Service leader jobs in west byfleet, surrey

Role Purpose

The Operations Director is a critical leadership role responsible for ensuring the efficient and effective running of all operational aspects of Katherine Low Settlement. This role oversees the day-to-day operational leadership of the charity, ensuring that its systems, processes, and teams are aligned with strategic objectives and compliant with relevant legislation.

This position will lead on programme delivery, financial management, human resources, IT infrastructure, risk and compliance, governance, and facilities management, ensuring that the organisation operates smoothly and sustainably. The post-holder will act as the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), embedding a strong safeguarding culture across the organisation, and also be responsible for policy development and culture and wellbeing. 

As a key member of the senior leadership team, the Operations Director will work closely with the CEO, Board of Trustees, funders, partners, and staff to drive organisational effectiveness and ensure that the charity can continue delivering high-impact work.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership & Organisational Strategy

• Provide strategic leadership for all operational functions, ensuring alignment with the organisation’s mission and strategic objectives.
• Develop and implement efficient systems, processes, and policies to improve operational effectiveness.
• Work closely with the CEO and Board of Trustees to ensure that the charity is resilient, agile, and positioned for sustainable growth.
• Oversee cross-departmental collaboration, ensuring that operations support and enhance programme delivery.
• Lead on operational planning, resource allocation, and impact measurement.

Programme Delivery & Impact

• Ensure all programmes and services are effectively designed, resourced, and evaluated to achieve the best outcomes.
• Lead on the development of monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) frameworks to track programme impact and efficiency.
• Work with programme teams to ensure services are inclusive, accessible, and responsive to the needs of beneficiaries.
• Identify and mitigate operational risks that could affect programme delivery.

Financial & Resource Management

• Oversee financial planning, budgeting, and management in partnership with the Finance Team and CEO.
• Ensure financial policies, processes, and controls are in place and adhered to.
• Work with the fundraising team to ensure grant and contract funding is effectively managed and reported.
• Ensure long-term financial sustainability through effective resource allocation and cost efficiency.
• Support the development of business models, funding strategies, and income diversification.

Safeguarding & Risk Management - Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

• As the Designated Safeguarding Lead (a role delegated by the Chief Executive), ensure robust safeguarding policies, procedures, and practices are in place.
• Provide training and guidance to staff on safeguarding responsibilities and best practices.
• Oversee the Deputy Safeguarding Leads, acting as the main point of contact for safeguarding concerns from them, ensuring they are appropriately reported and addressed.
• Embed a strong safeguarding culture, ensuring that all programmes and services prioritise the safety and wellbeing of beneficiaries.

Human Resources, People Management & Wellbeing

• Lead the HR function, ensuring best practices in recruitment, retention, staff development, and performance management.
• Champion diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), embedding a culture of fairness and opportunity for all.
• Develop and implement HR policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with employment law and best practice.
• Promote staff wellbeing, fostering a positive and supportive working environment.
• Line manage operational staff, providing leadership, mentoring, and professional development opportunities.

IT Infrastructure, Systems & Data Management

• Oversee the organisation’s IT strategy, ensuring systems and processes are secure, efficient, and fit for purpose.
• Lead on the implementation and management of Salesforce (or another complex CRM system), ensuring data integrity and effective reporting.
• Ensure cybersecurity, data protection, and GDPR compliance, embedding best practices across the organisation.
• Identify and implement digital solutions to enhance operational effectiveness.

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with legal, regulatory, and ethical standards, including charity governance, employment law, and safeguarding.
• Work closely with the Board of Trustees, providing reports and operational insights to support decision-making.
• Develop and maintain an effective risk management framework, ensuring risks are identified, assessed, and mitigated.
• Oversee all policy development, ensuring policies are up to date, legally compliant, and well-embedded across the organisation.

Facilities & Office Management

• Oversee the management of charity premises, assets, and office operations.
• Ensure facilities are safe, secure, and compliant with health and safety regulations.
• Lead on business continuity planning and disaster recovery strategies.

Person Specification

Essential Experience & Skills

• Proven experience in a senior operational leadership role, ideally within the charity or non-profit sector.
• Strong understanding of programme management, financial oversight, HR, IT, and governance.
• Demonstrable experience of managing budgets using complex Excel spreadsheets.
• Experience with Salesforce or another complex CRM system, including implementation, reporting, and data management.
• Demonstrable experience in people management, of multi-level and departmental teams, with the ability to lead, mentor, and develop high-performing teams.
• Strong knowledge of safeguarding best practices, with experience as a Designated Safeguarding Lead
• Strong policy development and implementation skills, ensuring compliance and operational efficiency.
• Experience in culture and wellbeing initiatives, fostering a positive workplace environment.
• Experience working with Boards of Trustees and governance structures.
• Excellent risk management, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with proven experience of building relationships with funders, partners, and regulatory bodies.

