Contract Senior Management Jobs
Closing Date: 16 April 2024
Ref 6675
Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for a driven individual to join us as our Transformational Philanthropy Lead (12 months FTC). This key role within our Partnerships & Philanthropy department requires a dynamic and strategic leader who will make a lasting impact by driving our ambitious strategy forward, focusing on cultivating high-impact, transformational funding opportunities and partnerships.
About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.
About you
As our Transformational Philanthropy Lead, you will be responsible for leading three critical areas within our Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations team:
- Driving New Business: Forge strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, engage with UK philanthropic networks, and work with others in the leadership team to develop a new business strategy that leverages our movement's networks and brand.
- Managing Strategic Partnerships: Oversee key partnerships with high-net-worth individuals and Trusts & Foundations, ensuring exemplary account management and securing multi-year commitments aligned with our priorities.
- Leading Innovative Projects: Take charge of pioneering initiatives within Save the Children UK, including our Next Generation project aimed at engaging philanthropists aged 35 and under.
In this role, day -to- day, you will:
- Support the growth of our pipeline alongside senior leadership, nurturing relationships with key stakeholders, and enhancing our external profile.
- Contribute to the leadership of the Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations team, fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration.
- Personally manage transformational philanthropic partnerships, securing significant gifts and providing mentorship to team members.
- Represent Save the Children UK within global forums, collaborating with international partners to maximise the impact of our philanthropic efforts.
- Provide leadership and support to the team, ensuring their well-being and professional development.
To be successful, it is important that you have:
- Proven experience in major donor or trust & foundation fundraising, with a track record of securing six and seven figure gifts.
- Ability to drive new business and identify opportunities for growth.
- Demonstrated leadership in managing complex projects and navigating organizational structures.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to engage with stakeholders at all levels.
What we offer you:
- Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance.
- To have the best (and happiest) employees we focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, and health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
- We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day.
Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as 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.
Ways of Working:
The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but there are likely to be times when you will be required to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter). This will be agreed with your Line Manager and team and is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and relationship building.
Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense.
Flexible Working - We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be "Free to Be Me". We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think.
We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences - of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability - help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.
The Youth Endowment Fund
Senior Research Manager (Toolkit)
Reports to: Evidence and Engagement Lead
Salary: £51,300
Contract: 2 years fixed-term
Location: Central London, Hybrid*
Closing date: 9am Monday, 8th April 2024
About the Youth Endowment Fund
We’re here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.
In recent years violent crime has risen significantly. Homicides, assaults, robberies and offences involving weapons have all seen growth. We have also seen increases in violent crime involving children and young people. This is a tragedy. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them.
The Youth Endowment Fund exists to try and permanently change things. To succeed, we must build a fantastic body of knowledge about violence affecting young people and how we reduce it. This knowledge has to be both rigorous and highly relevant to those making decisions about how to support vulnerable young people. We need to find out what works and what doesn’t through evidence synthesis, data analysis and qualitative research into children’s lives. We then need to convert this into highly accessible content on what works, how delivery organisations need to change their practice and how the systems they operate in need to be reformed.
About the Toolkit and Synthesis Team
The Toolkit and Synthesis team is at the heart of our work to spread knowledge of what works to prevent children becoming involved in violence. We do this by creating free, highly accessible summaries of the best available research. We love to discuss the latest developments in research methods, but we’re not just interested in research for its own sake. We want research to lead to actual changes in outcomes for children.
Our flagship resource is our Toolkit a free, online resource that summarises the best available evidence about preventing children becoming involved in serious violence. It’s based on the highest-quality systematic reviews but is written in plain English and is free of jargon. It provides practical guidance and helps practitioners and policy makers turn evidence into action. The Toolkit is a live resource – we regularly update it so that professionals working to keep children safe have access to the latest findings. We do this by commissioning new systematic reviews, building a pipeline of evidence to keep expanding the Toolkit.
