Job title: Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive (job share)

Application deadline is 9am GMT, 6 April 2021

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer

Location: London, the role is expected to be primarily office based with the flexibility to work one or two days at home depending on the Chief Executive’s diary for four or five days a week. 

We are looking for an experienced and pro-active Executive Assistant to support and act as ambassador for our busy Chief Executive as she leads Forum for the Future to accelerate transformation to a regenerative and just future. Through proactive management of her diary and communications and effective administration of our charity governance and senior team meetings you will help Forum for the Future achieve greater sustainability outcomes. This role reports into the Chief Operating Officer and has line management responsibility for the job share and, when in post, an additional personal assistant. 

This is a job share with an existing job holder. Many responsibilities will be carried out jointly, but each job holder will take the primary lead for specific areas of work. 

To thrive in this role you will have a forward thinking, resourceful and adaptable approach to work. You will be able balance the urgent and important, have excellent organisational skills, and an ability to communicate, build relationships and influence across all levels. You will be a great collaborator but know when to be discreet. You will happily engage with a range of technologies exploring their use for greater impact. You will also know how to line manage or coach others to get the best out of them too. 

This will be a perfect role for an individual who is energized by an administrative opportunity to work within a small and highly effective non-profit focused on driving systems change to create a more just and regenerative future. In return, we offer a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of systems thinking and change making. We work as a close knit, dynamic, and supportive team. We offer various opportunities for flexible working to help you manage your work life balance.

We do not have an ‘ideal’ candidate in mind as we recognise and value the range of diverse experiences that people can bring to a role. If you do not meet all of the requirements outlined in the job description but still believe you have the right mix of skills and experience to thrive in this role and further Forum’s ambitious goals for change, we encourage you to apply.

If this piqued your interest, please read on and apply to join our team. We look forward to receiving your application!

About Forum for the Future

Forum for the Future is an independent, international non-profit with a purpose to accelerate systems change for a just and regenerative future. We have a 25 year track record in partnering with pioneering companies who recognize that social and environmental issues are already shaping their business context today, and want to actively create the conditions for their future success. 

In addition to working with these organisations one on one, we bring companies, NGOs, government representatives and others together to create action-oriented coalitions on particularly urgent and complex sustainability challenges. Examples include The Protein Challenge 2040, which is working to ensure we can feed 9 billion people with enough protein in the future; Cotton 2040, which is working to mainstream sustainable cotton; and The Net Positive Project, which is helping to create a movement of companies giving more back to society and the environment than what they take out. As a charity, we publicly share our learnings from this work through communications, events, and our School of System Change.

Forum has offices in London, New York, Mumbai and Singapore. We are a multi-cultural team of 80+ people and we operate as a global team, delivering both international and local projects. 

Our work environment

We are inspired by the world in which we live and those with whom we share it. We celebrate the indivisibility of all life forms on Earth, are committed to the pursuit of equity, and seek to act justly in all we do. These values help build our common culture, shape our shared purpose and guide us in all actions and decisions. We believe in being courageous, adaptive, inquisitive, respectful, empathetic and playful. 

We enjoy working in teams, collaborating, and learning from each other. We are a dynamic, flexible and supportive team of people who care about each other’s wellbeing and the world around us. 

At Forum, we aspire to foster positive team spirit and to provide the best possible working environment for all our staff; one that is based on highest standards of ethics, honesty, integrity, openness and transparency. 

We are an inclusive organisation that encourages applications from across our diverse communities. We’re committed to building a team of capable and thriving people from all walks of life.

Together we can reinvent the way the world works.

To find out more about this vacancy, please download and read the full job description.

Download Job Description

Application process – please read before applying How to apply

We use the Applied platform because it is designed to reduce bias in our recruitment process. To apply for this job, we ask you to answer a few work-based questions. Please therefore read the application questions carefully and answer them in the space provided (250 words) to clearly demonstrate your understanding of the role, and how your skills and experience will enable you to thrive and deliver in this post in Forum for the Future

The Applied platform includes instructions on how to use the portal. Once you start your application you will be presented with a dashboard which helps you to track your progress and reminds you of the closing date for the application. As you complete sections you can draft and save your responses to review and submit when you are ready to (as long as you’re within our required application deadline).

If you do not already hold the right to work in the UK and/or require sponsorship in order to continue working in your chosen location, you should think carefully before applying. This is because we will be unable to sponsor you.

Some of the personal data you provide to Applied when you apply for a role with Forum for the Future will be passed on to us for the purposes of (a) reviewing your application; (b) inviting you for interview; and/or (c) offering you a job and getting you set up as an employee. For full details on how we collect and use your personal data please visit our privacy notice here.

If your application is not successful, any personal data provided to us by Applied (including any personal data relating to equal opportunities monitoring as set out above) will be retained by Forum for the Future for no longer than 12 months after the application deadline has passed, at which point your personal data will be securely deleted. We only keep your information for that period in order to allow us to comply with relevant legal obligations.

Equal Opportunities

Forum for the Future wholeheartedly supports the principle of equal opportunities in employment. We promote and support equality, diversity and inclusion both in our own workplace and through our work with our partners and the wider public.  We actively support and promote diversity as an essential component of sustainability, and as a key element of our organisational values.  We oppose all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination on the grounds of color, race, nationality, ancestry, ethnic or national origin, military or veteran status, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, age, disability, caste, religion or belief. We encourage applications from under-represented groups, including those who identify as disabled, LGBTQ, ethnic minorities, and come from diverse social and educational backgrounds.