Assistant director of innovation jobs

Purpose of the job 

 In UK Youth’s Impact department, we find, create and use evidence to respond to the needs and preferences of young people and the professionals who support them. We conduct research and evaluations to prove and improve the impact of youth work, and we co-design high-quality programmes and support offers that can be scaled. This new role will work across these areas, supporting research and evaluation projects with real implications for policy and practice. 

 Reporting to the Evaluation & Learning Manager, you will be responsible for supporting the delivery of a portfolio of research and evaluation projects. This will involve conducting research in-house and coordinating with external partners and the organisations we fund to build and share high-quality evidence. There will be opportunities to lead on fieldwork, data analysis, reporting and insight sharing with strategic guidance and hands-on support from other members of the team. 

 You will be organised, keen to develop your research skills and have a passion for working with data. You will support high profile research and evaluation projects, including the evaluation of the Adventures Away From Home Fund – a major, Government-funded outdoor learning programme. You can expect to support other projects, gathering and sharing insights from our network and young people and helping the team to work efficiently and effectively. 

Why work at UK Youth? 

We want all young people to be equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. Youth work can be life changing (and even life saving). Our strategy positions UK Youth to unlock youth work so that every young person in the UK can benefit. We work with a network that shares this ambition to build cross-sector understanding of youth work’s transformational potential, secure sufficient investment for sustainable provision, and help to embed effective solutions that will increase the quality as well as accessibility of youth work. Come and be part of this change. 

Responsibilities

• Evaluation and Learning

• Knowledge and Data Management

• Research and Horizon Scanning

Experience we're after

• Experience of managing datasets on digital platforms/software (quantitative and/or qualitative)

• Experience of leading or supporting quantitative and/or qualitative research and data analysis in any setting

• Experience of conducting literature reviews to analyse existing evidence on specific topics

• Experiencing of working across multiple projects and competing priorities and managing your time and tasks proactively

What we can offer you

We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance, excellent learning and development opportunities and vibrant organisational culture:

• Flexible/Agile Working

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time employees)

• Funded training provided in; Safeguarding, GDPR, Information and Cyber Security & Equality & Diversity

• Other training available in support of your personal and professional development

• Pension scheme (currently UK Youth match employee contributions up to 5%)

• Membership of our life insurance scheme which would pay-out up to 4 times your salary

• Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

• 20% discount off bookings at Avon Tyrrell, our New Forest Outdoor Centre, including camping, lodges and outdoor activities.

• IT equipment provided for the duration of contract

• CycleScheme and TechScheme

How to apply

If you would like to be considered for this fantastic opportunity, please complete an application via our completely anonymised recruitment system provided by Applied which looks to create a fair and unbiased application process for all. Scroll to the top of the page and start your application.

Closing date: Tuesday 6th January 2026 at 09:00am

Provisional Interview Dates: 14th and 15th January 2026

As this role involves working in a regulated environment with young people, any offer will be conditional to satisfactory background checks, which include criminal record check and employment reference.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world's largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and 29 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees deliver lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you're a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

IRC UK
IRC UK is part of the IRC global network, which has its global headquarters in New York. Our team in the UK works to raise profile, deliver policy and practice change, and increase funding to help restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Since 2021, IRC UK has also provided integration services directly to refugees in the UK.
In Europe, the IRC also has offices in Berlin, Bonn, Brussels, Geneva and Stockholm. 

The Purpose of the Role
IRC’s External Relations (ER) department brings together Fundraising, Communications and Policy & Advocacy functions. With the aim to raise money, awareness and influence for crisis-affected populations worldwide, the department combines knowledge and expertise across multiple national markets.  
 
The IRC fundraising teams are comprised of colleagues and teams working in the USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Korea as well as emerging markets delivering direct marketing, content, account management, philanthropy, board liaison, corporate as well as trust and foundation partnerships to support IRC’s national fundraising strategies. 
 
The IRC’s private fundraising capability in the UK has grown significantly over the past five years. Ambitious growth plans are in place to deliver increasing income from the private sector as part of an exciting global External Relations strategy.  
 