Desirable Experience & Skills

• Experience in charity fundraising operations.
• Knowledge of GDPR, data protection, and cybersecurity best practices.
• Understanding of health and safety, facilities management.

Personal Attributes

• A strategic thinker who can balance day-to-day operations with long-term vision.
• A collaborative leader who values teamwork and inclusivity.
• A proactive problem solver, able to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic environment.
• A strong commitment to the values and mission of the Katherine Low Settlement.

Further Information 

·Katherine Low Settlement is committed to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

·All offers to work at Katherine Low Settlement are subject to satisfactory references, which is standard KLS policy applicable to all roles. KLS also ask for an enhanced DBS (formerly known as CRB) check 

·You will adhere to matters of confidentiality concerning this role and the KLS team

The above job description reflects the position at the time of writing; it is not intended to be a task list but indicates the general level of work involved. It is expected that duties will be reviewed and revised as required.

The Sociological Review Foundation is seeking its first Development Manager to join its team. This role, reporting directly to the Operations Director, presents a unique opportunity to drive the organisation’s strategic growth initiatives and fundraising calls, expand partnerships, and generate revenue through the sale of services.

Note: We can only accept applications from applicants who are based in, and eligible to work in, the UK.

We are currently offering a rewarding opportunity for a motivated and proactive self-starter to join our friendly and dynamic team.

Advice Worker

Salary: £35,000

Full Time (35 hours per week)

Benefits of working for Wandsworth Carers’ Centre:

• Friendly team and working environment
• Annual leave starts at 26 days increasing to 31 days plus bank holidays 
• Contributory company pension,
• Ongoing training and development opportunities 
• Employee assistance program.

Our Charity:

We are a busy, ambitious charity operating at the heart of the Wandsworth community since 1995, helping thousands of people across the borough in unpaid Caring roles. We give information and advice, organise respite, offer complementary therapies, deliver training, provide peer support, arrange fun events and much more.  In short, we are the Carer's friend and advocate, often helping Carers through difficult times.

Are you passionate about supporting Carers and making a real impact in their lives? We're looking for a dedicated individual to join our busy team providing welfare benefits advice & guidance to those who need it most.

As the successful candidate, you'll bring your knowledge and expertise to provide vital support to Carers, with a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge in welfare benefits and recent experience of managing a case load.

You will manage your own caseload while also providing supervision and support to another advice worker. 

Your excellent communication skills will help you connect with and support Carers, while your IT proficiency will enable you to provide effective, efficient assistance.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Providing advice & advocacy on welfare benefits and housing. 
• Managing your own case load
• Supervision of another advice worker
• Offering guidance and support to colleagues
• Maintaining accurate case records, adhering to AQS standards. 

Essential Requirements:

• Experience of providing benefits advice, guidance and support
• Experience of managing a case load
• Experience of representing clients with external bodies / organisations
• Experience of supporting with benefit appeals through to tribunal stage.
• Knowledge of or ability to understand and use relevant legislation.
• Ability to work across the borough and provide home visits

If you're committed to working in the voluntary sector and want to be part of a dynamic team that makes a real difference, this role is for you!

Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor candidates. 

Wandsworth Carers’ Centre is an inclusive employer, committed to the continued development of a diverse workforce.

Are you a dynamic leader with a passion for delivering high-quality testing solutions? Join us as a Portfolio Delivery Test Lead and drive excellence in our testing processes!

�� Location: Hybrid/remote (expectation to travel to key national sites as business requires)

⌚ Contract Type: Permanent, 35 hours per week

�� Salary:

• Starting from £46,434.55 - £51,078.01 for base locations outside of London, dependant on experience and location
• Starting from £51,078.01 - £56,185.81 for base locations inside of London, dependent on experience and location

What is a Portfolio Delivery Test Lead?

As Portfolio Delivery Test Lead (a new role to MSIUK) you will oversee testing and lead the UAT (User Acceptance Testing) for all new MSI UK system deployments, responsible for planning, executing, and overseeing UAT to ensure that the solution meets business requirements and is ready for deployment.

You will work closely with the Project Managers, Products team, Business Intelligence team, Digital, IT teams, Governance, Contact Centre, Clinical colleagues and Operations, Clinical Safety, UK Learning & Development team, Global Information Services and all colleagues across the business

The objective of this role is to ensure any DDaT deployment to the business is fit for purpose, fully tested and accepted by the business to improve the client journey with MSI UK, on small pathway changes to larger projects alongside process improvements to enhance the client experience and overall business.  The role will support other teams in DDaT such as test and release or regression testing with the Product team.

What can we offer you?

• �� Expenses incurred while traveling outside your base location will be reimbursed.
• �� Birthday Bonus with an additional day of annual leave dedicated to celebrating your birthday and long service recognition rewards programme
• �� Perks and discounts at over 4000 retail and hospitality outlets through the Blue Light Card

In addition to the perks outlined above, there are many more benefits alongside what is written above for you to enjoy. Find out more during your interview!

