Job Description

Job Scope:
The Royal Society, founded in 1663, is the oldest national science academy in continuous existence. Since its beginnings, it has been a Fellowship of many of the world's leading scientists, who are elected as Fellows of the Society by their peers on the basis of their excellence in scientific research.
Its Fellowship has included the founding figures of modern science, including Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. There are currently approximately 1800 Fellows from across and the rest of the world.
The Society's approach to electing and engaging the Fellowship has evolved with the times; it is now in the midst of a significant programme to improve the relevant processes. The Society is looking for a Fellowship Officer who will work across the range of the Fellowship team's activity to provide outstanding administrative support to ensure our processes are robust, and to pursue their continuous improvement.
Current projects where the jobholder will get involved include the following:

• improving the Fellowship election process, with a view to developing a Fellowship that is diverse and representative of scientific excellence in all its forms;
• enhancing Fellows' experience of, and engagement with, the Society. The Fellowship is critical to the effective performance of the Royal Society's many functions - including as a science publisher, as a provider of scientific advice, and as a distributor of scientific grants. More needs to be done to give Fellows the opportunity to contribute to these workstreams in ways that make the best use of their interests and expertise;
• improving the Society's understanding of the Fellowship, by smarter use of data and an engagement programme that includes meetings across the UK and the development of a regular Fellowship survey.

You will work to support the Fellowship Manager, who runs the annual cycle of elections to the Fellowship, and the Fellowship Engagement Manager, who leads on the reform projects outlined above.
The key outcome of the role will be to provide an outstanding service to Fellows and the Society, making the Society more effective across the range of its activities.
Please note that we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.
Reports to: Fellowship Engagement Manager
Line manages: Not applicable
Location: Carlton House Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AG
Hours: Full time, 35 hours a week
Pay band: C
Salary: 38,000 per annum
Contract type: Fixed term - 18 months
The application closing date is Monday 11 August at midnight.
Interviews will be held on Monday 1 September and Tuesday 2 September. Responsibilities:
The Fellowship is a network of approximately 1800 eminent scientists that is integral to the work of the Royal Society in promoting excellence in science and its application for human benefit. The Fellowship team carries out a range of functions that are critical to the Society's work - it manages the committees that elect the Fellowship, and is delivering continuous improvement of the process; it is responsible for deepening the Society's own understanding of its Fellows, their experience and interests; it manages engagement with the Fellowship regarding the Society's work, and oversees the deployment of Fellows to the Society's activities, committees, and projects.
You will be involved in a wide range of activities in support of these functions. These will include:
Fellowship support

• Providing secretariat support to committees and working groups involved in Fellowship elections, including dealing with meeting arrangements, preparing papers and information for meetings, taking minutes, processing expenses claims, and working to improve approaches over time.
• Co-ordinating work on the allocation of Fellows to Royal Society committees, in coordination with the Society's committee secretaries.
• Customer Relationship Management: Updating, monitoring and improving Fellowship data in the Society's CRM database, working with colleagues across the Society to improve the way we retain, handle and make use of key information about the Fellowship.
• Liaising directly with the Officers of the Society and Fellows on miscellaneous queries raised by them.
• Ensuring compliance with GDPR regulations, particularly in how we handle Fellows' personal details.

Fellowship communication and engagement

• Planning and management of Fellowship outreach meetings, including liaising with venues and managing registration.
• Assisting with the design and development of effective channels of communication with the Fellowship.
• Drafting and delivering communications including meeting papers, newsletter content, supporting documentation and guidance.
• Building networks and working with individuals across the approximately 300 staff of the Society, to develop a better understanding of the Fellowship across the organisation, and more effective use of them as a resource.

Other

• Deputising for Managers where appropriate
• Undertaking other tasks and responsibilities as may reasonably be requested.

