Advisory board member with fundraising expertise jobs

Title: Head of Operations

Responsible to: CEO

Hours: 35 hours per week

Salary: £45,000 - £48,000 FT (depending on experience and qualifications)

Based: Willesden, NW10 2JR; Haringey borough (including Hornsey, N8 9LP and Tottenham Hale, N17 9FU) + other locations if required

Contract: Permanent (subject to continuation of funding)

Please Note: Enhanced DBS check will be required

JOB OVERVIEW

Do you want to work for an organisation that makes a real difference, every day, to people from all walks of life? Do you want to use your operational management experience to have a tangible impact in the community? This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced team leader looking to take on a meaningful new career challenge to join the Brent Irish Advisory Service (BIAS) as Head of Operations.

The Head of Operations oversees all of BIAS’s projects, managing a small, high-performing team of project coordinators and frontline advice and community-support staff to ensure that we provide the highest-quality service to our clients. You will need to have demonstrable team-management experience, strong people and communication skills, and a willingness to take a hands-on approach to project delivery, along with excellent organisational and strategic abilities to ensure that projects are delivered sustainably, effectively and efficiently.

In 2025, BIAS expanded its successful Brent-based advice service and active ageing clubs into Haringey borough. The Head of Operations will take the lead on further building and developing the new services in Haringey, ensuring that we replicate our excellent quality of service, strong record of positive outcomes and loyal service-user base.

This is a key role within the BIAS senior leadership team, which will give you the opportunity to have a direct impact on shaping the organisation’s future strategy and direction.

KEY WORK AREAS AND MAIN DUTIES

Staff management

• Manage a team of five project coordinators and five front-line staff to ensure effective delivery and monitoring of BIAS’s core welfare and housing advice, active ageing, volunteering and befriending projects, which support over 900 people per year.
• Manage HR procedures, including employment contracts, probation assessment, leave administration, staff supervision, performance management and exit procedures.
• Conduct recruitment procedures where needed, and supervise the onboarding process for new joiners.
• Oversee training and development needs and budgets.
• Ensure good teamwork and lines of communication between staff, including by chairing regular staff meetings.
• Create a positive working environment in which equity and diversity are promoted and staff can do their best.

Project management

• Project-manage the further development of new advice and active ageing services in Haringey borough.
• Take the lead on promotion and marketing of BIAS’s services, including by representing the charity to partner organisations and at external events.
• Contribute to the organisation and running of regular community and fundraising events.
• Deputise for the Advice Services Manager where needed, supporting the welfare and housing advisers with complex casework, forward planning and client management.
• Support the Active Ageing Coordinators and volunteer teams wherever needed with the day-to-day running of the active ageing clubs.

Quality and service delivery

• Oversee quality-assurance procedures in line with the Advice Quality Standard (AQS), and spearhead biannual renewal of BIAS’s AQS accreditation.
• Oversee running of BIAS’s volunteer project in line with the Investing in Volunteers quality accreditation standards.
• Serve as internal data protection officer, monitoring GDPR compliance, managing risk and responding to any potential data breaches.
• Serve as BIAS safeguarding lead, ensuring that safeguarding policies and training are kept up to date, and that all safeguarding concerns are appropriately addressed.
• Work with the Fundraising and Communications Manager to administer the BIAS website and implement BIAS’s social media strategy.
• Administer BIAS’s IT and client management systems (Microsoft 365, SharePoint, BrightHR, Lamplight CRM), coordinating training, updates and troubleshooting.

Operational leadership

• Advise the CEO on all staffing and service-delivery issues.
• Monitor and report on service delivery, including through monthly advice and volunteer-project reports, quarterly Board reports and regular funder reports.
• Carry out regular reviews of BIAS’s annual business plan, risk register, five-year strategy and internal policies and procedures, providing recommendations to the CEO and Board of Trustees on strategic direction.
• Research and secure funding from grant-making organisations, ensuring BIAS’s future financial sustainability.
• Work closely with the Finance Manager and CEO on budgeting, grant monitoring, cashflow and financial authorisation.

These are the basic duties required of the Head of Operations. However, it is necessary for all staff to be flexible and you may be required from time to time to perform other reasonable duties which are required for the efficient running of the organisation. We will also offer training opportunities to support your career development.

Candidates must be eligible to work in the UK. This role will be based in our advice offices and club venues in Willesden and Haringey but there may be some options for flexible working (e.g. one day per week from home). Occasional evening or weekend work may be required.

