Associate director of people and facilities jobs

Director of Finance & Services
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-Time. (We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements, including hybrid and part time working).
Location: South Kensington, London SW7
Salary: Circa £100,000+ per annum FTE

About Us

The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) is the learned society and professional body for geography and geographers. It is also a charity and a membership organisation. The Society was founded in 1830 and has been one of the most active of the learned societies ever since. It was pivotal in establishing geography as a teaching and research discipline in British universities and continues to play a key role in geographical and environmental education.

The Society is a leading world centre for geographical learning – supporting education, teaching, research, professional practice and scientific expeditions, as well as promoting public understanding and enjoyment of geography and providing advice to policymakers.

The Society offers professional accreditation to members through Chartered Geographer status.

About You and the Role

As the Society approaches its 200th anniversary in 2030, with ambitious associated goals, ensuring that we continue to have the best possible leadership team in place has never been more relevant.

With the approaching retirement of our current Director of Finance & Services, we are looking for an exceptional, entrepreneurial senior leader with proven ability to balance strategic and operational impact.

Whilst an executive level financial background is a given, we are additionally seeking an individual who has led other functions and developed the professionals within them. This role leads a diverse team of 10, spanning: Finance, Facilities & Estates, IT & Database Administration, and HR. It also holds additional responsibility for: Safeguarding, Data Protection, Risk Management, Pensions, Company Secretarial, Insurance & Legal.

We have exciting plans for our building, at the heart of London’s Exhibition Road Cultural Quarter, optimizing and developing this space as a gathering point of global significance and influence for people intent on making a positive difference to the world. Accordingly, we are particularly interested in individuals who bring with them strong programme management skills and experience of managing heritage estate projects operationally, in partnership with external consultants.

The successful candidate will drive and deliver effective and efficient financial planning, forecasting, budgeting, reporting, controls, operations, and management, whilst continuing to improve the Society’s processes and systems.

Salary and Benefits

This is a permanent post. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements, including hybrid and part time working. This is looked at on a case-by-case basis, balancing the Society’s needs with the successful candidate’s other commitments, to support a good work-life balance. The salary range for this post is c£100,000+ (FTE) per annum, depending on experience and qualifications. The post is based in Kensington, London.

There are a range of benefits at the Society which include the following:

• 35-hour working week with core working hours between 10.00am and 4.00pm.
• Flexible working arrangements are available with a mix of office based and home working.
• 25 days annual leave per annum, pro rata, plus public bank holidays.
• Society closure between Christmas and New Year, in addition to the basic annual leave allowance.
• Pension scheme - 3% employee, 7.5% employer.
• Group Life Assurance at four-times basic annual salary.
• Corporate eye care vouchers.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Free 24-hour Employee Assistance helpline with available counselling support.

Applications must be received by 5.30pm 12 June 2026.
It is anticipated that interviews will take place week commencing 29 June 2026.

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.

The Society aims to be an equal opportunities employer. We strongly encourage applicants from those traditionally underrepresented in the geographical discipline.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. The Society is unable to offer work visa sponsorships.

No agencies please.

About the Mercury

The Mercury creates and shares stories that are exhilarating, revelatory and relevant. Through the reinvention of classic texts and the creation of bold, new writing, we believe that the transformative power of theatre can enrich the lives of our community.

The Mercury is a significant regional developer of new talent, working with a range of partners across the arts, education and creative industries to deliver a studio programme and a learning, participation and professional development programme aimed at nurturing the next generation of theatre makers.

Everything we do is driven by our values of quality, innovation, diversity, and connection.

About your new role

Are you a commercially minded fundraiser, passionate about garnering support for a cause you love? Come and join #TeamMercury as our new Head of Development and Partnerships.

We are looking for someone with a strong track record in identifying and securing funding, building commercial partnerships, and nurturing meaningful strategic relationships that drive sustainable growth.

You will lead on securing income from Trusts and Foundations, statutort funders, lottery sources, individuals, corporate partnerships, membership schemes and commercial coproduction investments.

The successful candidate is creative, highly collaborative and forward-thinking. You will bring experience across a range of fundraising approaches and the ability to make the most of a mix of commercial streams. We would love to hear from you!

To find out more, download the candidate pack.

Applications close at 10am on Monday 18 May 2026. First round of interviews will take place on Wednesday, 27 May 2026.

Forensic Architecture (FA) is an internationally recognised research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. We investigate state and corporate violence using cutting-edge architectural, spatial, and digital methodologies. Our work supports legal processes, human rights advocacy, investigative journalism, environmental justice movements, and communities affected by violence.

FA is seeking a dynamic, strategic, and values‑aligned Development Lead to play a pivotal role in establishing our individual giving and donor engagement programme at a critical moment of organisational growth.

This interim, six‑month role will focus on building the foundations for a sustainable and diversified individual donor base, cultivating supporters inspired by FA’s work across a range of giving levels.

The postholder will help shape systems, relationships, and long‑term potential for future development growth.

This role is available at 0.60 or 0.80 FTE over the initial six‑month period and is intended as an interim position to lay the groundwork for a longer‑term role.

About the Candidate

We are seeking an individual who brings a strong commitment to human rights and antiracist and anticolonial values, alongside experience in individual giving, community fundraising and donor stewardship.

This may have been gained within NGOs, charities, advocacy organisations, or grassroots movements.

You will have experience developing supporter and joiner journeys that centre dignity, care, and respect for affected communities, recognising the complexity and sensitivity of their experiences.

This role is well suited to a professional fundraiser who thrives in mission‑driven environments, is comfortable working autonomously, and is motivated by the challenge of building and opportunity new systems, relationships and philanthropic pipelines from the ground up. You will join an organisation with an excellent international reputation and a broad base of potential individual giving support.

We welcome applicants who have taken non‑traditional pathways into fundraising roles. We also strongly encourage applications from individuals and communities directly affected by state violence, structural racism, colonialism, and displacement.

You will provide clinical direction and maintain oversight of elop’s counselling services, bringing understanding and experience of delivering trauma-informed approaches to support the emotional health and psychological wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people.

You will oversee and contribute to clinical operational responsibilities, service coordination and delivery, ensuring a professional, safe, smooth running, efficient and well managed service is maintained.   You will work alongside the senior leadership team across both strategic and clinical operational levels ensuring lead responsibilities for our counselling teams and services. Working collaboratively with the senior leadership team, implementing clinical delivery decisions, ensuring the counselling service effectively maintains ethical and professional standards of practice and communication across key staff, other agencies and service users. 

You will proactively contribute to building a robust and compelling evidence base that continues to demonstrate impact, improved wellbeing, and increased resilience, and have a key role in monitoring, evaluation, and supporting the wider counselling team with reporting and using data to drive operations, and evidence-based best practice. 

Your role will also include overseeing referrals and allocation of clients; undertaking client assessments; providing role-management, and clinical support and supervision to trainee and sessional counsellors; line-management of key service personnel; some clinical support work with more complex or acute needs clients; recruiting, inducting and training key staff and volunteers; and liaising with the clinical supervision team. 

Full Time: 37 hours per week

There will be one regular evening/ week, and occasional other evening and weekend working required. 

Salary: £34,000 inclusive London Weighting

Closing deadline for submission of application: 10.00am Monday 1 June 2026

Initial Interviews: taking place Wednesday 10 June between 9.00am – 3.00pm

N.B. at this current time all elop services are operating via a mix of in-person and remotely via online platforms, whilst we await completion of building works and relocation to new premises.