Operations Manager

OCF is seeking an Operations Manager to ensure all OCF operations run smoothly and are good value for money. It is a key role reporting to the CEO and supporting all our functions across grant-making, financial management and donor care. There are particular responsibilities on leading our Salesforce CRM, supporting the financial accountant and overseeing our physical and virtual office. Training will be provided as required.

Accountable to:
CEO

Hours:
full-time at 35 per week (0. 8 FTE will be considered)

Type of contract:
Permanent

Other benefits:

• 28 days holiday (includes 3 days paid leave for Christmas week office closure) + Bank Holidays
• Health cash plan including cashback on medical appointments, free counselling, 24/7 access to GP prescription service, supermarket and gym discounts.
• 3% pension increasing to 5% after five years.

Place of work:
OCF office at 3 Woodin's Way, Oxford (10 minutes' walk from Oxford bus and rail stations) with hybrid and flexible working options. Mondays and Tuesdays are the all-staff days in the office. The operations manager would be expected to be available in the office on other days if required by the job needs - e. g IT visit, training, a delivery.

Preferred start date:
as soon as possible

THE CANDIDATE

You are a highly organised, practical and motivated person who loves problem-solving. You know that a charity's operations need to run well to deliver its mission, and you are proud to play a proactive part in that.

You enjoy working with numbers and digital systems and supporting colleagues to get the most out of data.

You have a keen eye for value for money and like managing suppliers to make sure that every penny of charitable funds is being well spent. You are a team player who enjoys being part of a small organisation and getting things done together. You are interested in OCF's work and are excited to learn more about grant-making and philanthropy to inform your role.

MAIN TASKS

Finance (40%)

• Processing donations in line with internal procedures (updating tracking sheet and forecast, preparing receipts, visiting bank, checking Gift Aid declarations and updating Salesforce within 48 hours)
• Preparing draft monthly Gift Aid returns
• Assisting with the payment of grants to charities and community groups and producing an archive of collated payment requests packages, using this to create bank/SAGE upload forms, resolving errors and updating Salesforce with grants awards and grants paid
• Assisting with the finance due diligence process for making grants by getting charity accounts, charity number, and taking part in the analysis of grant applicants
• Reviewing incoming invoices for unrestricted expenses, getting approvals and preparing payment requests
• Maintaining a log of subscriptions, renewal dates and services provided, and supporting the cash forecasting and annual budget
• Administering the quarterly Finance Committee (minutes, actions, setting dates)

Salesforce - our Customer Relationship Management system (20-40%)

• Being the Salesforce admin/superuser for OCF and providing ongoing advice to colleagues (full training will be provided)
• Being the lead for OCF on a significant one-off Salesforce upgrade supplied by our membership body UK Community Foundations (UKCF), and then on procuring continual upgrades
• Liaising with UKCF to project manage the upgrade from a local perspective, scheduling and supporting training and user acceptance testing by the team, reporting bugs and ensuring they are resolved promptly by the supplier

Office management (20-40%)

• Ensuring our physical office is working well by managing contracts for the phone system, broadband, heating system, fire alarm, security alarm, cleaning, etc
• Ensuring the office is a welcoming and professional space, including updating displays, maintaining regular office and kitchen supplies, disposing of confidential documents, and overseeing necessary repairs or improvements
• Being the primary contact with our IT suppliers on hardware and software support
• Serving as the main point of contact for deliveries and visitors
• Maintaining appropriate insurance cover
• Ensuring our health and safety procedures and policies are updated and adhered to, including fire safety and first aid
• Enforcing office policies such as data protection.
• Administering the weekly team meeting (agenda, tech requirements, actions)
• Assisting with the onboarding process for new starters
• Supporting with our Help-Desk inbox and phone-line and directing communications appropriately
• Administering room bookings, IT and refreshments for grants panels, staff and trustee awaydays and training (circa 1 per month on average)
• Supporting other OCF activities, such as events, as required in line with the job purpose and role.

KEY COMPETENCIES

• Strong organisational skills with a logical and systematic approach to tasks, and the ability to manage own workload and that of others
• Self-starting with the ability to work with minimal supervision to deliver tasks to a deadline
• A positive approach to problem-solving and working with team members to deliver an outcome together
• Experience of managing external enquiries in a professional setting
• Capable of engaging confidently in meetings with suppliers and contractors
• Demonstrated commitment to accurate and consistent record management with strong attention to detail
• Numerate and confident working with numbers, with minimum B maths GCSE
• Financially literate and able to identify good value for money
• IT literate and confident, including with Microsoft Office, especially Outlook, file management, Word, Excel (pivot table and SUMIF(S) formulae, working with arrays and tables and shared tracking documents and shared analysis workbooks)
• Experience of a Customer Relationship Management software or database
• A flexibility and willingness to get involved with all aspects of OCF's work as part of delivering our mission
• An intrinsic part of this job is managing the operations of the OCF physical office, and therefore a willingness and ability to travel regularly to our Oxford office is essential.
• Knowledge of Salesforce
• Experience of change management
• Interest in or experience with Microsoft AI applications (Microsoft Power Automate and CoPilot)
• Successful account or relationship management experience

APPLICATION PROCESS

To apply, please submit a curriculum vitae and a Word document with your answers to these three questions (answer in maximum 150 words per question):

• Describe an achievement you're really proud of
• What about this job appeals to you, and why?
• Tell us a bit more about your experience with delivering excellent value for money operations.

Please send these two documents to:
recruitment@oxfordshire. org

The closing date is 11pm on 23 April 2025.

The first round interview will be virtual and is scheduled for 1 May.

The second round assessment will b.