⚓ Location: Remote

💰 Salary: 64k GBP (Full time)

🗓️ Duration: June 2023-February 2024 (fixed term)

👤 Reporting to: Board of Trustees

👤 Accountable for: 10 staff and a community of volunteers

⏲️ DEADLINE: 27 March

We’re looking for a Chief Executive Office (CEO) to cover our CEO’s maternity leave for a 8-9 months fixed term period. The post will begin in June 2023 (start date to be agreed) and will include a handover period with our current CEO at the start and end of the contract.

You will be working alongside our Board, staff and volunteers to ensure Chayn meets the strategic objectives of it’s 2023-25 strategy.

About Chayn

Chayn is an award-winning, open-source collective that leverages technology to empower women against violence and oppression so they can live happier and healthier lives. Chayn started in 2013 to provide survivors of abuse with accurate, diverse and accessible information.

While we’ve been going for nearly 10 years, Chayn was entirely volunteer-led until 2020 when we started to grow our team of paid staff. We are now a core team of 11, with up to 10 supporting contractors working together remotely from all over the world.

Since our beginnings, over half a million people have accessed our award-winning work online, generating 1.2 million page views. Up to 70% of our volunteers are survivors of abuse which means not only are our projects user-centred–they are user-led. We are experts in trauma-informed work and have developed trauma-informed design principles that we apply at every level of the organisation from HR through to user research, through to UX/UI. We are one of the few feminist technology projects tackling gender-based violence while creating and maintaining openly-licensed products and code.

Our products

Some examples of the products and services in our universe:

Products and services for survivors

🌺 Bloom - ****A remote trauma support service, offering video courses and reflective webchat that combine the insights of survivors globally with therapeutic practices to heal from trauma. We currently have partnerships with Bumble and Badoo where we offer their users bespoke Bloom programmes of support.

🧘🏽‍♀️Your Story Matters - A digital companion for survivors of sexual assault with curated content on recovery, the legal reporting process in the UK, and stories of survival and resilience. We aim to inform and empower survivors to make their own choices about the steps they take after assault. Under this project, we also produced a three-part podcast, Less than 2 percent, about the experiences of survivors in the UK who seek help from the legal justice system and the third sector.

📖 Manipulation is abuse - A guide for survivors and allies, to help identify manipulative situations and offer suggestions on ways to deal with them.

📖 How to build a domestic abuse case without a lawyer - A practical guide to collecting and presenting evidence for divorce, criminal cases and/or child custody. Available in English, Arabic, Urdu, Italian, and Portuguese.

Research and thought leadership

📖 Orbits: a guide on how we can design interventions to tech abuse that are intersectional, survivor-centred, and trauma-informed. Co-created with thinkers, practitioners, and survivors from around the world, the guide focuses on three areas that are vital for effectively tackling tech abuse: technology, research, and policy. It explores how systems are failing survivors and how we can advance a different approach that leaves no survivor behind.

📖 Trauma-informed design: One of the many write-ups of our design principles.

Products and services for organisations

🗞️ Bloom for Bumble and Badoo programme is an industry-first partnership where Chayn is providing a customised version of our remote trauma support service Bloom to their community.

🗞️ Training for organisations on vicarious trauma for their staff. This is especially useful for humanitarian workers, frontline gender-based violence organisations, customer support staff and content moderators.

Changing media narratives

Our CEO is a media spokesperson and regularly talks to broadcast and print media about stories to do with gender-based violence and online safety. You can see some recent examples here: LBC, BBC News, HuffPo, BBC, Vice and Forbes.

How Chayn runs

We’re very proud of the organisation we have built and the community and culture we continue to nurture.

We understand that though many would love to work with us on our mission, our ways of working and structure, may not work for all. Please read this document and give it some thought before applying to work with us; it should help you assess whether we would be a good fit for each other.

Important relationships for this role

Internal External 👤 Board 👤 Partners 👤 Operations Team 👤 Clients 👤 Volunteer Executive Team 👤 Funders 👤 Staff 👤 Media 👤 Volunteers

About the role

We are looking for an ambitious and motivated Chief Executive Officer (Maternity Cover) to manage the organisation whilst the current CEO takes maternity leave.

