Church Manager

Job summary

St Clement Danes is the spiritual home of the Royal Air Force, and a living memorial for both the Service and the Nation as well as a symbol of the abiding courage and spiritual fortitude of Royal Air Force personnel. The building (Grade 1 listed) is both a place for private pilgrimage and national ceremony. It is an extremely high profile and significant sacred space for the whole RAF community, and others, both nationally and internationally.

The church manager is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of St Clement Danes Church, the central Church of the Royal Air Force and a Grade I listed, 17th century building of national significance.

This executive officer post combines governance, operational management, financial accountability, heritage stewardship, public engagement, and team leadership within a uniquely visible and symbolically important environment.

St Clement Danes is simultaneously:

• A working RAF church
• A national memorial
• A ceremonial and events venue
• A public heritage site

The church manager ensures that all these functions operate cohesively and professionally, maintaining the highest standards of a national institution and living memorial.

The post-holder serves as the central coordinating figure in the daily life of the church, bringing together clergy, trustees, RAF chaplaincy, musicians, vergers, stewards, contractors, and volunteers to deliver a safe, welcoming and dignified environment.

This is a highly varied and people facing role requiring:

• Professional judgement
• Emotional intelligence
• Operational resilience
• Financial competence
• The ability to remain calm and decisive in a dynamic public setting

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

Primary duties

• Support the Board of Trustees in fulfilling their charitable objectives and statutory obligations.
• Provide strategic and operational leadership to ensure the effective day-to-day running of St Clement Danes church as the central Church of the Royal Air Force.
• Oversee financial administration, ensuring robust internal controls, transparency, and audit readiness.
• Maintain and review risk registers and oversee business continuity planning.
• Exercise sound judgment and professional discretion in a high-profile and publicly visible environment.

Operational Management

• Oversee all daily operational activity within a Grade I listed, 17th century building in central London which is open to the public.
• Oversee event coordination of church hire (e.g. rehearsals, concerts), and work alongside the Resident Chaplain in organising services (e.g. marriages, funerals, baptisms, commemorative services), ceremonial occasions, and RAF events.
• Coordinate effectively with clergy, the music department, vergers, stewards, volunteers, trustees and RAF chaplaincy to ensure seamless delivery of activities.
• Act as first point of contact and primary liaison for external bookings, stakeholders, and visitors.
• Respond calmly and decisively to operational incidents, unexpected challenges and changing priorities.

Heritage and building oversight

• The church manager has responsibility for the fabric and stewardship of the church building and will manage contractors, maintenance schedules, and fabric in line with heritage and diocesan requirements and within approved procurement frameworks.
• Ensure appropriate permissions are secured for works through Faculty applications to the Diocese of London.
• Maintain records relating the buildings maintenance and historic assets.
• Maintain and reviews risk registers.
• Ensure appropriate insurance cover is maintained.
• Respond to incidents and escalates where necessary.

Public and Stakeholder engagement

St Clement Danes is open to the public and the church manager is a partly public facing role.

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with RAF representatives, clergy, Trustees, local authorities, heritage bodies and contractors.
• Engage confidently and sensitively with a diverse range of visitors, including senior RAF personnel, trustees, heritage partners and members of the public.
• Support public engagement and visitor experience, acting as a tour guide and custodian of the church’s history and story.

Financial Management

• Manage day to day financial administration and controls for the church and prepare returns.
• Maintain clear audit trails for all transactions and prepare papers for audits and financial reviews.
• Monitor and maintain church donation systems and income streams.
• Oversee purchasing within agreed budget limits, cash handling, banking, invoice processing and accounting processes, in support of the financial Trustees and accounts team.
• Recommending fees for chargeable church activities to the Board of Trustees.
• Oversee income generation streams, including donations, events, venue hire, and grants.
• Supporting fundraising initiatives and grant applications where required.

Management of staff

• Line manage and oversee administrative, verger and support staff (c. 20 personnel including volunteers and stewards)
• Lead recruitment, induction and performance management processes.
• Provide clear direction, support and supervision to ensure a cohesive and motivated team.
• Promote a positive and inclusive working culture.

