Arts jobs

Ready to lead a finance function and play a pivotal role in shaping an organisation’s future?

Head of Finance
Contract type: Permanent
Working hours: Full Time - 37 hours per week
Salary: Circa £45,000 per annum
Location: Head Office - Newton Aycliffe, DL5

About Us

Groundwork NE & Cumbria is a long established environmental and community charity with over 30 years of experience creating greener, healthier and more resilient places across the region. Our mission centres on Creating Better Places, Improving People’s Prospects, and Promoting Greener Living, helping communities thrive no matter the challenges they face.

We deliver hundreds of locally led projects each year, including initiatives that support young people and adults into education, training and employment, helping them overcome barriers, build life skills, and reach their full potential.

About You and The Role

We are now seeking a strategic, forward thinking Head of Finance to lead our finance function and play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our organisation.

Job Purpose

This is more than a finance role, it’s an opportunity to guide, influence and strengthen the financial sustainability of a charity creating meaningful, lasting change. We’re seeking someone with strong financial management experience, including statutory reporting and VAT. Experience of charity accounting and SORP is desirable, but candidates from the private sector with the ability to learn charity‑specific requirements are welcome, further requirements of the role are provided below.

As our Head of Finance, you will:

• Provide strategic financial leadership across the organisation, working closely with the Chief Executive, Trustees, and Senior Leaders.
• Lead on financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, and financial risk management.
• Ensure robust financial controls, compliance with charity accounting standards (SORP), and oversee VAT, statutory requirements, and audits.
• Manage and motivate the finance team, fostering a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Strengthen financial systems, reporting, and automation to support operational efficiency.
• Support project managers with financial planning, grant management, and contract delivery.
• Drive improvements that support long term organisational sustainability.

This is a high impact role that blends hands on leadership with strategic influence.

We’re looking for an experienced and dynamic finance leader who brings:

Essential

• A recognised accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CIPFA or equivalent).
• Experience delivering a wide range of finance duties, including management accounts, budgeting, strategic analysis, and year end processes.
• Experience managing finance teams.
• Outstanding analytical, organisational, and financial planning skills.
• Excellent communication skills, able to present complex information clearly to colleagues and trustees.
• High integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the values and mission of the charity.

Desirable

• Experience in community based or grant funded projects.
• Experience strengthening financial controls and supporting fundraising or contract bidding.
• Knowledge of procurement procedures or state aid regulations.
• Familiarity with Sage Intacct.

Closing Date: Thursday, 30th April 2026
Interview Details: To be confirmed after the closing date. 
Please note: should we receive a high volume of applications, we may look to close the role early, therefore we recommend an early application.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

This role is subject to an Standard Disclosure endorsed by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Make yourself at home

We want you to be yourself at Groundwork and we value everything that makes you unique. We recognise and celebrate your difference and together we make Groundwork a special and great place to work. As a Disability Confident employer we offer a guaranteed interview to applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role

At Groundwork we ensure that we provide a safe environment for adults, children and young people to take part in any activity or service that we organise. We are committed to creating a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and comprehensive process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all the people we appoint are suitable to work with our children, young people and adults.

This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship – the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

No agencies please.

We are seeking a dedicated and experienced Cathedral Safeguarding Officer (CSO) to lead our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment for all. This is a pivotal role within our community, ensuring that safeguarding remains at the very heart of the Cathedral’s life and mission.

As the CSO, you will be the strategic and operational lead for safeguarding. You will work closely with the Dean, Chapter, and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team to implement robust policies, manage casework, and foster a culture of vigilance and care. You will be responsible for ensuring that the Cathedral meets all statutory safeguarding obligations and complies fully with the Church of England’s national safeguarding policies, diocesan frameworks, and relevant legislation.

From crafting emails that inspire people to take action, to brainstorming graphics that cut through the noise, to getting stuck into the behind-the-scenes-detail that gets a campaign out the door, you’ll be working hard, fast and learning everyday.

The Digital Campaigns Assistant position is an entry level role. It’s open to recent graduates with relevant experience alongside their studies as well as candidates with 1-2 years of relevant work experience. 

The important thing is you’ve proven your interest in making change happen - whether that’s through volunteering, in community organising or campaigning. And you’ve got drive, ambition and the ability to learn quickly. 

If you’re ready to do meaningful work from day one and learn on the job the foundations of strong digital campaigning, apply to join the Small Axe team. 

We are committed to improving diversity and inclusion across our organisation. Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and the Global Majority are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single specification. If you’re excited about the role but your experience or qualifications don’t perfectly align, we encourage you to apply anyway. We particularly encourage applications from underrepresented groups such as the global majority, LGBTQA+, and those with a disability and neurodiverse conditions.

