Board Secretary & Executive Assistant in Leeds

Purpose of the role

As the Board Secretary to the Board of Trustees, you will be responsible for administration support, diary management and meeting organisation of the Board and Board Committees including being responsible for the compiling and distribution of Board packs by co-ordinating input from relevant staff.   

Administration support will include assistance with developing and recording annual workplans, minute-taking, action management and support with forward planning for meetings and key events. You will take ownership of the annual meeting schedule and calendar of Board and Committee meetings; you will also be responsible for organising other trustee and CEO related meetings at the discretion of the Chair of the Board.  

As Executive Assistant, you will provide high quality administration support to the CEO and Senior Leadership Team (SLT), to ensure the smooth operation of CEO and SLT responsibilities and co-ordinating efforts of various parties to ensure completion of key tasks and actions. 

You will have significant experience of providing accurate proactive and responsive administrative assistance to senior staff and be able to demonstrate experience of developing and managing effective administrative systems.  Additionally, the ability to build and maintain trusted relationships through professional engagement and communication skills, both written and spoken, that are effective, empathetic and adaptable to different situations are key to this role.  

You will be highly organised and responsive to others in a way that is both timely and professional, with well-developed time management skills and able to evidence completion of activities. A high level of accuracy and attention to detail is critical to this role, as is the ability to handle sensitive and confidential information with care and integrity.  

Key responsibilites

Board Secretary 

• Develop and maintain annual workplans for the Board and Committees in conjunction with the Chair of Trustees, Committee Chairs, CEO and SLT to ensure agendas are structured and tasks are delivered and completed.  

• Set Board and Committee meeting dates in conjunction with the CEO and Chair and organise all meetings which may be in person, online or hybrid.  

• Produce Board and Committee meeting agendas in liaison with CEO and SLT, ensuring that committee and board workplans are adhered to, and action logs followed up in a timely manner. 

• Co-ordinate the collation of Board packs with input from SLT, the Governance Manager and other members of the Extended Leadership Team to support the agenda items.  

• Oversee the timetable for production of Board packs and using the board portal (Team Engine), distribute agendas and the Board pack for all board and committee meetings on a timely basis. 

• Clerk all board and committee meetings, producing minutes and action logs in a timely fashion and ensuring they are signed off by the CEO, SLT lead and Chair. 

• Keep the board portal (Team Engine) up-to-date with meeting papers, policies and other relevant documents. 

• Administer all board appointments and reappointments, producing the induction plan and checking all paperwork is complete to ensure compliant appointments. 

• Support the production and delivery of Board business including the Annual Report and Accounts, recruitment and selection of trustees, and Board development activity where required. 

• In conjunction with the Company Secretary and Governance Manager, ensure adherence to submission with various regulatory and statutory documents to Companies House and the Charities Commission.  

• Liaise with the Governance Manager and Chair on the administration of compliance and governance matters related to the Board and longer-term Board projects e.g. skills audits and Board development.  

Executive Assistant 

• Provide proactive and responsive administrative support at an executive level to the CEO and SLT, including diary management and ad hoc administration tasks. 

• Develop, plan and maintain an organisational calendar and scheduling meetings and events in a co-ordinated and manageable way. 

• Liaise with SLT to plan an appropriate schedule of work for the organisational calendar to maximise collaboration and the efficient use of time and resources. 

• Provide executive and secretarial support including action logs at the weekly SLT meetings in an efficient and effective way e.g. using note taking software.  Assist with following up actions and meeting outcomes by the agreed deadlines. 

• Collate and distributing of agendas, actions and annual workplans for the SLT meetings in a timely manner. 

• Organisation and administrative support of charity wide events including internal quarterly whole organisation meetings, both in-person and virtual, to ensure the smooth and efficient running of these events. 

• Lead on the organisation and administration of specific project or task groups to ensure that agreed targets, objectives and deadline are met. 

General 

• Build awareness of the charity’s purpose through building strong and effective relationships with external stakeholders. 

• Be prepared to travel across the region and, on occasion, to other sites and national meetings as required. 

• Willingness to undertake continuous development and training for the role, including mandatory Day One and role specific training. 

• Additional ad hoc duties as and when required. 

What we’ll need from you 
We are looking for a highly organised, proactive, outcome focussed person. You will enjoy being autonomous while working to a plan and to deadlines. You will be capable of producing accurate work and having an eye for detail. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to work with a wide range of people. 

Who you’ll be working with 

You will be part of our Finance and Resources team and report directly to our HR Manager. Your day-to-day working relationships will be with the CEO, Senior Leadership Team and Board of Trustees. 

How to apply 

If you think you could be the right person to fulfil the exciting responsibilities of this role, please apply. Or if you wish to speak to someone about the role in more detail first, please refer to the attached recruitment pack for full contact details.

Please also be aware that we use anonymous recruitment methods when submitting shortlists for all our roles and we only work with organisations that are happy to engage with us in this way.  

Closing date: Midnight Sunday 10 August 2025 

First round interview date (virtual): W/C 18 August 2025 

Second round interview date (in-person): W/C 25 August 2025