Operations Specialist

Job description

Use your organisation and problem-solving skills to help build a sustainable, healthy and just food system 

Industrial animal agriculture is at the root of many of the most pressing global issues of our time, from climate change and global hunger, to increased disease risk and the exploitation of billions of animals annually. 

The Good Food Institute Europe (GFI Europe) is at the forefront of the movement to use food technology to replace the products of industrial animal agriculture with plant-based, fermentation-derived and cultivated alternatives. Please check out our U.S. affiliate’s website (gfi.org) and read the 2019 Year in Review (gfi.org/2019) to find out more about who we are and what we do. We are at an exciting stage in our growth and are looking for an Operations Specialist to join our growing team to support operations across all functions in our effective, impactful organisation. For more information about this role, please check out the job brochure.

How you will make a difference:

You will lead on and contribute to a wide range of areas of day-to-day business support operations of GFI Europe, including but not limited to recruitment, remote office administration, finance, internal systems such as fundraising operations, responding to enquiries, and supporting our growing team in all areas of our work. Reporting to our Head of Operations, you will:

• Enable the smooth running of GFI Europe’s operations through effective, intelligent and efficient problem-solving.
• Lead on areas of GFI Europe’s hiring process, including advertising and promoting roles, corresponding with candidates, setting up assessments, contracting, and elements of onboarding, so that our candidates experience a fair, accurate, professional and thoughtful process. 
• Work with the Head of Operations to manage service providers and coordinate outsourced operations functions such as accounting. 
• Provide human resources support including staff development processes, coordinating staff surveys, sourcing training and development providers, coordinating the provision of insurance and other benefits, and finding creative solutions, processes and systems to enable our incredible team to perform to their full potential.
• Organise travel, accommodation and scheduling for staff retreats, conferences, etc.
• Lead our responses to enquiries, including representing GFI Europe to external stakeholders, using our CRM system, dealing with questions or passing them to other members of the team as needed. 
• Potentially help to manage GFI’s payroll, finance and accounting procedures including payment of invoices and reporting to donors. Overseeing the admin and reporting from external grant-funded partners. 
• Potentially assist with the administration of our fundraising/development work. 
• Potentially lead on project management and event organisation/planning (in future). 
• Potentially oversee a GFI Europe Intern and Fellow Programme, including assisting with recruitment, selection, onboarding and management.
• Assist the Managing Director, providing diary, administrative and research support as required. 
• Over time, potentially assist with GFI Europe’s expansion to other countries (beyond the UK and Belgium, where we are currently based), including setting up legal entities and operational systems in new countries.
• As required, work with colleagues in all functions (Development, Policy, Communications, Corporate Engagement, Science and Tech) on specific, impactful tasks, projects or research.
• Perform other tasks as required as a member of our small start-up team.

Who We’re Looking For

You must have:

• A passion for GFI’s philosophy and mission.
• The ability to demonstrate an aptitude for the type of work outlined above, and to learn quickly. You don’t necessarily need to have worked in an Operations role before. It would be an advantage to have demonstrable experience in one or more of the following: administration, operations, establishing and running processes, project management, recruitment, HR, finance, or other relevant area. 
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills.
• A passion and talent for devising and managing effective systems, fixing problems, and ensuring accurate and efficient administration. 
• A personality that gets enjoyment and satisfaction out of making things run smoothly and ‘making the magic happen’. 
• Excellent people-skills; the ability to build strong, collaborative and positive relationships, and work well with colleagues and stakeholders.
• A can-do approach; an efficient and well-organised self-starter with the drive and initiative to take responsibility for delivering results. You must be willing to help with a wide range of tasks, some of which will at times be repetitive and unglamourous. 
• Strong prioritisation and time management skills to manage multiple projects simultaneously and meet deadlines. 
• Comfort working remotely in a rapidly-growing and evolving organisation: the ability to work well independently and under pressure. 
• High level of IT literacy, including comfort with spreadsheets/databases and a willingness to learn new software packages. Professional experience with Google Suite, Quickbooks, Asana, and/or Salesforce would be welcomed.
• Fluent English (at CEFR C2 level), both written and spoken. We would also welcome applications from candidates who, in addition, can work in other major European languages.

We want the best people and we don’t want biases holding us back. We strongly encourage people of every colour, orientation, age, gender, origin, and ability to apply. Because we value a diverse workplace, we prioritise an inclusive climate absent of discrimination and harassment during the application process and after you join the team.

Benefits and the fine print

• Terms of employment: Full-time, permanent
• Location: Flexible – we will consider applicants from anywhere in Europe. You will mainly be working remotely: from your home, or wherever you choose. Once the COVID situation has cleared, you and the whole GFI Europe team will get together in-person approximately twice per year for around 3-4 days at a time, most likely in the London area or Brussels. 
• Salary: £24,000 – £28,000.  This range is based on a UK hire and will be adjusted if hired elsewhere in Europe.
• Right to work requirements: We are only able to consider applicants who are eligible to work and travel in the EU or UK.

• Application Deadline: 5 April 2021, 11.59pm BST. We will be assessing candidates on a rolling basis, so please apply now!
• Application process: Please complete this short form, upload your CV and cover letter, and complete a short task here: https://forms.gle/LnbAsqYhCsErsJwj6 – thank you. Your cover letter (of 1-2 pages) should set out:

• What motivated you to apply for this role.
• How you meet each of the requirements for the role as listed in the job description. 
• Which bit of the job description energises you the most.

The full application process is outlined in the job brochure. We really look forward to hearing from you! 

Any questions?  If you have any questions about this role, please do reach out to us at  europe@gfi.org. If you’ve read this far but decided not to apply, please feel free to share this job description with someone else in your network who you think might be a good fit for the role! Thank you.