Assistant jobs in Haywards heath, east sussex
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Assistant Director of Operations
Salary: £72,000 per annum
Work Pattern: This is a permanent contract, working full time, Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours a week.
Location: Based at any of our Wetland Discovery Sites – Castle Espie BT23, Washington NE38, Martin Mere L40, Slimbridge GL2, Llanelli SA14, London SW13 or Arundel BN18.
For this role we can offer the opportunity for hybrid working. It is expected the role will need you to be present at each of your sites on a regular basis, at least once per month.
About The Role
WWT is the charity for wetlands.
This is a critical role in the recently restructured Operations Directorate at WWT. As Assistant Director, you will be directly responsible for the performance of our 7 Wetland Discovery sites. You will provide inspiring and professional leadership to your teams, whilst proactively collaborating cross organisation and externally.
Your focus will be on driving meaningful improvements at sites across our three ambitions of Restore, Inspire and Thrive, with emphasis on financial performance driven by visitor experiences. Reporting to the Director of Operations, you will directly manage two Heads of Operations, a Head of Retail and Head of Catering. You will indirectly lead more than 400 staff and volunteers across Living Collections, Reserve Management, Visitor Experience, Trading, Marketing, Facilities and Grounds.
You will work closely with Health & Safety and Sustainability leads to ensure good governance and compliance at sites and across the Operations Directorate.
You will have a background working in visitor attractions or a very similar sector, coupled with a passion for purpose-led organisations and a keen interest in the environment. You will be an inspiring leader with high levels of emotional intelligence and values & behaviours that align with WWT.
About You
To join as our Assistant Director of Operations, you will need to evidence:
- Experience in a senior position(s) held in the visitor attraction/events management sectors, directly accountable for site operations and visitor experience throughout the visitor journey.
- Strong skills in leading business planning, financial analysis, budget development and management, and delivery of significant capital projects across £multi-million business unit(s).
- Demonstrable ability to recruit, performance manage and motivate large (>100) diverse multi-disciplinary teams.
- The ability to develop, communicate and implement strategic change, turning organisational vision into improvements at scale.
- An inspirational and empathetic leadership style, able to role model an organisation’s values and behaviours, and to evidence strong emotional intelligence. Able to prioritise effectively, to collaborate, network and influence internally and externally at a senior level.
- A highly creative and inquisitive mindset, able to spot and exploit potential opportunities, keen to explore, test and learn as a means of driving continual improvement and excellence in the visitor experience.
- Experience of working collaboratively with insight, marketing and communications teams to deliver strong brand and marketing campaigns which drive footfall.
About Us
We’re WWT, and we’re on a mission to restore the super-powered ecosystems we call wetlands. There’s never been a more important moment for our work, and we’ve got some phenomenal people on the case.
Whether they’re taking a new visitor under their wing, or conducting ground-breaking research further afield, our team are second to none. And there’s nothing we love more than watching them soar.
Whatever you do here, you’ll be helping to restore wetlands and unlock their power. So, the only question left is, what role will you play?
Why you’ll love working at WWT
- Wake up every day knowing your work is helping to restore wetlands, and our world
- Be surrounded and inspired by our team of passionate, dedicated people
- 33 days annual leave (which goes up to 38 days after 5 years of service) – this includes bank holidays and you have flexibility to take those days whenever you want
- Free entry to all our wetland centres, including your family
- Free car parking and secure bike storage areas
- Colleague discount on shopping and memberships
- Cycle to work scheme
- Contributory pension scheme
- Life Assurance of three times your salary, for peace of mind for your loved ones
- Independent personal, workplace and financial advice from our Employee Assistance Programme
Closing Date: 15th February 2026
N.B. We reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive a sufficient number of applications from candidates who meet the required skills and experience. We therefore encourage early applications.
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.
WWT is an equal opportunities employer and all applications will be considered solely on merit.
No agencies please.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
Restore Wetlands and Unlock their Power
Thank you!
Prospectus is delighted to be supporting a vibrant, frontline focussed charity working hard in the community with the search for an Executive Assistant.
The Executive Assistant to the CEO will be joining a central services team in a crucial role. The post holder will provide comprehensive support and ensure the smooth running of the executive office.
Excellent project management and organisational skills is a must, along with good understanding of Microsoft office applications and the ability to communicate effectively at all levels.
Working Hours: 35 hours per week, 9:00-17:00, Monday to Friday with some flexibility required. The role will be based on site 5 days per week.
Key responsibilities:
- Coordinate the CEO's complex schedule
- Prepare agendas and take accurate minutes for Board, committee, and senior leadership meetings along with other grouping as necessary
- To organise all business travel arrangements for the CEO (and SLT members, where requested by the CEO)
- Act as the first point of contact for the CEO with internal and external stakeholders.
- Draft, prepare, and handle correspondence, reports, presentations, and other documents, maintaining accuracy and quality standards
- Manage confidential information with the utmost discretion and integrity
- Undertake research and prepare briefing materials for strategic initiatives
- Support the CEO in planning and delivering organisational events (AGM, VIP visits, project launches and training events)
- Assist with the coordination and delivery of our annual programme of Community Fundraising and Challenge Events
- Develop links with corporate businesses
At Prospectus, we invest in your journey as a candidate and are committed to supporting you with your application. We welcome all candidates to apply, regardless of age, sex/gender, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation, marital status, or pregnancy/maternity.
Thank you!
Overview
We’re looking for an Assistant Business Development Officer (Bid Writer) to join our national Business Development Team. This is a great opportunity for an excellent writer to start or grow your bid writing career in a successful team with progression opportunities.
Location: London, Brighton, Manchester or Leeds.