ABOUT BIAS

BIAS is a local charity which has supported England’s largest Irish community in Brent for almost fifty years. We deliver our support through our welfare and housing advice service, our active ageing clubs, our volunteer project and our befriending scheme. We raise over £2 million in extra income for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged every year and have over 7000 attendances at our club services. BIAS has recently expanded into Haringey borough and has exciting plans to further develop its project scope and geographical reach, supported by sustainable and diversified grant funding, including from Ireland’s Emigrant Support Programme.

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter. The deadline for applications is 29th August 2026 but we encourage candidates to apply as soon as possible as interviews may be carried out on a rolling basis.

Who We Are Looking For
We are seeking an inspiring and strategic leader who is passionate about delivering lasting impact for people with disabilities and other marginalised communities. As our new Director of Programme Impact, you will shape the strategic direction and development of our programme portfolio, ensuring our partner-led work continues to grow in reach, quality, effectiveness, and impact.
You will bring strong programme leadership, people management expertise, and a commitment to partnership-based approaches that support locally led development. As a member of CBM UK’s Leadership Team (LT), you will contribute to the overall strategic direction of the organisation while leading and motivating a committed Programmes Team. You will play a key role in strengthening CBM UK’s contribution to the CBM Global federation, working closely with country teams, technical specialists, and partners to maximise our collective impact.
An experienced leader, you will provide strategic oversight across a diverse portfolio of programmes, partnerships, and funding opportunities. Overseeing an annual budget of around £4million, you will have a strong track record of delivering impactful programme strategies, building and developing high-performing teams, and fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, inclusion, and continuous learning. This role offers an exciting opportunity for an established senior leader who is ready to take the next step into their first Director-level position, as well as those with existing director-level experience.
Forward-thinking and adaptable, you will be excited by the opportunities and challenges facing the international development sector. You will play an instrumental role in exploring the changing role of UK INGOs within the localisation agenda and will work closely with the CEO and Leadership Team to develop new approaches and business models that respond to an evolving global context. You will also bring experience of securing and growing institutional and strategic funding opportunities, alongside the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly and compellingly to a wide range of audiences.
Above all, you will share our commitment to inclusion, equity, and disability rights and be motivated by the opportunity to help create a world in which all people can enjoy their rights and fulfil their potential. You will be inspired by the chance to shape both organisational strategy and sector-wide conversations, ensuring that people with disabilities remain at the heart of international development and humanitarian action.

Key Responsibilities
Programmes Leadership & Management (70%)
1. Lead the strategic and financial development and oversight of CBM UK’s international programme portfolio, ensuring the organisation delivers its programme strategy with maximum impact and effectiveness in alignment with CBM Global’s strategy. Support and line manage the team to translate strategic priorities into actionable plans to ensure excellence in programme funding, development and delivery.
2. Drive quality and effectiveness within CBM UK projects and across CBM Global by
a) ensuring effective coordination of tasks, forward planning of key activities and events, and providing space for collaboration, problem-solving, escalation and innovation across the portfolio.
b) identifying and improving policies and procedures that ensure proportional programmatic oversight and support complex institutional funding management.
c) supporting Programmes staff to work with country teams to pursue a localised approach to programming, drawing on the CBM Global localisation roadmap.
3. Work with Programme Funding colleagues to lead and oversee the development of strategic partnerships and packaging of programme approaches that secure institutional funding for CBM UK’s programmes, including by strengthening intelligence on donor trends and funder priorities, developing immediate responses to new opportunities as they arise in line with CBM UK’s mission.
4. Work closely with CBM UK finance, fundraising, communication teams and other CBM Global Members in creating and responding to opportunities for funding, driving growth, and promoting effective use of CBM UK’s voluntary income to leverage match funding.
5. Together with the Board and LT, actively manage programme risks based on CBMUK’s overall risk management framework.
6. Demonstrate leadership in maintaining an environment free from harm for project participants, CBM UK and partner staff by overseeing the management of safeguarding concerns arising in CBM UK supported projects, including reporting to the Board and Charity Commission where appropriate.
7. Promote within the Programmes Department a culture of learning, reflection and continuous improvement which only results in an improved programmatic approach but also informs and supports our advocacy, advisory, and evidence and learning work.

8. Liaise closely with CBM UK colleagues to ensure coordination and effective integration of programme activities into opportunities for fundraising, including contributing to the innovation in business models to diversify CBM UK’s funding base, including exploring sustainable funding approaches to enhance programme delivery and reduce dependency on the charitable model (in conjunction with the CEO and Director of Fundraising, Impact and Communications).