The Director of UK Mass Markets is responsible for the leadership and direction of the Mass Markets team in the UK and for securing long-term sustainable income for the IRC through individual donor acquisition, retention and supporter care. You will lead and develop a high-performing team by growing mass marketing audiences and income, developing exciting and targeted campaigns, identifying opportunities for product, channel and audience diversification, and championing UX and a supporter centric fundraising model. The Director will also serve as a key partner to the UK Executive Director as they facilitate cross-team collaboration, accountability and success among all private fundraising teams in the UK (Philanthropy, Global Corporate Partnerships, Foundations & Trusts and Mass Markets). The Director will play a leadership role in IRC UK more widely as a member of the UK Senior Management Team (UKSMT). The UKSMT is collectively responsible for achieving the cross-functional goals of IRC UK’s strategy and actively fostering an inclusive workplace at IRC UK.
 
This role is responsible for:  
I.  Securing significant and sustainable funding in the UK for IRC’s work 
II.  Leading strategic activities that support IRC’s mass market fundraising presence including campaigns for the End-of-Year, World Refugee Day and emergencies

Scope and Authority 
This position has responsibility for delivering the UK Mass Market team strategy and targets and Supporter Care within the overarching Global Mass Markets strategy and UK Strategic Plan. 

Responsibility for Resources:
This post will have responsibility for three direct reports (1x Senior Acquisition Marketing Manager, 1 x Retention Marketing Manager, 1 x Donor Services Assistant) and a substantial expenditure budget. The role is part of the global Mass Markets team and is matrix managed by the Executive Director in the UK and the Global Vice President of Mass Markets.

Key Working Relationships
Internal:
•  Counterparts and senior leads in global Mass Markets team 
•  UK SMT: Directors of Strategy and Delivery, Communications, Advocacy, Philanthropy, Finance, People and Culture, Awards Management
•  Global peer-level team: Directors and Heads of Mass Markets for Korea, Germany, Sweden, USA and Global Mass Market Support Leads
•  Digital team members (UK and global) 
•  Global Creative Studio and Brand 
•  Senior Director for Retention
•  International Operations team, incl. data & analytics roles  

Key Accountabilities

·  Aligned to the overall Global External Relations Strategy, develop, implement, monitor and report on IRC UK’s fundraising and supporter engagement strategy. 
·  Lead fundraising campaigns (acquisition, retention, mid-level) that deliver unrestricted income to enable IRC’s work. Channels include e-mail, direct mail, inserts, Facebook advertising, new forms of social media, and adwords, as well as telemarketing etc.
·  Develop a supporter engagement programme that focusses on developing and deepening long-term relationships and drives retention rates.
·  Develop and deliver an innovation programme, ensuring fundraising products and activity are at the forefront of the UK sector and allow IRC to cut through to new audiences.
·  Deliver outstanding supporter services, ensuring supporter interactions are dealt with professionally and appropriately.
·  Contribute strongly to overall Global External Relations strategy and budget development during the budgeting and investment request process.  
·  Lead, inspire, develop and performance manage the UK Mass Markets team.
·  Ensure effective collaboration between the UK-based leads of the Foundations and Trusts, Global Corporate Partnerships, and Mass Markets teams, in executing comprehensive, aligned donor engagement strategies across the UK. 
·  Collaborate with other UK leaders on the UK Senior Management Team, holding collective accountability for achieving the goals of the UK strategy and advising on the wider management of IRC UK to support those goals.  
·  Reporting to the UK Board of Trustees, including presentations to the full Board and the External Relations Committee as required. 
·  Representing IRC in the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Fundraising Directors group.
·  Be the senior contact for all mass marketing partnerships with third party supplies.  
·  Act as senior voice in cross-market working groups and committees. 
·  Network and build external profile of the IRC UK Mass Markets team by attending relevant fundraising and sector events, and building other external stakeholder relationships. 
·  Input into effective risk management of mass marketing income by accurately assessing opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses on a regular basis, and iterating the programme based on results.  
·  Accurately forecast, monitor and report on income and expenditure budget lines. 
·  Keep up to date with sector developments in individual giving, digital fundraising to ensure IRC is at the forefront of fundraising developments. 
·  Work closely with Mass Markets team in other national markets (i.e. Korea, Germany, Sweden, US) and the International Operations team to ensure all engagement is coordinated, and where appropriate, synchronised.  

Skills, Knowledge and Qualifications:

·  Driven, motivated and proactive with a solutions-based attitude and resilient in the face of setbacks. 
·  Proven ability to manage, meet and monitor fundraising budgets and Key Performance Indicators. 
·  Excellent organisational skills, especially the ability to manage a complex, varied and substantial workload. 
·  Ability to understand legal frameworks and requirements, and implications of decisions in the best interest of the charity. 
·  Excellent verbal and written English and the ability to produce well designed and high-quality proposals and reports.
·  Institute of Fundraising, Cass or comparable qualifications would be an advantage.  

