Head Of Business Development (Maternity Cover)

The British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) is a membership organisation that brings together expertise from across the rheumatology profession, harnessing a wide variety of experience and skills to ensure we’re supporting our members to the very best of our combined ability. Our mission is to support members to deliver the best care at all stages of the rheumatology care pathway, focusing on communication, transparency, and collaboration. 

Job Purpose

BSR events are a key benefit to members and the wider rheumatology community, offering the very latest in science, innovation, research and cases.
Our events team deliver the award-winning Annual Conference (Liverpool 24-26 April 2024) in a hybrid format to c2000 delegates, plus our Case-cased conference (Leeds 5-6 Nov, in-person c300 delegates) as well as a programme of celebratory awards. This is a perfect role for someone that relishes the challenge of big events, enjoys working with stakeholders, volunteers and colleagues and is full of ideas of how to deliver impact. 
The Head of Events leads and develops the Events Manager, Digital Events Manager, Events Executive and Partnerships Manager to deliver an events programme that helps members and the wider rheumatology community deliver the very best in patient care.
You’ll work closely with:

• Events team and partnerships/sponsorship manager
• Education and Marcomms teams
• Heads of Department
• Heberden Committee 
• Agencies, venues, destinations, platforms and suppliers

Main responsibilities

Management and leadership

• Line management, development and coaching of the Events team, plus supervision of the Partnership Manager, ensuring BSR values and ‘one team’ approach are embedded.
• On site management of agency and venue staff plus volunteers and BSR team members. 
• Strategic leadership of the events function, focusing on impact, delivering against our strategy and ensuring financial stability.
• Be a proactive participant in the high-performing ‘Head of Departments’ team, working on cross-organisation priorities.

Conference management

• Lead, plan and oversee the delivery of conference events including the hybrid BSR Annual Conference and exhibition (approx. 2000 attendees) and the Adult and Paediatric Case-based Conference in (approx. 300 delegates).
• Maintain close financial controls to ensure delivery against expenditure and income targets, including contract negotiations with venues/destinations.
• Drive forward impact of BSR events, internally and externally, closely monitoring delegate satisfaction, responding to feedback and making improvements to our product offering.
• Build relationships with BSR’s Heberden Committee and lead them in developing the annual conference scientific programme.
• Monitor and manage risks, health and safety, ABPI compliance, insurance and staff wellbeing.

General

• Review and develop the awards programme to ensure we maximise benefit and impact to members across all membership categories.
• Continue our drive on event sustainability and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Please note: This role will require travel, overnight stays and weekend work, for example at our conferences (6 day stay). As we are a small team, you’ll have the opportunity to get involved in cross-departmental projects, lead or contribute to agile sprint working, and support with specific tasks to support wider business needs. There are also other opportunities to get involved including our Staff forum. 

Person Specification

•  Experience working in conferences and events, including hybrid event delivery
• Experience of leading a team, including facilitating high performance  and staff development
• Confident in managing stakeholders at all levels and dealing with external contacts/suppliers
• Ability to develop strategies and plans to support organisational objectives
• Budget management and financial control, contract negotiation, including financial projections and meeting financial targets
• Experience of producing marketing/comms copy and working with event branding
• Ability to engage with colleagues and collaborators and to bring them on board in line with set targets
• Ability to see opportunities and challenge convention in order to make improvements to how we deliver events, especially virtually 
• Maintain a professional and personable attitude when communicating with colleagues, customers and volunteers

Benefits of working at BSR

We offer a wide range of benefits, most of which start from day one of joining us. Our benefits fall into four main areas: Wellbeing, Time-based, Learning and Development, and Financial. Just some of them include: 
Wellbeing:  

• Free period products in our office  
• Free flu vaccinations  
• Mental Health First Aiders  
• Access to a clinical psychologist via HelloSelf 
• BUPA healthcare scheme- we offer a cash plan, which you can add children or partners to  
• Employee Assistance Programme. This is a free, confidential counselling service to all staff, as well as a general advice service provided by BUPA  
• WeCare offers access to a 24/7 virtual GP, as well as a mental health support service, a get fit programme and an online portal with lots of helpful resources  
• Our enhanced sick pay offer is:  
  • Up to two years’ service: 4 weeks full pay and 4 weeks half pay  
  • After two years’ service: 12 weeks full pay and 12 weeks half pay  
  • We work in a social environment with a range of activities, both virtual and in-person, run by our Social Squad. This includes an organisation-wide volunteering day.  

Time-based: 

• We offer 30 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays  
• All staff can request sabbaticals at any point, which are considered on a case-by-case basis  
• We also offer an extra day for moving house  
• Bank holiday swops- you can swop a bank holiday day for another day’s leave (entitlement remains 1:1 days)  

Learning and development
We will help you develop your career by supporting your personal development and encouraging internal progression. This includes recognising individuals’ achievements through our internal staff awards. We offer a huge range of learning opportunities, both in-house and externally. This includes a thorough induction programme when you join us, as well as development opportunities aimed at line managers, and wellbeing-based learning sessions. And if professional membership is a required part of your role, we’ll cover the cost of that. 
Financial:  

• We offer a performance-related pay incentive scheme  
• Income protection scheme  
• You’ll be enrolled on our pensions scheme with Aegon (via Second Sight). Our current pension match is 5% employer contribution if you contribute 4% (9% contribution in total).  
• Our life assurance policy pays three times your basic salary  
• Interest-free season ticket loans  
• Ride-to-work scheme  
• Interest-free loan scheme  
• We also provide generous enhancements within our parental and family leave policies.  
  • Our maternity/shared parental/adoption offer is 6 weeks at full pay, 33 weeks at half pay, followed by 13 weeks at the statutory rate.  
  • Our paternity leave offer is 6 weeks at full pay.