Senior Executive Support to the Board of Trustees

Location: Global

Department: Chief Executive Office

Reporting to: Chief Executive/Chair of the Board of Trustees

Salary Grade: UK Grade E or equivalent according to location / type of contract

Contract Type: Open-ended

About HelpAge

HelpAge International works with partners and a diverse global network of more than 170 organisations over 90 countries, supporting millions of older people to live safe, dignified, and healthy lives. Through our partnership and collaborations, we work to ensure the inclusion of older people across society and strive to deliver a just and fair world for everyone, whatever their age.

About the Job

The Senior Executive Support to the Board of Trustees plays a critical role in HelpAge International ensuring that the Board and Leadership team have the information and support needed to deliver on their roles, liaising with our Global Ambassadors and that the organisation meets it’s legal requirements as a registered Charity in the UK.

Following a recent Governance review process, the Senior Executive Support will be expected to oversee the actions required to take forward the recommendations.

Key areas for impact/influence and responsibilities

The following responsibilities are indicative of the work undertaken by the Senior Executive Support to the Board, but the ideal candidate will be someone who is flexible and open to new areas of work as needed –

• Support the governance of the organisation by working closely with the Board of Trustees, ensuring that all board meetings are convened, managed, and recorded effectively and the Board has all the information required. Full Board meetings take place twice a year – once virtually and the other face to face held in a country in which HelpAge has a Network Member. The face-to-face meeting for 2024 will take place in India in November.
• Provide direct support to the Chair of Trustees and the Board Sub-Committees as required and ensure all governance legal requirements are met.
• Work with the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board to take forward a review of governance HelpAge and its implementation.
• Support the recruitment of new Trustees and oversee their effective induction to HelpAge.
• Support the governance related engagement with network members at various levels and coordinate the board engagement with network members at the Board meetings.
• Be the main contact person and support CEO and Board engagement with Global Ambassadors ensuring that they continue to be updated and engaged with the work of HelpAge.
• Draft internal and external communications to be sent by the CEO or the Chair of the Board of Trustees as required.
• Provide strategic feedback and advice to the CEO based on meetings attended or correspondence received and sent.
• Support the leadership of the organisation by working closely with the Executive Leadership Group (ELG), convening, managing and recording regular and other group meetings.
• Ensure all legal matters relating to the governance, legal status, compliance with Charity Commission requirements, power of attorney’s etc are implemented effectively.
• Act as the link between the CEO, the board, and the ELG to ensure awareness of plans; ensure relevant information is collated and shared in a timely manner with each stakeholder.
• Manage the Executive Assistant to the Chief Executives office to ensure that s/he has the support required to undertake their role effectively.

Skills and experience required

• Experience of providing company secretarial activities and working closely with a Board of Trustees
• Significant experience of providing executive support to senior management
• Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to work well with staff and trustees from a wide range of countries and cultures.
• Ability to understand and analyse the key dimensions and elements of the HelpAge Strategy
• Excellent written communication skills to be able to draft correspondence for the CEO and Chair of the Board, to take high quality minutes of trustee, Leadership team and other meetings.
• Ability to line manage other staff to provide administrative support to the trustees, CEO and Leadership team.
• Previous experience of working for an international organization or a network organization is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with UK Charity Commission , its guidelines and requirements are desirable.

Key Behavioural Competencies

At HelpAge International, we believe in the importance of empowering our people to be change makers and leaders at all levels. We expect our people to embrace and live our values, challenging themselves every day to identify issues that are most important to older persons and their communities, and to make an impact that matters.

In addition, as an HelpAge employee you are expected to:

Working Collaboratively with Others: Work collaboratively, building mutual trust and respect, with external organisations and partners to achieve our strategic aims and objectives; being accountable for the work we do together.

Adaptability and Flexibility : Adapt to new directions or opportunities arising within the organisation and in our work area; being flexible in our role, constantly using the feedback to learn more and evolve further.

Supporting and Facilitating Change: Lead behavioural and cultural change through embracing a supportive, collaborative and highly inclusive environment where everybody feels supported, respected and engaged.

Extend HelpAge’s Reach and Impact: Extend HelpAge’s reach and impact by creating and identifying new business development opportunities and building relationships with new partners.

Diversity and Inclusion: Lead and promote a culture of including the voices of older people across our support, convening and thought leadership roles, in a way that is transformative, empowering and highly inclusive of those marginalised by gender, economic status, disability and other factors of discrimination.

Leading Others (for managers): Demonstrate strong leadership to own unit/department and manage people in a well and reputable manner. Create an atmosphere of trust and an enabling environment where staff can contribute their best and develop their potential.

Safeguarding

HelpAge International is committed to safeguarding the communities with which we work, our partners, staff and any others who we come into contact with. The post holder will also be responsible for:

• Preventing harm and abuse from our people, operations and programmes to anyone that encounters our work.
• Reporting all safeguarding incidents you see, hear, hear about or suspect, using our internal reporting mechanism.
• Complying with all safeguarding framework policies and practices.
• Completing mandatory training courses relating to our safeguarding policy framework and complying with HR vetting procedures.

SAFER RECRUITMENT

All employments at HelpAge International will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include misconduct disclosure schemes and terrorism finance checks.