Governance and Compliance Assistant

Contract Type: Full time 12 months fixed term contract, with possibility of extension. Part-time with a minimum of 25 hours per week will be considered.

Reports To: Governance Manager

Contract Start Date: As soon as possible

Recruitment Timeline:

• Applications will close on 14th August 2026 at midnight (23:59).
• Candidates will be notified on the w/c 17th August 2026.
• The first round of interviews will be conducted on 1st September 2026.
• If necessary, a second round of interviews will be conducted on 4th September 2026.
• Offers will be made by 7th September 2026.

About the Social Change Nest:

At the Social Change Nest (SCN), we’re radically transforming the funding landscape and strengthening civil society. We remove the financial and administrative barriers that often prevent communities, grassroots groups and informal movements from accessing funding and focusing on their core mission. We also work closely with funders, enabling them to support social action with confidence and transparency. We currently support over 700 groups across the UK and abroad addressing issues such as social injustice, climate, housing, wellbeing and animal rights. We are at the forefront of fiscal hosting in Europe and, since our inception in 2020, we have supported groups in securing over £50 million in funding, helping them take advantage of opportunities that may have otherwise been unavailable.

About the role:

We are looking for a talented person who will assist the Governance Team with compliance and administrative support. The role will involve completing due diligence on community groups interested in joining SCN, coordinating meetings and actioning many of the administrative follow up items. You will also need to be familiar with CRM systems and assist in uploading vital information on behalf of our groups and the Governance Team. The role would suit someone who is very proactive, has great attention to detail and strong problem-solving skills, is extremely organised and enjoys processes and coordination. The ideal candidate would also have an interest in social justice and innovation. You will be reporting to the Governance Manager and must be ready for the messy, passionate, interconnected world that is social change.

Key responsibilities:

• Carry out initial due diligence checks for new groups joining SCN, making sure we have all the right information and escalating appropriately.
• Carry out risk reviews for existing groups, liaising with them directly to keep their files and policies up to date.
• Proactively follow up and chase community groups for missing compliance documents, updated policies, or key group information.

Governance Operations:

• Support governance operations (scheduling support, filing/version control, formatting packs, basic follow-ups).
• Keep our systems running smoothly by regularly updating our CRM and ensuring group compliance records and files are kept clear, organised, and up to date.
• Support small process improvements, like tidying templates, updating guidance, and maintaining our digital filing systems.
• Help with general administrative tasks to ensure efficiency across the team.

Client & Team Support:

• Assist in the smooth running of internal processes and clear communications across the wider SCN team.
• Work closely with the rest of the SCN team to share knowledge, align practices, and help continuously improve our overall systems and service delivery.

Skills and experience:

• You will be a detail-oriented person, who is proactive, very organised, a quick learner, an excellent communicator, have good time management, and be good at managing various tasks at the same time.
• You will be keen to make an impact in a small team and be hungry for opportunities to develop yourself and the business.
• We are looking for someone with energy, enthusiasm and good humour.
• You must be comfortable with working across different teams and prioritising urgent, last-minute tasks.

Person specification includes:

• Good organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Demonstrable experience in administration.
• Ability to manage time effectively and prioritise a varied and demanding workload.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Confident to communicate externally to community grassroots groups, with support from other team members.
• Proficient using Google suite, Gmail, online booking and meeting systems.
• An understanding and/or experience of working with project management software and CRMs is desirable.
• Some experience in compliance or research is desirable.
• An interest in social change, innovation and current affairs.
• Desirable: familiarity with due diligence processes.

We will give you full training on our internal systems, processes and other methodologies that will be relevant to your role.

Other important information:

Contract terms: Ideally the role will be full-time (37.5 hours/week), however part-time with a minimum of 25 hours per week will be considered. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required and compensated through TOIL. We are open to exploring flexible working arrangements and supporting you to meet other commitments you may have.

Location: We are happy to consider remote candidates, but you must be based inside the UK. We have an office in central London, which London-based staff go to 2 -3 times a week. We hold quarterly all-staff strategy meetings and annual away days, which you will be required to attend in person and for which we will cover the cost of your travel. Candidates must be fluent in English. You must have the right to work in the UK independently, as we are unable to provide visa sponsorship.

Holidays: 28 days plus bank holidays (including 3 days between Christmas and New Year's).

Employer pension contribution: We offer a 3% salary-sacrifice employer pension contribution, which you will be automatically enrolled on after 3 months of employment with SCN.

Additional Paid Time Off: We offer 2 days of paid voluntary time off, encouraging all staff to serve as trustees or any equivalent voluntary positions to contribute to their communities.

Mintago: The health and wellbeing of our staff is very important to us. We offer all of our staff access to Mintago, which offers a 24-hour support line, structured counselling with external support, and a bank of online resources such as webinars and articles tailored towards health and wellbeing for both you and the members of your family, and access to some types of legal advice. You can see their website for details. They also offer access to a 24-hour virtual GP.

Hiring process: We strongly encourage applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds. We are committed to our staff representing the wide variety of backgrounds represented in the communities we work with. If you are concerned that you may not fit 100% of the job specification, please throw your hat in the ring. We never put formal education requirements on any role, as we value lived experiences as highly as formal education and training qualifications. We follow a “blind” recruitment process, which means that hiring managers for the role can only see your work history and answers to application questions when deciding to progress to the interview stage. If you need any accessibility accommodations for this application, please do not hesitate to contact us at people@thesocialchangenest.org, and we will be happy to provide you with those accommodations.