Director of Finance and Operations

Can you help Friends of the Earth support key functions at a crucial time for the organisation? Can you ensure embedding financial sustainability, our new CRM and new ways of working by providing inspiring leadership and strategic oversight by heading up our central services of finance, IT, facilities, governance, People and Learning?  

As a core member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will ensure Friends of the Earth is financially sustainable and compliant with relevant regulations and laws and has the premises and organisational infrastructure it needs to support a great campaigning organisation. You will also ensure we have systems in place for attracting, supporting, developing and retaining talented people, including leading our systems and culture around equality, diversity and inclusion, performance management, learning and development and internal communications.  

We are looking for someone who can bring an inspiration, empathetic approach to support a range of established functions that are vital to the organisation’s ability to deliver its mission of campaigning to resolve the climate emergency and nature crisis. A commitment to social and environmental justice is essential and the successful candidate will have a key role to embedding our aims of collaboration, inclusion, wellbeing and an effective and supportive working environment. 

This is a six-month contract in the first instance to replace our outgoing Director, who will be leaving at the start of March. Ideally, we would like the new appointee to have some overlap or handover time prior to her departure. Consequently, we will need someone to start mid-February. 

How to apply: 

Please apply via our online application form, you will be able to save your application and come back to it before submitting your form. 

Your supporting statement should be no more than 2 pages of A4 and address the key requirements of the person specification with relevant examples of your experience and outline why you are interested in the post.  

Key dates: 

Closing date: Monday 16th January 2023 

1st Interviews: w/c Monday 23rd January 2023 (online via Teams meeting) 

Contract Type: 6 months fixed term contract 

Hours: full time (30 hours over 4 days) 

Location: Flexible and hybrid across England, Wales and Northern Ireland  

We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance including a 4-day working week with no loss of pay, excellent learning and development opportunities and a vibrant organisational culture.  

Our staff body is currently under-representative of People of Colour, LGBTQIA+ people and people with long term conditions or impairments. We are committed to eroding these historic barriers, so as to create a movement in which people from all walks of life see themselves in, and so we particularly encourage you to apply if you belong to one of these groups or sit at multiple intersections of disadvantage. We are committed to the Disability Confident standard and will guarantee an interview to any candidates who declare a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the role. 

Friends of the Earth staff are not permitted to hold office for political parties or stand as candidates for political parties. Staff should also seek permission from the Senior Management Team if they wish to hold a non-public facing official role in a political party. If this is an issue, please do raise this with us as soon as possible. 

Friends of the Earth is an international community dedicated to protecting the natural world and the wellbeing of everyone in it. We lead campaigns, provide resources and information, and drive real solutions to the environmental problems facing us all.