Associate director of development jobs in exeter, devon
Employer Policy Specialist
Working Hours: 0.6FTE (full-time equivalent 37.5 hours). There is a degree of flexibility surrounding the working hours which will be determined by the demands of the role.
Salary: 0.6FTE: £40,658 (the full-time equivalent salary is: £67,763).
Start Date: 1st September 2025.
Reporting to: Director of Public Affairs & Policy
Deadline for applications: Friday 18th July 2025, 5pm
Interviews: Interviews will be conducted online on Thursday 24th July
Overview
The DfE has nominated CST as the employer representative for academy trusts for specific purposes (for example, the school support staff negotiating body). The postholder will be required to work directly with the Department for Education at a senior level to undertake the duties associated with this employer representative role. CST also wishes to strengthen its support to members on wider matters of employer policy. There is significant scope to shape and develop this role.
Key Responsibilities
-
Have a detailed understanding of the terms and conditions of employment of teaching and support staff and the workforce issues affecting the education sector, particularly those influencing recruitment and retention of staff.
-
The ability to build relationships with key stakeholders (members, senior DfE officials and ministers) and work closely with other employer representative organisations.
-
Working closely with the CEO and Deputy CEO, build relationships at senior level with trade unions (leadership, teacher and support staff unions).
-
Lead on developing CST’s employer policy and guidance, working with our members and commanding their support and respect, and working closely with the policy team.
-
Support the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Public Affairs and Policy to influence and respond to government policy in respect of employer policy, including drafting responses to government consultations and being our representative on the DfE’s formally constituted groups.
-
Provide professional support and guidance to members on matters relating to employer policy, within the restrictions of what we are insured to do as a professional body.
-
Support our HR professional community.
-
Speak with authority at events and conferences as CST’s nominated representative on employer policy.
-
Offer support to the wider CST policy team in other areas that fall within the postholder’s experience or expertise. This may include occasionally deputising for other team members for example covering for annual leave or sickness absence.
-
Any other duties and responsibilities that may be delegated by the Chief Executive, Deputy Chief Executive or Director of Public Affairs and Policy from time to time.
Essential Skills and Experience
-
Likely educated to degree level (or holding a similar professional qualification or experience) with significant knowledge and experience of employment matters within the education sector and employer policy.
-
The ideal candidate will have experience working at senior level likely within an educational, policy or consultancy setting. Knowledge of schools and the trust sector is essential as is the ability to respond to issues in a way which conveys the practical realities of working in schools.
-
A sound understanding of the differences between academy trusts and the maintained sector.
-
Secure knowledge of legislation, regulations and policy that affect school trusts.
-
Authority and gravitas with the ability to speak up at meetings with senior officials with the required diplomacy and at all times with the members’ interests in mind.
-
People-centred, with excellent relational skills, adept at forming and maintaining positive relationships with colleagues, members and senior external stakeholders (including policy makers, employer representative organisations and trade unions).
-
Output focused, able to execute a range of communications across channels efficiently.
-
Fluent and precise, an excellent communicator who writes well.
-
The ability to analyse detail and distil key points, identifying matters of concern or interest to school trusts.
-
Highly organised, with the ability to prioritise and work to tight deadlines, including turning around high-quality responses to members and DfE in short timescales.
-
Someone who embodies the Nolan Principles and acts with integrity and discretion.
-
Aligned with CST’s aims to promote education for public benefit.
-
Skilled at working remotely as part of a close-knit team. Whilst this position is remote (home-based) there will be the requirement to attend in person meetings from time to time.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
NACCOM is recruiting a new permanent External Affairs Manager to lead the work of our small but highly impactful External Affairs team.
About the role:
NACCOM is a national network of over 135 frontline organisations and charities across the UK, working together to end destitution amongst people seeking asylum, refugees and other migrants who aren’t able to access public funds because of their immigration status.
We do this by campaigning collectively for a fairer, more humane immigration system that doesn’t leave people destitute, and by sharing our learning, innovation, and resources across our membership to increase the level of accommodation provision and support the network is able to provide.