What you’ll be doing:

• Design and implement fit-for-purpose UAT frameworks aligned with business goals.
• Create detailed test plans, cases, and criteria to reflect business requirements.
• Manage a test environment mirroring production, including representative test data.
• Define UAT timelines and milestones to keep projects on track.
• Collaborate with users to create actionable test scripts and scenarios.
• Lead testing, track progress, and manage defects with prioritisation and retesting.
• Ensure testing rigor, support methodology development, and oversee collection of test evidence.

What we’re looking for:

• Previous experience as a Test Lead, managing UAT processes, including test plans, cases, and scripts.
• Proven ability to use, manage, and suggest automated testing tools.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to simplify complex use cases.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of explaining technical concepts clearly to end-users and non-IT staff.
• Solid understanding of risk and issue mitigation, with the ability to escalate when necessary.
• Ability to build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Strong technical and strategic thinking skills, able to work efficiently in a fast-paced environment.
• Deep understanding of the agile product development lifecycle, including product strategy, story writing, requirements definition, backlog prioritisation, development, QA, and launch.
• Familiarity with the current and emerging digital and technological landscape, and how it aligns with organisational goals.
• Willingness to work outside core hours (including weekends) and travel as needed.

This role is ideal for someone who enjoys being at the heart of an organisation’s operations—helping to keep the corporate services running smoothly, so that our Education and Supporter teams can focus on delivering impact through our programmes. 

Both nationally and internationally, public discussion and political debate are increasingly polarised and divided. Social media, fake news and new technologies such as AI can create echo chambers, where claims pass unchallenged, and different views are hard to find. The English-Speaking Union shows that there is a more constructive and collaborative path.  The ESU was founded in 1918 to build greater understanding and friendships between people and nations. We are an educational charity with international reach, with an ESU in over 50 countries. Today our work is focussed on training young people in oracy – speaking and listening skills, in critical thinking and self-expression - to build skilful communicators and engaged citizens and leaders.  

The English-Speaking Union and our work is more important now than ever.  

he Corporate Services team provides essential strategic and operational support across the organisation. Our governance function oversees compliance, risk management, and performance frameworks. The finance team manages budgets, financial planning, and reporting. All of this contributes to effective decision making. We are also responsible for looking after our properties, which includes maintaining oversight of two commercial leases, and maintaining Dartmouth House which is a grade II* listed events venue and our Head Office in Mayfair. 

Purpose of this role  

The Business Support Administrator will provide high quality support to the Board of Trustees and its sub-Committees, and the Chief Operating Officer. This role will work closely with the Executive Assistant to the Director General. 

Responsibilities and Expectations  

• Provide high-quality administrative and organisational support to the Chief Operating Officer, helping to ensure smooth day-to-day operations. 

• Coordinate the preparation and timely circulation of agendas, papers, minutes and action logs for Board and Committee meetings. 

• Monitor and report on progress against Board and Committee actions, ensuring timely follow-up and delivery 

• Support the delivery of the annual Board effectiveness review, gathering feedback and helping to implement improvements. 

• Assist with the planning and delivery of the annual external audit, working with colleagues and auditors to meet key deadlines. 

• Maintain key registers including the Gift & Hospitality Register, Declarations of Interest, and compliance trackers. 

• Facilitate due diligence checks as needed, liaising with legal advisors to ensure accuracy and compliance. 

• Maintain the organisation’s contract register, tracking review dates and supporting internal contract reviews and renewals. 

• Deliver one-off projects and provide flexible support across the Corporate Services team as required. 

Skills and Experience  

• A track record of providing secretariat support, including minute taking. 

• Excellent administrative skills, highly organised with very good attention to detail. 

• A tactful and conscientious individual who can navigate through complex situations 

• Understands the importance of maintaining confidentiality

• A good understanding of charity governance. 

• Strong written and oral communication skills. 

• A motivated self-starter who can quickly translate issues into solutions. 

• A team player who can quickly build trusted relationships at all levels. 

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills. 

• Can confidently and professionally challenge and hold people to account. 

• The ability to manage several projects simultaneously whilst working at a high standard.

• Excellent IT skills including Microsoft Office. 

Director, Home-Start London

Lead. Innovate. Transform Families’ Lives.

Are you a visionary leader with the drive to make a real impact? Do you thrive in an entrepreneurial environment where collaboration and innovation are at the heart of everything you do? Join us as our next Director!

Home-Start London is seeking a dynamic and strategic Director to lead our charity and drive the growth of our family support network across the capital. This is an opportunity to lead a forward-thinking organisation helping to empower families through vital community support.

Location: Home-based

Salary: £50-55,000

Type: Permanent 

Hours: 4 days per week (28 hours). Hours can be worked flexibly.

