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Gatsby Africa Team Administrator / PA Job Description
Job Title
Gatsby Africa Team Administrator / PA
Reporting to
Gatsby Africa Operations Director / Executive Director
Organisation
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
Department
Gatsby Africa Team
Salary
£30,000 – £35,000 with excellent benefits package
Contract
Permanent, full time position, with six-month probationary period
About the Gatsby Charitable Foundation
In 1967 David Sainsbury (now Lord Sainsbury of Turville) set up the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
He has since given Gatsby more than £1 billion to distribute to charitable causes. Gatsby is currently
active in six focus areas:
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Plant science research
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Neuroscience research
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Science and engineering education
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Economic development in Africa
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Public policy research and advice
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The Arts
For more on Gatsby, please visit: http://www.gatsby.org.uk/en/About-Gatsby.aspx
Gatsby’s Work in Africa
Gatsby’s vision is to accelerate sustainable and inclusive economic growth in East Africa. It plans to
achieve this by demonstrating innovative and ambitious approaches to transforming sectors, and
building greater intent and capacity across the region to drive inclusive, sustainable growth.
We fund and implement programmes whilst also synthesising and sharing lessons from our own activities
and those of others. Through this we aim to test, refine and prove models for sector transformation,
allowing others to confidently adopt them at scale in different contexts. Ultimately this will contribute to
the increased growth and competitiveness of key sectors, creating jobs and raising incomes for poor people
across East Africa.
Gatsby mainly works in agricultural sectors due to its long history in African agricultural research and
because these often have the greatest impact on the poor – 70-80% of Africa’s population depend on
agriculture for their livelihoods. We are currently working in the Tanzanian cotton and textiles sectors, the
tea sectors in Tanzania and Rwanda, and forestry sectors across East Africa. We also support Kenya
Markets Trust to run sector programmes.
This role
The Africa team is made up of thirteen experienced staff, two of whom are based in East Africa. The
working environment is friendly, but dynamic and driven, with a determination to achieve high quality
results.
Beyond the core Africa team, there are 200+ people working in the organisations and teams that Gatsby
Africa fund, that deliver our work, and that we oversee. Maintaining close relationships with this network
of partners will continue to be important to the team in the coming years.
Within this context the Gatsby Africa Team Administrator / PA will play a pivotal role coordinating
meetings and travel arrangements, managing administrative and knowledge management systems, and
working closely with the Senior Administrator, particularly on safety and security issues.
The ideal candidate will relish administration, working efficiently under pressure, and providing order and
support to a busy team. For a high caliber person, this should be a rewarding position with the opportunity
to make a real impact within a friendly, high performance, environment.
Key Responsibilities
The areas outlined below are indicative, with the exact balance of the role developing as the team’s needs
evolve.
Meeting & Event coordination
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Support the team in diary management and diary coordination – arranging meetings and conference
calls of team members as required.
Meeting support - including setting up audio-visual equipment, conferencing, catering, greeting
guests and taking minutes
Capture notes and implement task lists from team meetings
Work with the Senior Administrator as required to support the planning and management of team
events in the UK and overseas
Travel support
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Central point of contact to support the Gatsby Africa HQ team’s travel arrangements
Make flight, car, hotel and other bookings as required - working closely with our travel agency
Produce and print trip itineraries and supporting documents
Maintain a schedule of preferred hotels and taxi companies
Support the team to obtain all visas, travel medication and other requirements
Arrange cash advances for team members prior to travel
Provide a limited amount of travel support to Gatsby Programmes in East Africa where required
Develop and maintain an up to date staff travel tracker
Coordinate with the Senior Administrator to ensure Gatsby Africa safety & security procedures
are followed in relation to international travel
Administration and financial support
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Provide PA support to Gatsby Africa’s Executive Director
Administer the team’s expenses, including completing expense documentation of team members
and external consultants following completion of trips
Reconcile monthly credit card statements
Track spend of HQ team travel against flight guidance policy
Track spend against allowances for overseas placements
Maintain central filing systems
Maintain Gatsby Africa contacts database
Maintain library, order books/ magazines as required and manage team stationary needs
Maintain Gatsby Africa memberships/subscriptions
Field telephone and email enquiries from the general public and partner organisations
Draft and proof read written documents to internal and external audiences as required
Person Specification
This role will suit an experienced, high quality PA with a proven successful track record operating in
high-performance teams.
Experience:
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A minimum of five years’ relevant work experience
Significant experience supporting / coordinating team (or teams), including external
consultants, operating across a number of different countries or geographies. Some
knowledge or experience of East Africa would be an advantage.
A proven track record of successfully:
o Supporting the flights and logistics of a team that frequently travels internationally
o Building and maintaining relationships within a team and with operating partners and
external consultants
o Efficiently and effectively managing team administrative systems
o Coordinating meetings and events including face to face, conference calls
o Managing team filing systems
Experience working in the private sector or a not-for-profit working closely with private
sector
Skills:
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A highly detail-focused person – whether relating to maintaining diaries/ schedules, note
taking, reviewing written documents, financial information, action plans, filing, etc
Excellent written communication skills
Excellent verbal communication and interpersonal skills – an ability to build rapport with a
range of internal and external stakeholders
Strong organisation skills – both in terms of working in line with agreed Gatsby process, but
also improving team processes and procedures as needed
Time-management skills – an ability to meet deadlines under pressure, including managing/
prioritising multiple areas of work for different teams members in a fast paced, and often fast
changing, environment
Sound judgement when it comes to working with others, including when to escalate matters
to those more senior in the team
Financial literacy – very comfortable working with a variety of financial data formats
Strong Microsoft office skills and an ability to rapidly learn other software/ databases.
Personal:
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Maintains high performance and demonstrates resilience when operating in a fast paced
environment
An experienced professional who consistently demonstrates a measured mature approach
Comfortable with some routine functions balanced with some more demanding
requirements
Availability to travel to East Africa (estimated rarely: 0% - 10% of time)
Ability to be flexible about working hours on occasion
Someone who shows integrity and professionalism as well as empathy with Gatsby’s mission
and values.
Qualifications:
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Ideally degree-level qualification.
Closing Date:
Applications are welcome until the deadline of midnight GMT on Tuesday 19th May 2015.
Application Instructions:
To apply for this post, please follow the guidelines on the website – www.oxfordhr.co.uk – complete our
online application form and submit the following information, preferably in MS Word:
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An up-to-date curriculum vitae (of no more than 2-3 sides of A4)
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A detailed statement (of no more than 2-sides of A4) explaining why you are interested in this post
and how your skills and experience make you suitable.
(Please look at “Advice for Candidates” on the Oxford HR website for hints on how to write a successful
CV and statement).
The Gatsby Foundation will decide on a shortlist by Wednesday 27th May, and final interviews will take
place at the Gatsby offices near Victoria Station in London on Wednesday 3rd June 2015.
If you have any questions or queries please contact Simon Neill of Oxford HR at [email protected]
or call +44 (0)1865 403298.