Alongside our work on the Toolkit, our team is also responsible for the YEF Programmes Evidence and Gap Map and the YEF Systems Evidence and Gap Map. We’re working with external partners to explore new ways of updating the research using the latest developments in technology. We’re also working with partners on an Effect Size Database to facilitate new systematic reviews and meta-analyses of research examining the impact of violence prevention interventions.
Key responsibilities
The Senior Research Manager will be an essential part of the YEF Toolkit and Synthesis team and will develop a portfolio of impactful projects. The core of your role will be leading our work on commissioning evidence synthesis.
This will involve:
- Developing the future pipeline of systematic reviews. You’ll scope out the existing evidence base and understand the needs of our audience. You’ll use this information to recommend new review topics for YEF funding.
- Leading on the design, commissioning, and management of systematic reviews. You’ll also work with our partners to manage existing grants for systematics reviews. This will involve reviewing protocols and reports, working with advisory groups, and ensuring that systematic reviews will meet our aims.
- Becoming an advocate for the insights generated by YEF-funded reviews both within and outside the organisation. You’ll ensure that these insights inform our strategy and are accurately communicated to policy makers and practitioners.
- Writing and reviewing content for the Toolkit. You’ll use findings from evidence synthesis to produce new content for the Toolkit, including summaries of the evidence and impactful resources which enable the application of research in practice. You’ll ensure that Toolkit content is only ever easy-to-understand and written in plain English with incredible clarity.
- Providing leadership across the organisation to ensure synthesis is high-quality. You’ll be the go-to person at the YEF for support with evidence synthesis.
- Ensuring that reviews are used to update and expand the YEF’s Evidence and Gap Maps.
- Contributing research to support the scoping, development and delivery of our grant-making.
- Ensuring that our strategy and decision-making are informed by the best available research.
About you
You’re this sort of person:
- You want to play a significant part in reducing the level of violence affecting young people. You care about having an impact.
- You share our belief that an evidence-based approach is our best hope of preventing violence. You’re fascinated by research, but you’re not just interested in research for its own sake. You want to achieve actual changes in outcomes for children.
- You’re a confident reader of research and have strong critical appraisal skills. You know when research can be trusted and when it can’t and can confidently articulate your views on the strength of research. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, research or professional experience.
- You have a proven track record of commissioning or conducting high-quality evidence synthesis. You have a good understanding of these methods and can discuss the pros and cons of them. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, training, research or professional experience.
- You have at least three years’ experience working in a role that required you to think about research. This could include a range of roles in policy, academia, funding or practice.
- You write in a way that people easily understand. You have that rare skill of writing in plain English. You have experience of translating complex research findings into plain writing that everyone can understand.
- You have excellent project and time management skills. You can work independently, quickly and to a high standard.
- You’re good with people. You’re comfortable working with a wide range of people, including senior academics and other research experts, children and their families, practitioners and policy makers. You’re able to provide constructive challenge when required.
- You learn fast but remain humble. You like learning. You’re very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know and that you can always learn more.
- You work well in a team. You care more that good things happen than who gets the credit. You support your colleagues to produce excellent work.
- You’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, views and values.
You may have:
- A good level of knowledge and understanding of crime or violence. You know the facts, understand the issues, know the key people and can discuss the theories. You’re knowledgeable on this topic and very at ease discussing it with experts. Alternatively, you might have a strong understanding of a relevant area such as education, youth work or social care.
- Experience of developing a research strategy. You have thought hard about gaps in the evidence base, how they can be filled and how this might influence policy and practice.
- Experience of commissioning research and managing external contractors. You can scrutinise a budget to ensure it provides value for money.
- Confident public speaking skills. You’re an excellent verbal communicator. You’ve delivered dozens of talks on complex topics. You’re calm and confident when answering challenging questions.
While it’s not a criterion, we’re especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of youth violence.
It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.
