Chief executive jobs for the Animal sector

About us

Greyhound Rescue Wales (GRW) is Wales’ leading charity dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming greyhounds and lurchers. Founded in 1993, we have spent more than three decades championing the welfare of sighthounds and working towards our vision: a Wales without greyhound racing, where every greyhound and lurcher has a home and receives the best possible care.

In April 2026, after 25 years of determined campaigning to improve welfare and regulation within the racing industry, legislation to ban greyhound racing in Wales was finally passed. This landmark achievement marks the beginning of a new chapter for GRW as we expand our reach and capacity across the UK to ensure every greyhound leaving the racing industry has a rescue space, medical support and rehabilitation on the journey towards their forever home.

To help us grow sustainably and strengthen our long‑term impact, we are now seeking to develop our fundraising team with the creation of a Head of Fundraising role. You will lead and work closely with the Trusts & Foundations Officer, Sponsorship & Individual Giving Officer and Community & Events Fundraiser to deliver an annual income target of £400K+.

Role

The Head of Fundraising is a senior leadership role with overall accountability for the strategic development, operational effectiveness and performance of all fundraising activity at Greyhound Rescue Wales (GRW).

The role will drive, lead and grow our fundraising strategy and has responsibility for developing diverse, sustainable income streams and building strong relationships with supporters, partners, and funders.

The role holds end‑to‑end accountability for income delivery across trusts and foundations, community and event fundraising, and sponsorship and individual giving.

The Head of Fundraising provides clear leadership to the fundraising team and has line management responsibility for:

• Trusts and Foundations Officer
• Community and Events Fundraising Officer
• Sponsorship & Individual Giving Officer

Please see attached the full job description and person specification

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust is seeking an experienced finance professional to lead its financial management and oversee the organisation's operational functions. This is a senior leadership role supporting the Trust's continued growth, financial resilience, and conservation mission. The position can be based remotely, with travel to the Isles of Scilly as needed.

What Makes This Role Unique

• Opportunity to join the senior leadership team of a respected conservation charity. 
• Flexible full-time or part-time arrangement. 
• Remote working (with some travel to the Isles of Scilly as required) will be considered.
• Broad influence across finance, operations, governance and organisational development. 
• Chance to contribute to nationally significant conservation projects, including the Isles of Scilly Seabird Recovery Project. 

Our Ideal Candidate
The successful candidate will be:

• A qualified (or nearly qualified) accountant. 
• Collaborative and approachable. 
• Highly organised with strong attention to detail. 
• Comfortable working strategically while also managing day-to-day financial 
• operations. 
• Passionate about conservation and supporting the Trust's mission. 
• Motivated to help a growing charity strengthen its systems and long-term 
• sustainability. 

Overall, this is a senior finance leadership role with significant operational responsibilities, suited to someone who enjoys combining strong financial stewardship with organisational improvement in a mission-driven charity.

For the full list of key responsibilities please see the job description.

CVs will not be accepted, please visit IoSWT website to download the application form

About Us

Our mission is to keep Scilly special – to protect the islands’ unique heritage, particularly its native wildlife, ensuring that this heritage can be enjoyed by all.

We look after around half of the Isles of Scilly, making sure that Scilly stays special. We help wildlife thrive and provide opportunities for us all to enjoy nature.

If you have any questions, or would like to talk about this role, please find our contact details in the job description.

For almost 50 years, Animal Aid has been one of the UK's leading animal rights organisations. As we embark on an ambitious strategy to 2030, we're looking for an exceptional Head of People and Operations to help us build the organisation that will deliver our next stage of growth. 

This is a new and critical senior leadership role. While our mission is to create lasting change for animals, it is our people who make that possible every day. You'll help ensure Animal Aid is a supportive, high-performing and values-led organisation where staff can do their very best work for animals. 

Reporting to the General Manager and working closely with the CEO and Senior Leadership Team, you'll lead our people function, oversee HR strategy and operations, support organisational development, and play a key role in finance, governance and organisational effectiveness. 

We're looking for someone who combines strong HR leadership with excellent operational skills, strategic thinking and a genuine commitment to building positive workplace cultures. 

