Business Development Officer

General Information

• Job Title: Business Development Officer
• Employed by: Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful
• Reporting to: Head of Business Development
• Job Purpose: Provision of timely and accurate support to the Head of Business Development, Chief Executive, Board and Board Sub-Groups.
• Hours of Business: Flexible business hours 8am - 6pm. Core hours 10am - 4pm. Hybrid working policy (2 days in Belfast office per week).
• Location: Home/Belfast-Office based. You must already hold a permit to work in UK/NI if you do not live in UK.
• Hours per week: 37.5 (see below).
• Salary: £25,347.
• Contract type: Permanent, subject to funding.
• Applications Close: Monday 9th June 9am.
• Interviews: Monday 16th June, in person, in Belfast.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is currently trialling a 4-day working week of 30 hours on full pay, however, please note this can be withdrawn at any time. For further information please email [email protected]

Purpose of role

Working at the heart of the charity, the Business Development Officer will play a central role in identifying, pursuing, and supporting income-generating opportunities for Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. The post holder will work proactively with the Head of Business Development to carry out prospect research, prepare and submit funding applications, and monitor external funding and partnership opportunities.

This role will also provide targeted executive support to the Chief Executive and the Board, including assistance with diary management, meeting coordination, and internal communications. The emphasis is on business development (80%) with support and administrative tasks forming a smaller but important portion of the role (20%).

Duties and expected outcomes

The Business Development Officer will be required to work closely with the CEO and Head of Business Development, ensuring the provision of timely and accurate support, including prospect research, tracking open grants and filling in grant application forms. The Business Development Officer will be versatile, organised and solutions focused, delivering on specific strands of activity for the CEO, Head of Business Development, the Board, and its Sub-Groups, including:

Diary Management for the Chief Executive Officer

• Ensuring regular activities are added to relevant diaries and HR/IT systems.
• Arranging staff meetings, coordinating attendees, booking rooms and refreshments.
• Preparing and circulating papers in advance of Board and specified internal meetings.
• Prompt follow up on relevant actions identified at meetings.
• Meeting regularly with the Head of Business Development to forward plan, conduct research and deal with queries.

Business Development

• Conducting detailed prospect and grant research, producing reports on opportunities relevant to the organisation's mission.
• Preparing and submitting funding proposals and applications in collaboration with the Head of Business Development.
• Monitoring the landscape of funding and partnership opportunities across the UK and Ireland.
• Supporting strategic planning by gathering intelligence and sectoral insight for the Head of Business Development and CEO.
• Managing a pipeline of business development activities, updating tracking systems and reporting on progress to senior management.

Managing information

• Collating all information and sharing as needed to support meetings / activities.
• Maintaining subscriptions and securely storing passwords.
• Minute taking for specified meetings, including (but not limited to), Managers meeting, Board and Board Sub-Group meetings.
• Maintaining up-to-date and logically structured files.
• Maintaining annual leave records for the Senior Management Team, ensuring consistent staffing cover by SMT across the year.
• In agreement with the Head of Business Development:
  • Generating prospect and grant research reports as requested, proactively seeking information on open grants, and staying abreast of sectoral developments within NI.
  • Filling in grant application forms as directed by the Head of Business Development.
  • Researching, requesting, and collating information on behalf of the Chief Executive and Head of Business Development.

Customer Services

• Maintaining high standards with internal and external contacts.
• Providing high quality reception to guests at meetings and in the office.
• Establishing and maintaining standards for internal and external communication.
• Preparing rooms in advance of meetings and managing room bookings for Managers meeting, Board and Board Sub-Group meetings.
• Acting as first point of contact with the organisation.
• Providing administrative support.

Other

• Assistance with the monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on projects for funders.
• Arranging events such as staff away days.
• Dealing with ad hoc requests.
• Have an ability to travel occasionally.

Person Specification

Qualifications, skills & experience

Essential

• A minimum of one year's previous experience in providing personal assistant or Officer-based functions.
• Demonstrable experience of organisational and administrative skills.
• Ability to record meetings accurately and promptly generate minutes.
• Well-developed ICT skills, including the Microsoft 365 suite.
• A proven track record of problem solving.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with at least Grade C in English Language (or equivalent).
• At least Grade C GCSE (or equivalent) in Mathematics with excellent numerical and analytical skills and the ability to analyse data and financial information.
• Full current driving licence and/or access to a suitable means of transport to enable you to carry out the duties and responsibilities.

Knowledge & Understanding

Essential

• Understanding of and adherence to all procedures.
• Understanding of relevant legislation including the data protection and confidentiality requirements.

Desirable

• Experience of working in the voluntary sector.

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Highly organised.
• Ability to manage conflicting priorities and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of a wider team.
• A customer-focused approach for internal and external stakeholders.
• Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills and with an ability to work well with people and resolve problems.
• A commitment to all responsibilities of the position, working consistently to high quality standards, paying attention to detail, completeness, and accuracy.
• Able to take the initiative to influence events, generate ideas for improvement, take advantage of opportunities and 'go the extra mile'.

General

The person appointed will be home/office-based, 2 days in the office in Belfast and 2 days from home, with a requirement to travel NI-wide on occasion. They will work in a collaborative manner with all other Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful team members.

IT support and hardware is provided for all staff to enable them to be efficient and effective in their work.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful operates flexible office hours between 8am and 6pm, with core hours between 10am and 4pm. Your normal days of work will be Monday to Friday but this is an important role in a small organisation and on occasion, you could be required to work outside of normal working hours.

ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is a community focused organisation with a commitment to reducing its impact on the planet. A key approach in achieving this is through Carbon Literacy training for all employees. This programme, delivered in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Project, raises awareness about the climate change challenge that we all face as well as the commitments we can make to behaviour change that will help reduce emissions.

New employees will be expected to attend Carbon Literacy training as part of their induction process and contribute to an ongoing dialogue within the organisation about how we can reduce our carbon impact and improve levels of sustainability.

Authority

• Commission work only in line with company procedures and obtain best value at all times.
• Refer any media interest or potential news stories to their line manager.
• Always operate within the organisation's policies and procedures.

About us

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is an independent charity dedicated to creating a cleaner, greener and more sustainable Northern Ireland by delivering on improving environmental education in every school in Northern Ireland, increasing public engagement for communities in need and raising environmental standards for the places where people spend time: where they live, work and relax.

Underpinning this is our survey work reporting on neighbourhood cleanliness across Northern Ireland with the Borough Cleanliness Survey, Northern Ireland Litter Survey and the Marine Litter Survey. Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is expanding volunteering opportunities with a focus on creating a new societal norm of taking responsibility for where you live. This is delivered through campaigns including Adopt A Spot, The BIG Spring Clean and the Clean Coasts programme. Supporting volunteering is a key strand of the public-private-NGO partnership that makes up Live Here Love Here.

Live Here Love Here is about creating tangible community pride, loving where you live and feeling responsible for the landscape around you. The result is the creation of a better environment for all our communities. Closely associated with this is our work to raise environmental standards through certification schemes including Blue Flag for beaches and marinas, the Seaside and Green Coast Awards, Green Flag Awards for public open spaces and the Live Here Love Here Green Business Awards. All of these operate across and beyond Northern Ireland. We are also involved at all levels of our education system and beyond, with international programmes including Eco-Schools, Young Reporters for the Environment and EcoCampus. Eco-Home also adds to our resolve to realise sustainable living habits.

It's your Northern Ireland, so why not get involved today!