About Home-Start London

We have a big ambition: to ensure that no parent in London feels alone and every child has the best start in life. Our network of 16 local Home-Start charities in the capital provides volunteer-led home visiting, group and other support to parents and carers with young children facing challenges such as social isolation, mental health difficulties, and poverty. Our work focuses on building new partnerships and securing funding, facilitating shared learning and more coordinated services, and amplifying the voices of disadvantaged families with young children to drive wider change. We are part of the national Home-Start movement. 

About the role

As Director, you will be the public face of an impactful and dynamic charity. You will ensure successful delivery of our strategy and lead on developing new partnerships that build financial sustainability of the charity and grow support for our wider network. Working with your small but mighty team and Home-Start staff and trustees across London, you will ensure we provide quality support to our network that drives increased impact. Your professional development and growth will be well supported.

What you’ll do:

• Lead and inspire – Be the public face of our impactful charity, shaping strategic direction and acting as a key advocate and spokesperson.
• Drive growth – Identify funding opportunities, promote collaboration, and build new partnerships.
• Oversee strategy and operations – Ensure good governance, robust financial management, and effective implementation of policy and plans.
• Innovate and evolve – Respond to new opportunities and challenges with creativity and resiliance to drive sustainability and impact.

About you

To thrive in this role, you will be a highly collaborative leader with experience in a senior role. You will be a brilliant networker and communicator, able to inspire and build trusted relationships. You will be a strategic thinker who can balance big picture vision with the practicalities of running a small charity. You will be a skilled fundraiser with a track record of securing income from a range of sources and you will be a passionate champion for families with young children in London.

Inclusion matters

At Home-Start London we believe that equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to achieving our purpose. We encourage applications from all parts of the community irrespective of gender, race, colour, age, sexual orientation or disability. Appointments will be based on merit, following an open and fair selection process.

Don't meet every single requirement? Who does! If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't align perfectly, we'd love you to apply anyway. If you’d like to, then give us a call for a confidential conversation about the role and/or how we can make the recruitment process more accessible for you.

How to apply

See job pack for full details. To apply for this role, please click the "quick apply" button below. You will be asked to provide a CV and cover letter (no more than two pages).

Closing date for applications is Monday 28th April.

First round interviews will be held w/c 5th May.

Second round interviews will be held w/c 12th May.

Elrha is a global organisation that finds solutions to complex humanitarian problems through research and innovation. We are looking for a Senior Innovation Manager (Scale) to join our Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) team on a fixed-term contract until 31 March 2026. 

In this role you will ensure high-quality, impactful innovation delivery while positioning Elrha as a global leader in humanitarian innovation. You will be responsible for the provision of strategic technical insights in the design and delivery of focused innovation initiatives and drive the strategic development and integration of innovation methods across our work.

If you have substantial experience in innovation delivery and practice, with a focus on impact, we are keen to hear from you. We welcome applicants with development, social and humanitarian innovation experience.

Your application will need to demonstrate: 

• Substantial experience in innovation delivery and practice roles, including leading the design and delivery of innovation programmes with a focus on impact at scale. 
• Deep technical knowledge of innovation theory and practice, specially including the area of scaling of innovation 
• Proven understanding of the humanitarian and/or development system, including the challenges and key stakeholders within the sector(s) 
• Excellent representation skills, including extensive experience facilitating workshops, speaking at events/meetings, and communicating effectively in a range of formats 
• Track record of published research, guidance and tools on innovation theory and practice (academic and/or grey literature) 
• An interest in the humanitarian or development sectors, ideally demonstrated through academic qualifications and/or paid or voluntary work.

Experience of working with grant making processes and systems would also be an advantage. 

If you want to be part of an organisation that creates positive change in the humanitarian sector, then join us and we'll give you every opportunity to succeed.   

We offer: 

• Remote working as standard – staff can access office bases in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Manchester if required/ appropriate. We expect staff to attend team meetings and away days in person as required. 
• As standard we work 35 hours per week. We are also happy to discuss flexible working patterns and many of our staff work non-standard working hours. 
• Our benefits include minimum 5% employer pension contribution (3% employee contribution), life cover, organisational sick pay, family friendly pay and leave schemes; 26-day basic annual leave entitlement with incremental increase depending on length of service (plus bank holidays), opportunities for learning and development, a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and retail discounts platform. 
• Please read through the Information for Candidates document for further information about working at Elrha including information about Our Values, Strategy, Benefits and Salaries. 

Note for applicants: 

• Candidates must have the independent right to work in UK, and be resident in the UK, at the time of appointment as we are unable to support visa sponsorship for this role. 
• Please read through the job description for a detailed list of requirements, and ensure you complete the personal statement to explain how you feel you meet the requirements of the role and why you feel this is next career move for you. Applications without this information will not be shortlisted. 
• Elrha is an independent subsidiary of SCUK and benefits from some SCUK systems and processes. 
• We reserve the right to close the advert early should we receive a very high volume of applications. 
• We do not use recruitment agencies. 

