AVA Vacancies
Come and join a team committed to strengthening communities across Aberdeenshire.
At AVA, you’ll work alongside passionate people, support positive change, and help create opportunities for communities and the third sector to thrive.
Explore our current vacancies below.
ChieF Executive officer
AVA is looking for a strategic, values-led Chief Executive Officer to shape what Aberdeenshire’s Third Sector Interface, Magpie, and our other services must become by 2031 and beyond.
This is a role for someone who can combine community purpose with organisational reinvention: working with external partners to influence outcomes of public service reform and community wealth building; building new partnerships and income streams; using data and technology responsibly to build evidence and support practice; developing leadership capacity within AVA; and making clear choices about what AVA should build, protect, transform, or stop.
AVA engages annually with up to 1,000 voluntary, community, third sector, and social enterprise organisations who deliver services for residents of Aberdeenshire. We work closely with local public sector partners, and collaborate nationally with our TSI Scotland Network partners on a regular basis. You will spend real time becoming familiar with the communities and community-led groups and organisations that AVA exists to support, connect, and promote. The ability to travel from Sandend and St Combs in the north, to Braemer in the west, and St Cyrus in the south will be necessary as well as beyond the Aberdeenshire borders.
The successful candidate does not need to have spent their career in the third sector, but you will need to understand mission-led leadership, work confidently with a board of Directors/Trustees, and earn credibility with the staff team, our members, our current and future funders, and other partners from across varying sectors.
How to apply
If interested parties would like to have an informal discussion about the role they should send an email to indicate this to recruitment@avashire.org.uk. Your email will be forwarded on to the relevant person who will make contact with you to arrange a suitable day/time.
Candidates should submit the following to recruitment@avashire.org.uk by Friday 27th November, 2026 at midday:
A personal CV of no more than two A4 pages.
A supporting statement of no more than two A4 pages explaining, with evidence, how you meet the essential criteria, the AVA you believe Aberdeenshire will need by 2031, and the contribution/impact you expect to make in the first year.
Contact details (telephone & email) for three referees, including your current or most recent employer. References will not be contacted before the preferred candidate stage without your written permission.
A completed equality monitoring form.
Candidates will only be assessed against the criteria published in the candidate pack. Reasonable adjustments can be considered throughout the process for candidates who may need this support.
Key information and Documents
Accountability
The Chief Executive Officer is accountable to the Chairperson who will provide line management on behalf of the Board of Directors/Trustees.
remuneration
Up to c.£60,000 per annum, with 9% employer's contribution to pension.
location
Home-based with weekly travel throughout Aberdeenshire, and occasional travel elsewhere in Scotland as required.
Contract
An open-ended contract with appropriate terms and conditions for an appointment of this nature, subject to the Board’s final approval.
Hours
Full-time (not less than 35hrs per week and likely to be more to fulfil the needs of the role); the Board may consider an element of flexible working where this does not diminish organisational leadership or external engagement with partner organisations and people.
Annual Leave
33 days (inclusive of public/fixed holidays) plus up to 8 days for the Christmas shutdown period depending on how the dates fall each year.
Candidate Pack
Interested parties should read the candidate pack thoroughly before starting an application. The pack provides details of the position and a sense of the type of person we are looking for.
The pack can be accessed by clicking on the button below.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Monitoring Form
Applicants should submit an Equalities Monitoring Form with their application. The information you provide will not be seen by any person who is part of the decision making process.
The form can be accessed by clicking on the button below.
References form
Contact details (telephone & email) for three referees, including your current or most recent employer should be provided with the application. References will not be contacted before the preferred candidate stage without your written permission.
The form can be accessed by clicking on the button below
