ISEAL is offering an exciting opportunity for a proactive and well-organised individual to join as an Assistant in our Impacts and Innovations team. The role will provide thoughtful administrative support, leading to valuable exposure to the world of sustainability standards, to the operations of ISEAL’s Innovations Fund, and to the field of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL).

ISEAL supports sustainability standards and similar market-based sustainability systems to improve their impacts on people and planet. ISEAL’s Impact and Innovations workstreams explore new solutions to operational and strategic challenges sustainability standards face. The ISEAL Innovations Fund provides funding for ISEAL Community Members to pilot innovative and collaborative solutions that strengthen the effectiveness and credibility of their systems and offer solutions to sustainability issues such as climate mitigation, poverty reduction, and the detection of human rights violations. 

To understand our impact, ISEAL tracks and analyses the successful and unsuccessful Innovations Fund grant applications, the engagement of community members and external partners in our work, and the system improvements and innovations that community members adopt. This role will support monitoring, evaluation, learning, and communications activities of the Innovations Fund and other ISEAL workstreams. 

To be considered for this role, you should be comfortable carrying out multiple activities concurrently and enjoy working on a varied and changing set of tasks with different colleagues and teams. You have a strong interest in learning more about topics related to sustainability standards and are eager to expand your knowledge and skillset by working on a range of activities.

Key Responsibilities we will entrust you with:

Tracking and analysis of data and information

• Upload and keep up to date grant, contact and event participant records on Monday.com, Salesforce, Mailchimp, and other relevant systems 
• Collect/extract data, statistics from Innovation Fund grants and unsuccessful applications to support in identification of key lessons and trends 
• Maintain systems for tracking member engagement in ISEAL activities and for tracking improvements and innovations made by ISEAL community members
• Support the analysis of these and other databases, preparing data summaries, graphs and diagrams with Excel and other tools, and drafting presentations for internal learning and reporting

General administrative and coordination support

• Support project administration by assisting with meeting scheduling, note-taking, meeting follow up; and supporting procurement and contract management
• Implement project processes and maintain project related systems, e.g. tracking deliverables and actions, activities and invoices
• Proof-read, edit, design, and format documents in Word and Powerpoint, using ISEAL templates
• Support organisation, speaker outreach, and event logistics for webinars and working groups on various topics, including tech support with platforms such as Zoom and MS Teams
• Support the Innovation Fund team with monitoring and tracking communication with grantees and grantee compliance with timelines and guidelines

Communications and platform management

• Prepare project communication materials (information sheets, powerpoint slides, and website content)
• Support with drafting project updates and producing analyses of project results to be used in newsletters, on ISEAL social media channels (Twitter, LinkedIn), and in donor reporting
• Liaise with colleagues to keep content on relevant pages on the ISEAL internal platform and ISEAL website updated
• Coordinate with ISEAL communications and membership teams to promote relevant content (e.g., Innovation Fund funding opportunities, and project updates, outputs, and learning) 

Other

• Provide background research and information gathering support as required
• Assist with in-person events, including support with logistics and preparation of agendas, communication with participants etc.

Experience, Knowledge and Attribute

• Experience working or interning in a support/administrative role, ideally in an international NGO, professional or membership organisation, or research/knowledge organisation
• Skills and interest in information systems, data tracking and/or monitoring and evaluation, with some experience supporting on contact management and information/data tracking and analysis
• Strong organisational skills, with some experience with supporting administration, meeting coordination, logistics, contracts, proof-reading, communications, etc.
• Good time management and ability to organise multiple simultaneous tasks efficiently with precision and strong attention to detail
• Excellent written & spoken English, with proven ability to write clearly and concisely
• Confidence in communications with peers and external partners, comfortable in public speaking situations (e.g. webinars, workshops etc)
• Ability to communicate and work effectively with cross-functional teams in a largely remote, international environment, including regular international time-zone calls
• Ability to thrive in a dynamic work environment with changing projects and working with multiple project leads
• Confidence in using the Microsoft Office suite and IT systems, familiarity with virtual meeting tools (e.g. MS Teams, Zoom, etc), use of contact management databases (e.g. Salesforce)
• Interest in social, environmental, and economic sustainability

Additionally desirable

• Experience using newsletter systems, preferably MailChimp
• Experience working with donor-funded projects, project log-frames, and project reporting
• Some understanding of, sustainability standards and certification, which may have been gained in academic, internship, employment or voluntary settings

About ISEAL

ISEAL supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners to tackle the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges – from the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis to human rights and persistent poverty. ISEAL Community Members include many of the most respected sustainability schemes worldwide and are active across a diverse range of sectors. Read more about us on our website https://www.isealalliance.org. 

ISEAL's culture and how we will help you thrive

Our values are Connection, Empowerment, Inspiration, Wellbeing, Effective Working and Creativity.

These are traits we value in each other and in the organisation overall and we instil these in all our processes and interactions.

The issues we work on are of a global nature and our team reflects this, with individuals from many different backgrounds and nationalities. We know this diversity adds to the high quality of work we deliver as an organisation and through our commitment to diversity and inclusion we want to add strengths and perspectives in our team with each recruitment. Diversity for us includes race and gender identity, age, disability status, sexual orientation, religion and many other areas forming part of someone´s identity. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer.

As an organisation, we also support our people in their personal and professional development, with specific budgets and processes enabling individuals to take advantage of growth and development opportunities.

We offer 25 days of annual leave, to which we will add a day a year after 2 years (to a maximum of 30 days), as well as an extra five days as a one off once you have been with us for a full five years.

We recognise individuals’ preferences when it comes to where and when to work through a hybrid working model with a minimum of 4 days per month in the London office as well as the opportunity to apply for flexible working arrangements to suit individual´s needs.

Other relevant information

Term: This is an initial contract of one year with the possibility of extension

Working hours: Full time, 37.5 hours per week

Salary: £25,500-£28,500 p.a. depending on experience (full time, 37.5 hours per week)

Location: London. Applicants will need to provide evidence that they are entitled to work in the UK. An ability and willingness to work in a hybrid work environment is required.

International travel: The post holder will be required to undertake occasional international travel

How to apply

Deadline for applications: 1 September 2024

Please use this link to submit your application: https://wkf.ms/4fnopKE

Enquiries about the role can be directed to recruitment@isealalliance.org.

Please note we will not individually contact applicants unless they are shortlisted for interview.

Interview process

Please see below the planned interview process (please note that we will endeavor to keep to this schedule, but some dates may be subject to change)

First interviews (Teams): 5-9 September

Pre-interview timed exercises (between 60 – 90 minutes from home): 10-16 September

Panel interviews (Teams): w/c 16 September

Decision: by 26 September

Accessibility

If candidates required additional time or other considerations for the interview process, we are committed to accommodating any reasonable requests.

Please note that ISEAL will cover travel expenses for in person interviews for candidates travelling from outside of Greater London. ISEAL also covers caring expenses for candidates who are carers and need to arrange of cover for the duration of the interview/exercises.