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Role Description – Chief Operating Officer

Role Title:       Chief Operating Officer

Team:               Senior Management Team

Location:        Remote, UK

Salary:             £86,000

Overview

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for the delivery of operations and statutory compliance, including ensuring appropriate financial management of the organisation and its subsidiaries. The COO will be a member of the Senior Management Team, providing leadership and direction alongside the Director of Programmes and Executive Director. They will work closely with the SMT and other colleagues both within the core team and across our programmes to fulfil Global Dialogue’s operational goals.

The COO must be able to engage effectively with colleagues, philanthropic funders and partners both in the UK and internationally, along with key service providers supporting operational tasks. They must be highly organised and be able to lead an operations workstream, identifying capacity as needed. The role requires effective leadership and communication skills, an understanding of UK charity and company compliance, with the ability to engage effectively at all levels.

Line Management and Reporting

Reports to:      Executive Director

Line reports:   Head of Finance, Head of People, Operations and Systems Manager

Main Duties

Organisational leadership

  • As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), the COO will share responsibility for delivering organisation-wide commitments and initiatives.
  • Contribute to the development and delivery of organisational strategy, values and culture; and of our offer to programmes.
  • Promote our mission to advance rights, equity and diversity in philanthropy across our hosted programme portfolio. Support the Director of Programmes to implement methods to deliver this.
  • Lead the on-boarding and off-boarding of programmes joining and leaving the programme portfolio, in collaboration with other members of the SMT.
  • Connect regularly with external peers, share learning and participate in sector-wide initiatives to advance our mission and the organisation. Represent Global Dialogue externally at conferences and events, and promote the organisation by sharing our successes, learning and innovation.

 Operational leadership

  • Develop and implement Global Dialogue’s operational work plan in consultation with key staff and the Operational Advisory Group (OAG), ensuring alignment with the organisation’s overall strategy.
  • Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration and operational excellence within the organisation, including championing effective ways of working and the operational policies, processes and tools that support this.
  • Serve as the primary liaison between the OAG and the staff team, working in partnership with the OAG Chair to provide guidance to the board; ensuring Trustees are able to monitor finances, operational priorities and risks.
  • Enable the Board to fulfil its governance responsibilities, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, legal requirements and donor expectations and advising on best practices.
  • Provide line management to the Operations and Systems Manager.

Financial planning & financial management

  • Lead the annual resource planning process, including preparation of the core organisational budget, the programme budgets, and assessing spending and financial risks to ensure effective delivery of the organisation’s operational work.
  • Oversee the annual audit and any additional audits by funders, ensuring any recommendations from audits are implemented appropriately.
  • Implement transparent and accountable processes as part of financial management and donor reporting, as well as ethical and effective treasury management.
  • Lead the organisation through VAT registration and support the development of a consulting offer, ensuring the organisation’s overhead recovery model remains robust, transparent and scalable.
  • Provide line management to the Head of Finance.

People & culture

  • Oversee the recruitment, onboarding and offboarding of all staff, both core and programme team members, ensuring appropriate policies, processes and tools are in place to support self-management at programme level.
  • Ensure the development and implementation of compliant and appropriate salaries, benefits, HR policies and training
  • Support the Head of People and line managers to manage exceptional HR matters, such as grievance, disciplinary or extended sick leave processes.
  • Oversee our Employer of Record offer that enables the organisation to hire staff outside the UK, and the development of procedures that support the inclusion of these staff.
  • Take an active role in developing a wellbeing strategy for the core team and support with wellbeing activities across the organisation.
  • Provide line management to the Head of People.

 Compliance & risk management

  • Advise staff on contractual compliance and risk management with new and existing funding agreements, ensuring that relevant input is incorporated to enable effective decisions or clarify complex compliance issues.
  • Ensure compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements, including financial, data protection, public charity equivalent status in the USA, and other regulatory reporting obligations.
  • Maintain the risk register and advise staff on risk management, overseeing all policies and processes relating to these risks.
  • Serve as the Company Secretary for Global Dialogue and for Global Dialogue Ventures.

Management of IT & Data Protection

  • Serve as the Data Protection Officer, with responsibility for GDPR compliance and data retention across the organisation.
  • Oversee the appointment and management of external suppliers, including the IT service provider and any digital security consultants; ensuring their work meets the needs of the organisation and the programmes we host.
  • Be responsible for the IT and security offer to hosted programmes, including appropriate purchasing and setting up of hardware for new staff; management of software accounts and access for programmes.
  • Provide guidance on copyright and licensing to the organisation and the programmes it hosts.

Policy development & implementation

  • Be responsible for organisation policies, ensuring that appropriate, best practice policies are in place and reviewed annually.
  • Be responsible for ensuring that policies are being shared and implemented by programme partners as needed.
  • Be the main contact point for any legal matters relating to Global Dialogue’s operational work, briefing staff and the Board as needed.
  • In partnership with the SMT and Head of People, ensure that the organisation is implementing approaches that align with our values on equity, diversity and inclusion.