Responsibilities could include, but are not limited to:

Leadership, strategic planning and delivery (20%)

To chart the direction of the organisation in line with our mission, vision and 2023-2025 targets
To review and support the team in setting OKR plans for each quarter and complete Rapid Reflection reports to be published on Chayn’s website
To share Chayn’s thought leadership publicly showcasing our work and approach
To monitor and evaluate all services and providing information on outcomes to the Board of Trustees and relevant stakeholders
To act as Chayn’s principal spokesperson, representing the organisation to a high standard in a wide range of contexts with a diverse range of stakeholders
To seek out, develop and oversee partnerships with supporters, funders, other charities, and all relevant bodies/organisations, with the support of Head of Movement Building and Policy (in place by July 2023)
To oversee effectively the delivery of all of Chayn’s projects and services, supporting activities and ensuring resource allocation that doesn’t compromise on staff wellbeing and stays within our allocated budget. This will involve planning for and forseeing any issues with team capacity to complete our deliverables.

Management and delivery (15%)

To lead, support and motivate the staff team across Chayn, ensuring timely service delivery at a high standard, commitment to Chayn’s vision, mission and values and adherence to 2023-2025 strategy
To liaise with senior staff to ensure best practice in recruitment, support and community management of volunteers
To work with the Head of Operations, People & Finance to design and deliver internal training
To work with the Operations Team to plan and host Team Retreats, Reflection Week, OKR reviews, Town Halls and other team meetings mentioned here
To ensure the development and delivery of Chayn’s commercial and grant products
Line management: You will the line manager of the Head of Operations, Finance & People, Head of Movement Building and Policy, and Head of Product and Experience.

Income generation (50%)

To oversee the funding we receive, ensuring high level reporting to funders
To identify, research and secure new streams of funding and sponsorship from trusts, foundations, corporate and statutory bodies and any others to the value of £300-500k
To prepare, monitor and work within annual and project budgets with the Trustee Treasurer and Head of Operations, People & Finance and present them to Board of Trustees at board meetings
To ensure that service level agreements and targets are achieved
To seek out opportunities for income generation through development and delivery of training services
Building pitch decks for our services and products
Building pricing packs for sales requests that come in
Proactively reaching out to businesses who could be clients for our commercial products
Negotiating sales with support from Head of Operations, People & Finance and relevant project leads

Governance (10%)

To work with the Board of Trustees in carrying out strategic plan, vision, mission and values and lead on its implementation, providing regular updates
To ensure the organisation’s good governance in collaboration with the Board of Trustees
To ensure Chayn fulfils the role of Data Controller, as defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office, ensuring compliance with GDPR
To ensure staff wellbeing, safeguarding and data protection policies are fulfilled and following up on any concerns with the appropriate authority
To ensure that all major risks are identified and regularly reviewed, and that systems and procedures are in place to mitigate all such risks
To work with the Chair of the Board to plan board meetings, providing a written and verbal update on staffing, finances, services delivery, developments, and any other relevant matters
To work with the Chair of the Board to recruit and induct new members to the Board of Trustees
To oversee the production of Chayn's Annual Report with the Head of Operations, People & Finance and the Chair of the Board
To ensure that the organisation’s financial resources are managed effectively

Communications and public speaking (5%)

To represent Chayn externally at local, national, and international level
To ensure the effective marketing and promotion of activities
To raise the charity’s profile and maximise its reach across the world through reports, blogs and public speaking
To respond to any media related enquiries and represent Chayn as appropriate

Your profile

We are looking for an exceptional individual that practices feminist leadership to provide compassionate and collaborative leadership and oversight of Chayn to take it forward in its mission and objectives according to our 2023-2025 strategy.

You will have substantial experience in leading small organisations within the not-for-profit sector. We’re looking for an experienced leader who has managed roles of HR, fundraising, partnerships, governance and public speaking. As the lead spokesperson, you will have exceptional communication skills, both written and verbal, so you can represent Chayn’s work at events, and our position to the wider public and in the media. You’ll also be an experienced fundraiser.

It’s important that all team members have an understanding of intersectionality and systems of oppression and an affinity with Chayn’s aims and organisational values which can be found here. Given the seniority of this role, we recommend you read the **Organisational Strategy 2022-25** which will give you a broader understanding of the organisation’s strategic objectives.

