Post Introduction

The Education and Growing Faith department is looking to hire a Senior Programme Officer to support the church schools and the wider education sector. Working in the Operations Team, you’ll be directly supporting the Head of Operations with project work and the wider NSE with system and process support. The role will offer the post-holder the opportunity to work across a range of areas such as communications, HR, grant management, reporting and governance. There will be a mix of longer strategic project work, and shorter task-based work. 

About the Department/Role

The National Society for Education (NSE) is both an NCI and a Royal-charter charity. It’s aims are to support Church schools and the wider education sector by developing leaders, shaping policy and growing faith.  

The NSE leads the Church of England’s national work in education in partnership with 41 Diocesan Boards of Education and approximately 4,700 Church of England schools. We also support the national education work of the Church in Wales, which includes around 150 schools. Our presence extends to work with community schools and academy trusts, as well as higher and further education through numerous chaplaincies, providing spiritual support and guidance to children and young people, and to adults.  

We are a dynamic team, working remotely from our homes around the country. We gather regularly online, and fairly regularly in person.  

What you'll be doing

The purpose of this role is to:

• Support the Head of Operations with policy development and reviews.
• Take responsibility for the continued development and management of the online Office Manual.
• Support the Head of Operations with due diligence tasks around new areas of work, taking ownership of discrete projects.
• Project manage areas of work as delegated by the Head of Operations, creating work plans, managing stakeholders, providing project reports regularly. 
• Take responsibility for certain HR policy implementation such as designing and rolling out appropriate induction processes.
• Alongside the marketing staff, support the Head of Operations with the management of our internal and external comms.
• Lead the development of Asana (an online project management tool) use across the Operations Team.
• Provide Executive level support to the CEO, including diary management with high profile external stakeholders.
• Manage internal team days and residentials with the Events Manager.
• Work with the Head of Operations to manage the annual planning and reporting cycle.

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.

Essential 

Knowledge/Experience 

• Experience of working within multi-faceted and complex projects 
• Experience of summarising and reporting on data to stakeholders. 
• Experience of organising and storing information securely and systematically.
• Experience of writing training manuals to simply communicate policy and process.

Skills & Abilities: 

• Strong analytical skills. 
• Customer service skills and able to take responsibility for progressing stakeholder queries. 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills  
• Strong time management and organisation skills, ability to keep track of key priorities 
• Proactive and able to work under own initiative to suggest solutions to problems. 
• Strong sense of ownership and ability to solve problems. 
• High proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Key Attributes: Takes personal Responsibility, Organised methodical approach, Pride and commitment to high standards, Collaboration and team support.

Desirable 

• Experience of project management of complex projects from start to end
• Experience of co-ordinating virtual events 
• Advanced statistical analysis and Excel skills 
• Proficiency in using survey technology, for example, Form Assembly 
• Experience in using Project Management Software (Eg. Asana)
• Experience in marketing and comms work

Circumstances 

Whilst this is a remote role, the post-holder will need to travel for the following reasons: 

• National Society Team Days (3 per year)
• National Society Residential (2 days, including 1 overnight stay in the autumn)
• Ops Team Days (approx 3 per year)
• Other events where support is required

Please refer to the Job Description for more information about the role and person specification. 

What we offer

Your Salary 

• A salary of £40,572 per annum, 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 your salary.

Your Benefits

• 25 days annual leave (increasing to 30 days within 5 years) plus eight bank holidays and three additional days (pro-rated if working part-time).
• We welcome all flexible working arrangement requests. This is looked at in a case-by-case scenario and if this fits within the department’s needs. 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.
• We offer many services and initiatives under our Family Friendly Programme, some of these include enhanced Maternity Leave initiative, Adoption Leave, Paternity Leave, & Shared Parental Leave. Structured induction programme and access to a range of development opportunities including apprenticeships.

• Automatic enrolment and access to Medicash (one of the UK’s leading health cash plan providers), providing you with many services including reimbursements of routine dental treatment, optical, specialist consultations, and therapy treatments. Unlimited access to virtual GP & Private prescription service and health & Stress related helplines.

• Access to Occupational Health, and an Employee Assistance Programme 
• Access to the Department of Education Restaurant and Westminster Abbey with a plus-one guest.
• Apply for eligibility for an Eyecare voucher.
• Opportunity to join the Civil Service Sports & Social Club, and get involved in a range of staff networks, groups and societies.

ABOUT NATIONAL CHURCH INSTITUTIONS

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.

Please note: You must have the right to work in the UK to be considered for the role.