Programme Support Officer
Please Note: The application deadline for this post has now passed.
Post Introduction
This is a 12 month fixed-term role with the Programme Spire team in the Church Commissioners' Secretariat.
The Programme Support Officer is responsible for providing high-level administrative support to the Programme Director and Programme Manager, and delivering administrative support on programme projects. Assistance may be required with any of the five programme workstreams, but the Programme Support Officer will hold a specific secretariat function for the Governance and Grant-making workstreams. This will involve the planning of meeting logistics and papers; assisting the Programme Manager with programme processes and documentation; as well as managing document version control. The Programme Support Officer will be useful source of information for the Programme Board and relevant stakeholders.
The National Church Institutions comprises a wide variety of teams, professions and functions that support the mission and ministries of the Church of England in its vision to be a church, centred on Jesus Christ, for the whole nation - a church that is simpler, humbler, bolder.
We Include. You Belong.
Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.
Living out our values in all that we do, we:
- Strive for Excellence
- Show Compassion
- Respect others
- Collaborate
- Act with Integrity
We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values. Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you.
About the Department
The Church Commissioners has been engaged in a multi-year research programme to understand historic links to African chattel enslavement. Since August 2023, the Church Commissioners has been working with an independent Oversight Group to design a perpetual endowment which aims to bring about justice for all. Establishing the endowment and other elements of the Commissioners’ response requires the delivery of a complex programme of activity, involving multiple internal and external stakeholders, a series of projects, working to different timeframes, and the establishment of appropriate governance, staffing and reporting arrangements for the programme delivery period.
What you'll be doing
- Supporting the Programme Manager and other team members in the delivery of the programme
- Organising meetings
- Preparing meeting documentation and writing minutes
- Maintaining programme logs, registers and timelines
- Document Management (Version Control)
- Updating the programme entries on the NCIs project portfolio
- Managing other administrative tasks as and when they arise.
- Identifying ways in which processes may be improved and put forward such proposals for the programme manager to consider.
- Contribute to formal process reviews to help enable our teams to become more efficient in their processes.
- To be a clear, assertive and patient communicator; maintaining confidentiality where necessary
- Carrying out any other duties and projects as required by the Programme Director and Programme Manager
- Ensuring that all stakeholders are treated efficiently and in an appropriate manner.
- Compliance with the NCIs Project Management Framework and best practice.
- To attend training courses as identified and agreed for appropriate development.
Please note, this is a 12 month fixed term contract.
About You
The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minoritised Ethnicities (UKME)/Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and other under-represented groups. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to recruiting disabled people. We offer interviews to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role.
You will be successful in this role if you are:
- Highly IT literate and proficient with common applications such as MS Office and web-based applications.
- Have good coordination skills, with the ability to prioritise activities related to the programme delivery.
- Are enthusiastic and positive, welcoming of change
- Experience of meeting facilitation, including taking of minutes, recording and following up actions.
For a detailed person specification, please see the job description attached.
For an informal conversation, please reach out to: gordon.jump@churchofengland.org
What we offer
Our benefits include:
- A salary of £38,918 plus age-related pension contributions between 8-15% of salary. We will also match any pension contributions you make up to an additional 3% of salary.
- 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus three additional days
- Flexible working hours and location, with an expectation of just 1-3 days per week in our office in Westminster
- Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships
- Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Opportunity to the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies
We try to be as flexible as we can in your work pattern to support you with other commitments, and to give a good work-life balance.
