PA to the Director

Contract: Full-time, permanent (37.5 hours per week)

Salary£24-£27,000 depending on experience

Notice:Three months

Report to:Director

Introducing Pallant House Gallery

Located in the heart of historic Chichester on the south coast, Pallant House Gallery is a unique combination of a Grade One Listed Queen-Anne townhouse and an award-winning contemporary extension, housing one of the most significant collections of Modern British art in the country. Widely acclaimed for its innovative temporary exhibitions and pioneering Learning and Community programme, which has inclusion at its heart, it has won numerous awards and accolades including the Gulbenkian Prize and the Charity Award.

The Gallery employs 27 staff (FTE) who work closely with 200 highly committed volunteers and a vibrant Friends organisation numbering over 4,000 members. The Gallery receives an average of 60,000 visitors a year and over 8,000 people participate in the Learning and Community programme.

Pallant House Gallery is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation (NPO), and receives annual support from Chichester District Council. Learning and Community is at the heart of the organisation and the Gallery has developed a widely respected programme supporting local communities and developing new audiences.

To find out more about Pallant House Gallery, please visit our website

Purpose and key objectives

As the PA to the Director, you will play a crucial role in the smooth running of the Gallery’sExecutive office, facilitating the work of the Director and supporting the governance function. You will support the HR function of the Gallery through administration

Key tasks and responsibilities

Assistance to the Director

  • Diary management and hospitality for Director’s meetings
  • Draft correspondence, emails, reports and RSVPs; prepare PowerPoint presentations
  • Book Director’s business travel and accommodation
  • Manage Director’s office filing systems and record-keeping
  • Business strategy planning coordination and administration; liaise with consultants; attend meetings and take notes; support Director, as requested
  • Support relationships with people within and outside the Gallery, including major donors and benefactors
  • Minute the monthly Senior Management Team meetings and circulate agendas and minutes; arrange regular one-one meetings for direct reports; follow up meeting actions
  • Liaise with key stakeholders (Arts Council, Chichester District Council, Heritage Lottery Fund, etc); coordination of annual funding reports and administration of meetings
  • Attend other internal meetings/workshops and take notes, as requested
  • Update Gallery CRM system
  • Open and sort all Gallery post daily and distribute to individual staff
  • Answer office phone and main switchboard when busy; and screen Director’s telephone calls

Trustees and Governance

  • Co-ordinate the production of papers for quarterly Board meetings, coordinating and editing the staff report and circulating to trustees and relevant staff
  • Attend and take minutes at quarterly Board Meetings, bi-monthly Finance and Investment Committee Meetings and Building Project Meetings to ensure these are approved and circulated as soon after the meeting as possible
  • Regularly review and update the Gallery’s policies in line with Charity Commission best practice and the Gallery’s Forward Plan
  • Work with the Director and Nominations Committee on recruitment of any new trustees through open recruitment process and ensuring full induction once appointed
  • Work with the Director and Company Secretary to ensure all trustee paperwork is completed
  • Schedule in at regular intervals meetings for the Gallery’s Committee and Advisory Groups
  • Support Chairman and other Board members, as requested

Human Resources

  • Co-ordinate the recruitment of permanent staff, internships and volunteer work-placements including the production of advertsand scoring sheets
  • To coordinate the follow up on recruitment (i.e. Offer letters, references, contracts, payroll information and other relevant checks and paperwork)
  • Lead on the induction process for new staff
  • Management of personnel files ensuring they stay up to date and are stored, archived or destroyed appropriately
  • Review of existing staff contracts and records
  • Help identify staff and organisational development and training opportunities
  • Ensure that all staff follow a Performance Management process with regular Supervision and Appraisals by their Line Managers
  • Ensure that all staff are aware of new and updated policies in the Staff Handbook
  • Provide the Communications team with updated and refreshed content for the staff and trustee pages of Pallant House Gallery’s website
  • Co-ordination of staff holiday requests
  • Liaise with the Deputy Director who leads the Gallery’s HR function
  • Currently the Gallery has 16 full time and 24 part time staff (27.23 FTE)

Events

  • Organisation, administration and management of events (main private views, smaller previews, special Board/Director events, staff socials, tours and talks, internal/external workshops, etc) including liaison with caterers
  • Organisation of staff engagement activities (planning days, training sessions, staff meetings, social events)

Volunteer support

  • The PA has volunteer support for this role 1-2 days per week

Additional tasks

  • This role requires occasional evening and weekend work, as necessary
  • Any other tasks as reasonably required by the Director

Person Specification

The successful candidate will have the following competencies:

Essential Core Competencies

  • Excellent team player with a personable outgoing manner,
  • Excellent customer service
  • Excellent communications and interpersonal skills
  • The ability to think strategically, commercially and entrepreneurially
  • Accurate with a high attention to detail
  • Strong work ethic
  • Enthusiastic and flexible
  • Ability to keep and respect confidential information
  • High levels of energy, self-motivation and personal initiative
  • Ability to work effectively in a mutually supportive, enabling and collaborative team environment
  • Flexible and committed approach to work
  • Motivated, adaptable, enthusiastic and accurate

Essential Core Skills

  • Excellent problem-solving skills
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills with an eye for detail
  • Good IT skills (ideally with some experience of database work)
  • Excellent time keeping and organisation skills with ability to meet strict deadlines
  • Ability to manage multiple demands under pressure with the appropriate focus

Desirable Core Skills

  • A background in the arts and or charity sector and a good understanding of arts related activity, policy and programmes would be advantageous but not essential
  • An interest in modern and contemporary art

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