Location:  Bristol
Contract:  Permanent, Full time
Salary: £40,000 - £42,000, depending on experience 

Closing date: Monday 16th September at 12 noon

ABOUT SMART WORKS 

Smart Works is a dynamic, high profile and fast-growing UK charity that dresses, coaches and empowers unemployed women for success at their job interview. After visiting Smart Works, 63% of clients secure a job within a month. 

The Smart Works service is delivered in 11 centres across the UK. Over the past ten years, Smart Works has helped over 35,000 women. It is our mission that any woman who needs our service should be able to find her way to a Smart Works centre. To achieve this, the charity is expanding and opening new centres in areas of need. The next Smart Works centre will be in Bristol and is due to open in early 2025. More information about who we are can be found on our website. 

ABOUT THE ROLE 

In early 2025, Smart Works will open a new centre in the city centre of Bristol. Opening a twelfth centre will make Smart Works services accessible and available to more unemployed women ahead of their job interviews. 

Smart Works is looking to appoint an experienced leader who is passionate about our work to lead the opening of the new centre. 

The successful candidate will work closely with the central Smart Works Charity team to establish the centre in Bristol. In practice the role will involve identifying a suitable location for the centre, recruiting a skilled volunteer team, establishing a supporter base in Bristol and building partnerships with local referral organisations, corporate partners and funders. 

Once in post, the Head of Bristol will appoint three additional staff members, building a founding team who will ensure the newest Smart Works centre is set-up for success. A founding Board of Trustees will also be appointed to provide local insight, expertise and support. 

Throughout, the Head of Bristol will work closely with the Smart Works Charity Head of Programmes and experienced central team. There is an established blueprint for opening a new centre that will guide the process, with central support covering Finance, People & HR, Communications, Fundraising, Wardrobe and Operations. 

This is a unique and exciting opportunity for someone who is a natural self-starter, enjoys seeing a project through from beginning to end and is passionate about supporting women into employment. 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Appointing and managing a staff team of four and a volunteer community of over 50, ensuring all team members thrive in their roles and continue to develop their skills. 
• Supporting each direct report with project deliverables and identifying continuous improvement opportunities in our ways of working. This work will sit across fundraising, service delivery and outreach work with referral partner organisations. 
• Overseeing the establishment, set-up and smooth running of the Bristol centre. Acting as the Designated Safeguarding Officer for the Bristol centre, following established training, guidance and procedures. 
• Acting as the day-to-day contact for the Smart Works Charity finance team, overseeing day-to-day spend and budgeting, contributing to reforecasting exercises and ensuring established processes are followed. 
• Delivering financial activities to target, maintaining an up to date database with relevant income tracking and pipeline information to facilitate regular financial reporting to the Board of Trustees and timely process reconciliation with the Board Treasurer and Group Finance team. 
• Championing the Smart Works service within Bristol, including supporting the team to raise awareness of the charity and increase the supporter community through social media campaigns and in-person events throughout the year.

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES 

Essential criteria 

• Outstanding interpersonal and team management and leadership skills. 
• Experience of generating income from a variety of sources, ideally including the organisation of fundraising events and the submission of grant applications. 
• Demonstrable experience of securing new business and onboarding new partners. 
• A strong networker, with relationship management experience across seniority levels. Experience of balancing changing priorities and responding to delivery needs. 
• Proactive approach to problem solving, with an entrepreneurial attitude. Ability to work autonomously and also have a strong team focus and ethic. 
• Target driven, with excellent organisation and time management skills to meet deadlines and KPIs. Experience successfully managing and delivering projects. 

Desirable criteria 

• An understanding of the employment and skills landscape in the UK. 
• An understanding of the safeguarding requirements for a charity like Smart Works. Experience of working collaboratively with volunteer teams. 
• Financially aware, able to interpret basic financial accounts for reporting purposes.
• All successful applicants must provide two satisfactory references and complete a Basic DBS check. 

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit a CV and answer the following questions via our recruitment portal by Monday 16th September at 12 noon.

1. Why do you want to work for Smart Works? (Max 200 words) 
2. Why do you think you are well suited to leading the foundation and opening of a new Smart Works centre in Bristol? (Max 350 words) 
3. What experience do you have managing and motivating a team? Please be specific about the number of people in the team and what results were delivered (Max 350 words) 
4. Is there anything else you would like to share at this stage. (Max 150 words). 

First round interviews are to be held virtually on Friday 20th September. Second round interviews are to be held in person in our North London centre on Thursday 26th September. Reasonable travel expenses will be covered.