Additional benefits include
£1,000 professional development budget annually, 28 days plus Bank Holidays, four half days for volunteering activities.
Hybrid working details
The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month.
To apply
To apply, please send a CV and cover letter, and complete the monitoring form click on "Apply for this" button by 9:00am Monday 8h April 2024.
When applying for this role, please ensure that your cover letter can answer, within a maximum of 1000 words, the following questions:
- Why are you motivated to apply for this role?
- Give clear examples where your experience directly relates to the “About You” section in the Job Description.
You should also include the contact details of two referees, one of whom must be your current or most recent employer. Referees will only be approached with your express permission.
You will also be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK. As part of our commitment to flexible working, we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at the interview stage.
Interview process
Interviews will take place in the week commencing the 16th April 2024.
There will be a task to prepare for in advance.
Personal data
Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
The Youth Endowment Fund
Research Lead – Underlying causes of violence
Reports to: Head of Toolkit and Synthesis
Salary: £54,000
Contract: 2 years Fixed term
Location: Central London, Hybrid*
Closing date: 9am Monday, 8th April 2024
About the Youth Endowment Fund
We’re here to prevent children and young people becoming involved in violence. We do this by finding out what works and building a movement to put this knowledge into practice.
In recent years violent crime has risen significantly. Homicides, assaults, robberies and offences involving weapons have all seen growth. We have also seen increases in violent crime involving children and young people. This is a tragedy. Every child captured in these numbers is an important member of our community and society has a duty to protect them.
The Youth Endowment Fund exists to try and permanently change things. To succeed, we must build a fantastic body of knowledge about violence affecting young people and how we reduce it. This knowledge has to be both rigorous and highly relevant to those making decisions about how to support vulnerable young people. We need to find out what works and what doesn’t through evidence synthesis, data analysis and qualitative research into children’s lives.
We also need to understand the underlying causes of violence and which children are most in need of support. This is where your role is so important.
Your key responsibilities
As the Research Lead on causes of violence, you will be an essential part of the YEF team. You will
- Lead the YEF’s research into the causes and nature of violence in England and Wales. You’ll investigate questions like:
- Why does violence happen? What seems to protect children or put them at greater risk?
- Are there particular locations or times where violence happens most often?
- Why do people desist from violence and how can we support this process?
- How can we use this information effectively and ethically?
- Make sure we invest in research that fills important gaps in knowledge and leads to important changes. This could include commissioning:
- Systematic reviews on issues like child criminal exploitation, drug markets and children’s experiences of involvement in violence.
- Detailed analysis of individual cases of violence. You’ll commission research teams to explore:
- How we can learn about the causes and contexts of violence through rich mixed methods analysis of individual cases.
- Whether we can learn generalisable lessons from a sample of cases.
- Other new primary research such as quantitative analysis of existing datasets, rich qualitative exploration of children’s experiences or working with our large number of young people trained as peer researchers (as part of the Peer Action Collective).
- You will create accessible summaries of key pieces of research. This could include:
- A systematic review (funded by YEF) of existing research.
- Key criminological insights about the nature of crime and violence.
- You’ll create useful tools and resources (similar to our Toolkit) which support decision-makers to apply insights from your work. This could include guidance to commissioners on how to understand the nature of violence in their area, the needs of local children, and
- You’ll develop great relationships with experts and represent YEF in external meetings and events. You’ll promote our research by speaking at conferences and events.
- You’ll work with our Change team to identify opportunities for our research to influence policy and practice, and bring about positive changes that will keep children safe.
- You’ll have line management responsibility for a Research Manager. You’ll ensure they contribute effectively to your portfolio of work.
About you
You are this sort of person:
- You want to play a significant part in reducing the level of violence affecting young people. You care about having an impact.
- You share our belief that an evidence-based approach is our best hope of preventing violence. You’re fascinated by research, but you’re not just interested in research for its own sake. You want to achieve actual changes in outcomes for children.