Closing date: 11:59am Thursday 8 May 2025 
Interview date: Thursday 22 May 2025 

For 140 years, the Forces Employment Charity has proudly supported Service leavers, veterans, and their families in building successful civilian careers.

We provide veterans with life-long, life-changing support, jobs, and training opportunities, regardless of circumstances, rank, length of service, or reason for leaving.

Brief role description:

The Communications Manager will play a key role in sharing the inspiring and powerful stories of our clients and the wider military community we support across the UK. They will be responsible for securing high-profile, meaningful media coverage that raises awareness of our mission to provide life-long, life-changing support, employment and training opportunities to Service leavers, veterans, reservists and their families. As we mark our 140th anniversary, this is a pivotal time for the Communications Manager to develop and deliver an integrated communications strategy across PR, traditional and new media, social media, and public affairs. Reporting to the Head of Brand and Communications, you will work closely with the Marketing Manager and the Community Engagement Manager and their teams to ensure consistent and aligned messaging across all marketing and
communication activity.​​

Interested? Want to know more about the Charity? Please visit the Charity Website

Eager to know more the role? Have a look at the Job Description attached.                                                                           

What’s in it for you? Check out the Benefits sheet attached.

Have we convinced you to apply? If so, submit your CV and Covering Letter by closing date Wednesday 14 May 2025.

​Please note: Applications will be reviewed and interviews conducted throughout the duration of this advert; therefore, we may at any time bring the closing date forward. We encourage all interested applicants to apply as soon as possible. ​If you are an internal applicant, please ensure you have made The People Team aware before applying.​

We are committed to equal opportunities and improving the working lives of our staff by fostering an inclusive, supportive environment where everyone, including those with disabilities, can thrive, develop, and achieve their full potential. We actively encourage applications from individuals with diverse backgrounds and ensure reasonable adjustments are made to support candidates with disabilities throughout the recruitment process.​

​We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in specific departments means that residency and security requirements can be more tightly defined than others. You will be asked about this throughout the recruitment process.

Community Outreach: Engage with members of the local community, supporting existing outreach projects and helping develop new initiatives.

Welcoming Guests: Create a warm, welcoming atmosphere for visitors to the church, fostering a sense of belonging.

Project Development: Contribute to the growth and development of ongoing projects, with a focus on enhancing the mission’s outreach and impact.

Current Projects: Tuesday Celtic Prayer; Toddler Group; Merton Winter Night Shelter (Site Coordinator); Messy Church; Summer Camp.

Collaboration: Work alongside church leaders and volunteers to deliver meaningful experiences for both visitors and members of the church community.

Keep adequate records of contacts and of work undertaken.

Appraise and review initiatives set up and activities undertaken, and change where necessary the action and focus of work after discussion with, and agreement, from the management group.

Any other duties and responsibilities, identified by the minister as are within your capabilities and level of responsibility, in order to meet the needs of the church.

About the role
As Head of Communications and Marketing you will lead the communications team to deliver a high-impact strategy to promote the work of the Foundation. You will manage the continuous evolution of the Foundation’s profile and brand, coordinating and delivering compelling content for a range of audiences across all channels. You’ll work closely with senior leadership to align the Foundation’s goals to the work of the team to support the delivery of our mission to empower women to start, grow and sustain successful businesses. For full information on this role, please download the job pack.

What the Foundation can offer you
A fantastic package of 28 days of annual leave (which includes three that must be taken during the festive break).
An organisation that values you. As a smaller organisation, we value everyone’s individual perspective and voice and all team members are able to contribute to our strategic planning.
Professional development, with career growth built into each staff member’s annual plan and a wide range of skills-building and learning opportunities provided. Each staff member has an annual £1,000 training budget.
A positive, supportive and collaborative culture and leadership style. We encourage teamwork and open and honest communication, while maintaining a friendly and relaxed atmosphere where everyone can thrive.
A focus on personal wellbeing and happiness, with regular team-building activities and line manager meetings that as well as your personal wellbeing.

About the Foundation 
The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women exists to create a future where women everywhere enjoy equal economic opportunities so they can thrive. Together with partners around the world, we work with women in low and middle income countries so they can start, sustain and grow successful enterprises. We collaborate to create fairer business environments so women are not constrained by gendered barriers and can reach their potential on their terms.

Since 2008, our training and mentoring services have supported 300,000 women to build successful micro, small and medium enterprises in over 100 countries. By blending insights from research, strong partnerships and pioneering technology we open doors for women entrepreneurs to skills, confidence, networks, finance and markets. We press for change to stop millions of women being held back from having the choice and opportunity to thrive.

