Personal Assistant To The Bishop

We are an ambitious, dynamic and impactful charity. Following their sons’ diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), Emily Reuben and Alex Johnson founded Duchenne UK in 2012. 

DMD is a devastating progressive condition diagnosed in early childhood which causes all the muscles in the body to gradually weaken. There are currently only very limited treatment options for DMD, so Emily and Alex set up Duchenne UK to change this. 
Since 2012, we have raised more than £27 million to end the devastating impact of DMD.  We fund ground-breaking scientific research to find effective treatments. We’ve developed the infrastructure of DMD clinical trial delivery in the UK. We engage industry and regulators to accelerate access to treatments. And we’re here to support every family affected and ensure that they receive the best possible care. We aim not only to improve quality of live but stop the disease in its tracks. We’re doing it faster too, because this generation of patients can’t wait.

Alex and Emily were awarded OBEs in The King’s Birthday Honours List in 2023 in recognition of their services to charity and to people living with DMD. They, and the dedicated and effective team they have built at Duchenne UK, are now at the forefront of this work in the UK.

An opportunity to join our team
We have an opportunity to join our team and build on these achievements. We are recruiting for maternity cover for our Personal Assistant and Office Manager, who will be a key part of our team and play a vital role in helping us achieve our mission.
This is an all-encompassing role for an accomplished and confident Personal Assistant to support the Founders and Director of Research of an innovative and ambitious charity and oversee the management of the Duchenne UK office.

The successful candidate will be highly organised with strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to build relationships with a wide variety of individuals, internally and externally. Reliability and a can‐do, proactive attitude is a must, along with having an outstanding commitment and sense of dedication to understanding, fulfilling and anticipating the principles' and office's needs and priorities.

The Personal Assistant and Office Manager will report to the Finance Manager and work alongside the Managing Director, CEO and Director of Research and Development.

Working for Duchenne UK

We are a friendly, energetic, and determined team. As we are led by two parents of boys who live with DMD, our team has a very strong feeling of contribution to our mission. 
We prioritise team building and wellness through an annual offsite Team Away Day and an annual offsite Wellness Day, alongside social activity throughout the year.
We operate a hybrid working week, to balance our team-based culture with a positive home-life. In the summer months of July and August, we operate ‘Summer Fridays’, allowing staff to benefit from half days on Fridays (pro rata’d for part time staff) to enjoy the long summer weekends.

Job Description:

 Duties to include, but not limited to:

• High volume diary management, including work and personal diary prioritisation and filtering out non-essential meetings.
• Answering, screening and responding as appropriate to incoming calls, visitors and correspondence.
• Preparing for internal and external meetings, calls and video conferences including confirming relevant materials are received, printed and bound for meetings.

• Management of travel arrangements. Scheduling and tracking domestic and international travel itineraries within several time zones.
• Administration support for the research team, including arranging meetings and assisting with event and meeting organisation.

• Management of expenses including arranging currency and processing expense claims in a timely manner.
• General office management and operational support including:
  • Liaising with suppliers / brokers (e.g. internet, energy, insurance)
  • Relationship management with office landlord
  • Overseeing office supplies and equipment
• Internal event organisation (e.g. staff away day, wellness day, staff meetings), including budget management, venue booking, overseeing delivery on site.
• Maintaining up‐to‐date contacts.
• Managing internal files and maintaining the confidentiality and organisation of file contents.
• Minute taking and writing, general secretarial and administrative support, including at Board meetings.
• Booking personal appointments for the CEO where necessary.
• Management of deadlines and prompting the team where necessary.
• Other ad hoc duties including personal tasks.
• Occasional support on Duchenne UK’s high-profile events.

The experience needed

• An excellent command of the English language: written and verbal.
• Exceptional diary management skills.  
• Advanced MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).
• Event experience would be ideal, but not essential.
• Experience of working with a CRM system would be ideal, but not essential.

The Candidate

• Discrete, confident and diplomatic.
• An approach which is flexible, innovative and responsive.
• Ability to problem solve in a pressurised environment, work autonomously and be very proactive in approach.
• A team worker able to share information and maximise opportunities.
• Highly organised with ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks.
• An excellent communicator, with outstanding verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent organisational skills and an eye for detail.
• Very attentive to detail and accuracy.
• Enthusiastic, can-do attitude.

Team Working

• Embody Duchenne UK’s culture of collaboration, inclusivity, support and respect in your ways of working.
• Champion the professional integrity of Duchenne UK.
• Work with colleagues to achieve organisational aims.
• Undertaking any other duties which are required.

Other Requirements

• Occasional working outside of office hours for key events and activities.
• First aid qualification (desirable).

Sound like the job for you? We’d love to hear from you:

Benefits

• 25 days of annual leave + 8 days of public holidays (both pro rata)
• Summer Fridays – half days on Fridays in July and August (pro rata)
• Flexible working policy
• Hybrid working
• Standard Employer Pensions contributions after 3 months
• Team wellness day and team away day
• Training and development opportunities

Terms and conditions

The appointment is subject to satisfactory references and an initial six-month period of probation, during which performance will be regularly reviewed.

The applicant must have the right to work in the UK and provide relevant ‘right to work’ documentation.
Relevant training will be provided during induction as well as opportunities to develop your career through experience of different aspects of the charity’s work and working with colleagues on new initiatives.
The organisation’s hybrid working policy is at the discretion of the line-manager during the first three months of employment, to support the induction process.

Applying for this job

Please send us a copy of your CV. In addition, please answer the following questions, with a maximum of 300 words per question. You can send us a short film with your answers if you prefer or let us know if you would like to give us this information in a different way.

1.      Please tell us why you would like to work for DUK.

2.     In the job description, we have highlighted a range of experiences and skills we think we need. Please describe how you have demonstrated three of these. Please give us practical examples. It’s ok to use experiences from outside of paid work, including experiences you may have had in your personal life.

3.     If you think you have other qualities, we have not mentioned but which you think suit this role, please let us know. We want to know some of the things you have done and the experiences you’ve had, and what you think they have taught you.

4.     Tell us one thing that really excites you about this role. If you would like to discuss the role, please contact Duchenne UK