Dear Candidate

Thank you for considering an application to work at Transparency International UK.

This will be the first time we have appointed a COO, and the Senior Management Team and I are very much looking forward to this as the next milestone in our organisational development.  You will find a thriving organisation, full of intelligent and motivated colleagues, and with a great external reputation.

At the same time, we are aware that having grown ten-fold in the past decade, and doubled in size over the past two years, we need to invest more in our finance, HR, IT and operations, to make sure that our ‘back office’ is able to support as fully as possible our mission and organisational aspirations.  You can read more about this in our three-year Strategy, which you can find on our website. Our COO will play a key role in this period of development.

Part of our growth story is that we have taken on a number of large restricted grants from government donors, and we therefore want to ensure that our grant management processes are  as effective as possible, as well as putting in place systems that can operate to scale as and when necessary.  Operationally, we are present in a number of countries overseas as well as the UK, and our COO will play an important role in understanding and managing the related risks and opportunities.  We are also keen to place more emphasis on HR and IT, to make sure we are an attractive place to work, and that our IT systems are fully aligned with our operational and security requirements.  In addition to this day to day management, we hope to find a COO who can think ahead strategically about our funding and operations.

Our lean ‘core’ support team is the glue that holds together four diverse programmes, and the COO position is a key component in helping make sure that we work collectively to be more than the sum of the parts.  As our COO, you will play a lynch-pin role in both the SMT and in liaising with the Board.

Although we have grown, we are still a relatively small organisation, with fifty people overall.  That means that all of the SMT are used to operating both strategically and very hands-on, so we need someone who is comfortable working in that environment.  You will find it stretching but rewarding.

If you want to know more, please do speak to our recruitment advisers Allen Lane, who know the organisation well and will give you a balanced assessment of the role and the organisation.  If you do decide to apply, good luck.

Robert Barrington

Executive Director