Why you should come and join the technology teams at British Red Cross

I joined the British Red Cross in January 2020 as Director of IT. Over the course of 2020 I’ll be releasing a number of technology roles in my teams, to help me drive change and improve outcomes for our users (that’s around 4000 staff and 17000 volunteers at the time of writing this), and ultimately to improve outcomes for people in crisis.

British Red Cross released a new strategy in 2020, marking our 150th anniversary and our vision for the future. It’s an easy mission to get behind. There are 3 big themes that we’ll be working on, designed to have impact in the world:

1. Disasters and Emergencies — People are safe and able to survive and recover whenever disaster strikes
2. Health inequalities — People in the UK receive the care and support they need without falling through the gaps in the health system.
3. Displacement and migration — People experiencing displacement feel safe, live with dignity and have opportunity on their journey.

Well in my mind that was always an easy mission to get behind, but then we rolled forward into the COVID-19 world that we’re in right now, and well it seems even more relevant now doesn’t it! So that’s the context, but I want to explain why I think you should come and work at British Red Cross, and more specifically talk about the type of people that we’re after and the type of work you’ll be doing.

Firstly I’d draw your attention to the people. I’m lucky enough to be part of a team made up of up of some inspiring and amazing people. Go look them up! I have a general rule of life to surround myself with great people, and learn from them. Anything is possible if you’re surrounded by the right people. When I met the team that our CIO, Rosie Slater-Carr, had put together in the interview process I was hooked from the start. I learn from these people every single day. People like Adam Rowlands, Sally Fernandes and Ian Goodman. These people are just the start though, there are so many other amazing people that I have the pleasure to work with, go trawl LinkedIn and check them out!

Secondly the challenge. Big rewarding jobs don’t tend to be easy and the roles I’ll put up are no exception, but that’s the point isn’t it, with great challenge comes great reward. If I was to describe what my first 3 months have been like at British Red Cross, I’d say that it was like try to perform open heart surgery, on a moving train (a bumpy English one), whilst being attacked by a pack of rabid dogs. It’s hard, but I love it all the same. It’s that feeling when you look yourself in the mirror which says “I’m doing something useful here”.

Thirdly, the ability to implement change. I tend to say that “change is the only constant”. I won’t lie to you, working in a charity can be hard at times (see above!) however I can say with absolute certainty that you will be given a big scope and mandate, with the trust and space to implement and lead change. There’s a million things which need improving (like there are in all organisations and companies) and you’ll have to prioritise aggressively, but you will never be stopped from changing things for the better. I believe in hiring great people and giving them the space to do amazing things. I don’t know what all the answers are (I’m certainly not the most intelligent person in the room) and therefore I want you to give me those answers and implement them. In this type of situation, you need to be self-aware enough to ask yourself what you really like. If you love a big challenge, with space to implement and lead change, and your self motivated enough to drive forward, then you’ll love it. If you’re going to ask me “Why is this broken” or “Do I have permission to do this” or “Why hasn’t someone fixed this already” then you’re in the wrong place. I don’t need people who can finesse things around the edge, I need people who can analyse and bravely reach to the root of a problem and implement a solution. I think working in this type of culture is stimulating and fulfilling, but it’s not for everyone. I make no apologies about that, your mileage may vary, you just need to ask yourself what type of person you are.

In summary to be successful at British Red Cross in the IT team, you’ll probably be / have the following:

1. A relentless drive to make the experience of users better (our staff and volunteers have tough jobs, we need to make it easier for them)
2. Comfortable with ambiguity (we’ve got loads)
3. Self sufficient and wanting to lead change (don’t tell me it’s broken, tell me how you’re going to fix it)
4. Resilience (big rewarding jobs aren’t easy)
5. Self aware and authentic (be proud of who you are, and your own particular skills)

You’ll note that at no point do I refer to people’s technical skills and experiences. Yes these are relevant to some degree, but it’s really all about personal traits and style.

The first 2 jobs went live in April (Head of Architecture and Programme Manager) and more will come up over the year, so keep an eye on our jobs page on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/british-red-cross/jobs/ . I expect to be looking for the following:

Integration Services Engineer

Software Engineer

Enterprise Architect

Solution Architect

Infrastructure Architect

Cloud Services Engineer

InfoSec Analyst

and a few others along the way…