Title:            Office Manager

Responsible to:    Director

Responsible for:    Small team of volunteers

Hours:            28 hrs per week (with possibility of extension)

Contract:        One-year contract (with possibility of extension)

Salary:        £26,200 - £28,000 per annum pro rata, depending on experience

Location:        Latin American House and remotely as required

 

Main Purpose of the role:

• To oversee the smooth running of the Latin American House (LAH) office, its maintenance and servicing, ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations.
• To support the development of the charity’s administrative, communication, finance and IT procedures and systems.
• To contribute to a better and more agile service delivery, streamlined internal and external operations and a professional working environment overall.
• To ensure that everyone reaching out to Latin American House (LAH) is made to feel welcome and receives appropriate information about LAH’s and other services.
• To contribute to diversify and increase income sources through maximising the hiring of our spaces and promoting our activities and services.
• To contribute to and maintain robust financial processes and systems.
• To assist in reaching more members of our community.
• To become the H&S lead and to manage other operational aspects of the building.
• To support and supervise admin and front office volunteers.

The Position

You will be a pivotal person at Latin American House and will be able to work autonomously. This position will suit a flexible and proactive team player with the ability and drive to support the overall development of the Charity - helping us to continue sporting our communities as we have done for 37 years. The key areas for which you will be responsible are:

1. Day to day office management, being the main contact with LAH clients, contractors, licensees, some volunteers, suppliers and visitors

• Be responsible for the front of house, facilities and IT services, including health and safety and fire safety checks, dealing with a wide range of LAH stakeholders.
• Support the creation of an office outlay suitable for post Covid-19.
• Contribute to the management of our office facilities, ensuring a safe and effective working environment and the development of a building maintenance schedule.
• Coordinate and maximise the utilisation of our spaces by third parties, managing bookings, liaising with tenants, and ensuring facilities are resourced and welcoming.
• Sourcing and supervising contractors at the best value for money.

2. Administrative support of the Director and team

• Coordinate, develop and support ways of working to promote team cohesion and efficient, joined up working between colleagues with different functions.
• Contribute to any reasonable duties as requested by the Director to support delivery of the organisation’s mission, aims and objectives.
• Work with and support frontline and other volunteers, including those helping at reception and with the Adult Education and Employability project, i.e. English classes
• Monitor income generation levels from space hire, communications reach and quality and value for money of LAH’s suppliers of goods and services.
• Redirect enquiries to relevant staff and external sources of help and support.
• Support organising and coordination of annual Away Days.

3. Effective working of the administrative functions and IT systems, including communications and data protection.

• Maintain an overview  of databases, G drive, IT infrastructure and phone system, in liaison with external service suppliers to support effective organisational working.
• Review, maintain and develop the administrative procedures, including current filing processes or implementing a CRM system.
• Contribute to compliance with the GDPR Act (2018).

4. Streamline communications and monitoring to contribute to the charity’s organisational goals

• Ensure ease of access of internal documents and information through the GDrive or the implementation of a new system.
• Ensure ease of access of external communications, i.e. through online forms for enrolling in our activities, classes and events, and through other tools.
• Contribute to marketing our activities and update the organisation’s website, taking an active role in our social media channels and ensuring message consistency.
• Coordinate and send LAH’s monthly newsletter with input from our different services, increasing our audience and monitoring its reach.
• Contribute to maintain and develop systems to monitor activities and services and for reporting on these.

5. Income generation through regular and one-off office space and classrooms/ hall hire

• Actively advertise, coordinate and maximise the use of our spaces for hire through regular and ad hoc hire in order to generate income.
• Liaise with existing and new licensees, managing relevant documentation such as hire contracts, insurance and licensee agreements.
• Take an active role in supporting the logistics of some events, working with other colleagues.
• Streamline financial procedures and systems, for example payments, working with the Finance Officer and coordinating with her/ him across the team.
• Process some payments; log invoices and ensure authorisation prior to payment; checking expense claims and ensuring financial procedures are followed.

Experience

Essential

• At least two years experience as administrator or office manager, directly working with the public in person, via email and telephone, preferably in the charity sector.
• Working knowledge of bookkeeping or as a finance assistant, preferably using Xero.
• Experience of coordinating and managing administrative systems.
• Able to work autonomously.

Desirable

• Social media communications, website management and content management systems, i.e. Wordpress or Joomla.
• Event organisation and planning.
• Experience in supervising volunteers.
• Working knowledge of building upkeep and general maintenance, with understanding of risk management.
• Experience in the voluntary and community sector, ideally with Latin Americans.

Skills

Essential

• Bilingual English-Spanish speaker, or Portuguese-English speaker with advanced Spanish language skills.
• Highly literate and numerate, including G Suite, IT, Mailchimp, social media, web editing and other online tools.
• Ability to develop an effective and efficient office environment, including systems for the administrative needs of different functions.
• Excellent customer service as well as communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to prioritise work.
• Excellent attention to detail and organisational skills.
• Ability and willingness to learn and apply new skills quickly.

Knowledge/ Expertise

Essential

• Clear understanding of confidentiality and GDPR 
• Working knowledge of bookkeeping, database management, spreadsheets and word processing
• Knowledge of H&S and safeguarding issues in voluntary and community premises

Desirable

• Working knowledge of charity law.
• Project Management Experience.
• Experience managing a database or coordinating a CRM system.

Qualifications

• An academic or vocational qualification in administration or equivalent is prefered
• Formal training in office management and/or administration are desirable.
• Commitment, Values and Motivation

Essential

• Strong commitment to the mission and values of Latin American House.
• Proactive and able to confidently take initiative and make appropriate decisions.
• Approachable, with the ability to build effective relationships with diverse. individuals and organisations and excellent customer service skills.
• Able to multitask, adaptable, emotionally intelligent and resilient.
• Willingness to work flexibly as the post may require some work on evenings or weekends.
• Autonomous and proactive, can do attitude and able to work as part of a team.
• Good negotiating skills.

About Latin American House

We work for the integration, social inclusion and wellbeing of Latin American and other Spanish and Portuguese-speaking migrants, as well as other communities in our local neighbourhood. Our aims are to improve their lives, to provide a local Community Centre and to promote the rich diversity of Latin American cultures. We are expanding our organisation and diversifying our income streams in order to provide a better and more comprehensive service to our beneficiaries. We are a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

Our services include: 

• Legal and Social Welfare Advice, providing specialist advice on immigration, as well as general information on benefits and employment. In 2019 we also started a EU Settlement Scheme project to support disadvantaged and at-risk Latin Americans and their families.

• Children’s Education, which currently consists of our bilingual Menchú Nursery and the Spanish Saturday School for children from 5 to 11 years old.

• Adult Community Learning, in partnership with local authorities, colleges and recognised education organisations, as well as our own volunteers. We provide practical adult education for Latin Americans and local residents. 

• Community Centre, LAH is a well-established centre where people can come for activities, information and orientation. 

• Culture - promoting and showcasing Latin American cultures, for people of all ages and backgrounds. From 2019 there is a dedicated culture coordinator.

The last three years have been of expansion and growth and we have had an increasing number of beneficiaries, clients and visitors reaching our organisation.