Essential

7+ years of experience of working as the Managing Director or CEO of a small gender-based violence or human rights charity or tech for good organisation
A proven track-record in fundraising from a variety of public and private grantmakers including family foundations
A track record of successfully implementing and reporting against organisational strategy
Excellent interpersonal skills including being flexible, adaptable, collaborative and an ability to manage a full and varied workload, and staff team (with frequent interactions with volunteers)
Experience of supporting the mental wellbeing of staff; and commitment to providing this for Chayn staff and volunteers under our trauma-informed HR framework
Strong time management, self-management and organisational skills, and ability to organise and prioritise own and others’ workload effectively and to work under pressure
Flexibility to adapt and respond to a variety of situations and people, in order to meet changing needs
Ability to inspire and motivate others
Understanding and appreciation of participatory methods
Alignment with Chayn’s organisational values of being Survivor-centred, Trauma-informed, Feminist with an intersectional lens, Open by default, Generous and Inclusive
Willingness to travel internationally to represent the organisation and within the UK to meet staff and Board

Desirable

Experience or exposure to trauma-informed and collective care
Understanding of the needs of survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault and rape, and the ecosystem of support
Understanding and appreciation of decolonising approaches
Understanding of the mental health sector
Experience of working within small, distributed teams
Passion for technology
Experience with Google suite, Notion and Slack

The position

Inclusion

At Chayn, inclusion and accessibility are at the core of our work. We welcome applicants from all walks of life. We encourage applications from those who grew up in the Global South (or Majority World) but we cannot sponsor visa applications for the UK.

We also encourage applications from people of colour, LGBTQ+ people (we are a trans-inclusive organisation), people with disabilities, and people who have experienced other exclusion or marginalisation. Up to 70% of our team members are survivors of abuse, so if you are one too and are thinking of applying, know that you will be in a safe and affirming space.

We have tried to make this recruitment process as accessible as possible, but know that there might be more that we can do, particularly if you have experienced exclusion, disadvantage or discrimination, or if you have particular accessibility needs. We would be happy to provide any further support that you may require - please get in touch with us at team@chayn.co, and we can think together about how to make this process easier for you.

Hours

This contract will fixed-term for 8-9 months (open to negotiation).

You will work 4 days every week to a total of 30 hours (which is considered full time in Chayn).
You’ll be expected to work during our collaborative hours of 2-6pm UK time, as this overlaps with our team based in North and South America and South Asia. Outside of this you’ll have flexibility over your hours depending on the needs of your team.
Occasionally, you’ll be asked to participate in one of Chayn's volunteer calls which take place on Sunday.
The role will require someone who is comfortable with the responsibility of time-sensitive tasks which may not always sit within your chosen working hours.

We take the wellbeing of our team very seriously so part of the interview process will be to discuss ideas for managing this well.

We’re happy to welcome people to become part of our team as an employee in the UK (PAYE) or via an Employer on Record (EOR) in any of the countries covered by Papaya (see list here) where you reside for tax purposes and have a valid work permit. We are unable to sponsor visas.

Chayn is a fully remote organisation.

Our offer

In addition to compensation, Chayn offers:

A 4-day working week
33 days of paid holiday per year (inclusive of any public holidays you decide to take off)
3 weeks of Winter Wind-down period in December/January where we work at 15% capacity
Flexibility for mental health or menstrual leave
Access to therapy sessions and chat with a therapist via our subscription to Spill
Monthly wellbeing checkins and treats
A pension contribution
A wifi contribution
Equipment to support your home-office setup

Process

To apply, please send the following to team@chayn.co with “CEO (Maternity Cover)” in the subject line. Please read this document and give it some thought before applying to work with us.

By 27 March, please send us:

CV
A video outlining why you are interested in this work, your relevant experience, your approach to the work. This should be no longer than 3 minutes. You are welcome to include your pronouns and the pronunciation of your name if you’d like to.
A piece of writing about your thoughts on leadership or an annual report from an organisation you led

Recruitment stages (dates tbc):

Stage 0: Shortlisting based on CV and cover letter*
Stage 1: Interview (Round 1)
Stage 2: Task-based interview (Round 2)
Stage 3: Final interview (Round 3)

We intend to respond to every applicant for this role to inform them of the outcome of their application, but we are a small team with limited capacity and may only contact applicants who are invited to interview. If you don’t hear from us by the end of April then please assume we will not be inviting you to an interview.

Recruitment will be subject to the receipt of 3 references.

CEO [Maternity Cover]