STANTA Executive Director Job Description

Executive Director and Business Advisor Job Description

Reporting to: St Albans Enterprise Agency Board              Start Date: January 2023

Salary: Competitive                                                      

Hours: TBA – Variable as needed, currently 15 hours – potentially up to 30 hours in future

  

Company Description

St Albans Enterprise Agency, known as STANTA (www.stanta.co.uk) is an independent Enterprise Agency, which has served the business community of St Albans, Harpenden and surrounding areas for almost 40 years, providing impartial advice and offices to rent on a low risk basis. We are a member of the National Enterprise Network (NEN).

We are a not for profit organisation, focused on helping local people to start, grow and develop successful businesses. We do this by providing free business advice, free and low-cost skills workshops and training. These initiatives are largely funded by our commercial property service (supplemented by any governmental support schemes) which offers easy in- easy out, managed facilities to around 20 small and start-up companies (licensees) from our premises, the STANTA Business Centre in Soothouse Spring, St Albans.

Your role: Reporting to the Chairman and other members of the STANTA Board, you will be responsible for the overall management of STANTA. Leading a small team of three employees (including the  Director of Operations) you will  be tasked with ensuring the efficient and profitable management of our business premises as well as ensuring that the advice and training we provide to businesses is of a consistently high standard. This will include proposing strategy to the Board.

As a STANTA Board member you will play a key role in developing our strategy to ensure that the services STANTA provides remain relevant and competitive into the future.

The successful candidate will be expected to be versatile and enjoy day-to-day involvement with clients, licensees and others. A significant part of the role will be providing business advice to clients and so an enthusiasm and commitment to this will be especially important.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Working with the Director of Operations to ensure that STANTA’s premises are well-managed and sufficiently attractive to licencees to achieve high and profitable levels of occupation
• Achieving a high quality, guidance and support service to local business start-ups and small businesses, including delivering a significant part of this support personally
• Being the public face of STANTA, ensuring that we maintain our high profile in the local business community. Maintain high level contacts with the NEN, any commercial partners, local opinion formers, local government, MPs, Chamber of Commerce, key businesses that refer clients and other similar organisations
• The ability to develop and grow STANTA’s brand both locally and online
• Maintaining IT systems ensuring they meet data and security standards.
• Oversee STANTA’s website and social media presence, in conjunction with the Director of Operations
• Maintain a good strong understanding of developing initiatives and best practices amongst small business support in the Enterprise Agency community at a regional and national level.
• Ensure that STANTA continues to be well managed and meets the highest financial, ethical and business standards
• Provide formal updates on business performance, financial outlook, potential risks and opportunities to the Board at bi-monthly Board meetings and more often when required
• Lead, manage and develop 2-3 other STANTA employees ensuring they achieve high levels of performance and integrity
• Undertake client advice sessions on a regular basis in line with recognised professional standards
• Develop and maintain a long-term business strategy plan for STANTA, approved by the Board and designed to maximise STANTA’s contribution to the local business community.
• Ensure that STANTA meets statutory and legal obligations including health and safety, risk assessments, building standards, employment law etc

Key skills and capabilities:

• A passion and enthusiasm for small businesses, recognising their importance in the local community. An altruistic commitment to help them succeed is required
• A self-starter, prepared to accept full responsibility for all aspects of STANTA’s business and where needed, step in to ensure excellence is delivered
• An understanding of most aspects of business – only likely to come from extensive experience in business at a management level
• The ability not only to manage a small business but also to project that knowledge and understanding with confidence and adapted to the needs of each individual client
• Strong financial acumen, the ability to put forward and manage a budget, expenditure and business planning
• Familiarity with Social Media, Excel, QuickBooks and other IT systems
• Excellent presentational skills – able to hold the attention of individuals and groups in both meetings and formal training situations
• The ability to be a good listener and to elicit what the client may not initially divulge.
• Thoroughness, organisation and time management skills
• Management experience
• Previous consulting/counselling skills would be desirable
• An understanding of and contacts within the local business community is desirable
• The ability to think strategically, communicate that strategy to others and produce a practical plan to deliver it

 

Key Measures:

• A profitable and well managed property services business able to consistently meet the needs of its licensees whilst generating sufficient funds to achieve the wider objectives of STANTA
• Positive feedback and high levels of satisfaction of the advice process from clients
• Satisfaction of Chairman and STANTA Board
• Feedback from independent research, maintaining the level of impact on businesses using the service
• High profile and engagement in the wider local business community and especially amongst less advantaged and hard to reach socio-economic groups.
• A strong web and social media presence with high and increasing numbers of engaged visitors
• A strategy that is able to actively support new business in the area in a changing economic environment
• Reports and accounts and other external requirements filed in an accurate and timely manner
• Happy and engaged STANTA employees

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 2022