You'll bring: 

• Significant senior-level HR and people management experience 

• Strong knowledge of UK employment law and HR best practice 

• Experience developing policies, processes and organisational systems 

• Excellent relationship-building, communication and leadership skills 

• The ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery 

• CIPD Level 5+ (or equivalent experience) 

• Commitment to Animal Aid's aims and values, and sympathy with our ethical vegan position. 

This is a rare opportunity to help shape the future of a respected and influential not-for-profit at a pivotal moment in its development. 

Join us and help build the organisation that will power the next generation of progress for animals. 

Please note: Animal Aid cannot provide visa sponsorship, so applicants must have the legal right to live and work in the UK to be considered for this role. You must live in the UK and we are unable to pay any relocation costs.

First-round interviews will be held online the week commencing 14th September, with the second round held in person on 21st and 23rd September.

Senior Partnerships Officer

Do you have experience of successfully developing new major donor/client relationships or corporate partnerships, either in a charity or business environment? Are you confident in asking for and securing gifts or financial commitments?

If you do and have outstanding interpersonal and communication skills, then apply today and join a nature restoration charity, whose mission is to restore beavers to regenerate our landscapes.

Position: Senior Partnerships Officer

Location: Remote, resident in mainland Britain

Hours: Part-time; 3 days per week

Contract: Permanent

Salary: £29,403 per annum, pro rata

Closing Date: 9.00 am on Monday 24th August. We reserve the right to interview candidates and close the ad ahead of the closing date, should a strong candidate be identified.

Interview Date: Online interviews will be held on Monday 14th September. You will be asked to give a short presentation to the interview panel and may also be given a task to undertake prior to or during the interview.

About the Role

The Senior Partnerships Officer (SPO) will work closely with the Chief Executive (CEO) and Fundraising Lead (FL) to ensure the charity has sufficient funding to achieve its mission. This primarily involves developing new donor relationships and partnerships to grow fundraising income streams. The fundraising strategy focuses on high-value grants, gifts and partnerships. We recognise that the lines between major donors, corporate partners and family foundations are often blurred. Therefore, the charity have chosen not to silo work in this way and instead have created a new role focused on developing new relationships across all these income streams. The focus of the role is on ‘winning new business’ and will suit an entrepreneurial candidate with experience in business development, and/or building new corporate or philanthropic partnerships. 

Key areas of responsibility include:

• New business development - acquiring prospective donors and partners
• Solicit gifts
• Relationship management & stewardship
• Be part of the Beaver Trust fundraising team

About You

You will be entrepreneurial and a self-starter, driven to build a network of meaningful relationships with prospective donors and supporters. Able to work independently and make decisions with little supervision.

You will have:

• Excellent prospect research skills, and an understanding of the motivations of donors and how to use this insight to create persuasive propositions and deliver compelling pitches.
• Experience of successfully developing new major donor/client relationships or corporate partnerships, either in a charity or business environment.
• Outstanding interpersonal and communication skills and be able to interact confidently and persuasively in a range of settings with existing and prospective major donors and partners.
• Experience of representing an organisation’s interests and advocating for them.
• Ability to work collaboratively with colleagues to move donors, supporters and partner organisations along a donor journey, from initial contact and relationship building to soliciting a donation and ongoing stewardship.
• Knowledge of all relevant fundraising, data protection and other regulations.
• Resilience and be a problem solver, able to withstand negative reactions and find solutions.
• The ability to think strategically and translate ambitions into actionable plans and delivery.
• Highly competent IT skills, preferably Google Workplace, and high standards for visual content.

All shortlisted candidates will be contacted by Tuesday 1st September 2026. If you have not heard from us by this date, please accept our thanks for applying and assume that you were not shortlisted on this occasion.

About the Organisation

Join a nature restoration charity, restoring beavers to regenerate our landscapes. Our client’s team is small with a diverse skillset and extensive experience in beaver ecology and restoration, human-wildlife coexistence, and policy. They provide practical solutions to help people to co-exist with beavers and influence legislation in Scotland, Wales and at Westminster that rebuilds ecosystems, improves river health, and strengthens climate resilience in a time of ecological and climate crisis.

Benefits include:

• 25 days holiday, plus Christmas day through to New Year’s Day paid, plus 6 days of floating holidays.
• Flexible approach to hours of work.
• Travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses will be met by the trust in
• Pension contribution of 3% of your total pay each month
• One-off contributions toward the cost of an ergonomic office chair and toward purchases of essential devices (laptop, mouse and smartphone)
• Monthly home working allowance, plus an annual contribution toward the maintenance and/or replacement of the essential devices.

