Chief Executive

Chief Executive
Reports to: Chair of the Trustees, and the trustees collectively
Responsible for: Finance Manager
Senior Estate Manager
Project/Property Manager
Grants Officer
Other staff as required

Job Purpose:
•To work with the Trustees to develop the Charity's strategic direction
•To deliver that strategy, subject to the supervision of the trustees
•To manage all the Charity's assets and activities properly and in accordance with the relevant law and the requirements of the Charity Commission

Key Areas:
•To realise our "Almshouse for the 21st century" aim: developing and leading the project, with local authority and private sector partners.
•To realise our ambition to transform our grants programme, so that we invest in the community imaginatively and in pursuit of a clear visions
•To realise our ambition to be a charity that is ground-breaking, and willing and able to seize opportunities
•To build and maintain a strong reputation for the Charity, both within the area of benefit and beyond.

Main duties:

Executive leadership and management of the Charity

Note: the charity employs a small staff team. The new Chief Executive will be closely involved in the shaping of the team. Depending on the skills and strengths of the Chief Executive, some of the following areas of responsibility are likely to be delegated to another member of the team - but with the Chief Executive remaining fully accountable to the Board.
1.To take executive responsibility for the day to day management of the Charity's activities, as directed by the Chair of Trustees and Board, ensuring all activities are carried out with integrity, professionalism and financial probity
2.To recommend a financial policy framework with regard to assets for Trustees' endorsement. It will meet short and long term plans, ensuring our continuing financial security
3.To recommend a governance and management model which determines standards of performance for the Charity's operations and to monitor it, reporting to Trustees as required
4.To manage and deliver our "Almshouse for the 21st century" project, and any other projects undertaken by the charity.
5.To recommend reforms to our programme of grants or other investments in the community, so that it meet the ambitions of the Trustees.
6.To administer and manage, with the assistance of a small in-house team (and with professional advice where appropriate and agreed), the Charity's operational functions: the provision of sheltered housing, a programme of grants or investments in the community, property management and maintenance, and investments
7.To prepare and monitor an annual budget, approved by Trustees, to alert Trustees to financial issues as they arise and to be responsible for the Charity's annual audit and report
8.To establish appropriate policies and working practices for recruitment, training, development and appraisal, in a manner consistent with the Charity's values
9.To ensure all legal, statutory, personnel and financial records and insurance indemnity are updated in line with professional advice and that relevant compliance is achieved
10.To lead and motivate staff
11.To keep abreast of developments across the charity sector, relevant legislation, and issues local to the area of benefit

Supporting the Board
12.To advise, support and service the board of Trustees and its committees
13.To assist in any exercise to find and appoint new Trustees, and to arrange induction
14.To ensure that proper and prudent systems are in place to enable the Charity to meet its constitutional objectives and the Trustees to exercise effective control of all aspects of the Charity's affairs
15.To undertake any other reasonable duties specified by the Chair or the Board of Trustees not specifically mentioned elsewhere within this job description.

Key Relationships:

External:
•London Borough of Southwark
•Neighbouring landowners, particularly in the Borough Market area
•Network Rail
•Local Press and Media
•Other local charities
•Commercial and residential (non-charitable) tenants
•Recipients and potential recipients of grants
•Local community, voluntary and charitable groups
•Professional advisers to the Charity
•Charity Commission and any other applicable regulator

Internal:
•Chair and Trustees
•Our staff
•People living in our almshouses

Person Specification

Essential Experience
•A track record of effective senior leadership, preferably as a Chief Executive or Deputy CEO/Director
•Experience of charity or corporate governance, particularly of working effectively with a board
•Experience of large, complex property development programmes with multiple stakeholders and local authority funding *
•Experience of developing and implementing innovative strategies, programmes of work and monitoring performance against agreed objectives
•Proven experience of managing financial and human resources effectively, including the ability to lead, motivate and manage staff effectively
•Experience of successful capacity building and developing the impact of an organisation's activities
•A track record of establishing, managing and developing collaborative relationships with a range of stakeholders and providing an external facing leadership role to an organisation, including interfacing and influencing within the political environment at a local level

Desirable Experience/Knowledge
•Experience of working, at a senior level, in a grant-making or community-building organisation
•Experience of managing investments
•A knowledge of, and networks in, the local community in Southwark

Skills
•An innovator and entrepreneurial leader who can identify and seize opportunities for their organisation
•A self starter, with strong operational skills and an attention to detail
•Effective team building, staff and organisational development skills
•A strategic operator with commercial acumen and financial planning skills
•Ability to create and maintain positive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders
•Ability to manage risk proactively
•Effective programme manager of large complex, sensitive and commercial programmes of work including property. *
•Ability to identify and develop networks to help further an organisation's objectives, and to be an ambassador

Knowledge and understanding
•An understanding of the culture and climate of not for profit organisations, including governance structures
•An understanding of the nature of grassroots community, voluntary and charity organisations
•An understanding of various local authority funding streams and decision making processes.

Personal Qualities
•Dynamic, entrepreneurial, persuasive
•Strong values, consistent with the Charity's purpose and its ambition for Southwark
•Flexible, self-aware and adaptable: able both to lead, and to be hands-on
•Strategic thinker and innovator with integrity, resilience, energy and creativity
•Collaborative and open style of working, with ability to distil and make decisions
•Ability to instil confidence and trust in others

United St. Saviour’s Charity is a successful and innovative charity, determined to build on our long history to improve lives and communities in Southwark. We are looking for a superb, enterprising Chief Executive.
We have two main activities. Proud to be Southwark’s ‘Landlord of the Year’, we provide housing for older people of limited means, in sites in Bankside and Purley. We want to expand this role: we hope to embark shortly on a project to build beautiful new almshouses in Southwark. We want to meet the needs of future generations, and we want to create housing that is connected to the wider community, not isolated from it. We think of this as an “almshouse for the 21st century".
We also invest our endowment capital and use the income to make grants to organisations meeting local needs in Southwark. Our grants total £600,000 annually. Here too we are ambitious. We want the funds we are privileged to be able to spend locally to create the maximum sustainable impact: helping to build strong communities, and to tackle isolation and poverty. We are prepared to look for new and ground-breaking ways to invest in our area of benefit.
Working directly to a highly engaged Board of Trustees, our new Chief Executive will show initiative and flair in leading the charity towards our ambition. They will lead and shape a small team to bring about imaginative investment in the community. They will have excellent influencing skills to engage with partners and other organisations in local government, and in the private and voluntary sectors. Candidates must have experience of leading, of developing innovative strategies, and of ensuring performance against agreed objectives.
The most successful candidates will have the ability to take timely commercial decisions on large, complex and often sensitive projects, the ability to negotiate well through a changing process, and the entrepreneurial flair to ensure we remain adaptable as well as effective. Experience of property development with multiple stakeholders, loan finance and local authority involvement would be highly desirable.