Experience:
·  Extensive experience of individual giving (or mass marketing) and digital fundraising and ideally, mid value and legacy giving, within a large or medium global charity, including a proven track record of both acquisition and retention.**  
·  Launching new channels and products with success. 
·  Comprehensive understanding and experience of audience and donor segmentation, analytical modelling such as LTV and use of insights to drive strategy and performance.** 
·  Experience and understanding of creative process and relationship with brand identity through different channels and audiences. 
·  Proven track record of success in a leadership, line management, recruitment, performance management and talent retention.**
·  Demonstrated history of being an empowering and supportive manager to front-line fundraisers.
·  Experience working for a centralised, international organisation would be a strong advantage.  
·  Experience using Salesforce an advantage.  

Criteria in the Person Specification marked with ** are the minimum criteria in line with our commitments under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme in the UK. 
UK based candidates who state that they have a disability and meet these criteria, will be invited to interview.

Community Fundraiser - Home Counties

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Are you ready to take on a new challenge with a leading charity making a real difference in brain tumour research? ​

Brain Tumour Research is seeking an experienced and motivated fundraiser to join our team. As a key part of our fundraising efforts in our high-performing East region, you will have the opportunity to drive income generation through a variety of initiatives, including challenge events, fundraising groups, and corporate partnerships such as charity of the year. You will also be responsible for driving initiatives to increase our profile and supporter base within Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Essex. 

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Key Responsibilities: ​

• ​Generate income across a range of community fundraising initiatives and events, with the opportunity to lead on key projects 
• Steward supporters to help drive the charity’s fundraising activities and growth 
• ​Work with the fundraising team to develop and maintain strong relationships with fundraisers, donors, partners, and key stakeholders ​
• Contribute towards the growth and success of fundraising efforts, ensuring a sustainable income stream for the vital ongoing funding of brain tumour research ​

​

Requirements: ​​

• At least one year of fundraising experience, with a proven track record in income generation 
• Strong experience in supporter stewardship  
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage and inspire supporters and partners alike ​
• Passion for Brain Tumour Research and its mission to fund research and ultimately find a cure 

​

If you are looking for a fulfilling and impactful role and have the level of experience and skill we are looking for, we welcome your application.

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​We will give preference to those candidates living in the Bucks, Beds and Northants areas of this region.​​​

​We reserve the right to close the application window early and advise candidates to apply in good time to avoid disappointment.​

We are asking for a CV as the first step but applicants may be asked to provide a targeted covering letter as part of the selection process.  Interviews will be conducted during the application window as appropriate, and will consist of a first interview via MS Teams, progressing, if successful to a face to face second interview, held at our offices in Milton Keynes.

Closing Date: 14th December 2025

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We are looking for people who share our passion for finding a cure for brain tumours and who have the skills and experience to make a difference. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and ages. We believe that diversity enriches our organisation and helps us achieve our mission. We are committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone can be themselves and contribute to our vision.

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Purpose of the job

This role is responsible for the design of UK Youth’s support to young people, youth organisations and youth workers. This could include structured youth work programmes, funding and grants+ programmes, professional development programmes, and campaigns.

You will lead and oversee end-to-end design processes, ensuring that UK Youth develops fully packaged offers that respond to the evidence base and people’s needs, drive forward our strategy and achieve incredible impact. You will work across UK Youth teams, with external design partners, and meaningfully involving young people and the professionals who support them in the design process.

You will be experienced in developing high quality funding propositions (proactively and in response to new business opportunities). You will be confident in taking a human-centred design approach to tackle some of the youth sector’s knottiest problems.  You will design solutions to important problems, ensuring that they are feasible, equitable, impactful and scalable.

In 2026, our priority topics for youth work programmes and network development are: mental health and wellbeing, employability, social cohesion and community safety.

 As a leader, you will work closely with research, evaluation, policy, service delivery, network development, and fundraising teams. You will help to improve the skills and confidence of colleagues across UK Youth to apply design methods in their own work and collaborate effectively with the Design team.

Why work at UK Youth?

UK Youth wants all young people to be equipped to thrive and empowered to contribute at every stage of their lives. Youth work can be life changing (and even life saving.) In 2026, we will be launching our new strategy, positioning UK Youth to unlock youth work so that every young person in the UK can benefit. We work with others to ensure that the youth sector is strengthened and that provision is youth-led, evidence-informed, and delivers high-quality outcomes.