- You know a lot about research on violence, where it happens, what causes it and who does it. You know the key ideas, debates and studies. You’re comfortable talking about this research with experts. There are many ways to acquire this knowledge, including professional experience, academic research or study, and personal interest.
- You’re a confident reader of research (including systematic reviews and quantitative methods) and have strong critical appraisal skills. You know when research can be trusted and when it can’t and can confidently articulate your views on the strength of research. You might have gained this expertise through your academic studies, research or professional experience.
- You have at least three years’ experience working in a role that required you to think about research. This could include a range of roles in policy, academia, funding or practice.
- You write in a way that people easily understand. You have that rare skill of writing in plain English. You have experience of translating complex research findings into plain writing that everyone can understand.
- You have excellent project and time management skills. You can work independently, quickly and to a high standard.
- You are good with people. You’re comfortable working with a wide range of people, including senior academics and other research experts, children and their families, practitioners and policy-makers. You’re able to provide constructive challenge when required.
- You learn fast but remain humble. You like learning. You’re very good at synthesising information. You know how much you don't know and that you can always learn more.
- You work well in a team. You care more that good things happen than who gets the credit. You support your colleagues to produce excellent work.
- You’re committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. You believe and act in a way that celebrates and encourages a range of experiences, views and values.
You may have:
- Experience of commissioning research and managing external contractors. You can scrutinise a budget to ensure it provides value for money.
- Confident public speaking skills. You’re an excellent verbal communicator. You’ve delivered dozens of talks on complex or contested topics. You’re calm and confident when answering challenging questions.
- Experience of working directly on the prevention of violence or crime. This might mean working directly with young people at risk of becoming involved in crime or working with organisations that fund or deliver relevant programmes.
- Experience of developing a research strategy. You have thought hard about gaps in the evidence base, how they can be filled and how this might influence policy and practice.
We would consider flexible arrangements to find the right candidate. This could include:
- Secondments for candidates with an established record of research on the causes of violence. This arrangement might suit an academic researcher who is looking to gain experience outside of academia but does not want to leave academia entirely.
- Flexible working alongside postgraduate study.
While it’s not a criterion, we’re especially interested to hear from applicants who have lived experience of youth violence.
It’s also important to us that the people we hire do not discriminate. We believe in being inclusive and giving everyone an equal chance to succeed. Applications are welcome from all regardless of age, sex, gender identity, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, race, sexual orientation, transgender status or social economic background.
Additional benefits include
£1,000 professional development budget annually, 28 days plus Bank Holidays, four half days for volunteering activities.
Hybrid working details
The office is based in Central London. Those living in and around London are expected to be in the office a minimum of 2 days per week. If you live outside of London and work remotely, you’ll be expected to work from the London office 2 days per month.
To apply
To apply, please send a CV and cover letter, and complete the monitoring form click on "Apply for this" button by 9:00am Monday, 8th April 2024.
When applying for this role, please ensure that your cover letter can answer, within a maximum of 1000 words, the following questions:
- Why are you motivated to apply for this role?
- Give clear examples where your experience directly relates to the “About You” section in the JD.
You should also include the contact details of two referees, one of whom must be your current or most recent employer. Referees will only be approached with your express permission.
You will also be required to provide proof of your eligibility to work in the UK. As part of our commitment to flexible working, we will consider a range of options for the successful applicant. All options can be discussed at interview stage.
Interview process
Interviews will take place in the week commencing the 16th of April 2024.
There will be a task to prepare for in advance.
Personal data
Your personal data will be shared for the purposes of the recruitment exercise. This includes our HR team, interviewers (who may include other partners in the project and independent advisors), relevant team managers and our IT service provider if access to the data is necessary for performance of their roles. We do not share your data with other third parties, unless your application for employment is successful and we make you an offer of employment. We will then share your data with former employers to obtain references for you. We do not transfer your data outside the European Economic Area.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.