Key Knowledge and Skills Required:
EDUCATION/QUALIFICATIONS/KNOWLEDGE
Educated to degree standard or equivalent
Essential
An understanding of the research and innovation system in the UK including the higher education and public and non-profit research organisation sector
Desirable
SKILLS
Excellent project management and planning skills
Essential
Excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal skills
Essential
Ability to work with senior people (including the UK's most eminent scientists) in a way that ensures their confidence
Essential
Ability to convey information to a range of audiences in a clear and confident way
Essential
Excellent organisational and time management skills
Essential
Strong attention to detail and meticulous record keeping
Essential
Ability to use tact and diplomacy to handle confidential information
Essential
Ability to prioritise and manage a varied workload
Essential
Good analytical and problem-solving skills
Essential
Strong IT skills
Essential
EXPERIENCE
Experience of working in a team and of effective engagement across teams
Essential
Experience of using Microsoft Office (in particular Excel, Teams and SharePoint)
Essential
Experience of working in administrative roles or a similar role
Essential
Experience of record and data management
Desirable
Competencies:
Self-management
Works unsupervised and can motivate self
Produces results under pressure
Can manage in stressful situations
Pushes for the best results
Pursues and encourages feedback that may reveal an error in judgment and then makes appropriate adjustments
Recognises own personal biases or limitations, and uses this understanding to improve decisions and plans for action
Seeks out mentors and other development resources to gain additional self-awareness and personal development
Reflects on negative situations with maturity and seeks to understand own contribution to the situation
Holds things together and acts as a settling influence
Working with others
Contributes ideas and identifies opportunities to work with others both within the team and across the organisation
Willing to provide feedback to sectional colleagues when requested
Produces succinct presentations and papers for senior colleagues
Understands when to seek senior advice on potentially delicate negotiations
Reaches a variety of audiences using an appropriate mix of communication methods and tailored messages to appeal to their unique needs
Speaks from the heart to compel action and creates an emotional appeal for organisational priorities
Creates an environment of transparency while respecting confidentiality requirements
Builds consensus for delivering team goals. Frequently interacts with peers, on cross-functional matters.
Resource management
Makes the best of internal/external resources and coordinates well with external partners to best meet the needs of the Society
Builds contingency into projects taking into account possible outside factors
Sets and monitors performance against quality and results orientated targets.
Focuses on both short and long-term goals
Creates novel solutions to problems
Creates a detailed design or plan to implement a new solution or approach
Evaluates new technology as potential solutions to existing issues.
Adjusts course as new information comes to light
Executes quickly and decisively in a time-sensitive situation
Takes accountability to persist until opportunity is realised or problem solved
Critical thinking
Determines and clarifies the exact requirements of any situation
Checks information for accuracy and raises concerns if information is inaccurate
Extracts the key points succinctly, clearly and accurately
Puts forward suggestions for improvement concerning current processes or systems
Tries different ways of doing things to get the best results
Compares and evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of options
Formulates an opinion by considering opposing views and suggestions
Runs trials and models or applies statistical analysis and stress testing to confirm or disconfirm proposal
Adaptability
Overcomes obstacles and is not deterred by setbacks; checks assumptions and first principles and works out alternative approaches
Reacts proactively to new challenges and works in a flexible manner to produce solutions
Provides feedback and participates in discussions surrounding new ideas approaches or projects
Maintains focus and continues to deliver when things are 'up in the air'
Adjusts to act differently depending on the situation
Takes steps to understand basic risk management and importance of identifying and maintaining controls
Helps others to understand and cope with ambiguous situations
Managing people and relationships
Delegates effectively, setting clear expectations and authority
Monitors results and feeds back to team on a regular basis
Recognises others' contributions and acknowledges their limits
Helps others to identify ways to improve their performance
Prioritises supervisory responsibilities and carries them out in a timely fashion
Understands and can identify client/stakeholder/staff needs and looks for opportunities to improve their experiences
Demonstrates trust in others' ability to accomplish tasks at acceptable levels of performance
Provides current, direct, complete and actionable positive and constructive feedback
Has a mind-set of sharing own and others' expertise
Creates an environment of transparency while respecting confidentiality requirements
Focuses on surfacing underlying customer issues/concerns and identifying root causes
Increases exposure to and personal relationships with customers
Expresses positive views of the customer