Amber Employment Services Ltd
Chief Operating Officer
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Are you an experienced finance, commercial or operational leader looking for an opportunity where you can use your experience to make a tangible difference?
Amber Employment Services is recruiting exclusively for a fascinating senior appointment with a well-established, purpose-led local organisation entering an important next phase of its development.
Circa £60,000 per annum | 4-day week – 28 hours | Hybrid | Woking area, Surrey
This is a broad leadership role combining financial stewardship, commercial thinking, operational management, and strategic development. You’ll take responsibility for the day-to-day running of the organisation while working closely with its Board to shape its longer-term direction.
It could be an excellent next step for an experienced Finance Director, CFO, COO, Operations Director, or commercially minded senior leader who is ready to bring their experience to a smaller organisation where they can have real influence, autonomy, and impact.
You’ll take responsibility for a broad portfolio, including:
- Leading financial strategy, budgeting, forecasting, and longer-term financial planning
- Providing clear financial and management information to the Board
- Overseeing cash flow, banking, investments, audit, and financial controls
- Identifying opportunities to improve income, efficiency, and long-term sustainability
- Providing strategic input into the management and future use of property and other assets
- Leading, motivating, and developing a small team
- Overseeing day-to-day operations, systems, governance, risk, and compliance
- Working effectively with professional advisers and external stakeholders
- Turning Board decisions and longer-term objectives into practical action
- Identifying and implementing opportunities to modernise and improve the organisation
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This isn’t a role for someone who wants to operate solely at the strategic level. The organisation is deliberately lean, so you’ll need to be equally comfortable thinking about the five-year plan and getting involved in the detail required to make things happen.
About you
Your career may have developed through accountancy and finance, although we’re equally interested in candidates with broader commercial or operational leadership experience.
We’d particularly like to hear from you if you can demonstrate:
- Strong financial and commercial acumen
- Experience of budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning
- Confidence interpreting financial information and advising at Board level
- Broad operational and senior leadership experience
- Sound judgement and the confidence to make decisions independently
- Experience leading and developing people
- Strong governance, risk, and compliance awareness
- A track record of successfully implementing change
- An ability to identify opportunities and turn ideas into action
- Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills
- A practical, hands-on leadership style
A professional accountancy qualification would be particularly attractive, although the breadth of your experience and what you can bring to the organisation will be equally important.
Experience within the charity/not-for-profit sector would be welcomed but is not essential. We’re very open to candidates bringing skills developed within commercial, professional, regulated, or public-sector environments.
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The person behind the CV
This appointment is about more than technical capability.
We’re looking for someone who combines commercial intelligence with emotional intelligence – a leader who is credible around a Board table but equally comfortable working closely with a small team and building positive relationships with a wide range of people.
You’ll be self-sufficient, approachable, and pragmatic, with the confidence to take ownership rather than wait for direction.
For someone who has spent their career in a larger or more corporate environment, this could offer an opportunity to use that experience differently: greater autonomy, greater variety, and the chance to see the direct impact of the decisions you make.
The package
- Circa £60,000 per annum
- 28 hours across 4 days per week (flexibility on days)
- Hybrid working
- 28 days’ annual leave plus public holidays
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Permanent appointment
Interested?
This is an unusual opportunity – and one that perhaps won’t fit neatly into a conventional career search.
If you’re an experienced finance, commercial, or operational leader who is intrigued by the prospect of bringing your skills to a smaller, purpose-led organisation, we’d love to hear from you.
Please apply with your CV or contact Rebecca Bannerman at Amber Employment Services for a confidential conversation to find out more.
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