Alumni Programmes Manager

The Alumni Programmes Manager will sit within the Programmes team and will report to the Head of Alumni Engagement. The Sutton Trust’s alumni programme aims to develop a vibrant community of alumni who are offered ongoing support, and who in turn can give back to the Trust in a variety of ways.

Our careers offering of activity to alumni post-18 – predominantly reaching those who are studying at undergraduate level – was launched in 2021 to aid employability and career support for this group. In addition to the new programmatic offering, 2021 saw the launch of two new bursary schemes targeted at this group, funded by corporate partners. The Alumni Programmes Manager plays a central role working with corporates and delivering and piloting new programmes for alumni – including ringfenced placements or insight opportunities. The role will be responsible for the management of the application process, as well as coordinating promotion, delivery of programme activity, and programme evaluation. They will line manage the Alumni Assistant and oversee their workload to ensure support across both the careers and bursary programmes, as well as support across the full range of alumni work. They will also oversee the Alumni Assistant to deliver practical aspects of the post-18 work such as organising webinars, managing enquiries and communicating with bursary recipients to track their progress.

The Alumni Programmes Manager will work also closely with the Programmes and Development teams to support on funding relationships for donors to the Trust’s employability and alumni work and continue to develop and deliver impactful employability and bursary programmes for our community of young alumni 0-5 years out, across a range of sectors.

Main duties
Duties will fall broadly into the following categories, but may change as the role develops and the alumni/post-18 offering grows:

• Lead on planning and delivery of all career and employability-based communications to alumni 0-5 years out of their programme
• Lead on the planning and delivery of the application and allocation process for the two alumni employability bursaries, supported by the Alumni Assistant and keeping the Head of Alumni Engagement and other senior stakeholders at the Trust and the funders informed and involved where appropriate
• Work with the Finance and Operations team to oversee funding allocation for bursary recipients and ensure payment guidelines are followed, and regularly reviewed.
• Lead on the management of the key termly check-in process with bursary recipients including supporting the Alumni Assistant and other team members required to deliver a proportion of the calls.
• Manage day-to-day delivery of employability bursaries evaluation framework, working with colleagues in the wider Trust on data and insights
• Manage the curation and implementation of digital employability resources for STA
• Manage communications to drive engagement with students in the alumni employability programmes and resources on STA
• Curate a programme of in-person employability events e.g. networking events or workshops, across a range of sectors and in response to student demand, to meet the employability needs of Sutton Trust alumni
• Working with the employability team to support the design and delivery of events and activities on the existing alumni employability programmes – e.g. Careers Plus
• Line manage the Alumni Assistant who supports on post-18 activity as well as the wider Alumni team
• Working with colleagues to manage the Trust’s day-to-day relationship with corporate and programme delivery partners for opportunities to support post-18 employability programmes, representing this area of work across the Trust and sometimes externally
• Working with the Head of Alumni Engagement to maintain key stakeholder relationships including with the alumni bursary corporate funders, alumni volunteers, university coordinators or other partners
• Ensure data for engagement with employability and bursary activity is recorded on Salesforce
• Suggest new ideas and insights for growth of the post-18 offering, that feed into the broader strategy and long-term vision for alumni.

General:

• As required, provide support to the Alumni and Programmes team more widely, for example in supporting delivery, events and other activities.

• Other duties as necessary from time to time

Person Specification

We welcome applications from individuals who have experience in:

• Leading projects, including planning, administration and delivery
• Working with multiple teams
• Demonstrable experience of line-management or overseeing work of interns / support roles.
• Demonstrable experience of working in a role with a variety of internal and external stakeholders
• Working with data, analytics, and reporting
• Working within or an understanding of the not for profit sector;
• Excellent verbal and written communication and strong analytical skills
• Has knowledge and experience of the higher education and/or education sectors;
• Facilitation of sessions with young people in person or online

We are also looking for an individual who:

• Can prioritise when working to multiple deadlines in a fast-paced environment
• Is sympathetic to the aims of the Trust and its mission to address educational disadvantage;
• Has knowledge and experience of the higher education and/or education sectors;
• Has excellent attention to detail;
• Has first-class interpersonal skills - a natural ambassador able to represent the Sutton Trust in a range of settings;
• Is eligible to work in the UK (see here for information about right to work)

Terms of Appointment

• Contract: Full-time, Permanent
• Salary: £41,000-£43,000
• Working location: Minimum of 2 office days per week
• Office location: The Sutton Trust, 9th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP. Our home working policy gives staff the option to work from home for up to 60% of the time, with approval from their line manager.
• Hours: The standard working hours are 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday and may also be required to attend events / meetings outside of their normal working hours during weekday evenings and occasionally at weekends
• DBS check may be required

Safeguarding statement

The Sutton Trust believes that a child, young person or vulnerable adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We all have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. Therefore all posts undergo a safer recruitment process, including but not limited to, disclosure of criminal records where necessary and eligibility to work in the UK. We have procedures in place to promote safeguarding and a safe culture at the Trust.

Contextual recruitment

The Trust is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity and that all applicants receive equal consideration for employment. We strongly encourage individuals from all backgrounds, including those underrepresented at present at the Trust, to apply for this role. As such we particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities, Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and from different socio-economic and educational backgrounds. We are committed to being an inclusive and welcoming place to work and know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for the young people we support.

We are committed to providing reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates throughout our recruitment process and during employment.

We also operate contextual recruitment at the Sutton Trust. Our application process gives you the option to include information about your background, such as whether you were eligible for free school meals, whether your parents went to university, or whether you attended a state school. For more examples and information on contextual recruitment, please see our website.