ARMA (UK) is the professional association for research management in the UK. We represent research leaders, managers and administrators, offering professional development and opportunities to build networks, knowledge and skills.

We are looking for a Conference and Major Events Manager to lead on the delivery of our successful annual conference and other major events.

The role includes, but is not limited to, project management, budgeting and financial management, marketing and promotion, sponsorship and exhibition sales/ coordination, venue selection and contracting, supplier management, speaker liaison, abstract management and delegate administration.

This role will work closely with our Head of Membership Engagement, the chair of Conference and Conference Working Group to deliver an excellent programme and outstanding delegate experience. The role holder is also responsible for managing the relationship with our appointed Professional Conference Organiser (PCO).

For full details about this role, our work and the skills required please refer to our role profile.

About you

Do you want to use your skills to make it possible for people with myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, to live longer and better lives?

Myeloma UK is looking for a motivated and highly proactive Senior Policy Officer to join our Patient Advocacy team within the wider Research and Advocacy directorate. 

You will have experience in analysing, developing, and communicating complex policy issues, strong communication skills, and the ability to prioritise a fast-moving and wide-ranging workload.

You will also have experience working collaboratively and building relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders. 

You will have the ability to present findings and recommendations to a range of audiences and produce high-quality succinct briefings in a timely fashion, underpinned by evidence.

Empathy and sensitivity are required to work closely with patients and their families and friends.

Experience in the health charity sector, public/patient engagement work, and working on the National Institute of Health Care Excellence (NICE) and Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) consultation processes would be beneficial but not essential.

About the role

As Senior Policy Officer you will be part of the Patient Advocacy team who work to ensure that the patient voice is heard and acted upon by UK and devolved nations healthcare policy decision makers. You will represent the charity externally including national meetings with senior healthcare decision makers.

Your role is vital to developing strategic approaches to health technology appraisals (HTA), regulatory pathways (MHRA), clinical development programmes (academic and industry clinical trials) and commissioning routes to broaden access to new myeloma drug therapies and diagnostic technologies.

You will apply your skills flexibly across key policy areas including access to treatment, patient voice, stakeholder engagement and general healthcare policy and work with colleagues in communications and fundraising to make sure our supporters and the wider myeloma community understand the positive impact we make.

About us

Myeloma UK is the only UK charity focused on myeloma and its related conditions.  We provide support and influence access to treatments, while researching a cure.  Thanks to life-extending treatments and support, today many people affected by myeloma are able to live longer and to live well.  Together, we support, so no one faces myeloma alone. 

We are committed to bringing together the best and brightest people to help us ensure that every patient has an empowered present and a hopeful future.

Our ultimate goal is to find a cure and make myeloma history. Until then, our mission is to help every patient live well with myeloma for as long as possible. We are committed to diagnosing myeloma earlier, discovering and sharing knowledge, transforming the patient experience and influencing positive change in care.

Our culture

Wellbeing and staff engagement are at the heart of our culture.  We offer our employees a range of benefits including a pension salary exchange scheme, flexitime, flexible working from home with hub-based office working, health plan, employee assistance plan and holiday purchase scheme and we are committed to providing learning and development opportunities for all our employees.

How to apply

If you think you would be a great fit for this role, get in touch and tell us more about yourself by sending the following:

1. A cover letter telling us more about you and what you think makes you a good fit for this role

2. A CV that sets out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements

Applications close on 12 May 2025 and interviews will be held w/c 19 May 2025.

Myeloma UK is an equal opportunities employer and always welcomes applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of:

· sex

· race

· disability

· age

· sexual orientation

· gender reassignment

· religion or belief

· marital status

· pregnancy and maternity

Please note, you will be asked to provide evidence of your eligibility to work in the UK prior to interview selection.

Who are we:

Since 1962, the National Autistic Society has been campaigning to transform lives, change attitudes and create a society that works for autistic people.

In National Programmes we champion the rights and interests of autistic people and their families, making sure national policy and legislation to reflect their needs.

We provide autism training and best practice services and want all autistic people to have access to services and support that fully meet their needs. We also provide diagnostic services, training, accreditation, consultancy and conferences, designed to support all professionals and organisations.  

Who we are looking for: 

Autism Know How is our autism training and best practice services
We are here to help you to learn, develop and embed your or your organisation’s practice and ensure you are providing the best possible service for autistic people. 

We are looking for an experience Marketing and Communications Manager to join the Autism Know How team.

