Job Title: Deputy Director
Location: Initially home-based; open to office-based, home-based or hybrid working arrangements from anywhere in the UK, with a preference for the nation/regions with an existing Asylum Matters base (North East, North West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire & Humber)
Hours: Full time (35 hours per week)
Salary: £42,750 per annum
Leave: 28 days per annum
Contract: Permanent
Reporting to: Director
Closing date: 9am, Thursday 28 September 2023
Interview date: Friday 13 October 2023
Asylum Matters is looking for a dynamic leader committed to upholding the rights of people seeking asylum.
Our team of eight staff is geographically dispersed across the UK. We are a charity that campaigns locally and nationally, in close collaboration with an extensive network of partner organisations, to advocate for progressive change on a range of issues that affect people in the asylum system in the UK. These include the impact of the Government’s new anti-refugee laws; unsuitable asylum accommodation; and enforced poverty. We co-lead the award-winning Lift the Ban coalition campaign, that brings together over 300 organisations calling for the right to work for people seeking asylum.
Asylum Matters was established in 2016 and became an independent charity in 2021, and plays a significant role in efforts to defend the right to seek asylum in the UK and to bring about positive change for refugees and people seeking safety here. We are a convenor and facilitator of collaboration and joint action. Our work connects the local with the national, helps strengthen collective advocacy on asylum reform and ensures it is informed by the reality on the ground.
We are looking for an experienced campaigner, advocate and leader, with the skills and experience to effectively manage people, teams and programmes of work and to develop and implement strategies to achieve real change locally and nationally. The successful candidate will have a commitment to working towards a fairer and more effective asylum system, and to empowering and working with those with direct experience of it. They will be proactive, able to identify influencing opportunities and rapidly mobilise support to respond to them. They will also be a highly effective communicator, able to represent the organisation externally, build strong working relationships and close collaboration and manage various communication channels.
We are particularly keen to hear from people with lived experience of the UK asylum system and anyone with lived experience who meets the essential criteria will be guaranteed an interview. The successful candidate must have the right to work in the UK.
Full details of the job description and person specification: Asylum Matters Deputy Director job pack September 2023
Application process
Please email a CV and a supporting statement (of no more than two pages) outlining how you meet each of the person specification criteria to Ali Negyal at [email protected].
The closing date for applications is 9am, Thursday 28 September 2023.
Interviews will be held via Zoom on Friday 13 October 2023.
Shortlisted candidates will be given interview questions and tasks in advance to ensure a fair and open recruitment process.
People with lived experience as a refugee and/or of the asylum system who meet the essential criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview.
We are sorry that we are unable to provide feedback to candidates who are not shortlisted for interview.
