Our aim is 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.

The National Church Institutions (NCIs) are national administrative bodies that work together to support the mission and ministry of the Church of England. Their activities are hugely varied, ranging from management of a multi-billion-pound investment fund, to a grant-giving charity, a housing service for retired clergy and the administration of three multi-employer pension schemes.

The Church Commissioners manage the historic endowment fund of the Church of England and fulfil other administrative functions in support of the Church’s mission. The Secretariat department supports the Chief Executive and the Estates Commissioners in their conduct of the Church Commissioners’ business.

As Diary and Events Coordinator, you will support the Secretariat team’s planning and delivery of a range of Board, Committee and other meetings/events primarily through accurate diary management and logistical support, and coordinating other office logistics to help the team function efficiently.

This is a varied role with the opportunity to support colleagues, multitask, prioritise, and anticipate the needs of the team.

With administrative and diary management experience, you will be organised and efficient with strong oral and written communication skills and the confidence to engage with senior colleagues and stakeholders.

Based at our historic offices at Church House, Westminster for 2-3 days per week, you will also have the flexibility to work from home on a hybrid basis.

To arrange an informal conversation about the role, please contact: matt.chamberlain@churchofengland.org

Interviews will be held on the 17/18 April 2023.

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 Minority Ethnic Backgrounds and disabled people.

We offer a unique environment with opportunities for continuous learning, generous annual leave for work life balance, season ticket loans and a range of benefits including discounted entry to attractions and what we feel is a market leading package when it comes to our pension scheme.

The Role

• Supporting the Senior Executive Assistant in the management of the CEO’s and First Church Estates Commissioner’s complex electronic diaries. In some cases this work will be supervised by the Senior Executive Assistant and in others it will be more autonomous. It will involve liaising with senior trustees (e.g. the Deputy Chair of the Board, Estates Commissioners) and a range of staff across the NCIs and will require flexible thinking in accommodating last minute requests or changes and overcoming date clashes.
• Assisting the Senior Executive Assistant in scheduling a range of meeting dates, including future Board/ Committee meeting dates, for which the Senior Executive Assistant will outline the overall strategy and certain underlying requirements/patterns. Within these parameters, you will liaise with a wide range of staff from across the NCIs to understand their business needs and accordingly plot out the meeting dates. Also, more autonomous responsibility for setting dates for Chief Officers’ meetings, Secretariat team meetings and other ad hoc meeting dates.
• Under the direction of the Senior Executive Assistant and/or Senior Administrative & Governance Officer, handling logistics associated with trustee recruitment. This may include establishing shortlisting and interview dates, liaising with venues, ensuring technical equipment is provided and working, making arrangements for catering and supporting interview panels on the day.
• Co-ordinating meeting logistics and hospitality, including booking appropriate meeting rooms/ venues, ensuring appropriate technical equipment is provided/working (incl testing and reporting faults/ following up), informing Security about external visitors, ensuring guests are properly directed and welcomed and arranging appropriate refreshments. Training in our room booking system will be provided.
• Co-ordinating the Secretariat team’s physical presence in the office. This includes keeping abreast of which days colleagues are working remotely or from Church House and ensuring appropriate desk space is booked and communicated within the team, ensuring relevant equipment/ stationery/ other office supplies are available, and ensuring the Estates Commissioners have the appropriate work space depending on the nature of their working day.
• Assisting the Senior Executive Assistant and Senior Administrative and Governance Officer in the preparation and delivery of a range of events. These will include for example the Church Commissioners’ Annual Stakeholder Meeting, General Synod fringe meetings, making arrangements for trustee interviews/ inductions/ shortlisting meetings and arranging dinners, receptions and other ad hoc events. Very occasional weekend and evening work is required, including at least one full weekend per year at General Synod in York.
• Some ad hoc purchasing on behalf of the Senior Executive Assistant, e.g. equipment, flowers, leaving cards/gifts.
• Providing printing support to the Estates Commissioners and Secretariat team. This includes handling printing requests from colleagues promptly and to a high standard of accuracy and understanding and advising when it will be more efficient/ more cost effective to use the NCIs’ third party print service (training on which will be provided) as opposed to ‘DIY’ printing in the office.
• Providing administrative support to the Senior Administrative & Governance Officer and other Secretariat colleagues. This will include helping to establish and maintain review schedules for certain documents (e.g. committee Terms of Reference or members’ registered interests), documenting departmental processes and helping review and rationalise the department’s archived material (training in the use of the archiving/retrieval system will be provided).
• Helping support the Church Commissioners’ ‘portal’ (Nasdaq Boardvantage). This includes troubleshooting/ answering enquiries from other users and helping develop and document any new functions and processes. With training and experience of the product, become a ‘lead user’.
• Providing occasional minute writing support. Training will be provided if required.
• Covering for the Senior Executive Assistant or PA and Administrative Officer in their absence.
• Other general office duties as required, e.g. handling correspondence/ enquiries/ post.

The Requirements

Essential

Knowledge and experience

• Experience of managing a busy online diary.
• Proven administrative and organisational experience.
• Demonstrable experience of adapting to changing priorities.
• Experience of working under pressure, and with minimal supervision, to achieve deadlines.

Skills and aptitudes:

• Dynamic, can-do attitude, service mentality, flexibility and excellent team-working.
• Initiative, problem-solving skills and the ability to plan your work effectively.
• Good accuracy and eye for detail.
• Good IT skills, in particular experience of MS Office (especially Word, Excel and Outlook).
• Strong oral and written communication, with the ability to engage with senior colleagues across the organisation and a good manner with visitors/ suppliers/ stakeholders.
• Sensitivity and good judgement when in possession of confidential information.

Desirable

• Empathy with the mission and ethos of the Church of England (but please note you do not need to be a member of the Church of England or any other denomination).
• Previous experience of working closely with senior officials.
• Educated to A level or equivalent.
• Some general knowledge of and interest in the Church Commissioners’ work.

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.

Find out more about working for the National Church Institutions by visiting Careers | The Church of England

NCI values

• We strive for excellence
• We collaborate
• We act with integrity
• We show compassion
• We respect others

We welcome everyone and we accept and value people for who they are and what they contribute, treating others in the way we would wish to be treated ourselves. We actively listen to and include others, encouraging and enabling everyone’s voice to be heard in discussions and decisions. When we disagree, we aim to disagree well with respect and kindness.

We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people. 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. If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org.

• As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.
• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.