Chair of Trustees

East London Water Park; Greater London; On-site; GBP 10,000 - GBP 40,000; Part time

Job summary

A pioneering environmental charity in Greater London seeks a dynamic Chair of Trustees to lead their strategic efforts and supervise a new Chief Executive Officer. The successful candidate will possess board-level experience in the charity sector and a commitment to nature recovery and collaborative leadership. This role will involve recruiting new trustees and overseeing impactful environmental projects aimed at biodiversity conservation. Candidates should be proactive and adaptable, ideally based in Waltham Forest or Hackney.

Qualifications

• Board-level experience in the charity sector, as a trustee or a Chief Executive Officer.
• Familiarity with strategic planning, financial management, risk and change management.
• Commitment to learn about sociocracy and work sociocratically.

Responsibilities

• Recruit new trustees to create a strategic board.
• Oversee the charity’s work and ambitious projects.
• Collaborate with landowners and stakeholders.

Skills

Proactive

Adaptable

Entrepreneurial

Empathetic

Collaborative leadership

Job description

We are seeking a dynamic Chair of Trustees to lead East London Waterworks Park for three years. This is a rare opportunity to join a pioneering environmental charity and to work with the first paid Chief Executive Office to shape this next phase of our development.

What difference will you make?

East London Waterworks Park is currently run by volunteers, and volunteers involved in operations also sit on the board. However, we recognise the need to introduce a formal separation between the board and operations. We are recruiting for a paid CEO and also want to appoint a new Chair to ensure we have the capacity and strategic oversight to deliver the exciting projects planned.

What are we looking for?

Essential

• Proactive, adaptable, entrepreneurial, empathetic and value‑led
• Board‑level experience in the charity sector, as a trustee or a Chief Executive Officer
• Familiarity with strategic planning, financial management, risk management and change management
• Familiarity with chairing meetings
• Commitment to collaborative leadership
• Commitment to a nature‑first approach, an understanding of the causes and consequences of climate change and biodiversity loss, and a personal passion for nature and wildlife recovery
• Commitment to learn about sociocracy and work sociocratically
• Belief in the transformative value of inclusive community‑led action

Desirable

• Knowledge of charity law and reporting requirements
• Based in Waltham Forest or Hackney or the wider London community

What will you be doing?

The new Chair will have the opportunity to recruit new and additional trustees to create a board that provides appropriate strategic scrutiny of the charity’s work, strengthening our ability to realise our ambition to purchase the Thames Water depot side in East London, and our capacity to deliver community‑led rewilding and nature‑recovery projects across London in partnership with landowners, local authorities and other stakeholders. This could involve appointing Nature to the board.