Cadet programme support officer jobs
Location: Home based
Contract: Fixed term until 31 March 2026 – Full time 35hrs per week
Salary: £27,250 gross per annum
Closing Date: 21 July 2025
Assessment Day: 5 August 2025
Are you looking for a new opportunity?
The Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) is a vibrant and growing charity delivering life changing nautical adventure for young people through the Sea Cadets to give them the best possible head start in life. We also provide personal and professional development opportunities for seafarers with the Marine Society. Working with our staff, cadets, and volunteers, we have built a vision and five-year strategy to take us forward and further improve the astounding contribution already made through our work to the lives of thousands of young people and seafarers, while fully supporting our volunteers who are vital to our success.
We are currently looking for a Growth and Development Worker based in England to join our team. This is an externally funded post which will be focused on opening new provision and supporting existing provision in order to reduce waiting lists within specific funding areas. This is a very varied and rewarding role that requires someone who is self-motivated, organised, creative, tenacious, positive, IT competent and with a real interest in people. You need to be able to coach, empower and inspire our volunteers and cadets, both in person and remotely, to grow the Sea Cadets.
Responsibilities
- Delivering a variety of training sessions on, for example, recruitment of cadets and volunteers
- Developing new growth and recruitment tools and ideas
- Promoting flexible volunteering and the volunteer strategy
- Assisting with running our social media accounts
- Working with and empowering our volunteers to develop plans for growth
- Planning and setting up Juniors Sections in new and existing locations/units
- Delivering assemblies in schools
- Forming part of various working groups with colleagues to develop the tools, resources and processes needed to increase the positive impact of the Growth and Development team.
- Supporting the delivery of funded outreach projects
Requirements
- Previous experience of working with volunteers
- Experience delivering on multiple project plans simultaneously
- Ability to build and maintain excellent relationships with a variety of stakeholders remotely and face-to-face
- Experience delivering workshops and/or training
- Self-motivated and able to manage your time and workload effectively
- Flexible and enthusiastic
- Able to work as a team player with creative ideas and solutions who will empower our volunteers to make a difference to the lives of even more young people across the UK
For further information, please download the attached Recruitment Pack.
Benefits
- Flexible Working hours and a hybrid culture
- Cycle to work scheme and Season Ticket Loan
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Life assurance (4x salary) for those that join the pension
- Private medical insurance
- Pension (employer contribution up to 10%)
- Wellbeing portal and EAP with 121 counselling
- Employee development: We are investing in our employees' development and have an annual calendar of learning and development opportunities, designed to support employees to develop into their roles and stretch them to achieve their full potential.
- National staff conference: All employees come together once a year to reflect on the past year and celebrate success at our offsite staff conference. This is a great opportunity to listen to employees' views, and for employees to network, share information and socialise.
If you are interested in this Growth and Development vacancy, please apply now!
Additional Information
MSSC positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates from all backgrounds. Equity, diversity, and inclusion really matters to us, so we can best serve our beneficiaries from every community. We work to ensure a fair and consistent recruitment process and aim to be a charity where diversity of experience, identity and skills are valued and welcomed. MSSC is an equal opportunities employer.
We recognise our responsibilities to safeguard and protect the young people and vulnerable adults with whom we work. We do all we can to promote their health, safety and wellbeing, and we expect our staff to share this commitment and work in line with safeguarding policy, the MSSC’s values and ethos of inclusivity. We adhere to safer recruitment practices and therefore employment is subject to detailed pre-employment checks for successful candidates, including references and criminal disclosure checks and the completion of a disclosure questionnaire.
All successful applicants are required to attend safeguarding training and undergo a criminal record check.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
We help launch young people for life through adventure.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Role: Head of Finance
Location:Hybrid (on-site 3 days per week in Sheffield)
Our offer to you
We pride ourselves in being a great place to work, providing a supportive culture with opportunities to grow and develop your career, achieve a healthy work life balance and to be recognised for the great work you do. You will receive:
- Competitive salary and pension scheme
- 33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) - increasing to 38 days over 5 years
- Hybrid, Flexible working
- Cycle to work scheme Electric Vehicle Scheme
- Health and Wellbeing portal – access to financial, health and wellbeing support and an Employee Assistance Programme
- Discounts – you will have access to Blue Light and NHS Discounts as well as discounts on mobile phones, gym membership, cinema tickets, restaurants, holidays and shopping
About Us
This is a fantastic opportunity to join a team of over 1,400 employees and over 31,000 volunteers, united by our goal of saving lives through essential first aid services, training and campaigning. As a charity with rich heritage and a long history of serving humanity, we are proud of our past and excited about creating a healthier, safer, more resilient future.
St John Ambulance works at the heart of communities, supporting and enabling them to access and receive physical and mental health first aid. We do this through developing and providing effective community response and outreach services (e.g. Ambulance response & Nighttime Economy) and using our longstanding expertise to empower people with vital clinical skills and the confidence to use them (e.g. our Volunteers and Community Advocates, NHS Cadets and Young Responders programmes). There is also a buoyant social enterprise network which delivers first aid training and supplies medical consumables to businesses and consumers.
Job Summary
We’re looking for an experienced and forward-thinking finance leader to play a central role in shaping the future of the finance team at St John Ambulance. Reporting to the Finance Director (who reports directly to the CEO), this is a high-impact position at the heart of our finance transformation journey—ideal for a self-motivated, qualified accountant who thrives on change and making an impact.
As a senior leader within the organisation, you’ll be instrumental in driving the evolution of our finance function, leading and developing a large, multi-disciplinary team. You'll bring deep expertise across a broad range of finance disciplines and be excited by the opportunity to embed best practices, streamline processes, and strengthen financial governance.
This is more than a technical role—it's a strategic leadership opportunity. You'll collaborate with senior stakeholders across the organisation and externally, using your communication and influencing skills to shape decision-making and support our charitable mission.
You’ll oversee the delivery of timely, accurate management accounts and play a key role in providing high-quality financial reporting to our Trustees and Finance Committee. You'll also take the lead on our statutory audited accounts, acting as the principal contact for both internal and external auditors.
With additional responsibility for cashflow forecasting, treasury management, tax compliance, VAT, and gift aid, this role ensures St John maintains robust financial governance. While charity sector experience is an advantage, it's your passion for making a difference and your leadership in finance that will set you apart.
About You
- Educated to degree level with a full professional accounting qualification (ACA, ACCA, or CIMA).
- Significant post-qualification experience (PQE) in senior financial accounting roles, with strong technical expertise.
- Proven track record in producing annual statutory accounts and successfully managing external audit processes.
- Extensive experience leading and developing large finance teams within complex organisations, driving performance and accountability.
- Skilled in preparing management accounts, income and expenditure reports, and cash flow forecasts to support strategic decision-making.
- Demonstrated success in finance team transformation, implementing process improvements, and enhancing financial controls.
- Experienced in stakeholder engagement at all levels, including Board reporting, and providing expert technical accounting advice to support change and excellence.
About the Role
- Lead statutory and management reporting: Oversee the production of audited statutory financial statements and timely completion of the external audit. Ensure best practice in external financial reporting and take full responsibility for the accuracy and delivery of monthly management accounts.
- Own cash flow and balance sheet management: Lead the preparation of the charity’s monthly rolling cash flow forecast and ensure full ownership of the balance sheet, including timely and accurate reconciliations.
- Strengthen financial controls and working capital: Ensure effective financial processes and controls within transactional teams to manage working capital and drive continuous improvement in financial operations.
- Oversee compliance and tax: Identify, manage and control financial risks, including tax compliance. Provide expert technical accounting advice and ensure the charity remains fully compliant in all taxation matters, including VAT and gift aid.
- Drive counter fraud and governance improvements: Act as the financial lead for the charity’s control environment and counter fraud framework. Champion improvements in fraud awareness, culture, and control.
- Manage key external relationships: Serve as the main contact for the charity’s bankers and investment managers, and act as secretary to the Finance Committee and Investment Advisory Group.
- Optimise treasury and investment performance: Lead treasury activities to maximise returns on working capital and investments, ensuring alignment with the charity’s strategic objectives.
- Develop team and performance culture: Foster a high-performing finance team through regular 1-1s, development reviews, and team meetings. Embed a strong performance management culture in line with St John Ambulance policies.
Please see the job description for more detail (this can be viewed on our website or once you click apply)
If you are a current St John Ambulance employee, please apply here: Click here
For all other candidates, or St John Ambulance volunteers wishing to apply: please apply below
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive high volume of applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
St John Ambulance are committed to increasing the diversity of our team and making sure we best reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.At St John, everyone is valued and supported to thrive, we have several networks including Multi Culture, Disability and Accessibility, Pride, Family and Carers and Women’s groups. We do not tolerate any form of discrimination and engender a sense of belonging for all, by creating an environment of mutual respect, where we value unique differences and demonstrate authentic allyship. We believe passionately in equality, diversity and inclusion.
St John Ambulance is committed to safeguarding and we promote safe recruitment practice. Therefore, all successful applicants will undergo pre-employment checks, including DBS Clearance, as part of the onboarding process, if applicable to the nature of the role
Please note: St John does not accept speculative CVs and will only review CVs sent in application for an advertised vacancy.
