Active families programme manager jobs

We’re Hiring: Chief Executive Officer

Salary: £75,000 – £80,000 + pension
Location: Northamptonshire (flexible, with min. 3 days on-site)
Closing date: 5pm, Friday 3rd October 2025

Age UK Northamptonshire is looking for a dynamic Chief Executive Officer to lead us into our next chapter.

We are the leading local charity supporting older people across the county—providing advice, companionship, and essential services to 18,000+ people every year.

As our long-serving CEO retires, we need an inspiring, strategic leader who can:
✅ Champion older people as a trusted advocate and spokesperson
✅ Lead a dedicated team of 140+ staff and 260+ volunteers
✅ Strengthen partnerships and income streams to ensure sustainability
✅ Build on our proud history while driving innovation and growth

About You

You’ll bring:

• Proven senior leadership experience in a complex organisation
• Strong financial and strategic planning skills
• Excellent communication and influencing abilities
• Integrity, energy, and resilience to lead by example

Knowledge of the voluntary sector, health, social care, or issues affecting older people is highly desirable.

Interviews take place in October. If you have any questions then please use the above email. 

�� Be the voice for older people in Northamptonshire. Lead us into the future.

Join Beacon to drive projects that place patients at the heart of translational research, shaping progress and improving outcomes with and for rare disease communities.

OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE

Beacon, now in its second decade of operation, has experienced substantial growth over the last three years, including an organisational rebrand and expansion into international projects. We are now recruiting a Senior Patient and Scientific Engagement Officer to play a central role in delivering ambitious projects that put patients at the heart of translational research.

This role sits at the crossroads of patient involvement and scientific communication, building meaningful collaborations between patients, researchers, and other stakeholders. You’ll provide essential operational support and subject expertise to ensure projects run smoothly and reflect the real-world needs of the rare disease community.

You will contribute primarily to two of Beacon’s major collaborative initiatives: REMEDi4ALL, a European-wide drug repurposing platform with over 25 partner organisations, and the LifeArc Translational Research Centres for Rare Disease (LifeArc TrC4RD), a UK-wide partnership. In this role, you will work directly and regularly with partners across these consortia, encompassing patient group leaders, patient representatives, academic researchers, clinical trialists, and beyond. You will act as a vital interface between patients and researchers in both projects, coordinating activities, facilitating collaboration, and embedding patient perspectives throughout the work. While these will be your main focus, you will also support other initiatives across the charity, particularly those aimed at advancing scientific understanding of rare diseases and strengthening patient involvement in research.

This is a varied position offering the chance to apply and further develop your expertise across areas such as patient and public involvement, scientific content development, training, and stakeholder engagement. We are looking for someone with a strong grasp of both the scientific and patient landscapes, who can balance attention to detail with big-picture awareness and work confidently in highly collaborative settings with multiple partner organisations. This role offers a unique opportunity to make a tangible contribution to advancing rare disease research and ensuring patients’ voices drive progress across the UK and Europe.

See our full job description for more information on REMEDi4ALL and The LifeArc TrC4RD

MAIN DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Your main responsibilities will span aspects of project delivery, stakeholder engagement, and patient-centred scientific support. In this role, you will:

• Support the delivery of Beacon’s work within REMEDi4ALL and the LifeArc TrC4RD, collaborating directly with partners across these consortia to coordinate activities and ensure timely delivery of shared goals.
• Assist in the preparation of project materials, reports, and updates for consortium meetings and communications.
• Write, review, and refine accessible, patient-facing materials that explain complex scientific concepts and research projects clearly.
• Help design and deliver patient engagement strategies for major collaborative projects, ensuring patient perspectives are embedded throughout.
• Support and liaise with REMEDi4ALL Patient Champions and the LifeArc Patient Engagement Group, including coordinating mentorship, facilitating input into project teams, and managing communications.
•  Build and maintain strong working relationships with patient advocates, researchers, funders, and partner organisations, ensuring clear communication and effective collaboration.
• Contribute to the planning and delivery of multi-stakeholder meetings, workshops, and webinars that bring together patients, researchers, and other partners to discuss research priorities and approaches.
• Support the creation and delivery of training materials, sessions, and talks for patient groups, researchers, and other stakeholders on topics such as patient and public involvement (PPIE) and rare disease research.
• Participate in project discussions to understand current patient engagement and provide input or signposting to improve engagement and support.
• Represent Beacon and its work at consortium meetings, external conferences, and events – both as a delegate and, where appropriate, as a speaker.
• Support other Beacon-led projects as required, particularly those focused on advancing patient knowledge, engagement, and scientific understanding.
• Provide hands-on support for the on-the-day delivery of Beacon events, training programmes, and other charity activities.

 PERSON SPECIFICATION

This is a mid-to-senior level role. Candidates should have professional experience in scientific engagement, patient involvement, or research coordination, and be ready to contribute confidently to collaborative consortium projects with external partners.

We are looking for someone with a strong commitment to patient-centric approaches, who is willing to advocate for patients’ perspectives and priorities, while also navigating the need for compromise and collaboration across multiple organisations.

Essential

• Relevant professional experience (e.g., life sciences, medical communication, translational research, or patient engagement), ideally accompanied by a scientific qualification.
• Experience in patient and public involvement or patient engagement within research, ideally in health contexts.
• Strong understanding of scientific processes, translational research, or clinical research, with the ability to communicate complex concepts clearly to non-specialist audiences.
• Ability to work effectively within multi-partner or consortium projects, collaborating with external organisations.
• Confidence in liaising with a wide range of stakeholders, including patients, researchers, funders, and partner organisations.
• Experience developing accessible, patient-centred materials, training, or communications.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines while maintaining attention to detail.
• Strong interpersonal skills and confidence in building relationships across diverse groups.
• Ability to work independently and proactively, while contributing effectively as part of a team.
• Commitment to patient-centred research and improving outcomes for the rare disease community.
• Flexibility to travel for in-person meetings, workshops, and events within the UK and internationally multiple times a year.

