Job details

Job title: Operations Manager

Reporting to: Chief Executive

Responsible for: Operations Officer

Based: Our Head Office is based in London, but we have an agile working policy enabling people to work at another UK location up to 4 days/week.

Requests for permanent remote working will be considered and we welcome applications from people based in other parts of the UK.

Terms: Permanent, part-time (17.5 hours per week - 0.5 FTE), spread across three or more days per week, ideally including Tuesdays and Fridays to ensure overlap with the part-time operations officer and coverage across the week.

Salary: £36,000 - £41,000 FTE per annum (£18,000 - £20,500 pro-rata)

About the role

We are looking to recruit someone with a strong background in operations and data management to play a central role within our core services team. The role will focus on developing and managing operations processes that help us achieve our vision and goals, including contract management, data management and human resources (working alongside our outsourced HR), providing advice to colleagues and making recommendations to improve systems and policies.

Key responsibilities:

Human resources

Data management​  

Compliance and risk management​

• Take the lead on regulatory and compliance issues for the BSA (excluding health and safety, which sits with the Finance & Office Manager), sourcing expert external advice where needed
• Working alongside SMT, take the lead on risk assessment processes for our programmes
• Act as Company Secretary for the BSA, keeping the charity’s online Charity Commission records up to date and with relevant charity and company law
• Support our outsourced finance provider with formal reporting to the Charity Commission and report to other regulators where required
• Work alongside the SMT and other colleagues to inform decisions around procurement, for example of future IT systems or outsourced suppliers
• Review and provide advice to colleagues on programme-related contracts
• Lead our GDPR policy and processes​, providing advice to colleagues where needed
• Manage the relationship with the BSA’s legal advisors
• Keep our Operations records updated, including managing our policies, suggesting updates to existing policies (gathering internal and external input where appropriate) and identifying new policies as required

In addition

• Lead the operational aspects of the organisation’s plans to become more environmentally sustainable, working alongside the Finance & Office Manager and other colleagues across the organisation
• Support colleagues across the organisation especially at busy times or on specific areas of expertise
• Other duties as reasonably required by the line manager

Person specification

Below is a summary of essential and desirable criteria needed for this role, as well as how we will assess a candidate’s suitability.

Essential criteria 

Essential Criteria	CV	Applied Qs	Interview	Task
Demonstrable experience of managing and improving operational systems and processes	Y	Y	Y	Y
Experience of managing HR systems and processes, such as recruitment and training	Y		Y	Y
Experience of procuring products and services to support operations	Y	Y	Y
Experience of reviewing and managing contracts with suppliers	Y		Y
Experience of managing or overseeing organisational compliance with GDPR and data management	Y		Y
Experience of CRM rollout and administration (Salesforce would be an advantage but is not essential)	Y	Y	Y
Experience of leading and/or supporting improvements to organisational Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)	Y	Y	Y
Experience of data analysis and reporting (e.g. against Key Performance Indicators)	Y		Y	Y
Experience of line management	Y		Y
Organised and proactive – proven ability to problem solve, prioritise, take initiative and manage complex operational issues		Y	Y	Y
Excellent attention to detail	Y	Y		Y
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills – working with internal and external stakeholders at a range of different levels	Y	Y	Y	Y
IT competency and ability to quickly learn and work with new software and tools	Y	Y	Y

Desirable criteria

Desirable Criteria	CV	Applied Qs	Interview	Task
Experience of managing budgets	Y		Y
Strong project management skills	Y		Y
Experience of working in a charity	Y		Y
Knowledge of regulations and legislation relevant to charities	Y		Y
Relevant qualifications would be an advantage but are not essential	Y

Benefits 

• Agile Working policy enabling you to work at home or in another UK location up to 4 days per week, if office-based, and to vary your working hours outside our 10am-12pm and 2pm-4pm core hours, subject to the needs of the BSA;
• 27 days holiday per annum plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time employees); 
• Up to two days paid leave per year for significant voluntary commitments in support of professional and personal development, such as being a trustee of a charity or a school governor;
• Auto-enrolment pension scheme (4% paid by employer) after 3 months in role;
• Up to five days’ unpaid leave per year (this is down to the Manager’s decision and ensuring it does not affect work); 
• Life assurance for death in service benefit from your first day, (subject to scheme rules). Complementary access to 24/7 online GP service;  
• Occupational sick pay: up to six weeks’ full pay per year (pro-rata for part-time employees); 
• Confidential telephone counselling service, offered by our legal insurance;
• Interest-free loan for season ticket, bike to work, and assisted study;
• Discounts may be offered on Science Museum tickets and in the shop.

To apply

Applications should be made via this link: https://app.beapplied.com/apply/qchgz6aamn  

The closing date for applications is Monday 02 October 2023  

First interviews are due to take place on Wednesday 18 and Thursday 19 October 2023. 

Second interviews will take place on Tuesday 31 October

You will be informed as soon as possible after the application deadline whether you have been selected for interview.

As part of the British Science Association’s commitment to being a Disability Confident employer, all disabled* applicants who meet the ‘essential criteria’ for this vacancy will be offered an interview under our guaranteed interview scheme.

If you wish to apply under the guaranteed interview scheme, you will be asked to indicate this when you submit your application by selecting ‘yes’ in the relevant box when asked during the application process. Applicants do not need to state any further information or declare their disability at the application stage.

Whether you are applying under the scheme or not, if you are successful in being shortlisted, we will ask candidates with disabilities or long-term health conditions to let us know if they need any adjustments during the recruitment process. 

If you have further questions or would like this information in a different format, please contact: recruitment@britishscienceassociation.org

Download the candidate pack for this role as a PDF or view our text-only version of the pack here.

Terms & conditions

From time to time the job entails working extended hours and occasional weekends, for which no overtime payments are made. The BSA operates a time off in lieu policy for weekend working and some other out-of-hours instances.

Only applicants who have a legal right to work within the UK will be considered. You will be asked to bring along proof of nationality and/or proof of ability to work in the UK.

You will also be asked to declare any previous convictions in line with your rights under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) order 1975.

This is a description of the job as it is presently constituted. It is the practice of the Association to examine job descriptions from time to time and to update them to ensure they relate to the job as then being performed, or to incorporate whatever changes are reasonably required, in discussion with the postholder.

It is the policy of the BSA to offer starting salaries at the bottom end of the salary band where appropriate.

A copy of our Privacy Notice is available on the vacancies page of our website.

*The Disability Confident scheme’s definition of disability is in line with the Equalities Act 2010: “a physical or mental condition which has a long-term and substantial effect on your daily life”.

Further information about our Disability Confident commitments can be found on the Disability Confident page of our website.