertising activity and creating content across organic social channels to help teams across the organisation hit their objectives. You’ll be joining our friendly and expert Digital Engagement Team.
You’ll have previous experience managing email and paid marketing campaigns, creating content for social channels and using digital platforms including Meta Business Manager, Email Service Providers and GA4.
You will champion the voices of children and young people with cancer, and their families in everything you do.
This role is subject to a criminal record check. In the event of a successful application a basic criminal record check will be completed.
What will I be doing?
No two days are the same at Young Lives vs Cancer. So, summarising your ‘day to day’ isn’t easy. Here are some of the main things you’ll be doing, but you’ll find more details in the job description.
Email responsibilities
- Deliver end-to-end email campaigns including briefing, copywriting, creation in Dotdigital, send and evaluation
Paid responsibilities
- Deliver paid digital marketing campaigns in-house including running virtual challenge ads in Meta – working with the Product Lead to design the campaign plan, draft the copy, build in-platform, optimise and evaluate
- Assist with paid advertising campaigns run by our digital media agency, ensuring they have clear briefs, assets are provided on-time and campaigns are delivered to plan
General Digital Marketing responsibilities
- Be part of the team’s social media monitoring rota and moderate our social channels - ensuring comments are appropriately handled in line with the social media policy
- Create and schedule content across organic social channels to support key campaigns
- Monitor the impact of marketing campaigns reporting on KPIs and metrics using digital marketing tools including GA4, Lookerstudio, Meta Business Manager, Google Ads and Bing Ads in-platform reporting
What do I need?
Diverse perspectives and unique skillsets are at the heart of Young Lives vs Cancer. If you're passionate about making a positive impact and eager to learn, we encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet the criteria and person specification fully. Your potential is what matters most to us, and we’re committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive work environment to help you develop.
The key skills we’re looking for in this role are:
- Managing marketing campaigns across digital channels including email, paid media and organic social.
- Creating content for digital channels, including email, paid ads and organic social posts.
- Using an ESP to deliver end-to-end email campaigns and writing, building, sending and evaluating results (eg Dotdigital); experience building automations and implementing tests.
- Building and optimising paid advertising campaigns in Meta Business Manager. Desirable experience of running campaigns in TikTok Ads Manager and Google Ads Manager.
- Using GA4 to effectively track and measure campaign performance
- Using a social channel management tool (eg. Hootsuite).
- Using a CMS (eg. Wordpress) to build campaign pages
What will I gain?
For people to reach their full potential, they need the right environment. As a member of Team Young Lives, you’ll be made to feel supported, valued and appreciated. Here’s how we do it:
- Flexible working: we’re open to working hours outside of 9 - 5 and we can talk through your flexibility requirements at interview stage
- Wellbeing, Thinking & Growth Days: four days a year to to step back from the day-to-day and focus on your own learning and development
- Generous annual leave allowance
- Great family/caring leave entitlements
- Enhanced pension
- Access to our employee savings scheme
To find out more about our benefits package, have a look on our website.
Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging
At Young Lives vs Cancer, we recognise that opportunities for too many people remain a condition of their sex, ethnicity, class, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation – or a combination. This has never been acceptable to us as an organisation. We don’t just accept difference, we value it, celebrate it, nurture it and we thrive because of it.
We’re on a journey to be reflective of the diverse children, young people and families we support. We know we aren’t there yet, and we’re passionately committed to taking actions and making changes to be a truly diverse, inclusive and equitable organisation. This includes taking anti-oppressive action and removing barriers in our recruitment practices. We particularly welcome applications from members of minoritised communities. Our Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging strategy will tell you more.
We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. CVs can be uploaded, but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history sections of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly and objectively.
Accessibility
We’re committed to providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we’ll always aim to be as accommodating as possible.Please let us know in your application form of any adjustments or access requirements we could make to help you with the application process and interview.
To arrange an informal chat, please contact Tommy Beattie.
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