 Desirable

• Experience supporting or delivering training sessions, workshops, or webinars for patient or professional audiences.
• Familiarity with drug repurposing, translational research, or rare disease research environments.
• Experience managing or contributing to multi-stakeholder research projects.
• Experience working or volunteering in the charity or not-for-profit sector.
• An understanding of rare diseases, health charities, or small-organisation dynamics

WORKING AT BEACON

Beacon is a small, tight-knit team, with a friendly atmosphere and strong commitment to our beneficiaries. We aim to give all employees opportunities to pursue their interests, develop their skills, and shape their career path.

We offer flexible working practices to help our staff balance their personal and professional lives, including hybrid working (50% split between home and office working) and flexible hours. We also recognise the substantial benefits of in-person collaboration and communication for the organisation, team morale, and for individual staff development, and are committed to maintaining this as a core part of how we work.

After the initial in-person onboarding period, we’d like this role to be based in the office for around 2–3 days a week on average (though not necessarily every single week) to support effective teamwork, strong communication, and smooth daily operations.

BENEFITS

• 25 days holiday, plus bank holidays and Christmas to New Year closure 
• Flexible working practices including hybrid working and flexitime
• Time off in lieu to support appropriate work/life balance
• 5% pension contribution 
• Annual training budget to support personal and professional development 
• A close knit and friendly small team environment 
• Frequent opportunities to meet with beneficiaries and expand your professional network
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) including access to mental health support, 24/7 GP service, discounted gym membership, shopping savings and more

Are you enthusiastic, collaborative, with excellent communication skills and an eye for a story? Our charity team is looking for a dynamic self-starter to join our team as Communications Assistant. Through making social media posts, creating engaging content or writing stories, you’ll play an integral role in communicating our impact and stories to our key audiences.

At Horatio’s Garden, we build and look after extraordinary gardens in the heart of NHS spinal injury centres. These gardens are a critical part of rehabilitation and offer reflection and adjustment, privacy and solace, joy and companionship to all who need it. We lead regular gardening sessions to grow and cultivate plants, arts workshops to offer new skills and a programme of live music and events. Designed to be enjoyed all year round, these gardens offer a warm, welcoming place for family and friends who may have travelled hours for a visit.

Our vision is for everyone with a spinal injury to have a Horatio’s Garden as part of their rehabilitation care.

The charity is growing. We have eight garden projects open and are fundraising for our ninth garden in Middlesbrough.

This role will assist with the content creation of engaging written, film and visual content across different platforms, scheduling and moderating our social channels, and helping us report on our digital activity. You will support the rollout of the new regional social media channels for each garden to help place storytelling and impact at the heart of our communications.

It would suit someone looking to start or build their career in the communications field or charity sector to develop experience in developing content, writing and charity campaigning. There will be opportunities for training and development and you will travel between the charity’s UK-wide gardens and meet patients, volunteers and staff.

This is a full-time role (37.5 hours a week) based in the charity’s office in Salisbury with the ability to discuss some flexible working after the six month probation period.

You will be reporting to the Communications Manager.

Main duties

1. Help manage the day-to-day running of the charity’s social media (Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook). Schedule content and respond to comments and messages to foster positive engagement and add value to the supporter experience

2. Work closely with the team to produce subscriber, campaign-led and post-event newsletter content and manage the subscriber database

3. Contribute to the charity’s content calendar and work creatively and collaboratively with the communications and wider charity team to proactively seek and develop story ideas

4. Create engaging content in support of charity objectives and reflecting our brand and tone guidelines

5. Assist with internal communications to convey key updates to staff

6. Assist in maintaining and updating Horatio’s Garden’s main website

7. Help to manage the charity’s digital assets, ensuring the team have access to the most impactful photographs and videos for their needs

8. Collate, analyse and present monthly reports on social media, newsletter and website activity and engagement against key performance metrics

9. Assist with planning and promotion of campaigns and track press activity

10. Keep up to date with the latest digital marketing trends and technologies

General duties 

1. Support the wider team with administrative duties that support the smooth running of the charity

2. Actively contribute to team and organisation meetings

Skills required

1. Strong interest/experience in creating content for digital channels

2. Good understanding of the digital landscape, including trends

3. Excellent writing and editorial skills with attention to detail

4. Able to create accessible, engaging content

5. Strong administrative and organisational skills

6. Good IT and software skills and willingness to learn – you will be using Microsoft suite, Hootsuite and Mailchimp

7. Video editing experience/interest – experience with or willingness to learn Adobe Creative Suite, Canva or similar

8. Flexible, can-do attitude, with the ability to remain calm and professional when under pressure

We are looking for someone who has:

1. The ability to take initiative and be a self-starter, working independently as well as part of a team

2. An ability to manage a varied workload and work to deadlines

3. A willingness to learn new skills and to develop existing skills

4. An empathic personality

5. A positive, can-do and resilient attitude

6. Passion for the charity sector

The charity is keen to promote training and opportunities and we will support the candidate to attend relevant training courses where a need can be demonstrated and to make the most of any opportunities to learn additional skills, for example involvement with filming and photo shoots by professional contractors hired by the charity.

We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sectors of society. Please note that this role will involve occasional out-of-hours working (including evenings and weekends) as part of a rota to ensure the charity’s social media channels are active and monitored at peak times and during events.

As a charity, we are committed to creating and promoting a culture that protects and preserves the welfare of the vulnerable people in our care. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and thorough process of obtaining and evaluating information from and about candidates including criminal record checks, to ensure that all persons appointed are suitable to work for our charity.