What we can offer you: 

• Auto-enrolled Pension Scheme 
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays 
• Excellent induction, training and development programme including training about autism and opportunities to attend our conferences 
• Online staff discount scheme for a range of benefits such as cycle to work scheme, season ticket loan & shopping discounts for places such as Asda, Tesco, Sainsburys, Halfords, Nike, Apple and loads more! 
• Healthcare Cash Plan 
• Life Assurance at 2 x base salary 
• A portfolio of fantastic new salary sacrifices benefits and other flexible benefits private health, dental insurance, car salary sacrifice scheme, activity pass, holiday trading, enhanced pension & salary deduct loans (eligibility criteria may apply) 
• Access to a 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme & counselling programme
• Free access to the Headspace App – a global leader in mindfulness and you can enrol up to three friends or family for free! 
• Eligibility for a Blue Light Card 

About our application process: 

When providing a supporting statement, please refer to the job description and person specification and include any information that shows your suitability for the role. 

We do reserve the right to close this advertisement early if we receive a high volume of suitable applications. 

For some roles, successful applicants will be required to complete the relevant safeguarding checks which will include additional references and criminal background checks. 

Applications for this job are sought from anyone who is suitably qualified and experienced for the role but particularly welcome from those with a diagnosis of autism. 

The National Autistic Society is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and adults who use our services and as such expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Successful applicants will be required to complete the relevant safeguarding checks. 

We are an equal opportunities employer. INDNPCS 

Reporting to: Director of Policy and Engagement 

Direct reports: 1 x Scotland Policy and Public Affairs Manager and Legislative Lead, 2 x Policy and Public Affairs Officers, 1 x England Policy and Public Affairs Manager 

Location of work: Home-based. The post holder must be easily and quickly commutable to London and will require frequent meetings in London. The role may involve some irregular travel throughout England and Scotland to attend events and meetings.

Contract type: Full-time, 35 hours per week,  flexible hours may be considered. The role may require occasional evening and weekend work 

Contract Length: Permanent 

Salary: £54,500 - £56,500 

BACKGROUND

Our work has never been more needed. The latest research suggesting that the number of children and young people at risk of hunger has rocketed to 2.6 million* means that one in five children don't have enough to eat.When a child is too hungry to learn, when they’re aching for something to eat, they can’t concentrate. They can’t absorb information. Big feelings and worries can be impossible to control. They fall behind in their studies.

Magic Breakfast provide a nutritious and filling breakfast to over 300,000 children and young people every school day. We work with schools in areas of high disadvantage, helping staff target the children most in need without barrier or stigma.  Magic Breakfast are ambitious to grow our impact to remove hunger as a barrier to learning for all children and young people in the UK.

 This is an exciting time to join Magic Breakfast if you wish to make a difference to the lives of children as we work to influence both policy implementation, with the national rollout of primary-aged universal school breakfast, and legislative change, through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. There has also been commitment from the Scottish Government for a national breakfast scheme and we are seeking to expand our advocacy work into Wales. Magic Breakfast’s influence will be instrumental to ensuring school breakfasts are implemented in a way that is hunger-focused and barrier free.

In addition, thousands of secondary school children are at risk of losing their free school breakfasts from September next year. For many of these students, this is their only opportunity to have a nutritious meal before facing a demanding school day, including taking exams.  And for the very youngest, we know that the disadvantage gap begins before they even reach reception. With the Government commitment to another 100,000 places in school-based nurseries, early years is also a critical part of our advocacy work.

 Being part of the work of Magic Breakfast is your chance, together with parents, teachers and people across the UK, to demonstrate the power of school breakfasts and to shape the way forward to end morning hunger for good.

*Food Foundation Insecurity Tracker Jan 2025

JOB PURPOSE

The Head of Policy & Public Affairs will review, develop and implement our advocacy strategy and lead a team to influence the devolved legislatures across the UK to address child morning hunger, with a view to the underlying systemic causes of child poverty and hunger, by driving change through policy and legislation. The role operates at our ‘Head of level’ which is the most senior operational specialist level and provides both operational and strategic leadership.

This role will also provide wider leadership across the charity and input into organisational strategy development and planning as part of the Core Management Group. This role will ensure that the Policy and Public Affairs function is aligned to the wider strategic aims and outcomes of Magic Breakfast as well as the internal operational systems and delivery.

The strategic leadership will ensure an external and long term view, with an outward looking and forward thinking approach that builds thought leadership, relationships and partnerships, with positioning to anticipate and build on new opportunities to end child morning hunger for good.

It will require an experienced Policy and Public Affairs professional, with significant experience of high impact and demonstrable outcomes at a senior level in the field. The postholder will lead the policy and public affairs team to influence the Early Adopters Scheme, the national rollout of primary school breakfast provision in England and breakfast legislation in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill (CWB).

They will also develop, guide and lead plans to influence the Scottish government, particularly in the run up to the election in May 2026 and the influencing of manifestos; and will lead Magic Breakfast’s upcoming influencing work in Wales. 

In the external leadership that the role provides they will build relationships with politicians, political influencers, special advisors and civil servants to establish long-term, sustainable solutions to child morning hunger in the UK.

