Communities and Inclusion Assistant

Communities and Inclusion Assistant

Length: Two-year fixed-term-contract

Salary: £30,500 per annum

Working pattern: Full-time, 35hrs Mon – Fri | Staff can opt to work 32hrs over 4 days each week (with either Monday or Friday as a non-working day). The BES is a 4-day work week organisation with no reduction in pay.

Location: Hybrid. We ask that staff spend at least 60% of their time at our London office.

Closing date: Monday 9 March 2026, 9:00am

Interview date: Monday 23 March 2026

Key Responsibility: To provide administrative support across the Communities and Inclusion team.

We are seeking a Communities and Inclusion Assistant to support the Communities and Inclusion team at BES. The team works across a range of areas, including grants, membership, volunteering and education to engage with ecology in meaningful ways.

This is a new role within BES and a fantastic opportunity to engage with the world’s oldest ecological society. You will gain experience across multiple areas of the organisation’s work while playing a key administrative support role.

Responsibilities:

Community Groups

We support over 25 active community groups. The role will include:

• Administering the Community Groups inbox and acting as the first point of contact for general enquiries from current and prospective community groups.
• Supporting the BES Community Groups team in their work, including attending monthly meetings and providing meeting notes.
• Assisting community groups with recruitment to their committees.

Grants

We award over £500,000 in grant funding every year. The role will include

• Administering the Grants inbox.
• Supporting the administration of our grant portfolio, including collating of reviewer scores and EDI data monitoring via the grants database.
• Managing the in-house training and travel grant awarding process.
• Attend Grants committee meetings, taking minutes as required.

Membership

We have over 8000 members. The role will include

• Administering the Membership inbox and responding to members enquiries
• Updating and maintaining daily CRM tasks related to joining, renewals, cancellation requests and payment processes to ensure accurate membership data.
• Updating and maintaining accurate Membership KPI tracking.
• Attending Membership committee, taking minutes as required.

Team support

As part of the communities and Inclusion directorate, contribute your skills, ideas, and enthusiasm to delivering our strategic priorities through team meetings, attendance at events, project support, and collaborative working.

This list is not exhaustive, and employees may be asked to carry out other duties appropriate to their role and level, in line with business needs.

It is the practice of the British Ecological Society to examine job descriptions from time to time and to update them to ensure they relate to the job as then being performed, or to incorporate changes in organisational need suitable to the role and level. This will be conducted in consultation with you. It is the organisation’s aim to reach agreement on changes, but if agreement is not possible, the organisation reserves the right to insist on changes to your job description, after consultation with you.

Person specification

Essential 

• Experience in data and information handling
• Proficient in using standard office software and systems, in particular Excel.
• Proven customer service skills
• Detail-oriented
• Proactive problem-solving skills and ability to work independently.
• Excellent organisational and communication skills.
• Comfortable working in a dynamic office environment.
• Moderate understanding of standard business IT hardware.

Desirable  

• Experience working in a charity or membership organisation.
• Experience in using CRM systems (training will be provided)
• Familiarity with GDPR compliance (training will be provided)

Four-day working week

• Along with our four-day working week to support a better work/life balance, we offer a range of flexible working options, including hybrid working and variable start and finishing times. 

Annual leave

• With a generous holiday allowance and office closure between Christmas and the New Year, we’ll make sure you have space for yourself. We also offer everyone a week working from anywhere.  

Pension

• To help with saving for your retirement, we offer a generous pension plan.  

Health and wellbeing

• We offer regular wellbeing activities, access to a dedicated wellness room, complimentary breakfast items and fresh fruit, and we hold annual all‑staff away days. With a supportive occupational sick policy, eyecare checks and seasonal flu jabs we’re here to keep your health a priority.

To apply for this vacancy, please submit:

• Your CV - no more than 2x A4 sides detailing your education, training and work history, as well as any relevant skills
• A cover letter no more than 1x A4 side explaining why you wish to undertake this role at the BES
• Your Equality & Diversity information - this voluntary information helps us to assess the diversity of our recruitment and further improve recruitment processes in the future. It has no bearing on the success of your application and is not considered as part of the shortlisting process.

We recognise that AI tools can support candidates in refining their job applications, particularly in improving clarity and language. if you choose to use AI to assist with your application, please remember you are responsible for the content and quality of your application.

Ai may be use to improve - but must not replace - your own voice and experience. Applications must reflect your own understanding, experience and and suitability for the role. We encourage all applications tor review their submission carefully before sending.