Business development associate jobs in Edinburgh

Harris Hill is working with an education based organisation, supporting their search for an interim Events Manager, working remotely, 4 days per week, for 3- 6 months. 

The pro rota salary would be £36-40k, on the basis that you work 4dpw, but could spread the 4 across 5. You would however be responsible for attending the various events.

We are looking for a seasoned Events Manager, who is adept at the whole life cycle of events, with a emphasis on planning, and the marketing of the events themselves, so someone with both events and marketing experience is essential.

The team does have some events, admin, and communications support, but you would need to steer the a little, be very hands on, and flexible to the needs of the role.

Specifically, the role of the Events Manager involves:

Reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer, and working closely with the staff team, to develop and deliver ALT’s programme of events.

Organising the logistics for in-person and online events and conferences, managing associated budgets and revenue generation, and negotiating with exhibitors and sponsors.

Leading on events-related stakeholder management, including working in partnership with volunteers to create conference programmes and managing event-related collaborations with partner organisations, nationally, and internationally.  This also includes leading on logistics for the Annual Awards.

Leading on events marketing and communications and social media, including promoting opportunities for members and partners across sectors.

Overseeing delegate and exhibitor liaison and carrying out event evaluations, including acting as the person responsible for feedback and complaints.

Evaluating and reporting on events to committees including the Board of Trustees.

Business and project management

Devise and manage project plans, risk registers and budgets for events and associated areas of operations.

Negotiate with potential and selected suppliers of products and services to secure best value, and manage and develop long term relationships with its suppliers.

Recruit, train, and line manage casual staff employed by the organisation in the run-up to and during conferences. 

General

Represent the organisation at events, promote the organisation and establish new and develop existing relationships with partners and stakeholders. This will involve occasional weekend, and evening work, and travel within the UK, and will include attendance at the two in-person conferences in the UK.

Contribute to the development and implementation of the Strategy.

Undertake training to ensure appropriate skills are acquired or developed.

Provide occasional holiday and sickness cover for posts at the same or lower grade.

Undertake any other duties and responsibilities as may be determined by the organisation that are commensurate with the level and grade of this post.

If you would like to hear more about this opportunity, please apply for further details

Company Description

Marie Curie is the UK’s leading end-of-life charity. We are the largest non-NHS provider of end-of-life care in the UK, the only provider across all 4 nations, delivering community nursing and hospice care across the country, while providing information and support on all aspects of dying, death, and bereavement. Our leading research pushes the boundaries of what we know about good end-of-life, and our campaigns fight for a world where everyone gets to have the best possible quality of life while living with an illness, they’re likely to die from. 

Team and role overview 

At Marie Curie, our Case for Support team plays a vital role in the delivery of our strategy and supporting fundraising growth, by creating compelling cases for support and innovative propositions for our highest-value campaigns. Working alongside passionate, purpose-driven professionals, you’ll help us maximize impact and create meaningful connections with our supporters. 

As a Case for Support Lead, you will be instrumental in developing impactful narratives that resonate with our supporters and drive our mission forward. Your work will provide essential, up-to-date information about our clinical services, research and policy work. This will support all fundraising teams to build accurate and inspiring fundraising campaigns. By identifying funding opportunities and crafting tailored cases for support, you’ll ensure that our high-value fundraising teams continue to achieve transformational impact. 

What you will be doing:

• Create compelling case for support narratives about all aspects of Marie Curie’s work, articulating the need, solution, and impact for various audiences. 
• Collaborate with service, policy, and research teams to gain a deep understanding of their work and goals, gathering insights to support funding applications and campaigns. 
• Work closely with high-value income streams, supporting Trusts & Foundations, Philanthropy and Corporate teams by coordinating with internal stakeholders to develop compelling propositions. 
• Provide all fundraising teams with accurate, self-service information, including writing narratives and interpreting data. 
• Delivery of online Discovery Sessions with fundraising teams to improve their understanding of our cause. 

What we are looking for: 

• Proven experience in fundraising, service delivery, cause-led communications, or evaluation work. 
• Creative thinker with an independent, autonomous approach to work. 
• Strong communication skills to inspire others and positively influence opinions, with the ability to gain respect at all levels and drive practical, meaningful change. 
• Skilled at understanding and interpreting complex information and data and articulating it in a compelling way, both in writing and verbally. 
• Excellent people skills with a proven ability to integrate quickly into complex organizations. 
• Financial literacy with experience in interpreting budget information. 

Please see the full job description  

Additional Information

Application & Interview Process 

• As part of your online application, you will be asked for a CV and supplementary details. Please review both the advert and job description and outline your most relevant skills, experience and knowledge for the role. 
• Close date for applications but may close early: 2nd July 2026 
• Interviews due to take place 9th and 13th July2026 

** Important we encourage you to apply early as we may close the job advert sooner after receiving a sufficient number of suitable applications**. 

Salary: £36,900 to £39,900 

Contract:Permanent Full-Time 35 hours per week

Based: Remote based within the United Kingdom, occasional travel may be required travel costs covered 

Benefits you’ll LOVE: 

• Flexible working. We’re happy to discuss flexible working at the interview stage. 
• 25 days annual leave (exclusive of Bank Holidays) 
• Marie Curie Group Personal Pension Scheme (we will match your contribution up to 7.5%) 
• Loan schemes for bikes; computers and season tickets 
• Continuous professional development opportunities. 
• Industry-leading training programmes 
• Wellbeing and Employee Assistance Programmes 
• Enhanced bereavement, family friendly and sickness benefits 
• Access to Blue Light Card membership 
• Subsidised Eye Care 

At Marie Curie, our values are central to everything we do. They guide how we care for people, how we work together, and how we make decisions every day. We are committed to creating a workplace that is safe for everyone — staff and volunteers alike — supportive, inclusive and rewarding.  We take stringent steps to ensure that anyone who joins our organisation are suitable for their roles and are committed to safeguarding all our people from harm. We actively consider our impact on the planet, embedding sustainability into everyday decisions to create a lasting, positive difference for the individuals we care for and the world we share.

We believe everyone should have the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential. Marie Curie is deeply committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, recognising both the social justice imperative and the strength a diverse workforce brings.  We actively encourage applications from people of all cultures, perspectives and lived experiences.

We are happy to make reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process. If you require any support, please contact us at .

Every application we receive is personally reviewed by a member of our Talent Acquisition team, and in return, we ask that your application authentically reflects you — your experience, perspective and voice.

About Adolescent Health Study

The Adolescent Health Study (AHS) is an ambitious new UKRI-funded initiative to establish a prospective, longitudinal population study that will generate a globally leading open science data platform and research resource. AHS aims to recruit at least 100,000 young people aged eight to 18 years from across the UK and to follow their mental and physical health and wellbeing over at least 10 years. It plans to collect data through questions and measures; to obtain bio-samples for a wide range of genomic and other high-throughput assays; and to capture linked data relevant to health and wellbeing from participants’ health, education and other administrative records. Recruitment will take place mainly through schools. There will be a strong emphasis on engaging with and involving young people, schools, parents and other relevant stakeholders in the design and delivery of the study, as well as on including young people that represent as wide as possible a range of backgrounds, experiences and characteristics. AHS will focus on enabling a wide range of research, including studies of the critical biological and social developments that occur during the transition from childhood to adulthood and the determinants of both mental and physical health and wellbeing in adolescents and young adults.

Purpose of the post

 The Procurement Lead is responsible for developing and delivering a robust procurement and commercial strategy that ensures value for money, compliance with Procurement Act 2023 regulations in line with AHS being primarily public funded and supports AHS study and operational objectives. The role will lead on sourcing, contracting, supplier management, and commercial governance, ensuring ethical, transparent, and efficient use of public funds.

Main responsibilities

Procurement Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and implement a procurement and commercial strategy aligned with organisational goals and funding requirements.
• Lead procurement planning across research programmes, operations, and corporate services.
• Act as a subject matter expert on public procurement policy and best practice.
• Drive continuous improvement in procurement processes, systems, and capability.

Tendering and Contract Management

• Oversee end-to-end procurement processes including tendering, evaluation, and contract award.
• Ensure compliance with UK public procurement regulations (e.g., Procurement Act and associated guidance).
• Draft, review, and negotiate complex contracts, including research, clinical, and grant-related agreements.
• Manage contract lifecycle including performance monitoring, renewals, and extensions.

Commercial Governance & Compliance

• Establish and maintain procurement policies, procedures, and governance frameworks.
• Ensure all procurement activities meet audit, transparency, and reporting requirements for public funding.
• Identify and mitigate commercial risks across supplier engagements.
• Support internal and external audit processes.

Supplier & Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain strategic supplier relationships, ensuring high performance and innovation.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders (research teams, finance, legal) to understand needs and deliver value-driven procurement solutions.
• Work with external stakeholders including funders, partners and strategic advisors to develop optimum outcomes
• Provide commercial advice and guidance to senior leadership and project teams.
• Promote sustainable and ethical sourcing practices.

Financial & Value Management

• Deliver value for money through effective sourcing and negotiation strategies.
• Monitor procurement spend and identify cost-saving or efficiency opportunities.
• Contribute to budgeting, forecasting, and financial planning processes.
• Ensure funding is used appropriately, ethically and in line with public funding requirements.

Knowledge, skills and experience

Essential

1. Professional qualification in procurement or supply chain e.g., CIPS Level 5 or equivalent
2. Degree or comparable experience in business, finance, law, or related field.
3. Proven track record of managing complex procurement exercises and contracts.
4. Experience in procurement or commercial roles within regulated procurement environments, specifically those classed as a public authority
5. Strong understanding of UK public procurement regulations and best practice.
6. Commercial acumen with strong negotiation and contract management skills.
7. Experience of drafting and reviewing heads of terms and commercial agreements.
8. Knowledge of intellectual property (IP) considerations in research contracts.
9. Strong experience in supplier and stakeholder management.
10. Excellent analytical, financial, and problem-solving abilities.
11. Strong communication and influencing skills across all levels of an organisation.
12. Ability to manage multiple projects and priorities effectively.

Desirable

1. CIPS Level 6 or equivalent
2. Membership of a professional body (e.g., MCIPS or FCIPS).
3. Experience managing high-value and complex contracts, including collaborative or partnership agreements
4. Experience in procurement or commercial roles within charity and/or research sectors
5. Detailed understanding of intellectual property (IP) considerations in research contracts.
6. Detailed knowledge of the UK Procurement Act (or Public Contracts Regulations 2015 historically) and transitions between them.
7. Experience of drafting and reviewing heads of terms and commercial agreements.
8. Understanding of subsidy control, state aid, or funding compliance frameworks.
9. Ability to analyse procurement data and generate insights using tools such as Excel, Power BI, or similar.
10. Experience leading organisational change or transformation programmes in procurement.
11. Ability to build procurement capability across a non-procurement stakeholder base.

Dimensions

• This is a full-time role, 37.5 hours per week, offered initially as an 18-month fixed-term contract with potential route to permanency.
• Flexible working across several geographical locations in the UK.  Travel may be required to AHS locations and partner organisations.
• AHS is a national organisation, and our activities take place across the UK.

Application Process

All candidates are required to complete the application form which can be found when clicking 'Apply Now' via Charity Job.

Please refer to the ‘How to Apply’ section of the downloadable application form.

Please note that only applications submitted directly to Gravitate HR will be accepted for this position.

The closing date for applications is 11:00pm on Sunday 12th July 2026.

Interviews are currently expected to take place on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th August 2026.

Equal Opportunities Policy Statement

AHS is an equal opportunities employer, and as such aims to treat all employees, consultants and applicants fairly. It is our policy to provide employment equality to all, irrespective of:

• Gender, including gender reassignment
• Marital or civil partnership status
• Having or not having dependants
• Religion or belief
• Race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins)
• Disability
• Sexual orientation
• Age

We are opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination.  All job applicants and employees who work for us will be treated fairly and will not be unfairly discriminated against on any of the above grounds. Decisions about recruitment and selection, promotion, training or any other benefit will be made objectively and without unlawful discrimination. 

Values

It is an exciting time for the Adolescent Health Study (AHS) as we establish our senior leadership team and begin to plan the pilot studies. As the senior executive team evolves, the AHS values will be grounded in inclusivity, integrity, accountability, and collaboration.