- Salary Unpaid role, expenses paid
- Location PO1, Portsmouth (Hybrid)
- Job Type Voluntary
- Category Finance , Accounting , Education , Students / School
- Sectors Education
- Job Reference : UPSU25249
Job Description
The Organisation
The University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (UPSU) is an independent charity that exists to advance the education of all students at the University of Portsmouth. Our vision is to have a ‘Positive Impact with every Portsmouth student’ and we aim to have both immediate and legacy impacts through our range of inspiring services and activities.
The University of Portsmouth Students’ Union (The Union or UPSU for short) is a forward thinking, friendly organisation with a vision of “delivering a positive impact with every Portsmouth student”. As a charity led by its values and guided by its members, we offer a wide range of services and activities to support and enrich the lives of our students. UPSU employs approximately 30 career staff, a further 40 student staff and we work with over 1000 registered student volunteers and over 100 student groups.
UPSU implemented a new 3 year Strategy from August 2023 and as always, our Strategy sets the direction for UPSU and ensures we are all focussed on the right things for the benefit of all University of Portsmouth students.
Our new Strategy focuses on three areas:
- Academic Success - All students’ academic outcomes are improved as a result of the work that we do - making this the best we can for UoP students through our charitable aims of Representation, Development and Welfare
- Social Capital - Students are supported to find themselves, be themselves, connect and belong
- Future Readiness - Students’ futures are made clearer and enhanced by the work that we do
The Person
The right candidate will thrive in a student led, highly responsive environment and have an enthusiasm for supporting and guiding a student organisation. They will command confidence, have sound judgement and strong communication and leadership skills.
Finance Experience: to support our current strategic direction and bring new skills to the Board, the Board of Trustees is looking for a trustee who has the following financial experience.
- Preferably financial experience from a charity outside of the SU sector
- Understanding of financial oversight
- Ability to interpret financial information to support strategic decision-making
- Awareness of charity finance and regulatory requirements
Chairing Experience: The successful candidate would also be the Deputy Chair, and we are looking for the following experience:
- Ability to deputise for the Chair, and chair meetings of the Board
- Ability to build a strong and effective working relationship with the Board of Trustees Chair
- Ability to foster, maintain and ensure that constructive relationships exist with and between the Trustees
- Assist and support the Chair in providing leadership to the Board, through the governance arrangements, and also acting as a ‘sounding board’ and confidante to the Chair in the execution of their role
Due to the current make-up of our Trustee Board, we are not actively searching for candidates with skills, knowledge and experience related to the Student Union and HE sector and we would welcome candidates from other sectors or regions to apply. That said, we would very much like to encourage anyone who feels that they could bring something to our Board to apply, regardless of experience - our purpose and values also lead us to welcome first time Trustees too!
We are strongly dedicated to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within our community and we are passionate about creating a welcoming and inclusive environment which supports everyone from recruitment through to appointment, regardless of your background. We welcome applications from all talented people and as part of this commitment, we are working to improve the diversity of our Trustee Board to ensure that it is as relevant and representative of our student community as possible and are actively encouraging applications from underrepresented groups.
Board meetings sit 4-5 times per year and in addition we ask our Trustees to share their expertise in supporting one of our sub-committees. The roles are voluntary and whilst we welcome all applicants, the requirement for regular meeting attendance may suit people within easy travel time to Portsmouth.
Further Information
For more information and details on how to apply, please visit out website
Application is via a comprehensive CV plus a supporting statement (of no more than two sides of A4) detailing why you are applying for the position and what requirements you meet to carry out the role
Completed applications must be received by midday on the Midday, 13th October 2025.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.