Office Administrator

PAUL MELLON CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN BRITISH ART

Full-Time Permanent Role

Are you enthusiastic about supporting operations and administration for an educational charity? Do you have experience of working at Front of House and providing administrative support? Are you interested in joining the growing Paul Mellon Centre team and helping to play a role in supporting colleagues to provide a wide variety of research and educational activities?

Who We Are

As a research centre and educational charity, The Paul Mellon Centre (PMC) aims to generate the most original, inclusive and creative thinking and scholarship on British art, understood in its most diverse and expansive contexts. We host and support a thriving programme of research events. We publish innovative books and a wide range of digital outputs, including our prize-winning journal British Art Studies. We pursue individual and collaborative research projects. With our grants and fellowships programme, we sustain the most exciting and original work in British art and visual culture. We make our specialist archives and library accessible to a growing public, at Bedford Square and beyond. We deliver teaching and learning programmes and run networks that connect researchers and professionals.

About the Role

The successful applicant will take on a new role in the Operations Team at the Paul Mellon Centre at an exciting time of growth and transformation. Reporting to the Operations Lead and working closely with the Operations Coordinator, and alongside the Receptionist, they will be part of the Centre’s Front of House (FOH) team, and one of the first points of contact for visitors to the Centre. In conjunction to their FOH responsibilities, as the Assistant to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), this new role will provide organisational and administrative assistance to the Chief Financial Officer, Head of Research and Learning, and Head of Grants, Fellowships and Networks, and will liaise with and deputise for the Executive PA to the Director and Deputy Director.

Further information including full job description can be found on the Paul Mellon Centre Website.

Responsibilities include:

FRONT OF HOUSE

a) Reception responsibilities (working alongside the Receptionist):

• Act as first point of contact and welcome for all PMC visitors.
• Ensure that the following areas are always tidy and well presented: reception, the drawing room, both entrance halls, the ground floor cloakroom, all meeting rooms and both kitchens.
• Answer queries by telephone, post and email, taking and forwarding accurate messages to the relevant department as necessary.
• Assist the Operations Coordinator and Events Assistant in keeping the Centre’s diary and room bookings calendar as accurate as possible and ensure there are no clashes.
• Assist with keeping the Centre’s contact database up to date and accurate, including checks on contact details, relevancy and appropriateness.
• Work with the Data Protection Manager to ensure GDPR compliance in the contact database, and ensure records are tagged correctly and usefully, via inter-departmental liaison and information sharing.
• Maintain Centre security by following all external visitor safety procedures; report any suspicious behaviour or activity to the Operations Team as soon as possible.
• Ensure that all safety, fire prevention and security procedures relevant to Front of House have been followed and report any safety concerns to the Operations Team as soon as possible.
• Prepare rooms for internal meetings, including arranging furniture, preparing and clearing away refreshments and setting up any IT/AV requirements as necessary.
• Represent the Centre with a positive and professional attitude and appearance at all times and take pride in how the Centre is presented.

b) Operational responsibilities:

• Open the Centre in the morning and ensure that all safety, fire prevention and security procedures have been followed.
• Be listed on the Centre’s “Out of Hours” contact list to help in the case of out-of-hours’ emergencies related to the building’s security and safety.

ASSISTANT TO THE SLT

• Manage the electronic diaries of the SLT and provide administrative support and assistance with managing records.
• Assist the SLT with booking travel and coordinating appropriate travel itinerary.
• Deputise and provide holiday cover for the Executive PA to the Director and Deputy Director, as required.

Additional responsibilities

GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

• Provide administrative support to all staff, including collating information for meetings, minuting, making travel arrangements, restaurant bookings and accommodation, and travel itineraries (in line with PMC policies).
• Provide ad hoc administrative support to visiting Yale students on the Yale in London and Graduate Summer School programmes.

EVENTS SUPPORT

• Provide additional support to the Events Team where necessary to prepare rooms for events, conferences, seminars, talks and workshops including furniture arrangements, preparation and clearing away of refreshments and set-up of any IT/AV requirements as necessary.
• Work at evening events (outside of office hours) at the Centre or events hosted by PMC at an alternative location (agreed in advance as required).

Who We Need

We need someone with:

• experience of supporting senior colleagues and prioritising their workloads and your own workload and meeting challenging and changing deadlines
• experience of working at Front of House/Reception
• strong communication skills, both verbal and written, and a welcoming, friendly and enthusiastic manner
• advanced proficiency in the use of IT office systems
• excellent organisational and administrative skills, including taking minutes
• an ability to build and maintain strong relationships with colleagues and external contacts
• a flexible and professional approach and an understanding and appreciation of the need to handle information with appropriate confidentiality and discretion
• a can-do, proactive attitude
• the ability to work flexibly and effectively as part of a team and independently

Why Join Us?

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Excellent pension scheme
• Interest-free season ticket loan
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Employer-funded financial coaching programme

Further Information

Salary will be in the range of £28,000 – £30,000 depending on experience.

This is a permanent, full-time post and the hours of work are thirty-five per week.

Applicants will be expected to work on site at the Paul Mellon Centre, Bedford Square, London WC1.

Application Process

Please apply using our web application form.

If you have any issues applying or have any queries with the web application form, please contact the HR team at

Closing Date

The closing date for applications is 10am on Monday 17 July 2023