 UK Youth plays a unique role in addressing the lack of investment in the youth sector, the lack of cross-sector understanding in how youth work makes a difference, and the limited opportunities to embed effective solutions. These factors lead to mass inequality of access to youth services for young people. Come and be part of this change in a driven and supportive team that puts evidence at the heart of our work.

Role Responsibilities

• Designing Solutions

• Developing new business and funding propositions

• Embedding Human Centred Design

• Building a strong external network to support the Design team’s work

• Operations

Experience we're after

• Significant experience of leading and overseeing the development of new business propositions and proposals to time-limited funding opportunities

• Significant experience of designing interventions (digital and/or physical) for young people and/or those who support them 

• Experience using human-centred-design methods and mindsets; managing projects across the end-to-end design process

• Proven track record of inspiring and motivating diverse teams and improving collaborative ways of working across teams and departments

• Experience of developing high quality programme content and curricula for young people, youth workers and/or outdoor learning instructors (desirable)

• Experience of commissioning and managing external design freelancers and consultants (desirable)

• Experience of designing and/or delivering professional development programmes (desirable)

What we can offer you

We offer a competitive range of benefits, good work/life balance, excellent learning and development opportunities and vibrant organisational culture:

• Flexible/Agile Working

• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time employees)

• Funded training provided in; Safeguarding, GDPR, Information and Cyber Security & Equality & Diversity

• Other training available in support of your personal and professional development

• Pension scheme (currently UK Youth match employee contributions up to 5%)

• Membership of our life insurance scheme which would pay-out up to 4 times your salary

• Employee Assistance Programme to support employees both professionally and personally

• 20% discount off bookings at Avon Tyrrell, our New Forest Outdoor Centre, including camping, lodges and outdoor activities.

• IT equipment provided for the duration of contract

• CycleScheme and TechScheme

How to apply

If you would like to be considered for this fantastic opportunity, please complete an application via our completely anonymised recruitment system provided by Applied which looks to create a fair and unbiased application process for all. Scroll to the top of the page and start your application.

Closing date: Sunday 4th January 2026 at 23:59pm

Provisional Interview Dates: 12th and 13th January 2026

As this role involves working in a regulated environment with young people, any offer will be conditional to satisfactory background checks, which include criminal record check and employment reference.

Community Fundraiser - London​

Are you ready to take on a new challenge with a leading charity making a real difference in brain tumour research? ​

Brain Tumour Research is seeking an experienced and motivated fundraiser to join our team. As a key part of our fundraising efforts in our high-performing East region, you will have the opportunity to drive income generation through a variety of initiatives, including challenge events, fundraising groups, and corporate partnerships such as charity of the year. You will also be responsible for driving initiatives to increase our profile and supporter base within London.​

Key Responsibilities: ​​​

• Generate income across a range of community fundraising initiatives and events, with the opportunity to lead on key projects 
• Steward supporters to help drive the charity’s fundraising activities and growth 
• ​Work with the fundraising team to develop and maintain strong relationships with fundraisers, donors, partners, and key stakeholders ​
• Contribute towards the growth and success of fundraising efforts, ensuring a sustainable income stream for the vital ongoing funding of brain tumour research ​​

Requirements: ​​

• At least one year of fundraising experience, with a proven track record in income generation 
• Strong experience in supporter stewardship  
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage and inspire supporters and partners alike ​
• Passion for Brain Tumour Research and its mission to fund research and ultimately find a cure 

​

If you are looking for a fulfilling and impactful role and have the level of experience and skill we are looking for, we welcome your application.​​

​For this role, the successful candidate must live in the London area.​​

​We reserve the right to close the application window early and advise candidates to apply in good time to avoid disappointment.

​

We are asking for a CV as the first step but applicants may be asked to provide a targeted covering letter as part of the selection process.  Interviews will be conducted during the application window as appropriate, and will consist of a first interview via MS Teams, progressing, if successful to a face to face second interview, held at our offices in Milton Keynes.

Closing Date: 04th January 2026

​

We are looking for people who share our passion for finding a cure for brain tumours and who have the skills and experience to make a difference. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, and ages. We believe that diversity enriches our organisation and helps us achieve our mission. We are committed to providing an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone can be themselves and contribute to our vision.

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