As a compassionate, people centric and inspiring leader they will work to enable their team to grow and develop in their skills ensuring they can step away from the detail whilst retaining accountability, build effective resource management and progression pathways. This role may manage external consultants where necessary, and work collaboratively with external organisations to amplify our voice and asks and strengthen our position as a thought leader. 

 KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

· Review and define the advocacy strategy for 25/26 in line both with moving political environment and Magic Breakfast’s influencing agenda, considering the systemic barriers to ending child morning hunger for good.

· Develop and maintain close relationships with the Department for Education and other key departments including Department for Health and Social Care and Treasury, to secure hunger and child focus as key priorities for breakfast provision.

· Develop, monitor and evaluate influencing plans for each devolved nation

· Support the development of influencing plans with coalition groups and organisations to influence school breakfast policy, commitments and implementation

· Review policy positions in Wales and Northern Ireland and define our advocacy approach, gaining external insights and analysing available research and data to shape the plan

· Develop a vision for advocacy beyond current demands, considering political appetite and gaining insight from lived experience communities and relevant sectors, to ensure that we are clear on future asks, and can build the foundation towards them.

· Work with Impact and Insights team to define future research needs to meet our longer-term advocacy plans

· Enhance and establish internal processes and ensure good internal information dissemination 

· Work closely with key internal stakeholders to shape advocacy work and support broader organisational objectives

· Embed learnings and develop a fail fast, learn fast culture in the team

· Coach, support and lead direct reports enabling increased professional development, strategic decision making, proactive project management and robust political influencing

· Contribute to and help shape the work of the Core Management Group to ensure ongoing alignment for in year implementation of the strategic plan and create integrated future year plans which meet organisational goals

· Monitor and review KPIs to monitor and measure both team and cross organisational performance, using the results to guide teams and surface learnings

· Assess areas of risk and escalate where necessary and according to policy

· Develop and monitor annual team budgets

General

• Work collaboratively across the organisation, building good working relations and providing ad-hoc support to other teams and members of staff

• Passion and commitment to Magic Breakfast’s aim of alleviating morning hunger as a barrier to learning for children in the UK.

• Help to maintain a positive working environment; keeping the vision of Magic Breakfast at the heart of everything we do. 

• Share Magic Breakfast’s commitment to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion

• Establish and ensure existing Ways of Working are adhered to across team

• Adhere to all Magic Breakfast policies and procedures and ensure that all activity is compliant with current legislation, GDPR, data protection and child safeguarding requirements

• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role

 PERSON SPECIFICATION

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

· Strategy development, demonstrating a deep understanding of how to craft, implement, and evolve strategies that align to operational outcomes for the Policy and Advocacy function as well as enabling our organisation strategy in our aim to end child morning for good.

· Stakeholder management and partnership building with extensive experience of engaging, influencing, and collaborating with diverse stakeholders, including senior political figures, policymakers, funders and sector leaders.

· Ability to confidently and flexibly deal with volatile political environment, anticipating potential developments and adapting to emerging situations to meet aims

· Highly experienced in developing and shaping policy positions, using insights, research and data sets to inform and guide decision-making

· Understanding and experience of the role of the broader external environment to shape policy asks and political influencing, including the implications of a policy ask in one sector on another.

· Experience of influencing key political events such as budgets, national elections and the legislative process.

· Significant experience of coaching, supporting and managing the development of a team, with the ability to make difficult decisions and challenge where needed to deliver the organisational strategy.

Desirable

· Experience of education, food insecurity, child poverty or childcare sectors

Skills and Abilities

• Effective leadership mentality with confidence to step away from the detail and delegate responsibility, enabling others to use judgements, make decisions, learn from failures and continuously improve.

• Analytical and evidence based decision making, with the ability to turn data and analysis into policy and advocacy related recommendations or outcomes for action.

• Effective planning, prioritisation and project management skills. Able to organise self and team to meet planned objectives and strategic direction with the ability to pivot and manage the unexpected.

• Strong, influential and impactful interpersonal and communication skills and to advocate for own specialism, department and Magic Breakfast's mission, effectively conveying the organisation's impact and needs to a wide range of audiences.

• Operational and financial acumen and analysis: understanding and practical application of knowledge as required around funding considerations, budget development and management, risk management, and ensuring systems in place for efficiency by setting and maintaining policy and procedural frameworks.

• An outward looking and forward thinking approach that drives a sense of curiosity, innovation and continuous improvement. Always thinking what can we learn from others, what new developments can be explored and what are the opportunities for the function to improve and grow with others too.

WHAT WE OFFER

At Magic Breakfast we value our employees and work hard to develop offer a supportive, respectful culture which enables everyone to bring their whole self to work.

Please find attached our job pack

APPLICATION PROCCESS

Should you wish to discuss the role before applying please email our People and Culture Team, recruitment @ magicbreakfast. com

Shortlisting - w/c 5th May

Interview 1 - 15th and 16th May

Interview 2 - w/c 21st May

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately, once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.