Business Support Officer

National Children's Bureau

Hours
35 hours per week

About the Organisation

For more than 60 years, the National Children’s Bureau has championed the rights and amplified the voice of children and young people in the UK. We interrogate policy and uncover evidence, blending in lived and learnt experience to shape future legislation and develop more effective ways of supporting children and families. Bringing people and organisations together is fundamental to how we improve the systems that babies, children, young people, and their families rely on to thrive.

We push boundaries, even looking beyond childhood itself to consider transitions into adulthood and the impact of childhood issues on an entire lifespan. We are united for better childhoods and brighter futures.

About the role

The post holder will lead the operational delivery of a range of activities for the Business Support Team, working closely with peers to provide coherent, consistent support to delivery teams. This will include oversight and management of people, tasks and activities according to business need, and supporting teams and directorates with business administration, facilities, and organisation, as well as project and event support.

A key requirement of the role is the ability to deliver consistent, high-quality outcomes at scale. The post holder will provide hands-on decision-making across triage, planning, delivery, and evaluation. They will work with cross-functional teams and external stakeholders, managing and directing the work of multiple concurrent activities in a fast-paced environment. The role requires end-to-end ownership of tasks and projects, alongside strong stakeholder engagement, effective people management of a small team of staff, and the ability to balance competing priorities.

Financial oversight, including budget management and risk mitigation, is essential to ensure efficient and sustainable operations. The post holder will also work closely with peers to drive a culture of continuous improvement informed by a strategic, systems thinking and data-driven mindset to optimise processes, enhance customer experience and improve delivery performance over time.

Responsibilities

Coordination and Oversight of the Business Support Administration Pool:

• Lead the day‑to‑day coordination, scheduling, and allocation of workloads across the Business Support Administration team, ensuring appropriate cover for absences, peak demand, and priority tasks.
• Monitor workflow, performance, quality, and task‑completion standards to maintain a consistent, high‑quality administrative service, escalating risks or resourcing issues where needed.
• Provide guidance, support, and informal coaching to administration staff, maintaining capability, productivity, and adherence to organisational processes while ensuring clear communication within the team.

Facilities Coordination and Building Maintenance:

• Act as the primary coordination point for all facilities tasks required for the office buildings, including maintenance, repairs, safety checks, and contractor activity.
• Manage issue reporting processes, ensuring that building faults, maintenance needs, and repair requests are logged, assessed, prioritised, and resolved promptly.
• Liaise with external suppliers, contractors, and internal stakeholders to ensure work is carried out to required standards and within agreed timescales.
• Oversee statutory compliance for building-related activities (fire safety checks, PAT testing, water hygiene schedules) by ensuring tasks are completed and documented.
• Manage agreed Facilities budget and related expenditure, ensuring spend remains within approved limits. Report on expenditure, variances, and forecasts to support financial planning and decision making.
• Recognise that effective delivery of building-based facilities responsibilities may require increased on-site presence beyond standard hybrid arrangements, to support operational, maintenance, and compliance activities.

Stakeholder and Supplier Management:

• Build effective working relationships with internal departments, ensuring services provided by the Business Support team meet operational needs.
• Oversee contractor and supplier relationships, ensuring service-level expectations are met and issues are addressed.
• Coordinate procurement activity for office and facilities requirements, ensuring value for money and adherence to procurement processes.

Decision Making:    

• Work is varied and spans a wide range of operational, coordination, and oversight tasks across business support, facilities, and administration functions.
• Plan and prioritise own workload to meet service standards and deadlines, while also contributing to the planning, allocation, and monitoring of work for the Business Support Administration pool.
• Make day-to-day decisions relating to task allocation, workflow management, quality assurance, and escalation of facilities issues.
• Recommendations and decisions have a direct impact on the efficiency, quality, and responsiveness of business support services, and on the effective management of building maintenance and operational needs.
• Operations Lead agrees on overall priorities and reviews progress against service targets, providing guidance for complex, high-risk, or policy-related issues.
• Demonstrates flexibility in adapting to changing operational demands, building needs, urgent repairs, or service pressures.

