Asian landscapes programme manager jobs

Brilliant opportunity to join a young and growing charity at an exciting point in its evolution, and to help establish Crystal Palace Park as an exemplar in urban park management, community-led regeneration and cultural and heritage programming whilst restoring its position as one of the UK’s leading visitor attractions. 

We are looking for someone with experience of working in a finance function and who has skills in office management and administration.

Reporting to the Director of Finance and Corporate Services, the role is responsible for bookkeeping, credit control, HR administration and ensuring the smooth running of the office (ranging from ensuring there is milk in the fridge to ordering stationery and managing IT requests). As a key point of contact for callers and visitors an awareness of excellent customer service will also be needed. The role is very varied and will 

The Difference is an education charity, founded to change the story on lost learning. Our vision is to see lost learning falling nationally by 2030 and for schools to be better equipped to support all children, particularly those most vulnerable.

We are a small, growing charity delivering many school leadership programmes, with a growing research and policy arm. We have had excellent early impact but there is work ahead to capture this, share learning with schools and policy-makers, and campaign to lower exclusions across England.

The Role
This is an exciting time to join The Difference as we increase our impact, reach more schools, and develop our influencing strategy. As Head of Policy and Public Affairs you will: 
 

Design and execute an impactful influencing plan 

• Design an influencing plan - Identify via horizon scanning opportunities to influence national policy using open policy windows, or by nudging/creating new ones. 

• Execute an influencing plan - Utilise own assets and assets across the organisation, including the Director team, to deliver against the influencing plan.

• Relationship building - Build highly credible and impactful relationships with a variety of stakeholders who hold power. This will include policy makers in national governments, local government officials, politicians, other third sector organisations and think tanks. 

• Leadership - Play a significant role internally and externally in communicating the organisation’s policy position, raising organisational and own brand.

Build policy capacity and credibility across the organisation

• Policy positions and solutions- Use the concepts, work and experience of The Difference’s programmes to develop new, and refine existing, national policy positions to shift incentives. 

• Thought leadership - Be the organisation’s education policy and political expert. 

• Generating income - Use own and team’s expertise and credibility to generate income via speaking engagements and consultancy to support the organisation’s financial sustainability. 

Person Specification

Essential – We are looking for someone with the following knowledge, experience and skills, though you may be stronger in some areas than others:
 

• Deep expertise in education policy, particularly on the topic of lost learning and the various policy and political debates, including areas of controversy, surrounding this policy topic. 

• Strategic thinker with a proven track record in identifying policy windows and designing activities that lead to meaningful national policy change. 

• Excellent relationship builder, who brings with them their own network of influential stakeholders and has a plan for building new relationships. Adept at navigating tricky situations and explaining complex, sometimes difficult, messages.

• Expert convener with a strong knowledge of the education sector, including which schools, trusts and local authorities are influential and experience in bringing a variety of perspectives together to generate consensus. 

• Persuasive and clear writing style for publication, including reports, press, blogs and ghost writing for members of the senior leadership team, often based on consensus positions, and designed to communicate key messages for impact. 

• Confidence and credibility in communicating nuanced messages in a contentious landscape, in writing, verbally and in public (e.g. on panels), to raise the profile of The Difference. 

• Strong project manager who can design systems and processes to keep self, team and other stakeholders on task and on time. Experience of designing programmes of work and monitoring their effectiveness. Flexible project management style that can adapt to a changing environment. Confidence in managing a variety of stakeholders and supporting them to deliver on time. 

Desired – You are more likely to be successful in your application if you have one or more of the following: 

• Familiarity with The Difference’s programmatic work, theory and practice. 

• Lived experience or insight into the school experiences of marginalised young people (e.g. those with experience of the care system, mental ill health, special educational needs, exclusion, and racism).

We know that some people, especially those from marginalised backgrounds, may hesitate to apply unless they meet every listed requirement. If this role excites you and you believe you could make a strong contribution, we warmly encourage you to apply. 

We actively welcome applications from people whose backgrounds are under-represented in the charity sector, including but not limited to: people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, people with experience in the case system, non-graduates and first-in-family graduates.

Part-time - 21 hours per week (other flexible arrangements will be considered)

Circa £27,000 per annum (circa £45,000 per annum full-time equivalent)

Permanent

Working from home with travel across London boroughs

UNICEF ensures more of the world’s children are vaccinated, educated and protected than any other organisation. We have done more to influence laws and policies to help protect children than anyone else. We get things done. And we’re not going to stop until the world is a safe place for all our children.

This is a great opportunity to join the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK) as a colleague within the Rights Respecting Schools Team.

With knowledge and experience of child rights education in school settings, you will play a key role in the implementation of the RRSA in London. Liaising with colleagues and London Boroughs, you will recruit schools to the Programme, currently funded for London state schools by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit. You will support schools by delivering our online training, conducting accreditations and writing supportive and developmental reports.

The successful applicant will have:

• Excellent knowledge of the CRC, the UK education landscape and the challenges facing school leaders at this time.
• Well-developed ICT and communication skills and a clear capacity to engage, motivate and support schools to progress on their rights respecting journey.
• High levels of personal drive and motivation with a proven commitment to effective teamwork and delivering positive change for children.

Act now and visit the website via the apply button to apply online.

Closing date: 9am, Monday 26 January 2026.

Interview date: Friday 6 February 2026 via video conferencing (MS Teams).                 

In return, we offer:

· excellent pay and benefits (including generous annual leave and pension contributions, big brand discounts and wellbeing tools)

· outstanding training and learning opportunities and the support to flourish in your role

· an open culture and workplace with colleagues who share our values, enjoy their work and are motivated to do their utmost for children.

· the opportunity to work in a leading children’s organisation making a difference to children throughout the UK

Our application process: We use a system called "Applied" that anonymises your responses and focuses on your actual skills that are relevant to this role. This benefits you by giving you a greater chance of expressing your skills in this objective selection process. 

We particularly welcome applications from black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, LGBTQ+ candidates, disabled candidates, and from men, because we would like to increase the representation of these groups at this level at UNICEF UK. We want to do this because we know greater diversity will lead to even greater results for children.

UNICEF UK promotes equality, diversity and inclusion in our workplace. We make employment decisions by matching business needs with skills and experience of candidates, irrespective of age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation.

We welcome a conversation about your flexible working requirements, personal growth, and promoting a workplace where you can be yourself and achieve success based only on your merit.

The successful candidate will be required to apply for an enhanced criminal records check. A criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the nature of the role and the circumstances of your offences.

We only accept online applications as this saves us money, making more funds available for us to help ensure children’s rights.

If you require support in completing the online form or an application form in an alternative format, please contact the Supporter Care line during office hours.

If you do not hear from us within 14 days of the closing date, please assume your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion. Please note that we only provide feedback to shortlisted candidates.

Registered Charity Nos. 1072612 (England and Wales) SC043677 (Scotland)