We are committed to inclusive recruitment and are happy to make reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, especially those underrepresented in the environmental sector, including people of colour, disabled people, those from low-income backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ communities and all other protected characteristics

You may have experience in roles including Major Donor, Major Gifts, Corporate Partnerships, Major Donor Fundraiser, Major Gifts Fundraiser, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser, Corporate Partnerships Lead, Senior Corporate Partnerships Officer.

Please note this role is advertised by the recruitment agency acting for the client, Not For Profit People. #INDNFP

The Membership & Community Coordinator is a new role, created to support the membership functions at Science for Animal Welfare (SciFAW) and the Humane Slaughter Association (HSA). 

Initially, the role holder will focus on delivering and growing SciFAW’s relaunched membership. They will play a central role in shaping the member experience, ensuring that our membership delivers genuine value and builds a thriving community. 

They will lead the day-to-day delivery of our membership offer across member, supporter and student pathways, creating engaging journeys that attract, retain and inspire people to connect with our work. From onboarding and renewals to member only events, communications and community engagement, they will be the person our members come to know. 

This role sits at the heart of the organisation rather than within a single team. They will work closely with colleagues across science, communications, income generation and operations. This role will work closely with the charities CRM and Office Manager who oversees the administration of memberships, our customer relationship management (CRM) software and data. They will also play an important role in gathering member insight and feeding it back into the ongoing development of our membership proposition. 

This is a highly autonomous and collaborative role. Reporting to the Head of Income Generation and working with colleagues across the organisation, you will translate membership strategy into action, taking ownership of implementation, continuous improvement, member engagement and retention. 

Our charities are small, and our work is often fast paced; as such we are looking for candidates who can work with limited supervision day-to-day and can work on multiple concurrent workstreams. 

Key Responsibilities 

Membership 

• Implement and promote the new SciFAW membership offering to current, lapsed and prospective members, helping to grow and strengthen the membership community. 
• Develop the member, supporter and student membership journeys, ensuring a positive and seamless experience at every stage. 
• Manage the membership application approval process, including documenting Trustee decisions and administering confirmations and welcome communications. 
• Liaise with colleagues responsible for the membership operations and data to ensure the charities retain accurate records and use effective processes. 
• Administer and analyse the post-join questionnaire and use its insights on members' interests, affiliations and areas of work to inform future engagement, events and activities. 
• Lead a retention-focused approach across all membership, community, communications and event activities, ensuring members consistently experience value, connection and engagement throughout their relationship with SciFAW, while acting as their primary point of contact. 
• Analyse data and report on member acquisition, retention, trends and engagement. 
• Working with scientific staff, input into the development of the LINKS scheme, supporting its growth and strengthening its role as a membership activity. 

Events 

• Work with scientific colleagues to develop the charities’ programme of member-exclusive events. 
• Organise a programme of member-exclusive events throughout the year, aligned with plans agreed with the Head of Income Generation. 
• Co-ordinate the programme of member-only events alongside our annual conference, working with science staff and conference organisers to design, plan and deliver them. 
• Work with the wider team and external collaborators to develop events and engagement opportunities for students and early-career researchers, including careers-focused content at the annual conference. 
• Contribute to event planning to ensure events are engaging and responsive to member interests and feedback. 
• Work with administrative support colleagues to organise and deliver events, allowing you to focus on member engagement. 
• Provide occasional administrative support for corporate membership and sponsorship activities as required. 

Community and Communications 

• Act as the primary point of contact for members, providing a welcoming, responsive and professional experience. 
• Build strong relationships with members, ensuring they feel valued, connected and engaged with charities missions. 
• Craft the communications to members at each stage of their membership journey to optimise engagement and retention. 
• Produce a quarterly membership newsletter that showcases member stories, highlights opportunities and strengthens community connections. 
• Work with the Communications team to develop engaging membership marketing and retention materials across all SciFAW membership routes and for HSA individual members. 
• Collaborate with scientific staff to deliver member-only roundtables. 
• Collaborate with scientific staff to increase opportunities for members to engage effectively with the charity's grants, awards and scientific activities. 

Please download the full application pack before applying.