To apply, please submit your CV with a brief covering letter clearly stating how you meet the person specification (see below).

This is a fixed term contract until the 31 October 2021 in the first instance, extendable subject to future funding.

Are you passionate about the important role that local Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) organisations play in their communities? We are looking for someone who would relish the opportunity to represent the thriving and diverse Barnet VCS in a diverse range of settings.

With a good understanding of the VCS landscape and the challenges the sector faces, you’ll be confident working with partners from the statutory and commercial sector, and able to build solid relationships that allow for constructive challenge but are rooted in trust. You will be an excellent communicator, able to adapt your style to a range of different stakeholders.

You will be comfortable in high level meetings, including preparing thoroughly, contributing confidently but sensitively, and taking concise but informative notes of what happened.  You will enjoy discussing a range of issues at senior meetings, putting points across on behalf of the sector you represent and feeding back effectively to our stakeholders.

A lot of your representation work will be with senior local partners, but you will also provide representation at regional and national meetings when required.  Your work will be underpinned by comprehensive engagement with local VCS organisations, and you will be adapt at understanding and explaining their viewpoint, in forums as varied as Safeguarding, Community Safety, VAWG and borough resilience to name but a few.

You’ll be a strategic thinker, with a proven ability to understand and engage with complex and nuanced issues.  However, you’ll also have a sense of how to put things into practice, and support projects such as the adoption of the Barnet Voluntary Sector Manifesto by our statutory partners.

Working with our VCS Support Lead, you will also help shape the sector response to key issues facing the borough, and have a broad understanding of the sector’s capacity to respond.  You will lead on gathering sector intelligence, and be comfortable researching views and experiences on a range of issues.

This is a challenging but varied and rewarding role, and you will be able to make a real impact for the sector.  You will become part of a friendly and supportive team, working within a focused but flexible culture, where diversity is valued and you can bring your whole self to work.

As a Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisation, we always welcome applications from disabled candidates, but lived experience of disability is not essential for this role.  However, the candidate will need a commitment to the social model of disability and a passion for thriving, inclusive communities.  We also particularly welcome applications from BAME candidates, who are currently underrepresented in our organisation.

The role will be entirely home based during lockdown, but the successful candidate must be able to be based in our Colindale office in the future and travel to meetings around the Borough of Barnet.