Analysis and Initiative:

• Issues are addressed in line with established procedures, facilities compliance requirements, and organisational policies; some tasks require detailed investigation, evaluation of options, and assessment of cost, risk, and service impact.
• Uses initiative to identify and resolve scheduling conflicts, performance gaps, process inefficiencies, and facilities-related problems.
• Applies analytical judgement when managing maintenance requests, prioritising building issues, and reconciling budget or expenditure variances.

Working Relationships:

• Builds effective working relationships with internal teams, contractors, suppliers, and external service providers involved in building maintenance, repairs, and facilities compliance.
• Communicates clearly and confidently with stakeholders at all levels, ensuring administrative standards, facilities updates, and operational requirements are understood and followed.
• Works collaboratively across teams, supporting shared operational objectives and ensuring coordinated delivery of business support and facilities functions.

Developing Others:

• Responsible for allocating and monitoring work within the Business Support Administration pool, providing coaching, feedback, and informal guidance to support performance and service quality.
• Ensures that staff understand administrative standards, processes, and expectations, and provides on-the-job training where required.
• Encourages a consistent, high-quality approach to work by reinforcing best practices and promoting continuous improvement within the team.

Resource Management:

• Monitors and manages agreed budgets related to business support functions, facilities maintenance, office supplies, and contractor services.
• Contributes to financial forecasting, variance tracking, and cost control activities to ensure responsible use of organisational resources.

Skills, Competencies, Experience & Attributes

Knowledge, Skills & Expertise Essential:

• A personal commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice, particularly in anti-racism and anti-ableism
• Strong understanding of administrative operations, workflow management and service delivery principles.
• Knowledge of facilities coordination, including building maintenance processes, contractor liaison, and compliance requirements (health and safety, statutory checks).
• Excellent organisational and coordination skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple demands in a busy operational environment.
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal), able to convey information clearly to staff, contractors and stakeholders at all levels.
• Effective problem-solving skills with the ability to assess issues, gather information, and make sound operational decisions.
• Strong attention to detail and commitment to quality assurance.
• Ability to coach, support and guide staff to maintain performance and service standards.
• Competent in using office software (Microsoft Office, databases, workflow tools) and confident in learning new systems.
• Experience coordinating administrative teams, workflows or service functions.
• Experience managing facilities or operational processes in an office or equivalent setting.
• Demonstrated experience in monitoring quality of work, supporting performance, or providing informal supervision.
• Experience managing or monitoring budgets, financial records, or procurement activities.

Desirable: 

• Knowledge of contractor management or procurement procedures.
• Experience supporting health & safety processes (incident reporting, routine checks, or coordinating assessments).

Compensation & Benefits

• 30 Days Annual Leave
• Generous Pension Scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Flexible Working
• Winter Holiday Closure & Break
• Employee Assistance Programme

Working locations

• Hybrid model, working in the London office and remotely
• Ability to travel to other office sites in Belfast, Devon and Sheffield and attend departmental and cross-organisational meetings as required. 

How to apply

• Interested? If you would like to find out more, please apply online. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.
• Please note that we reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage interested candidates to submit their applications as soon as possible.

Policies

We are actively seeking to broaden the diversity of our staff group and warmly welcome applications from candidates underrepresented in the charity sector, including those from Black and Global Majority communities, disabled people, LGBTQ+ individuals, and people with lived experience of the issues NCB works on.

To ensure we effectively safeguard the children, young people, and adults with care and support needs that we work with, NCB will carry out a number of pre-employment checks as part of our recruitment and selection process to enable us to make informed recruitment decisions. After the interview, we may ask potential staff members in relevant roles for consent to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which will be carried out by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), via a digital identity verification process. You do not have to consent to these checks being carried out. However, if consent is withheld, NCB will have the right to withdraw the offer of employment.

The personal data you provide during this recruitment process will be used to assess your application and to meet our legal obligations. We may obtain information from referees or relevant third parties where required, and we may share data with service providers or government bodies where legally necessary. Your information will be processed in accordance with UK GDPR transparency and accountability requirements, and you can find full details of your rights, how we use, store, and protect your data within our Privacy Notice.

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