Virgin Unite is the charitable entrepreneurial foundation of the Virgin Group. We started Virgin Unite with the aim of bringing people together to encourage them never to accept the unacceptable, to turn challenges into opportunities and to always push boundaries that make both business and the world better.
Role type: Permanent
Location: London based with flexible hybrid working
Benefits: World-class benefits package including an open-minded, supportive approach to flexible working; unlimited holiday; and enhanced family-friendly policies.
Closing date: 01 June 2023
Our overheads are covered by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group, meaning that 100% of all donations received go directly to initiatives we create or support.
Our vision is a world where all people and our planet thrive, and our mission is to catalyse radical collaboration to challenge the unacceptable. There are so many challenges facing the world today, but we believe that by bringing the right people together and taking an entrepreneurial approach, we can create positive change.
Our work is divided into four areas – we:
-
catalyse and incubate courageous collectives
- back entrepreneurial solutions
- convene purposeful communities
- challenge unacceptable issues
The role:
As a key member of the Virgin Unite leadership team, this role will lead in managing the efficient running of all operations, including Finance, Investments, Board Management, Governance & Compliance, Emergency response, Annual Planning and People.
Key responsibilities:
Operations Management
- COO for social enterprise/ income generating business: Responsible for all commercial and operations activities, helping to develop new revenue channels and leading board meetings
- Work with Legal team to ensure Unite has fit for purpose contracts and agreements.
- Ensure Unite has fit for purpose processes and policies.
- Work and build collaborative relationships with departments and teams across VML who provide services to Unite to ensure delivery of Unite business plan.
- Manage data across all of Unite and related charitable entities, to ensure it is captured, analysed and communicated effectively.
- Act as Virgin Unite’s privacy champion, liaising with the VML DPO to work towards GDPR compliance.
Finance & Reporting
- Working alongside Finance Business Partner in VML Finance
- Production of reports for VML and Unite Trustees including financial performance, and governance matters.
- Oversee preparation and monitoring of annual operations budget
- Annual Planning and Reporting
- Ownership of Impact and leverage tracking and reporting on a timely basis working with all partners.
- Manage and develop on-going impact measurement framework and platform
People
- Lead on all people and HR matters for the Virgin Unite team including training and development
- Responsible for safeguarding, including leading on implementing and embedding the recommendations on safeguarding.
- As part of the leadership team, act as a role model within Unite, ensuring that: a culture of high performance / delivery is built and sustained, people are fully engaged and motivated to deliver, people have a clear understanding of the organisation. Relationships are developed and maintained across the Virgin Group to ensure the strategy and focus for Unite is understood and ensure that Unite is a great place to work
Governance and Board Roles
- Responsible for charitable governance globally
- Management of trustees approvals for all funds and disbursements
- Ensure effective global board structures are in place in Unite entities, and ensuring efficient operations of these entities with clear KPIs and responsibilities
- Ensure the charity acts at all times to maximise public benefit and in accordance with purpose and values, set by the Trustees.
Investment Portfolio Management and Grant Management
- Manage the Grants Manager to lead the development and maintenance of Virgin Unite’s investment strategy and five-year investment plan, including management against income and reserves.
- Representing Unites interests on the boards of a number of grantees, as required to help guide some organisations Virgin Unite invests in to implement sustainability plans
For this role we need you to be/have:
- Proven operations skills
- Ability to juggle and deliver multiple initiatives
- Excellent relationship building and stakeholder management skills
- Strong organizational and people skills
- Strong financial literacy and an ability to present complex information in an understandable way
- Ability to build a workplace culture that is capable of executing change to meet business objectives
- Success and results orientated
- Ability to challenge
- Highly responsive, fast paced and proactive with a flexible approach
- Strong interpersonal skills, highly persuasive with the ability to bring together and lead teams
- Ability to stay calm and poised under pressure and remain focused in a rapidly changing environment
- Considerable experience operating at an Operations Director role as part of a leadership team, with experience in a corporate environment
- Investment and grant management experience.
- Extensive experience in financial modelling and /or high level of comfort with numbers
- Experience of managing boards and preparation of board materials essential
- Experience managing and developing teams at a senior level
- Able to multitask, handle pressure, some ambiguity, some spontaneous demands of travel and therefore a great sense of humour!
- Experience with non-profits and/or purpose-led businesses is an advantage
Some of the attributes that define a Virgin person just can’t be quantified in words. We pride ourselves on welcoming people from all walks of life, with all sorts of skill sets. Most recently, Virgin successfully campaigned to add ‘Dyslexic Thinking’ as a skill on LinkedIn. Any uniqueness is a strength and will be considered an asset to our workforce.
If you're excited about making every day more rewarding and think you have what we're looking for, even if you don’t tick every box on the job description, we'd love to hear from you.
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