SUMMARY

Administrative Assistant at 50% of full-time under a two-year fixed-term contract who will support the ECT’s Executive Director and the BES’s President in organising and holding online planning meetings for the 13 partner organisations. Remuneration will be at £24,000 pro rata and the postholder will be contracted to work remotely from home. Days of work can be flexible by agreement with line management and further particulars are available via the link below.

TO APPLY

Please submit a CV (up to four pages) detailing your education, experience and wider skills, together with a covering letter (maximum one page) which details how your skills and experience match the essential and desirable criteria listed within the job description. Please state clearly which of the two posts you are applying for. The covering letter should be addressed to ECT’s Executive Director and sent via e-mail to ben.sykes@ecologicalcontinuitytrust.org.

Application deadline: The closing date for applications is 5pm on Wednesday 28 May 2025. 

Shortlisted applicants will be notified during the week commencing 2 June and interviews will be held over 16/17 June 2025.

BACKGROUND

Ecological Continuity Trust is a unique charity and company limited by guarantee, established in 2008 to help secure long-term ecological field experiments (LTEs) and build/maintain a national network of LTE sites. The charity is currently working with a number of other large organisational partners on a new project to enable the creation of large-scale land, freshwater, coastal and marine systems that deliver a more sustainable and resilient future for nature, people and climate. This will be achieved by building a more cohesive community around landscape-scale transformation and The Partnership for Resilient Landscapes and Seas exists to provide the ‘connective tissue’ between projects, enabling sharing of knowledge and mutual support. Bringing the partners together for regular planning meetings will be key to driving this project forward.  We are therefore seeking to appoint an experienced part-time (50%) Administrative Assistant to work with our Executive Director and the President of the British Ecological Society (our main partner) in convening meetings of the partners and acting as an overall contact point for the partnership.

JOB DESCRIPTION

This is an exciting opportunity for the right individual to help us drive forward this important new project over the course of the next two years. We are seeking an enthusiastic, experienced and self-motivated individual with excellent communication skills who can work from home with minimal supervision and take responsibility. The post carries a general responsibility to uphold the good reputation of the Charity and its partners in all communications and may very occasionally involve travel to meetings around the UK, for which expenses will be covered. Specific duties are as follows:

• Work with the Executive Director and President of the British Ecological Society to agree dates and times for meetings of the partners, both online and in-person as required;

• Work with the Executive Director and President of the British Ecological Society to set up appropriate online meetings software or book suitable venues and locations for any in-person meetings;

• Lead on the drafting of minutes and action lists arising from all partner meetings, and keep good records;

• Fulfil the role of being the main first point of contact for anyone (including the partners) making enquiries about the new partnership and its activities;

• Work with ECT’s Communications Officer to make appropriate use of our website and social media channels during the course of your work with the partnership;

• Contribute occasionally to the more general administration of the charity as required.

 

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

The following skills, experience and knowledge are essential for this post:

• A minimum of two years’ experience in an Administrative Assistant or PA position;

• Highly developed communication skills, both in writing and orally, showing tact, diplomacy and professionalism at all times;

• Highly developed organisational skills and an ability to work from home independently, with limited supervision;

• Ability to prepare accurate minutes and/or action lists from both online and in-person meetings;

• Proficiency in a range of online meeting tools for both the organisation (DoodlePolling) and holding of partner meetings, ideally using Webex or similar platforms;

• Experience of booking suitable venues for in-person meetings and awareness of budgetary constraints;

• Well-developed IT skills, in particular experience of using the MS Office software suite and especially E-mail software;

• Ability to exercise good judgement and engage diplomatically.

Desirable

The following skills, experience and knowledge would be desirable for this post:

• An interest in ecology or environmental sciences;

• A broad understanding of the main UK government organisations, NGOs and other charities working in ecology and the environmental sciences;

• A broad understanding of key environmental issues;

• Experience of working in the charity sector, either in a paid or voluntary role

Remuneration and Working Hours

The post is a two-year fixed-term contract at 50% of full-time pro rata to a full-time salary of £24k. Home working is required, for which the standard HMRC home-working expenses will be paid monthly.

Working hours will be flexible, though based around the Charity’s 35-hour working week.