Operations Manager

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Job available: interim contracted position – part-time

The Australian Science Communicators

The Australian Science Communicators (ASC) is the national peak body for science communication consisting of an engaged network of members of professional communicators, researchers and educators working across the private, public, non-profit and academic sectors. Recent strides in building impact and recognition within the Australian STEM sector have led to the organisation regularly providing expert advice and comment to government and media, both at state and national levels.

The ASC President and Board (Council) have an ambitious vision for the organisation’s continued growth. To assist with implementation of a renewed strategy, the ASC Council are seeking an aspirational and effective leader with business acumen and an innovation mindset to assist with building the organisation’s resilience and furthering value for the membership.

Position description

The Operations Manager will be responsible for supervising ASC core operations, project delivery and budgets. They will have a non-voting observer role on the Council, and report to the Council (day-to-day to the President and Council Executive).

The below list of deliverables extends beyond what is reasonably expected by the Operations Manager alone. The successful applicant will be expected to rapidly recruit support to deliver results.

We expect the Operations Manager (and their team) to deliver:

  • Working with the Council, deliver constitutional reform to update the organisation’s governance, including identifying and rectifying accounting and legal issues should they arise.
    • KPIs: Adequate communication to membership (inc. required notice periods for AGM and constitution changes) leading to a successfully voted in constitution update at the October/November AGM 2024
  • Progress the new membership system (Membes AMS) to a workable product, including the launch of the front-facing website with at minimum basic news, events and resources functionality working.
    • KPI: members can login to manage their own membership data and messaging preferences, a public website running, members and non-members can book events through website
  • Working with the President and Treasurer, develop and start implementation of a revenue diversification strategy, including raising funds of at least $20,000. 
    • KPI: revenue diversification strategy adopted by Council Executive; fundraise minimum of $20,000 to offset staffing investment;
  • Working with the Treasurer, develop a forward-looking and balanced budget for the 2024/25 financial year with projections to 2027
    • KPI: Budget approved by membership at AGM; strategy for future fundraise accepted at AGM
  • Working with the Secretary/ies for Events and other volunteers, deliver and/or facilitate online and local in-person events for members 
    • KPI: online events held (careers night, student research symposium), governance meetings held (Council meeting, AGM, incoming council meeting), local events facilitated (events advertised and run in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth)
  • Working with the President and Council Executive, develop a cyclical plan of activity and engagement for the association, along with scope for growth as soon as more resources become available
  • Maintain core secretariat tasks, including monitoring and responding to incoming inquiries; bookkeeping, accounting, and business reporting; distribution of monthly member newsletter (SCOPE); and other operational tasks.

Success in this interim role would result in an increase of impact of the organisation for the remainder of this year, and an increase in revenue to offset the investment made in the staffing resource. This will facilitate conversion of this contract into a salaried position, ideally in early- to mid-2025.

This position is a CONTRACT role. You will need the right to work in Australia and an ABN to be able to invoice for your time.

You’ll find this role fulfilling if you …

  • Have an interest in science communication and/or NFP peak body associations.
  • Enjoy having impact on the national stage.
  • Can recognise opportunities to maximise impact and return on investment (both financial and operational output).

You’ll find this role simpler if you …

  • Have experience from a similar operations role with a member-based organisation and have had success in effectively managing budgets.
  • Have experience working with, enabling and motivating volunteers.
  • Have familiarity with the philanthropic sector and a track record of success in revenue raising.
  • Have experience working with the online/digital tools for managing with CMSs and AMSs (specifically Membes), running online events (Zoom and YouTube), sending and managing EDMs (Mailchimp), managing business social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn, X), and working with online collaboration tools (G-Suite and/or Microsoft 365).
  • Bonus: Awareness and/or experience in government and media engagement.
  • Bonus: Events management experience, especially in online and hybrid events and conferences.

What we think we need:

  • Confidence and experience to be able to act with oversight but limited direction, with a team-mindset that enables you to work collaboratively with Council and others within the sector and the organisation.
  • Highly effective organisational skills along with  strategic insight to successfully manage competing priorities.
  • Leadership skills as well as readiness to roll up your own sleeves.
  • Excellent communication skills in Australian English.

If you don’t meet any of the above needs, but have a reason why you don’t think this will be a barrier for you, that’s fine—just make sure to explain your reasoning.

Our budget

The ASC is a not-for-profit organisation that currently relies solely on member fees and conferences for revenue. The total budget available for all staffing, including this contracted role, until February 2025 is $54,000 (plus GST if applicable).

It is expected that the Operations Manager would establish a budget and small part-time/casual team (a minimum of one other contractor in addition to themselves) within this staffing budget to service the needs of the organisation. We envisage the Operations Manager role evolving into a Chief Operations Officer role with additional supporting staff, should this trial be successful and the organisation’s financial position allow.

How to express your interest:

We want to minimise the time-cost spent by candidates applying for this role. As such, we are using a two stage process.

  1. Please send a cover letter (no more than one page) expressing your interest in the role, addressing how you meet the  essential criteria to be successful in this role, and your current CV (maximum 2 pages long). Only shortlisted candidates will be invited to progress to the second stage.
  2. Short-listed candidates will be invited to submit a proposal/plan for September–February of activity including a rough outline of how this would be serviced within the $54,000 investment, and a rough outline or plan for fundraising during the remainder of 2024, including how you will deliver the required work.

Expressions of interest will be assessed as they are received until a suitable candidate has been selected.

More information

For more information or a confidential discussion, please contact Tom.Carruthers@asc.asn.au More information on the ASC can be found on the ASC website (asc.asn.au)

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