The role:
Shakespeare's Globe is seeking a Learning Coordinator to join the Learning team which focuses on delivering a range of projects for young people, schools and teachers. This team is responsible for coordinating the delivery of the ground breaking annual Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank project; daily Lively Action workshops which bring Shakespeare to life for students from across the globe; high quality CPD for teachers, and a vast range of other projects, both revenue-generating and funded.

The Learning Coordinator will be responsible for planning and delivering day-to-day and project-based Learning activity. This is essentially a project management role that offers the opportunity to work with a positive and inspiring team of permanent colleagues and freelance creatives, and to have a wide-ranging impact on young people across the UK and beyond.

In the Learning team, we work with a diverse community of students from across London, the UK, and around the world. We want our team to reflect the breadth of perspectives and experiences within that community.

We are committed to building an inclusive recruitment process that attracts and supports talented people from a wide range of backgrounds, particularly those who are currently underrepresented in our team, including those from a global majority background. Our aim is to ensure that the people we work with can see themselves and their potential reflected in who we are.

We are looking for someone who is open to learning and is passionate about having an impact on young people’s learning and lives. If you feel that you do not meet all of the criteria, but could contribute to the team and the experience of the young people we engage with, we want to hear from you!

For principal responsibilities, please see the job description (downloadable from our website)

Work pattern: Full time, Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, working from home 1 day per week.

The skills:

• A working knowledge of how schools and teachers function.
• A growth mindset - the belief that setbacks are learning opportunities that can help us improve.
• The ability to pick up new processes quickly, manage them independently and improve them further.
• Effective interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate diplomatically with a wide range of people at all levels from within and outside of the organisation.
• Strong organisational skills with proven ability to plan and prioritise a varied workload.
• Customer-focused with a professional approach to tasks.
• A supportive team member and good team worker.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Enthusiasm and willingness to learn.
• Excellent administrative skills with a good working knowledge of Windows-based software (particularly Excel); some familiarity with digital meeting platforms (e.g. Zoom or Teams) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• This post is subject to an Enhanced DBS check

Applications:

For more information, please download the job description from our main jobs page.

To apply, please complete the online application form (on our main jobs page) by 10:00am on Monday 11 May 2026.

Tips for your cover letter (supporting info section of the application form):

• Be concise - no more than 2 pages, please!
• Focus on evidencing statements about your approach to work. If you are a team player, give us an example. If you are a problem-solver, give us an example.
• Remember, the main qualities we are looking for in this role are a growth mindset (see above), the ability to learn, and strong interpersonal skills. Examples of you demonstrating these qualities are what we are most interested in from your cover letter.

If you have any questions on the recruitment process or the online application form, please via our main jobs page.

This is a great opportunity to join our management team at Vauxhall City Farm, with a role combining overseeing daily café operations, events and bookings, and opportunities to develop catering and events, support income generation, and embed sustainable practices.

The role will take ownership of service standards, team development, and commercial performance, ensuring the café operates efficiently while delivering a consistently high-quality visitor experience. This role combines day to day operational leadership with longer term planning and performance management. 

Core working hours are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm with some evening and weekend work.

We are looking for the following attributes in candidates:

Essential:

● Minimum level 3 food hygiene and safety certification

● Personal License holder

● 2-3 years’ experience managing or supervising cafes or restaurants

● Good numeracy, literacy, and IT skills

● Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

● Strong leadership skills with the ability to manage and motivate a team

● Ability to work independently and use initiative.

● Flexible and adaptable approach to work.

● Strong understanding of compliance requirements e.g. COSHH, HACCP, allergens etc

● Experience managing supplier relations and ordering schedules

● Commercial awareness regarding costs and performance

● Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage workloads and maintain accurate records.

● Ability to meet the physical requirements of the role.

Desirable:

● Experience operating Square POS

● Qualified first aider

● Experience working with SEN or vulnerable communities

● Experience of working in a community/ urban farm

Please apply by uploading your CV and a covering letter of more than 2-sides of A4 explaining how you meet the essential criteria on this application, and answering the following 3 questions:

1. What are your three favourite things about working in hospitality and why?
2. What things do you think distinguish a good manager from a great manager?
3. What would working at The Farm mean to you?

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS: Friday 8th May at 12pm (we reserve the right to close to applications early).

INTERVIEW DATE: Tuesday 19th May 2026

DESIRED START DATE: On or before Monday 15th June 2026

This role is recruited under our safer recruitment policy, and will require two satisfactory references and the succesful candidate will have to undergo an enhanced DBS check.

Vauxhall City Farm is committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply.