Overview

The Church of England exists to offer a spiritual home for all people in England. It is embedded in our national life at local levels through its parish structure, in our education system, and in many other ways. We know that many people from UKME backgrounds are not fully welcomed or supported to flourish within the Church.

The creation of this pivotal appointment of a Director of Racial Justice firmly establishes our intention to bring about substantive change which is felt and recognised by all UKME communities across the country. This is an unprecedented opportunity to embed racial justice within the structures of the whole of the Church of England and we are seeking a transformational leader to lead this work.

Post Introduction

This is an exciting and influential role which requires an emotionally intelligent and strategic leader. Working closely with stakeholders at all levels, you will lead the strategy for the Church’s racial justice work. You will bring a strong track record of driving change and have extensive experience of working for UKME participation and inclusion in the context of public and institutional life. You will understand the nature and power of systemic racism and have experience of tackling this in effective ways.

Confident and humble in equal measure, you will be a values-driven, experienced leader used to working in complex, multifaceted organisations with a diverse stakeholder community. Strategic, with strong advocacy skills and a sharp critical analysis of the political and social context, nationally and globally, you will enjoy robust debate and challenge.  

You will practise our core values and demonstrate your strong commitment to the goals and mission of the Church, although you need not be a communicant member of the Church of England. We are actively committed to increasing the diversity of our teams and welcome applications from all sectors and backgrounds.

To find out more and to apply please visit https://starfishsearch.com/jobs/eofe-dir-racial-justice/

Please do not apply using the link below.

Closing date for applications: 9.00am Monday 11^th July 2022

For further details, please see the candidate pack attached below.

Role Responsibility

Main duties and responsibilities

Key priorities delivered through the Racial Justice Unit

The Director of the Unit will have both a delivery role and a challenge role: leading and delivering change and helping ensure that change is delivered across the Church, on behalf of the Archbishops’ Council and others in the Church; and also supporting the Racial Justice Commission, during its life, to provide challenge to the Church.

Church-facing:

• Delivery: leading the development of a comprehensive and viable strategy for driving effective culture change across the Church of England, working with policy makers at national level (all the National Church Institutions) and dioceses, engaging widely at a senior level to persuade, empower and build confidence and momentum for change. Working with the Archbishops’ Council and CMEAC to ensure this is delivered.
• Challenge: supporting the Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission and ensuring its recommendations (including those already made by the Task Force in From Lament to Action and accepted by the relevant Church bodies) are translated into strategic action.

World-facing:

• Working with colleagues in the Faith and Public Life team and others in the National Church Institutions to maintain the Church’s engagement with public policy addressing the persistence of racism in society and maintain the Church’s intelligence base on racist political parties and anti-racist initiatives; and also working with colleagues to maximise synergies with the Church’s engagement with other issues relating to inclusion and belonging.

Other responsibilities

• Building the Racial Justice Unit into an effective team which works collaboratively with other NCI teams, which influences and commands respect across the Church.
• Ensuring that the Archbishops and bishops are briefed and supported to be advocates for Racial Justice and drivers of culture change.
• Delivering change, including culture change, across the whole Church, including in the national Church institutions and dioceses.
• Ensuring that the RJU builds and maintains good relationships with other stakeholders including the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC), the Anglican Minority Ethnic Network (AMEN), the Racial Justice Commission, bishops, the Archbishops’ Council and any other bodies with whom the RJU may work from time to time.
• Speaking and leading events around the country in ways which contribute to the delivery of change across the Church.
• Remaining connected to the wider racial justice movement nationally and internationally in order to ensure the adoption in the Church of recognised best practices.
• As a senior manager within the NCIs, undertaking any tasks, roles and responsibilities that are required from time to time in support of the collective work of the NCIs and improving the service the NCIs give to the whole Church.

The Ideal Candidate

Person specification

Knowledge & Experience

• Experience of leading transformational change – the ability to engage and drive change across a complex system.
• Experience of working with UKME people in the Church or in wider society and awareness of particular challenges, including challenges experienced by groups who are “minorities within a minority”.
• Experience of managing staff, budgets and strategy development and of sharing wider managerial responsibilities in a team setting.
• Extensive experience of managing programme teams, and delivering a portfolio of outcome-focussed projects and programmes with multiple stakeholders in a politically complex environment.
• A solid understanding of how complex institutions work and how to drive change within them.
• Empathy for the mission and ministry of the Church of England and some understanding of the likely challenges of working within the Church’s structure and governance.
• Knowledge of good practice in combating racism and exclusion and driving up participation.
• Educated to a level that enables confident engagement with people at many levels.

Desirable

• A good understanding of the Church of England.
• Experience of engaging with ethical issues in the public realm.

• Detailed knowledge of developments in racism awareness, equity and human rights etc. Experience of working for justice within an organisational context.
• The ability to understand practice in the context of wider theological/theoretical frameworks.
• Familiarity with anti-racism programmes in the churches and beyond.

Skills & Abilities

• Strong people skills: able to influence, challenge and persuade; among senior levels and at delivery level; and building confidence and engagement while also able to identify and address failings constructively.
• A strong commitment to advancing the role of UKME people within the Church and in wider society and to combating racism wherever it is found.
• A strong commitment to the Church’s ministry and mission in the contemporary world.
• Team-building experience and leadership ability.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, and good analytical skills.

Styles & Behaviours

• Credible and approachable leadership style. Has presence, is an effective communicator, and is both trusted and respected. Uses emotional intelligence to build connection and win loyalty from others.
• Comfortable leading peers without formal line management structures
• Flexible and adaptable when leading and delivering change.
• Natural collaborator and alliance-builder, with the ability to learn from others and enable them to learn from each other.
• Commitment to the NCIs’ belonging and inclusion and wellbeing aims in employment and service delivery, with a caring and respectful attitude to staff.
• Able to maintain personal resilience within a challenging role and environment.
• Good IT literacy in general.
• Willingness and ability to travel within the UK, sometimes including overnight trips.

About Us

We in the National Church Institutions support the mission and ministries of the Church all over England. We work with parishes, dioceses (regional offices), schools, other ministries and our partners at a national and international level.

Excellence, Respect, Integrity

We follow these three values in everything we do, whether we are of Christian faith, another faith or no faith. To learn more about working for National Church Institutions and our benefits, please click here

As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.

As a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, we welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and to ensuring that everyone, job applicants, customers and other people with whom we deal, are treated fairly and not subject to discrimination.  We will do whatever is necessary to provide genuine equality of opportunity. We continuously review our policies and processes to support our aim to create a workforce as diverse as the nation the Church of England serves.