Organisational leadership (20%)
1. Contribute to the overall leadership and strategic direction of CBM UK through the Leadership Team, and in collaboration with the CEO, including contributing to Board meetings.
2. As part of the Leadership Team, take shared leadership responsibility for the wider CBM UK team of staff and volunteers, supporting effective collaboration and organisational cohesion, and taking on cross-functional responsibilities where appropriate.
3. Encourage and promote a culture of ambition, learning and excellence across the CBM UK team.
4. Be responsible for producing and initiating regular reports, briefing papers and other relevant programmes information for the CEO and Board Programmes Committee as appropriate.
5. Lead on supporting the Board Programmes Committee, working closely with the Committee Chair to ensure members are provided with the information necessary to permit strategic oversight and robust risk management.
6. Lead UK’s engagement with CBM Global's programmatic leadership, in particular Directors of Programmes in other CBM Member Teams (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland), CBM Global Secretariat, and Technical Directors, working towards greater alignment, escalation of issues, and collaboration to advance CBM UK’s approach to localisation.

Representation and advocacy (10%)
1. Represent the organisation at the highest levels, including deputising for the CEO where required. Act as a key spokesperson for CBM UK with a range of external audiences, including institutional and statutory donors and strategic partners, media, policy and decision makers and other international and national non-government organisations. Develop and maintain strong relationships with key geographic stakeholders, including diplomatic representatives, ensuring effective engagement and alignment with CBM UK’s programme priorities.
2. In alignment with Advocacy and with Advisory colleagues, contribute to best practice in the UK disability and development sector by forging good relationships with UK-based and international NGO and disability sector networks to advocate for the adoption of inclusive development policies and practices, and champion innovative inclusive programmatic approaches.

For full details please download the Recruitment Pack.

Who we are

IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) is a national charity working to ensure that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the educational support they are legally entitled to. Since we were formed in 1983, we have helped to improve the education experience of thousands of children and young people across England. We do this by providing free and independent legal advice and casework support for families, undertaking policy work and delivering training on the SEND legal framework.

What you’ll do

Reports to: Chief Executive

Location: Home-based or Hybrid (with frequent travel for events and meeting with parliamentarians and other stakeholders) 

We are seeking a Policy Manager to lead IPSEA's policy and influencing work to achieve positive change for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families. Working closely with the Chief Executive, Head of Legal and Training, trustees and colleagues across the organisation, you will set strategic policy priorities and develop evidence-based influencing plans that support IPSEA's mission and long-term objectives.

Drawing on insights from our advice and tribunal services, legal expertise and the experiences of families, you will identify systemic issues within the SEND system and develop policy solutions that improve children and young people's access to the support and education to which they are entitled. You will ensure that IPSEA's policy positions are credible, legally robust and informed by the lived experiences of those we support.

You will lead IPSEA's engagement with government, Parliament and other key decision-makers, identifying opportunities to influence legislation, policy and practice at both national and local level. This includes overseeing responses to consultations, parliamentary inquiries and calls for evidence, as well as preparing briefings and strategic advice to support senior-level engagement and advocacy.

Working collaboratively with colleagues across legal, communications, fundraising and training teams, you will ensure IPSEA's policy, campaigning and public affairs activities are aligned and maximise the organisation's impact. You will also monitor developments across the political, legal and policy landscape, helping IPSEA respond proactively to emerging opportunities and challenges affecting the rights of children and young people with SEND.

This role offers the opportunity to make a real difference as part of a small, friendly, and dedicated team. If you are passionate about helping children and young people with SEND and have the skills and experience needed, we would love to hear from you.

Who are we looking for?

You will have significant experience in a senior policy and campaigning/public affairs role and have good knowledge of local and national government structure including the legislative process.

You the ability to build and maintain relationships with a range of stakeholders including MPs, civil servants, campaigners and parents. You exhibit tact and diplomacy and can be impactful with people of varying levels and experience.

Your research and critical thinking skills enable you to analyse policy and data to produce relevant reports and position papers. You have experience of drafting organisation responses to government consultations and parliamentary calls for evidence.

IPSEA should also reflect the communities we support. We would particularly like to hear from candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ people, under-served communities and disabled people, as well as those with lived experience of the SEND system, either as a child or as a parent/carer.

What we can offer you

• 5% employer pension contributions
• Healthcare cash plan
• Flexible working arrangements
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays plus an additional day off for your birthday (pro-rata if part-time).

To apply

Visit our website to download a recruitment pack and application form.

Deadline for applications: 9am on 7 September 2026.

First-round interviews: on 15 September 2026 in our offices in Takeley, Essex, with second-round interviews (online) on 18 September 2026.

NO AGENCIES PLEASE.