Finance and Business Support Assistant

Job title: Finance and Business Assistant

Location: Scottish Seabird Centre, The Harbour, North Berwick

Reports to: Finance & Business Support Manager

Hours: 25 hours per week, working pattern to be agreed

Salary: £21,500 pro rata

Background

The Scottish Seabird Centre is a conservation and education charity whose purpose is “Inspiring and educating people about the Scottish marine environment, motivating them to care for it, and supporting conservation projects”. Based in North Berwick, East Lothian we overlook the marine environment in the Firth of Forth and have over 200,000 visits each year.

We have four key pillars to our work:

• Conservation we develop, practically undertake, and promote models of conservation best practice and citizen science.
• Education we deliver education programmes, science resources and events and use innovative ways to provide information on the marine environment.
• Communities we work in partnership with diverse communities including enhancing the experience for visitors to North Berwick.
• Experience we offer a 5-star, year-round visitor experience that helps people to make informed choices about the management of the marine environment.

Our charitable work is supported by our not-for-profit Trading Company Scottish Seabird Centre Limited and our 5-star visitor attraction which provides a valuable resource for members and visitors.

Job description

This role provides support to the CEO and Finance & Business Support Manager to ensure the effective management of the finances, our membership systems and our governance practices. It requires regular communications with internal and external stakeholders. We are looking for an enthusiastic individual who can use their initiative, work to a high standard of accuracy and communicate effectively. This is a part-time position at 25 hours per week, working pattern to be agreed.

Principal duties

Finance support

You will support the Finance & Business Support Manager to ensure the smooth running of the finance function. This requires accurate and timely input of information into our accounts software and the ability to respond to queries from customers, suppliers and members of the team. Key responsibilities include:

• Maintenance of the sales and purchase ledgers.
• Bank postings and reconciliations.
• Assisting with the preparation of monthly payroll.

Membership

You will support the administration of our membership system and membership stewardship. Membership is much more than a transactional relationship. This includes:

• Effective communication with our members and timely responses to their queries.
• Setting up new members and sending reminders to members whose payment is due.
• General maintenance of our membership CRM and direct debit systems.
• Seeking feedback from members on reasons for non-renewal.

Governance

You will support our Charity governance by attending and minuting the quarterly meetings of subsidiary Trading Company board and the Finance, Audit & Risk subcommittee of the Charity Board. This will require an attention to detail and the ability to summarise the discussion, draw out the key points and actions identified in the meetings. Minuting of other meetings will be required on an ad hoc basis.

Information provision

You will provide support to the visitor centre and office day-to-day by:

• Familiarising yourself with what’s on and responding to customer queries over the phone, in person and by email.
• Providing support with our bookings and payments systems to both customers and members of the team.

Essential skills and experience

• Organised with an ability to take initiative and prioritise your work.
• Keen attention to detail and ability to provide accurate and timely information.
• A team player willing to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the day.
• A confident communicator – verbal and written.
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office packages.
• Previous experience of working in a finance environment.

Desirable skills and experience

• Experience of Sage Line 50 or similar accounting package.
• Experience of working with EPOS systems.

Our values

Our values underpin everything we do. We take pride in bringing these to life in all that we do. We are:

• PASSIONATE about Scotland’s coastal and marine environment.
• INSPIRE others to explore and care for Scotland’s coastal and marine environment.
• INNOVATE with the approaches we use to engage with people.
• COLLABORATE with local and national partners to convey the importance of Scotland’s marine environment.
• INFORMED about the current health of Scotland’s marine wildlife and habitats and the actions required to protect it.
• TRUSTWORTHY providing reliable information and acting with integrity and without bias.

Performance: to be measured against clearly defined measurable and challenging goals.

Benefits:

• Pension available.
• 20% discount in the Centre’s Gift Shop and Seabird Café.
• 10% discount on the Seabird Centre boat trips.
• Free entry to the Discovery Experience, for you and family members (restrictions on numbers apply).
• Free access to a range of Scottish visitor attractions with an Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions card.
• Free access/ special offers for a range of East Lothian attractions with an East Lothian Tourism Attraction Group card.

To Apply

Please send a CV and cover letter to info@seabird.org by 5pm 31 July 2022.