Development Manager

We're looking for two experienced bid and/or fundraising professionals to join our team as Development Manager on a permanent basis.

You'll be responsible for the development of a portfolio of donor relationships and will work across all parts of the proposal process from prospect research all the way through to submissions. As Development Manager, you'll work alongside the Associate Directors of Development to support their work in leading small (up to £100,000), medium (£100,000-£500,000) and large (£500,000+) funding opportunities. This includes central government contracts, local authority bids, corporate partnerships, and grants from trusts and foundations.

This is an exciting time for the Development team, as we are looking to diversify our income streams to support Ambition Institute’s mission in tackling educational disadvantage through evidence-based, high-quality professional development for teachers and leaders across the country. We are ambitious about what we can achieve over the coming years and how the team can fund Ambition’s work.


Who are Ambition Institute?

A great teacher changes the future every day. Especially for children who have had a tough start in life, a teacher can be the critical factor in their success.

At  Ambition Institute we help schools tackling educational disadvantage to keep getting better and help their teachers and school leaders to become more expert over time.

That’s how we’ll make sure every child gets a great education and the best possible start in life.
 

• We train teachers and leaders at all levels to get better at the things that make the biggest difference: what you teach, how you teach it, and how you create the conditions for schools to thrive.
• We share what works. Everyone can benefit from evidence of how great teaching and leadership can improve schools and change lives, so we connect people to the latest research and best practice.
• We champion every teacher and school leader’s potential to develop, as the driving force for sustainable school improvement.

We would like you to:

• Contribute to and deliver successful strategies for securing funding opportunities, pinpointing key differentiators, understanding funders’ specific requirements and ensuring those are met 
•  Support the Associate Directors to develop, maintain and manage the pipeline, using research, analysis and planning skills. 
• Formulate and script high-quality bid responses and create high-quality proposal documents
• Work cross-organisationally to identify and assemble a team of SMEs (internal and external) to scope, define and capture the information required to prepare funding proposals 

Working in a hybrid way, you’ll be attached to either our Birmingham, London or Manchester office and will report to the Associate Director, Development.  In line with our current ways of working, you’ll be expected to be in the office at least 1 day a month, in addition to team days and this may be reviewed by Ambition. 
 

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

To succeed in this role you'll have a good understanding of funding/proposal preparation processes and proven experience in securing funding opportunities in the range of £50k-£100k.

The successful candidate will demonstrate experience of successfully cultivating relationships with funders such as trust, foundations, local authorities, corporates and major donors.

Whilst experience of securing funding from research institutions and knowledge of England's education and charity sectors are desirable, it is not essential for applying to this role.

If you can demonstrate team leadership skills and the ability to work flexibly in a fast-moving environment, managing multiple competing priorities and a complex workload whilst meeting deadlines effectively, we welcome an application from you.

What’s in it for you….?

• Competitive annual salary
• Professional development for all staff
• 25 days’ annual leave, plus bank holidays and 'winter shut down’ at the end of December/beginning of January
• Employer pension contribution of 11%
• Agile, hybrid working culture, so you can manage when and where you work
• Staff affinity networks that help keep equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our work
• Blind recruitment process to ensure equality and fairness in our hiring
• Enhanced maternity pay after a year’s service
• Shared parental leave package
• Access to free, confidential 24/7 wellbeing and support line
• Comfortable and collaborative workspaces in the city centres of Manchester, Birmingham and London
• Work-from-home technology package to support hybrid working
• Interest free season ticket / bike loans

We don’t expect the person we hire to have all of the following, but this should give you a sense of what would enable you to thrive in this role and in our organisation:

You should apply for this role if:

• You care deeply about educational disadvantage and being part of an organisation that challenges inequality
• You have a good work ethic and strive to make a difference in the job you do
• You always give maximum effort to understand and meet the needs of our partners and participants
• You always have a great attitude so we “can do” for all our colleagues, partners and participants
• You are open to feedback and learning because we want to keep getting better
• You work with your initiative to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective
• You are well organised and can prioritise work that will have the greatest impact

You'll love working at Ambition if…

• You want a career with a person-centred organisation with a cause at its heart.
• You have a collaborative work ethos, bring warmth and good humour to work and constructive outlook to every situation
• You enjoy working in a fast-moving workplace, with a great support structure around you
• You would like to grow with an ambitious organisation as it progresses over time
• Want flexibility in how you work – splitting your time between one of our offices and remote working and managing your own working patterns to get the job done.

How to apply…

Applications will be considered for all office locations. 

All applications must be received by the closing date 23:59 on 13 September 2024. Please note when you click apply, you'll be taken to the Birmingham posting of the role. You can still apply via this posting as it won't determine your location if successful.

We are committed to the safeguarding of children and the most vulnerable in our society and, as such, we are unable to employ individuals with relevant convictions, including the following: a conviction for an offence involving violence or dishonesty, of a sexual nature or against minors, or for any other offence that is relevant to the nature of the services provided by our organisation.
 

As an employer, we have a responsibility to prevent illegal working in the UK by ensuring that our employees have the right to work in the UK. Therefore, as part of the recruitment process to verify your eligibility you will be required to produce relevant documentation.