Salary: £27,861.26 − £32,002.35 per year. If you’re based in London, you’ll receive an additional £4,133.14 per year as Inner London Weighing.
Contract: 12 months fixed term.
Responsibilities
About the role
Change Grow Live is a health and social care charity. Across the country, we support people to make positive changes in their lives, including around drug and alcohol use, smoking, homelessness and criminal justice.
As an Assistant Business Development Officer, you’ll play a key part in helping us secure new contracts and deliver high quality services for adults, children and young people. You’ll support the development of bids and proposals by writing, researching and collaborating with colleagues across the organisation.
Your day-to-day will include:
- Writing and editing bid responses
- Working with colleagues across the organisation and our partner agencies
- Completing online research, analysing data and collating evidence
- Creating presentations, diagrams and reports
- Helping improve how we do things.
This is a developmental role, and you’ll receive ongoing support, guidance and training to help you progress.
About you
We’re looking for excellent writers who share our passion for supporting people to make positive changes in their lives. You don’t need previous experience in business development, but experience in health and social care, writing, sales, research, or data is beneficial.
You are:
- A clear, concise and engaging writer
- Motivated to learn and develop, welcoming feedback
- Collaborative and contribute to a positive culture team
- Curious and analytical
- Solution-focused, creative and proactive
- Ready to work hard to deliver on CGL’s values and mission.
What we offer
You’ll be able to access structured training, development and mentoring as part of a supportive team. There’s a clear progression pathway within the team. We have a great record of people quickly progressing to Business Development Officer and Senior Business Development Officer roles as they take on increased volume, complexity, and leadership across proposals.
We also offer:
- The option to work from home for some of the week
- Wellbeing support, including an employee assistance programme and an hour each week for wellbeing activities of your choice (find out more here).
We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we work with. We pride ourselves on an inclusive and supportive workplace, evidenced through our Investors in People silver status.
We’re happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that you need to be successful. Please let us know in your application or at any stage of the process if you would like to discuss this.
Before you apply
In the application portal, there’s a section called ‘how you meet the criteria for the role’. This is your chance to tell us about why you’re a good fit for this job – we won’t be able to consider your application unless it’s filled in. Please explain how you meet each of the person specification criteria (listed at the end of the job description). Use clear examples of your experience (this link contains some useful guidance). As guidance, written statements should not exceed 1,000 words. You can address multiple criteria together where you think it makes sense.
Interviews will be held 16th – 23rd February 2026 via MS Teams. We’ll also ask shortlisted candidates to complete a written task online during this timeframe, at a time of your choice. We may hold a pre-qualification stage task (e.g. presentation) depending on the number of applicants.
We encourage applications from individuals who may not meet every requirement but are excited about the role. We value lived experience of substance use, homelessness, and/or multiple disadvantages.
We’re a Disability Confident Committed employer. Under our Disability Confident interview scheme, we will offer an interview to disabled candidates where they meet our selection criteria in their application. Some of our roles attract a high volume of applications and in some circumstances where it is not practicable or appropriate, we may limit the number of interviews offered to disabled and non-disabled candidates. Please confirm in the ‘how you meet the criteria for the role’ part of the application if you are applying under this scheme. We will provide reasonable adjustments as needed.
Check the job description and team explainer for more information. You can contact Yasmin Gilders to discuss this role further.
What our people say
George, who progressed from Assistant Business Development Officer to Business Development Officer last year:
“What was your route into the team? I came into Business Development after starting out in frontline roles in local authorities and then a housing charity, where I realised I wanted to continue having an impact on people’s lives, but on a bigger scale. The Assistant Business Development Officer role was a perfect progression, and after about a year I successfully applied for a Business Development Officer role. This felt really manageable given the space for development as an Assistant Business Development Officer.
What are your favourite parts of the job? Winning contracts is a really great feeling, especially when I know they’ve been shaped with service users and colleague to make sure we’re designing services that offer the best support to the most people. I also value the constant opportunities to learn, feeling supported in my development, and seeing the decisions I’m involved in having a real impact on people’s lives.
What were your highlights from last year? Our team away day in Liverpool, which was great fun as well as chance to hear from the managers of our new Liverpool service. It was one of the first bids I worked on as an Assistant Business Development Officer, and it was amazing to see our bid come to life, being delivered by a passionate group of people.
What would you say to someone thinking of applying? I’d definitely say go for it, and once you start, embrace how much there is to learn! Make the most of a really knowledgeable and supportive team, of managers who genuinely want you to succeed, and of all the opportunities to try new things and develop new skills.”
Holly, who has progressed from Assistant Business Development Officer to Senior Business Development Officer:
“What was your route into the team? I was a psychology graduate and teacher training drop out! With my experience of working in schools and academic research into young people’s substance use, I started working as an Education Lead for one of CGL’s young person’s services. After a year I applied to join the Business Development Team, wanting to utilise my experience of working frontline and my love of research and writing. I’ve progressed from Assistant to Officer and then Senior Officer since joining the team in 2022.
How would you describe the team? Helpful, real and full of knowledge. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and is happy to share their skills, knowledge and learning. I’ve never felt like I’ve asked a silly question, and I don’t feel like I must put a on ‘work mask’.
What would you say to someone thinking of applying? Not to think they can’t do it just because they don’t have experience in bid writing or business development. It’s more important to be able to demonstrate that they’re a confident professional writer and are really passionate about working in the drug and alcohol support sector.”
Salary Range (pro rata if part time)
CGL points 23 to 28 (£27,861.26 - £32,002.35)
Interview Date
16/2/2026
Closing Date
8/2/2026
Registered Charity
501 - 1000
Our mission is to help people change the direction of their lives, grow as individuals, and live life to its full potential.