WHO WE ARE

Conference Assistant

position

Harm Reduction International (HRI) is seeking to recruit a Conference Assistant. Reporting to the Conference Directors, this role will provide support across HRI’s conference planning.

The Conference Assistant role will be full time (37.5 hours) for 12 months.

Harm Reduction International envisions a world in which drug policies uphold dignity, health and rights. We use data and advocacy to promote harm reduction and drug policy reform. We show how rights-based, evidence-informed responses to drugs contribute to healthier, safer societies, and why investing in harm reduction makes sense.

The Harm Reduction International Conference is held every two years, in a different city each time. The conference attracts around 1,200 delegates. The Harm Reduction International Conference 2025 will be held in Bogotá, Colombia from 27 to 30 April 2025.

Key duties

The Conference Assistant will support the Conference Directors with a variety of tasks including:

  • Production of conference and event materials
  • All event and venue logistics (delegate management, site management, stage management, volunteer management, health and safety, audio visual)
  • Contacting and managing suppliers
  • Dealing with a large volume of enquiries and directing them appropriately
  • Dealing with exhibition bookings
  • Administration of scholarship scheme (booking travel and accommodation; liaising with scholarship recipients)

This is a varied and challenging role for someone who is interested in all aspects of event organising.

Essential Skills

  • Extremely well-organised with keen attention to detail
  • Practical mindset
  • A quick and creative thinker who enjoys problem solving
  • Calm in fast-moving and sometimes stressful situations
  • Quick learner
  • Confident manner both in person and on calls
  • Personable and works well in a team
  • Strong IT skills
  • In sympathy with the mission and vision of Harm Reduction International and committed to a world in which drug policies uphold dignity, health and rights
  • Able to work quickly and accurately to tight deadlines, effectively managing one’s time and prioritising competing demands in a methodical and systematic manner
  • Reliable
  • Eligible to work in the UK and able to work from the Liverpool office at least one day a week
  • Able and willing to work unsocial hours and outside of normal office hours during the event
  • Able and willing to travel overseas for site visits
  • Available to be onsite in Bogotá, Colombia from around 21 April to 2 May inclusive

Desirable Skills

  • Experience of event management
  • Experience of volunteer management
  • Qualification in event management
  • Proficiency in Spanish and other languages

Salary

GBP 25,000 per annum

location

Hybrid – remote with at least one day a week in the Liverpool office

Application details

Please send cover letter and CV to hiring@hri.global with a subject line of ‘[NAME] – Application Conference Assistant’ before midnight on Sunday, 31 March 2024. Interviews will be held in Liverpool, in the week commencing 15 April.

Harm Reduction International is committed to employment equity and encourages applications from all qualified candidates, including people living with HIV and people who use drugs.

HRI is actively anti-racist – read our pledge here.

anti-racist pledge

We encourage applications from all qualified candidates, including people who use drugs and people living with HIV.

We are committed to being actively anti-racist.

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