We seek an organised, experienced, flexible and proactive person to serve as our Head of Operations. This is a pivotal, newly created role to support our strategic development and growth.

Finance Uncovered seeks to improve the quantity and quality of investigative stories that are rooted in illicit finance or exploitation – by training and then supporting journalists and activists, particularly in the developing and emerging world. We are currently a five-person organisation based in Bethnal Green, close to Shoreditch and the City of London.

Our new Head of Operations will report to our two co-directors and take responsibility for office management administration, help with basic bookkeeping, event management, basic IT, logistics and travel arrangements as well as helping to gather funder and board reporting materials, including monitoring journalistic outputs.

You will be working with our small team to deliver our exciting work streams and ensure the smooth running of the organisation. You will need to have a genuine interest in what we do, the people whom we train, and ideally have an interest in journalism. You will be prepared to deliver on routine day-to-day work, but also have the ability to see the bigger picture. The role is new and therefore flexible – one that can be shaped by the right person.

Your key tasks will be as follows:

• Oversee the operations functions of Finance Uncovered – developing and ensuring we have systems to support our work;
• Support governance of the organisation, including working with our Directors to prepare Board papers, and monitor and report on our outputs;
• Ensure contract management of all external contracts. For example, HR, IT, office accommodation;
• Ensure the office has up-to-date policies, including staff handbooks, risk assessment templates, and implement these accordingly;
• Manage the administration of Finance Uncovered’s London courses currently held once a year including booking venues, participant travel and accommodation for up to 30 delegates, as well as liaising with our external visa consultant;
• Help with bookkeeping, including the logging of office expenses into the accounting system in liaison with the co-directors and the external accountant;
• Assist directors on general fundraising and governance matters;
• Assist on web production and maintenance, and journalistic research, as required;
• Set up and manage our contact database and creation and maintenance of a CRM system; and
• Procure office supplies and help arrange staff travel.

Potential additional duties

We believe the core function of this role amounts to a 0.6 Full Time Equivalent role. However we have other key functions within our organisation that require development. These include Online Publication, Social Media, Community Coordination, Communications and Fundraising.

We are therefore open to candidates who would like to take on some of these functions and can convince us they would be suitable for these roles. So this position could be a full-time role for the right candidate by taking on additional duties.

Person Specification

• Demonstrable experience in office and organisational management;
• Excellent project management skills;
• The ability to think creatively and flexibly and to establish new systems from scratch;
• A team-working self-starter who likes to get on with tasks and who feels empowered to deliver and prepared to do routine admin alongside more strategic work;
• Ability to negotiate, influence and persuade others in complex situations to achieve required outcome;
• Excellent communication skills both verbal and written, including knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Powerpoint and Excel;
• Ideally some experience of CRM systems;
• An inquiring mind with an interest in news and journalism; and
• The willingness to travel on occasion to interesting parts of the world.

About Finance Uncovered

We are a small East London-based journalist team. Since 2013, we have programmed and delivered intensive and focused training courses that equip journalists and activists with skills and tools to investigate tax abuse, money laundering and corruption all over the world. Then, once participants complete our training, we support journalists around the world to produce stories by project managing collaborations and/or working closely with individual journalists. We are embarking on a period of significant growth and change as we implement our new strategy plan. This is an exciting position because our Head of Operations will be fundamental to this strategy.

Terms & Conditions

• Salary range: at least £35,000 per year pro rata, but depends on experience.
• Working hours: At least 3 days a week but as described above, potentially more. We see this as an office-based role, but would be open to some flexible working arrangements
• Holidays: 25 days per annum pro rata, plus Bank Holidays
• Location: Bethnal Green London

To apply

Please send your CV with a covering note detailing why you believe you are suitable for this job to [email protected] no later than 6:00pm on Wednesday 15 May. Interviews will take place during the week of the 20 May.

Please note that we will only contact short-listed candidates and cannot offer feedback to unsuccessful candidates. Thank you for your interest in working for Finance Uncovered. We look forward to hearing from you.