Executive Assistant And Administrator - Climate Governance Initiative

Executive Assistant and Administrator - Climate Governance Initiative
An exciting opportunity for an experienced administrator to join the Centre for Climate Engagement team at Hughes Hall to support the Climate Governance Initiative - a unique and growing global platform for boards run in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
Job Title: Executive Assistant and Administrator
Department: Centre for Climate Engagement, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge
Reporting to: Head of Operations, Climate Governance Initiative
Contract Type: Full time to 31 July 2025
Probation Period: Six Months
Salary Range: Grade 6, SP37-40 (£32,332 to 34,980)
Hours of Work: 37.5 hours per week (Monday to Friday)
Blend of office and home-working; pattern to be agreed.
Annual Leave: Annual paid leave of 25 days plus public holidays.
Medicash Healthcare Plan: All staff members have access to the College's Medicash Healthcare Plan
Mental Health Peer Support Programme: All staff members have access to the College's Mental Health Peer Support Programme, supporting Mind's Mentally Healthy Universities initiative
Pension Eligibility: The College offers membership of a contributory pension scheme. Subject to your age and earnings level, you may be eligible for auto-enrolment into the scheme and you have the right to opt out at any time.
Hughes Hall
The University of Cambridge's oldest graduate college, Hughes Hall bears the name of its founding Principal, Elizabeth Phillips Hughes. Established in 1885 as a women-only teaching College, we now accept postgraduate students and mature undergraduates in all areas of study and research, offering scholarships and bursaries targeted at new and continuing students.
We are one of the most international colleges, bridging the academic and external worlds, with an open and informal atmosphere. A distinctive aspect of college life at Hughes Hall is an egalitarian culture where interaction and engagement between the senior membership and students is open and encouraged; and everyone is allowed to walk on the grass!
A dynamic and progressive College, we have 56 Governing Body Fellows, 219 further Senior Members from all walks of life, 874 full- and part-time postgraduates and 177 mature undergraduates from more than 80 countries. Particularly distinctive is our "Bridge Fellows" programme, which brings a diverse group of outstanding individuals from outside the University into our Fellowship as full members of Governing Body. An oasis of calm and quiet near the busy city centre, we provide a relaxing yet stimulating environment for study and research. Hughes Hall is situated alongside Fenner's Cricket Ground, just off the cosmopolitan Mill Road.
We are focused on being an intellectual force at the centre of the University, concentrating on translating research into impact and inter-disciplinary collaboration. We have particular strengths in five subject areas, broadly in the Sciences and Social Sciences, where collaboration between the academic and wider worlds thrives: Physical Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics; Life Sciences; Business and Economics; Education and Social Sciences; and Law. We have world-leaders in each of these fields developing dynamic communities of interest within the College, with a reach far beyond our boundaries.
A determination to change the world for the better is realised through our Bridge initiative which leverages the College's multidisciplinary perspective, international nature, and external focus to help turn brilliant ideas into lasting change. The Bridge at Hughes Hall helps researchers build relevant skills and enables networking and matchmaking between our academic community and external partners. It is structured around four themes, in different stages of development, through which we aspire to have impact on societies and engage our students: Global Health; The Future of Education; Environment and Energy; and Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. The Bridge also supports our centres: the Centre for Climate Change Engagement, Oracy Cambridge, Cambridge Governance Labs, and the Cambridge Centre for Digital Innovation.
These hubs of academic and professional innovation are having a wide-reaching influence, drawing global attention to Hughes Hall, and are one aspect of a large, vibrant, friendly, and ambitious community dedicated to supporting one another in the pursuit of excellence, using academic learning to bring about real change and growth in the world.
Our website contains further information about our history, people, work, and values.
Hughes Hall Centre for Climate Engagement
The Centre for Climate Engagement (CCE) plays a unique role in bringing leading academic research to a targeted audience of chairs and non-executive directors to accelerate climate leadership on boards in the private and public sectors. The Centre is uniquely placed to develop insights drawing on academic expertise from across the University of Cambridge and the wider research community, together with independent expertise from the business sector.
The Centre was set up in 2018 as part of the Bridge initiative at Hughes Hall which leverages the College's multi-disciplinary perspective, international nature and external focus to bring the research and expertise of its academic community to solve real world problems.
The Centre has the role of 'host' and Secretariat for the Climate Governance Initiative. The World Economic Forum established this Initiative in 2019, in response to climate change and the challenge that brings to business, together with a set of guiding principles to help boards and senior management consider the quality of Climate Governance at the organisations they oversee and identify aspects in need of development. The Climate Governance Initiative is now implemented by the Centre for Climate Engagement, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum.
The Climate Governance Initiative supports the growth of groups of board Directors around the world to form networks, known as Chapters. There are now over 20 such Chapters, including Chapter Zero in the UK, which is also hosted by Hughes Hall. The Climate Governance Initiative plays a significant role in both maximising the impact and collaboration of the existing chapters and accelerating the development of new ones.
Job Purpose
The role of the Executive Assistant and Administrator is a key position within the Operations Team of the Climate Governance Initiative (the Initiative). Reporting to the Head of Operations, and supporting the work of the Team Coordinator, the role works to ensure the smooth running of the Initiative. The role holder provides administrative, communications, financial and secretarial support to the Director and the Executive Team of the Initiative. Specifically, this involves supporting the coordination and monitoring of the Initiative's operations and liaison with key personnel, including the Director, the Head of Operations, the Executive Team, partners, stakeholders, and the Initiative's funders. In addition, the role will require liaison with the College Finance Office as well as the Centre Manager and the Director of the Centre for Climate Engagement.
The Executive Assistant and Administrator is expected to assess and respond to issues, and to refer more complex queries as appropriate. The role holder is the first point of contact for external enquiries to the Initiative. The role holder will manage the Director's diary and travel arrangements, and those of the Initiative's Leadership Team.
Main Duties
Executive Assistant
- Manage the Director's diary, balancing competing priorities and understanding the need for the degree of flexibility that is required within a busy schedule.
- Arrange meetings and make travel arrangements, draw up itineraries, arrange accommodation, liaise with host organisations within the UK and overseas as necessary. Make accommodation arrangements for the Initiative's visitors to Cambridge, as required.
- Ensure the Director's office correspondence is processed in a timely manner, balancing the need for both accuracy and speed of production.
- Draft correspondence on behalf of the Director as appropriate, liaising with colleagues across the Initiative as necessary.
- Ensure the smooth running of the office and that secretarial and other administrative work is produced to a high standard and within set deadlines.
Finance and Purchasing
- Collate and organise submission of credit card returns and expense claims to the Finance Office.
- Prepare and collate financial information relating to Initiative projects, for review by the Head of Operations and/or the Centre Manager of CCE.
- Administer procurement of facilities to support meetings and workshops, publicity materials and other products and services connected with Initiative activities, including allocation of costs to relevant tasks.
- Order and purchase of consumables and other items as required.
General Administration
- Act as the first point of contact on administrative matters for the Initiative.
- Working with the Centre Manager of CCE, organise recruitment and advertise posts - completing forms with required information, contacting and liaising with central HR to place advertisements, monitoring costs of advertising and escalating as appropriate.
- Coordinating with Human Resources on recruitment . click apply for full job details