Job title: Chief Operating Officer
Department: Operations Directorate
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Purpose
The Chief Operating Officer’s role is to ensure that the Academy thrives and adds up to more than the sum of its parts. The postholder is responsible for the development and delivery of our corporate strategy, working across the organisation as our strategic brain ensuring we spot and seize opportunities. The postholder will be responsible for driving operational effectiveness and excellence, ensuring our operations functions enable us to meet our organisational ambitions. The role also plays a significant part in the overall leadership of the Academy as a member of the Executive Leadership Team: we are committed to making sure that the Academy is a brilliant place to work.
The role has six direct reports: Finance, People, Fundraising, Impact and Grant Assurance, Strategy and Planning, and Operations and Infrastructure. It sits on the Executive Leadership Team alongside the Directors of Translation and Enterprise, Grants and Programmes, Communications and Engagement, and Policy.
Strategy, Choices and Relationships
- Own the Academy’s strategy, taking our current priorities forward and evolving them as ambitions change and evidence about our impact comes in, in the UK and internationally, and drive delivery of that strategy across the organisation, through and with our Fellows.
- Work out what the strategy costs and where the money could come from, shaping the pitches that bring it in from government, industry, philanthropy and funders beyond the UK.
- Ensure that we have the right external relationships to deliver the strategy in the UK and internationally and that we are using them well and are a good partner.
- Own impact and grant assurance, so that what we fund is properly overseen and what we learn about impact shapes the next set of priorities.
Running the Academy Well
- Lead the Operations Directorate so that colleagues across the Academy experience one service rather than six functions and set the standard for what each of them delivers.
- Get real value from technology, including AI, our CRM and our briefing hub, in how we manage information, report on our work and run our systems.
Money: Stewardship and Income
- Grow the Academy’s income in the UK and internationally and keep us on a firm financial footing, with a diverse range of funders (government, industry, charity, philanthropic and our trading company) to best support delivery of the Academy’s strategic priorities.
- Shape and lead the pitches that bring that income in.
- Build the capability around our trading company to make commercial use of assets we already have, including the building and its venue operation, our convening power and our reach.
- Lead internal business planning, ensuring resources are appropriately allocated and the right capabilities are in place.
- Ensure our money is managed well, with the right balance of prudence and investment in capabilities to deliver on objectives, and with controls, reporting and assurance that meet our obligations to the Charity Commission, funders and auditors.
Culture, and Building High-Performing Teams
- Enable the Academy to be a great and high performing place to work, creating opportunities for colleagues to thrive while delivering their personal and organisational objectives.
- Develop the six directors into a strong leadership group, and raise the standard of line management across the Academy.
- Work with the newly formed Remuneration and Benefits Committee to ensure we have the right employee offer.
Governance, Risk and Assurance
- Ensure the governance function of the Academy supports delivery, including through the smooth running and operating of the Council, its committees and the processes that underpin them.
- Oversee organisation-wide risk and compliance, ensuring threats to the Academy that have financial, compliance and reputational consequences are effectively managed and we maintain a solid approach to business continuity.
Leading the Academy Together
- Play a full part in the Executive Leadership Team, sharing responsibility for the Academy as a whole and not only your own directorate. Bring challenge where it is needed and back colleagues when it counts.
- Represent the Academy externally, with government, funders and partners.