Join our team: Book-gifting Manager required

Children's Books Ireland's vision is an Ireland in which every child is a reader, and our book gifting schemes help to get books into the hands of as many young readers as possible.

These schemes have substantially expanded over the past few years thanks to the generous support of various partners and funders. Key areas of book-gifting now include schools, educational and healthcare settings and children's charities. To help carry out our book-gifting projects across the country, we are currently recruiting for an experienced, skilled and creative Book-Gifting Manager. 

About Children's Books Ireland

Children’s Books Ireland’s vision is simple: every child a reader. Our mission is:

• to inspire a love of reading in children and young people in Ireland,
• to share our expertise and enthusiasm with the adults who guide and influence them, and
• to champion every child’s right to excellent books and live literature events and support the artists who make that goal possible across the island of Ireland.

Children’s Books Ireland is a registered charity. We deliver numerous projects that bring the joy of reading to children all over the island of Ireland including Laureate na nÓg (the children’s literature laureate), the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Awards, Children’s Books Ireland Book Clinics, a magazine and annual reading guide, an annual conference and various book-gifting schemes which ensure that children and young people in areas of need have access to books.

Children’s Books Ireland is the go-to organisation for children’s book coverage across various media. For more information, you can read our Strategic Plan at the link below.

About the role

The Book-gifting Manager will lead Children’s Books Ireland’s book-gifting projects, working towards our strategic aim to inspire and enable more children and young people to become readers for life, and our objective to create a positive culture around reading for enjoyment in schools. They will be responsible for the oversight and delivery of all our book-gifting work, including our school library programmes and our work with partner charities. They will be supported by an Administrative Assistant who will report directly to them and will work as part of a small, creative and dynamic team. The ideal candidate will be a skilled project manager who will oversee book-gifting projects from inception to evaluation. The role will involve working closely with funders, artists, school staff and suppliers to ensure the smooth delivery of our school library gifting programmes. An interest in and knowledge of children’s books and reading will be a significant advantage.

For more information on our work in book gifting, please visit the 'What We Do' section of our website.

Reporting to the CEO, the Book-gifting Manager will:

• Be responsible for the successful and timely delivery of a significant number of book-gifting projects, including Every Child a Reader, Every Child a Reader: Reading Communities, the Robert Dunbar Memorial Libraries, Bookbag and Free To Be Me Little Libraries, as well as book-gifting programmes with fellow charities and corporate partners including KPMG, An Post, Enterprise Holdings, William Fry, Citi, Aviva and Cairn Homes.
• Oversee the application and selection process for school book-gifting, including assessing applications against set criteria.
• Oversee project budgets, adhering to internal financial procedures and policies.
• Work closely with the Administrative Assistant to programme artists and plan and manage library handover events in schools.
• Monitor all aspects of each project, ensuring that funders’ requirements are met and communicating clearly with stakeholders.
• Work closely with the Research & Evaluation Officer on project evaluation in line with the organisation’s impact management framework.
• Produce project reports to measure impact and communicate it to funders and stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to enable children and young people to participate meaningfully in our planning and decision-making in line with the National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making and our own Strategic Plan.

Requirements

The successful candidate will:

• Be able to confidently carry out the responsibilities outlined above while working independently and as part of a small, creative, fast-paced team.
• At least two years’ experience in a comparable role, managing a variety of projects in a fast-paced environment, ideally in the arts, education or charity sectors.
• Strong interpersonal skills: the ideal candidate will be friendly, professional and able to work with a wide range of partners and teammates.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to produce clear reports for a variety of audiences.
• Being a self-starter with strong organisational skills, to ensure deadlines are met and project budgets are maintained.
• Excellent digital literacy, with a high level of proficiency in MS Word, Excel, Outlook, Dropbox, Zoom and Slack.

The following are desirable, but not essential:

• Proficiency in written and spoken Irish
• Full, clean driving licence; some travel to schools will be required

Reporting to: 

Chief Executive Officer.

Location:

Currently from home, with the full team working remotely. Eventually, this role will be based three days per week in Dublin City Centre.

Start date: 

As soon as possible.

Contract duration:

Permanent, with a six month probation period.

Hours of work:

40 hours per week (including one hour paid lunch break per day), working hours are flexible between 8 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Occasional evening or weekend work may be required, for which time off in lieu can be taken in accordance with company policy.

Remuneration/benefits:

€32,000 per annum. 5% matching pension contribution. 25 days’ annual leave. Ability to work flexibly. Mobile phone provided. Access to Cycle to Work Scheme and TaxSaver Scheme.

To apply:

Email cover letter and CV (preferably in one combined document) to recruit@childrensbooksireland.ie, with BOOK-GIFTING MANAGER in the subject line, before 4pm on Tuesday 26th April 2022. Children’s Books Ireland is committed to diversity and inclusion in all aspects of our work and we welcome applications from all qualified candidates. The position will be subject to reference checks and Garda vetting.