General expectations

The church manager is expected to:

• Upload the values and ethos of the Royal Air Force and Ministry of Defence.
• Maintain discretion and confidentiality appropriate to working within a place of worship and national memorial.
• Demonstrate resilience, adaptability and professional maturity in a complex and varied role.
• Organise and prioritise work autonomously, balancing strategic oversight with operational delivery.

Person specification

• Excellent interpersonal skills, comfortable in engaging with the service and church community and the public.
• Be a trusted team member, autonomously organise your own working day and adjust priorities as required.
• Sound judgement and analytical skills.
• Highly organised and able to establish close working relationships with a wide range of contacts, inside and outside St Clement Danes Church.

Essential:

• Ability to creatively problem solve and demonstrate initiative.
• Working collaboratively with the team.
• Very strong IT skills. Proficiency in working with Microsoft Office including Word, Excel and Outlook.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills.
• An ability to prioritise tasks effectively.
• Ability to multi tasks under pressure.
• Minimum 5 GCSEs at Grade C or above, or equivalent, including English Language and Mathematics.

Desirable:

• Proficiency in working with Google Drive and accompanying applications.
• Experience of financial administration.
• Previous administrative experience.

Qualifications

Minimum 5 GCSEs at Grade C or above, or equivalent, including English Language and Mathematics.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £30,740, Ministry of Defence contributes £8,905 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Any move to MOD from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – We may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability. (750 words)

At sift, you will be assessed against your CV, Statement of suitability and the following:

• Communicating and Influencing

At interview, you will be assessed against your CV, previous skills and experience, Statement of suitability, and the following:

• Working Together

• Making Effective Decisions

• Communicating and Influencing

Candidates will be required to complete an online Numerical and Civil Service Judgement test.

The Civil Service Judgement Test is not bankable and therefore must be taken on every vacancy where it is applied.

Should you be invited to complete the online tests, please allow sufficient time to complete the tests and the remainder of the full application form; only candidates who are successful at the test stage will be invited to complete the remainder of the application by clicking ‘Submit Application’. Your application must be completed by 23:55 on the closing date of the vacancy. Late submissions cannot be accepted. The tests are not timed, as they work by giving you harder questions if you answer the previous question correctly, and easier if you get it wrong. You should allow up to an hour for each test, and each test must be completed before you will be invited to complete the second part of your application. Internet access will be required for the duration of the test. Please refer to the attached Candidate Guidance for further information.

Candidates that reach the minimum required pass mark will have their results saved as a banked score against the following tests:

• New Civil Service Numerical Test

When a candidate has a banked score they’re not asked to re-take the same test providing it is set at the same level. Scores will be banked for a 6 month period from the date of test completion. If a candidate is invited to take the same test against multiple vacancies, the banked score will be recognised against all vacancies and all active applications will progress.

CSJT scores cannot be banked as each test is generated from the behaviours required for a specific role which will vary between recruitment campaigns.

If you require any particular arrangements (for example due to a disability or health problem) to be made in order for you to complete the online test you MUST contact the DBS Enquiry Centre on 0800 345 7772 BEFORE accessing the online test.

Opening times Mon -Friday 0800- 1600 hrs.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Ashley Mitchell
• Email : Ashley.Mitchell258@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dbscivpers-resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Please ensure you read the attached candidate information document prior to completing your application. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from DBS, or believe that DBS has failed to follow the recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission principles of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of Fair and Open competition, you can raise a formal complaint by writing to DBS at the following address: Defence Business Services, Scanning Hub, Room 6124, Tomlinson House, Norcross Lane, Blackpool, FY5 3WP. If after raising your complaint with DBS you remain dissatisfied you can complain directly to the Civil Service Commission at the following address: Civil Service commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Or by email: info@csc.gov.uk.

Attachments

20230201 - Air Command's Applicant Guide Opens in new window (pdf, 499kB)20201013-Air Command Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 316kB)MOD Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)Candidate Information 2025 Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)