Join our charity at a pivotal moment. As our External Affairs Manager, you’ll sit at the heart of a high-performing, fully remote team, ensuring that migrant homelessness and destitution is high on the agenda. You will lead and mentor a talented External Affairs team, amplifying NACCOM’s voice as the UK’s expert voice on how the asylum and immigration system drives homelessness and destitution.
With our 20th-anniversary milestone and a bold new organisational strategy on the horizon, you’ll seize fresh opportunities to deepen our influence. Working hand-in-hand with frontline members, people with lived experience, and high-profile partners, you will deliver sharp, evidence-led campaigns and projects that put migrant homelessness at the top of policy and media agendas.
A strong aptitude for communications and campaigns, and an understanding of how that works alongside policy and research to underpin the external affairs function, is vital.
This role is for a dynamic, collaborative advocate who is passionate about social justice. If you’re ready to turn insight into impact — shaping narratives, forging alliances, and driving systemic change—we’d love to welcome you to NACCOM.
- - - - -
Key role information:
Hours: Full-Time (35 hours) or Part-Time (28 hours) per week
Salary: Starting salary £43,000 annual FTE (plus £4,000 London Weighting if applicable)
Leave: 25 days per annum plus Bank Holidays (England and Wales) pro rata plus additional concessionary days off between Christmas and New Year
Pension:NACCOM will contribute 6% of your gross salary
Additional benefits: flexible working hours, wellbeing time, wellbeing practice and Calm App
Contract: Permanent
Location: Home-based plus travel - all in the UK (approx 5 days per month). Opportunity to work part-time in a members’ office or a co-working space.
Responsible to: Director
- - - - -
Job purpose:
The External Affairs Manager will work closely with the Director and provide vital support to NACCOM and its members by:
- Ensuring the strategic planning, management and alignment of communications, policy, research, campaigns, and advocacy as part of the External Affairs function at NACCOM.
- Ensuring NACCOM’s external affairs functions feed from and into our network development work and our Community Ambassador / Research programme
- Growing and safeguarding NACCOM’s brand identity, integrity and strategic positioning across all our external channels, networks and audiences.
- Line-managing and supporting the Policy and Research Co-ordinator, Community Research Facilitator and part-time Communications Co-ordinator (currently covered by a freelancer) as well as managing any external consultants NACCOM works with across the External Affairs function.
- Along with the Director, acting as spokesperson for NACCOM.
- Overseeing the spend against budget for External Affairs-related work.
- Representing NACCOM at key, high-level meetings and coalitions, including with journalists, decision-makers and partners.
- Actively supporting a culture of collaboration, support and mutual respect at NACCOM and across the membership network.
For more information about the role, including person specification, please download the Job Description.
Recruitment timescales:
- Tuesday 8 July 2025 at 23.59: Deadline for applications
- Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 July 2025: Stage one interviews held online as a Zoom call.
- Wednesday 30 July 2025: Stage two interviews with team, ideally in person but possibly online.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
We're recruiting for an Engagement Lead, to work in our Innovation & Practice team.
As Engagement Lead you will play a central role in our team – developing, leading and managing significant projects for us, including citizens’ assemblies, citizens’ juries, deliberative workshops, and participatory processes. You will need to have a good understanding of deliberative processes, have excellent project leadership and project management skills, as well the ability to build and maintain good relationships with a wide variety of people, including members of the public, project partners, colleagues and decision-makers.
The role sits in the Innovation and Practice team that designs and delivers high quality practical engagement work leading to better decisions, more engaged citizens and helps address critical challenges of our society. We are constantly balancing high quality standards with innovation to ensure that we stay at the cutting edge and that our engagement processes break down entrenched inequalities of power.
You will be a proven project leader looking to make your next move and develop your leadership skills and profile in this interesting and important area of public participation work. We are particularly interested in candidates who have experience in the design and delivery of large scale deliberative engagement projects.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.