Returning Officer
We are looking for a Returning Officer to oversee the Union’s Leadership elections and referenda in 2025.
The Students’ Union is democratically-led with its direction determined by its members, the University’s students. Students vote twice a year, ensuring that the Union is working to reflect their needs. In the Leadership elections, held in the Spring semester, students elect six elected full-time officers who run the Union. They are either recent graduates from Sussex or Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) or are taking a year out from their studies. We also have a number of elected part-time officers and reps on a range of committees who make decisions on behalf of students. In total, we have around 1000 student volunteers in a variety of roles, including over 200 Student Reps, who represent the views and interests of students in their subject, department or school year.
All Students’ Union elections and referenda are overseen by an impartial Returning Officer, who is a Sussex or BSMS student who upholds and interprets the Union’s election and referendum rules.
The Returning Officer’s job is to ensure that the Union’s elections and referenda are run fairly and in accordance with the Union’s election and referendum rules. They approve candidates’ and campaigners’ publicity materials, respond to queries and complaints and provide guidance on the rules. If a candidate or campaigner breaks the rules then the Returning Officer has the power to impose sanctions, up to and including disqualification. Most importantly the Returning Officer must be impartial – so you must not be a supporter of any candidate, be part of any candidate’s campaign team or display any bias, publicly or privately, as to who you would or wouldn’t like to win.
You will need to become familiar with the Union’s election and referendum rules and you will be called on to interpret and enforce those rules. You may also be asked to give judgements on things candidates and campaigners do about which there are no clear rules – so it’s about making rulings that are consistent and in-keeping with the spirit of the rules.
The Returning Officer is supported by the Representation and Democracy Coordinator and the Deputy Returning Officers.
We welcome applications from everyone, including but not exclusive to; postgraduates, people with an ethnic minority background, people with a disability, people with dependants, and people who identify as LGBTQ+. If you have any suggestions as to how we could improve our language or application process please let us know.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Job title: Returning Officer
Responsible to: Democracy and Representation Coordinator.
Rate of pay: £14.57 per hour (£13.00 base rate + £1.57 holiday pay)
Hours of work: 110 hours
Contract: Fixed contract until 31st July 2025.
Location: Falmer House, University of Sussex, BN1 9QF. However, we are supportive of hybrid working with staff expected to work a minimum of 50% of their hours from the office, unless otherwise agreed with their line manager.
Applicants: Please note you must be a current student for the duration of this role.
For more details please see the full Job Description and Person Specification.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with hradmin@sussexstudent.com.
KEY DATES
Applications close: 28th November 2024.
Interviews: 6th and 9th December 2024.
Expected start date: January 2025.
COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION
We are really committed to maintaining a diverse workforce because we know how important it is to have decision makers and collaborators with varied lived experiences and backgrounds that reflect the range of needs from our diverse student community.
We welcome applications from everyone, and we want to strongly encourage applications from; people with an ethnic minority or Chinese background, people with a disability, people with dependants, and people who identify as LGBTQ+. We conduct anonymous shortlisting and all of our interview panels have Unconscious Bias Training in order to support the above. We also consider flexible working for those with care commitments. If you have any suggestions as to how we could improve our language or application process please let us know.
STAFF AND APPLICANTS WITH LONG TERM CONDITIONS
The Students’ Union aims to implement reasonable adjustments for all staff and applicants with disabilities, creating a culture of cooperation, shared responsibility and proactiveness to ensure equitable access to jobs. We want to make sure everyone is supported in our selection processes, and are equipped to work safely and get as much as possible out of their role as possible.
For more information about the support we have available follow this link
ABOUT US
We are looking for skilled, friendly and highly motivated people who share our vision and values.
With our vibrant environment and organisational culture, the Students Union is a dynamic workplace only a few places could match. Led by students we are all about working with students to help them get the most out of their time here at the University of Sussex or Brighton and Sussex Medical School.
Whilst being located on Sussex Campus - close to Brighton & Hove - we are separate from the University, something that is crucial to our campaigning and lobbying work.
According to last year's Staff Engagement Survey, the best things about working here is the supportive environment with great people who you can trust and respect as well as the ability to work flexibly for most roles.
Although we have different departments we think of ourselves as one big team and are often working all together on projects or helping each other out at big events such as Freshers week or Elections.
Whilst we cannot really brag about offering the most competitive pay, as is often the case in the third sector, we feel we have a lot of other things going for us, which more than make up for our less competitive salaries.
Working on Sussex Campus and for the SU has lots of perks: Our staff get access to enhanced time off, which normally amounts to an extra 6 days leave in addition to 20 days of annual leave per year, and bank holidays. We also organise regular staff socials and events throughout the year and pride ourselves on having numerous learning and development opportunities for all our roles and creating a supportive workplace with regular 1 to 1s, an employee assistance programme and professional health services. You can read up more about our benefits below or on our benefits package.
If this sounds like the workplace you’d like to join, we would love to receive your application and get to know you.
STAFF BENEFITS
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS
We really welcome applications from abroad for all of our vacancies.
Due to legal regulations we have to ensure that everyone is eligible to work in the UK and this would be done by us checking and making a copy of the correct original identification/documentation before your first day of work. However, we do not ask for your eligibility to work during the application stage. You may also be limited in the number of hours you would be allowed to work.
Find out more information about applying to work in the UK.
Find out more information about applying to work in the UK.
In any case, we would encourage anyone to apply for a job in one of our friendly departments to give yourself the chance of being selected, and we would look to see the appropriate original documents before your first day of work.
国际学生
我们希望更多的留学生来申请。根据法律规定，我们必须确保每个人都有资格在英国工作。在你正式开始工作的第一天或之前，我们需要检查你的签证和复印你的护照原件(和/或其他适当的身份证明)。工作时间也可能有一定的限制。
GETTING PAID
Everyone working in the UK needs a National Insurance number in order to get paid. If you are a UK citizen you will automatically have this, however if you are an international student you might want to apply for an NI number at the same time as you apply for a job so there is no delay in your payments. You can do so using this link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number. Please note you cannot apply for a National Insurance Number until you're in the UK, but this should not stop you from completing your application for this role. If you need support in applying for a National Insurance Number you may find that Sussex University's International Support Team can help: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/international-students/international-student-support
MORE INFORMATION
To find out more about working for the Students' Union go to: