Vacancies

The Church of England is divided into 42 geographical sub-divisions called dioceses, including the Diocese in Europe. A diocese is the main administrative and pastoral area in the Church of England and their boundaries often roughly coincide with those of local county boundaries.

Andrew Hayes, Lay Ministry Enabler:

“As the diocese for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, our purpose is to serve the people in those places, of faith or of none. We do that in lots of ways - everyone from the property department, from HR, from comms, from mission and ministry - that’s what everyone’s engaged with, via different routes…. We have all the facilities that lots of other charities would have, because we occupy a similar space in the world. In one sense we are a charity like any other, in another sense we are very different with our own peculiarities and things we need to do - but those things aren’t in competition.”

Find out more about who we are.

Liza Thompson, Project Support Assistant:

“I spent 25 years working in the corporate world, and this is a completely different way of working- a much more inspiring way of working…it’s a very empowering place because what you are doing is working with people who all have the same goals and all the goals are outward, they’re not inward. I’ve found the ethos and the mission of the diocese – to be compassionate, contemplative and courageous – is very intrinsic to the way the whole diocese is run, right from top down… The organization thrives on allowing you to be who you are and be your authentic self. You don’t need faith to be here; a lot of people don’t have faith but they all have a genuine desire to work together … you don’t need faith to do that.’

Read more about our values to be contemplative, compassionate and courageous.

Revd Paul Cowan, Chaplain to the Bishop of Oxford

“Fundamentally the Christian faith is about following the way of Christ, and that being about fullness of life for all people. It also means a particular attention to those who are marginalized or vulnerable or stuck in poverty, because that’s where fullness of life is being damaged and not happening. And so, at the core of that is a commitment to the environment, because of how that affects people, particularly globally; it is a commitment to responding to the injustice of poverty; it’s responding to asylum seekers; it’s around various diversity and ethnicity inequalities. What I’m proud of is that the Diocese of Oxford, with Bishop Steven, has been one of the leading players in terms of looking to respond positively as a church and as people of faith, to matters around sexuality and orientation. That’s why we set up the very first LGBTQWI chaplaincy - something I was part of setting up.”

Read about our work on environmental action, social justice, and LGBTQIA+ chaplaincy work.

Sophie Hammond, Church Buildings Officer

“I’ve worked for the diocese for 12 years as a Church Buildings Officer, and what that means is I advise parishes on the care, repair and development of their churches. A vacancy arose and I thought this would be a useful entry into a career in heritage buildings while I was studying. The job then was Executive Assistant to the Church Buildings Officer, but it was hopefully a way in, and it was part-time so I could finish my qualifications. Since then the role has grown and I’ve become a church buildings officer myself. Professionally I have grown over the last twelve years – the job has encouraged me to be a lot more autonomous, to trust my judgement, and to flourish doing a job I love. As an individual I’ve grown – I was a young, single woman when I came here and now I’m married with children, and the diocese has supported me through that personal journey – for example, with its enhanced maternity policies. The support that I’ve received from a lovely bunch of colleagues, that can’t be underestimated.” Personal formation, training and growth for everyone in the Diocese of Oxford is a key part of our vision.

See our new learning hub, launched in September 2023 at learn.oxford.anglican.org.

Hannah Ling, Social Justice Advisor:

“For people who are thinking about applying, I’d say go for it. When I applied for my job, I thought ‘I don’t know if I fill all these criteria, but l love the sound of this job, it sounds perfect for me.’ So I took a risk and thought I will just apply for it, and it I don’t get it, I don’t get it. And I’m so glad I took that leap. What get’s me out of bed is knowing that I get to work with so many incredible people who genuinely want to make a difference. They are busy people, involved in so many different things but they see the importance of social action, social justice; they want to make the world a better place. That makes my job exciting, because I’m not banging my head against a brick wall, I’m not trying to fight for things to be better. I’m seeing where the energy is and helping people along the way.”

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• Competitive salary
• Accredited real Living Wage employer
• Enhanced pension scheme – 5% employee and 11.5% employer contribution, with salary exchange applied automatically under the auto enrolment scheme.
• Hybrid approach to working
• 25 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days with length of service
  • Plus all public holidays in England
  • Plus three privilege days (Maundy Thursday, Ascension Day and Christmas Eve)
• Sabbatical Leave after qualifying period of service
• Enhanced occupational absence and family friendly provisions including maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay
• Employee Assistance Programme with access to counselling, legal, and financial advice and support for you and your partner
• Death in Service benefit
• Access to low-interest loans
• Subsidised café at our CHO office
• EV charging points on site
• Free parking at CHO, Theale, and Stone offices
• Cycle to Work scheme 
• Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme 
• Contribution towards eye examinations and prescriptive lenses