Head of Volunteering

Are you a strategic thinker with extensive experience in leading a central Volunteering team in a large charity?  Do you have a proven ability to influence, engage and empower senior leaders, to maximise the potential of our volunteers? 

About the team: 

It’s an exciting time to be involved in volunteering at Dogs Trust as we are committed to volunteering playing a more pivotal role in achieving our mission, helping us to help dogs and the people who love them. We currently have over 4000 volunteers nationwide who support us in our shops, rehoming centres, through fostering and more. They are so important in all that we do; we couldn’t do what we do without them. As part of our volunteering strategy we want to raise the profile of volunteering across the charity, create greater opportunities for volunteering and ensure our volunteers’ experience with us is as fulfilling as it can be. 

About this job: 

Our first step in helping us realise our potential in volunteering is to build greater capacity in our central volunteering team. To head this team up we are looking for an experienced and inspirational leader who will line manage 3 Volunteering Business Partners and: 

• Deliver an inspirational, aspirational and impactful Volunteering strategy for Dogs Trust which engages all stakeholders and embeds an integrated approach to volunteering.
• Defines and measures KPIs for volunteering, ensuring decisions for the service are evidence-led and data-driven and report on these at People Programme Board, Leadership Team and Trustee level.    
• Establishes and maintains Dogs Trust national standards, processes and policies to support volunteering across the entire volunteer journey, ensuring compliance and best practice.  
• Leads and develops the central volunteering team as a highly-respected and valued function across Dogs Trust.  

About you: 

To be successful in this role you’ll have extensive experience in leading a central volunteering team, with an up-to-date understanding of best practice in volunteering, current trends and relevant legislation.   

You’ll have substantial senior management experience to include monitoring and evaluation, improving and sustaining performance through people and systems, and planning, implementing and managing change across teams/functions, as well as fantastic leadership and management skills to instil and maintain a sense of accountability, high performance, self-confidence and ambition in a regionally dispersed team.  

About Dogs Trust: 

We love dogs. That’s why we do whatever we can to make sure every four-legged friend gets the love they deserve. We’ll never put a healthy dog down, so our work is focused on helping dogs in need, supporting owners every step of the walk, and creating a better world for dogs in the future. It’s what we’ve been doing since 1891 and how we’ve grown to become the UK’s leading dog charity, helping 12,000 loyal friends find their forever homes every year. 

To apply for this position please click the APPLY NOW button. Our application process requires you submit a CV and a cover letter explaining your interest and suitability for the role. Please note, on rare occasions, we may close vacancies early if we receive an overwhelming response, so to avoid potential disappointment, please apply at your earliest convenience.