School Relationships Officer - Maternity Cover
East Midlands & East of England
Salary: £28,346 to £30,512 (depending on experience)
Contract: Temporary position linked to maternity leave cover
About Voice 21
Voice 21 is the national oracy education charity. We exist to empower every child to use their voice for success in school and life. Our work transforms learning and life chances through talk by increasing access to a high-quality oracy education for those that need it most. Follow the links to find out more about why oracy is so vital and the impact Voice 21 has.
Your opportunity
Tackle a vital challenge, with great people. Voice 21 exists to transform childrens’ learning and life chances through talk and we are aiming to be working with 2,000 schools a year by 2025. To reach this goal we recruit great people and give them real responsibility, training and support.
Output focused culture, with flexible working opportunities. We have an agile and flexible approach – our team can work when and wherever works best to deliver the requirements of their role. For staff working at home, we support them to create a workspace and provide technology that enables them to work effectively.
Real development opportunities. We believe in supporting people to develop the skills they need to be excellent – whether this means funding external training, finding a mentor to support them or giving them the time to learn from others in the organisations through our regular CPD sessions. We also offer paid study leave for team members taking part in formal studies outside of work.
Great benefits. 33 days holiday (inclusive of bank holidays) and additional Christmas closure period. Holiday entitlement increases linked to length of service, 5% employer contribution to pension, interest-free season ticket, cycle and technology loans, employee assistance scheme.
Remuneration. Our pay is a band and spine point approach where there is up to 7 years progression available (depending on starting point)
Your purpose
To deliver a high quality experience to schools in your region through expert relationship management and delivery of specific project outcomes: driving high levels of engagement, retention and renewal and enabling Voice 21 to have the greatest impact in each Voice 21 Oracy School.
Your responsibilities
Relationship management and Group Project delivery
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Build and manage strong relationships with member schools and key stakeholders at all levels, across your region in order to add value to their membership, driving engagement, long term loyalty and ultimately impact in our schools.
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Use your understanding of member schools in your region to create ‘wow moments’ across the membership journey (e.g. dropping in to meet with key stakeholders or setting up virtual networking opportunities).
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Manage the delivery of group projects in your region, reporting to group commissioners or funders on progress.
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Represent Voice 21 effectively to external audiences in meetings and events. Develop our regional network through events. Arrange & attend open mornings with current member schools and support with additional event organisation and delivery as required with support from product and events leads.
School journey and experience
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Provide an excellent customer experience for member schools and key stakeholders (e.g. Local Authorities and Multi-Academy Trusts) from sign up through to renewal, acting as the first point of contact for your Voice 21 Oracy Schools.
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Own the membership journey and school experience for your region, including the underlying processes, activities and comms that support membership.
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Gain frontline insights from listening to member schools in your region - collect, track and analyse data about their patterns of behaviour and use these insights to improve their experience.
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Use your understanding of our membership offer to support and guide schools in your region to access member benefits that best meet their needs, are most impactful for their students and steward them towards accreditation (e.g. use diagnostic tools to set action plans for the membership year and signpost to Voice 21 products, resources and events).
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Bring together data (from our CRM system, our Programme team and impact and engagement monitoring) to understand and own the ‘complete picture’ of each school’s member journey in your region - use insights to manage and increase engagement; proactively share insights gained, internally (e.g. with the Programme team about attendance or school feedback) and externally (reporting to a group project commissioner or funder).
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Own membership renewals in your region, helping the Engagement team to deliver our annual school renewal targets (70%+).
Your progression
Within 1 month, you’ll have:
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Got to know all of the different elements which go into our membership offer through experiencing them first hand.
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Gained insight into the impact of our membership offer on children and young people’s learning and life chances, by visiting Voice 21 Oracy Schools.
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Began to get to know the key stakeholders and member schools in your region.
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Built relationships with your closest colleagues in our Experience, and Programmes teams.
Within 3 months, you’ll have:
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Built relationships with the key stakeholders and member schools in your region.
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Supported member schools in your region to get started on their membership journey and to access membership benefits.
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Become confident using our CRM (Salesforce) to provide key data you need for success in your role.
Within 6 months, you’ll have:
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Begun to monitor experience and engagement of member schools in your region and identify strategies to help schools get the most out of their membership.
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Delivered & supported regional network events and reflected on how these went with the team.
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Lead a cycle of renewal in your region and use this to identify areas of strength/development.
From 6 months onwards, we expect for you to be:
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Taking ownership of the member journey and school experience of schools in your region.
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Proactively sharing insights from the frontline with the team to improve experience and engagement.
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Developing strategic relationships with key stakeholders and identifying opportunities to grow our school network in your region.
This job is for you if...
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You take pride in the strength of the relationships you build, you enjoy making connections with a range of stakeholders (both internal and external) and delivering an excellent relationship management experience.
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You have a strong understanding of the educational landscape in the East Midlands and East of England, and know how to navigate the pressures faced by teachers and school leaders.
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You have experience working with a Customer Relationship Management database and understand the importance of accurate data to inform decision making.
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You can apply project management skills (e.g. working towards milestones) and have experience in supporting and organising regional events.
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You care about the little details which make all the difference and get satisfaction from seeing things through.
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You enjoy working as part of a fast-paced, fast-growing team with big ambitions and are excited to use your initiative to help us achieve these.
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You’re passionate about Voice 21’s mission, the education sector and making a change to young people’s learning and life changes.
Who you’ll work with:
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Our Engagement team: made up of our Head of Member Success, your fellow School Relationships Officers, a School Membership Officer, Schools Coordinator, and your line manager - one of our two School Relationships Leads.
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Our Programmes team who lead and deliver our work with teachers on programmes.
Location: Remote with a focus on the East Midlands & East of England.
This role requires regular travel to London, occasional within the region & nationally. This includes visiting schools, attending development days, meetings, and industry events. Some overnight stays will be required.
Ideal Candidate: We are seeking a candidate specifically based in the East Midlands or East of England and with a strong understanding and experience of the educational landscape and the challenges facing schools in these areas.
Contract: Temporary (linked to maternity cover)
Terms: Full Time
Application details
To apply:
Please send your most recent CV and a document answering the questions below:
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Tell us why you want to work at Voice 21. What is it about us and our mission that excites you? (Max. 400 words)
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Making direct reference to the job description, please tell us the three main reasons why you would make an excellent School Relationships Officer in the East Mids & East of England (Max. 600 words).
We are ideally seeking to appoint someone based in the East or East Midlands region
Please do not apply for this position if you are not based in this area of the UK
Closing date: Friday 27th June 5pm
Interview date: Provisional dates for initial phone interviews Week Commencing 7th July with second round interviews on Zoom w/c 14th July TBC
Start date: Mid August 2025.
Questions: If you have any questions about the role, or would like to discuss it before submitting an application, please contact Gill Cameron, Head of Member Success.
Valuing every voice
Voice 21 believes that every voice should be heard and valued. We are committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and do not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.
We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join Voice 21.
Registered Charity 
51 - 100
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
We're looking for someone to be the regional representative for Crimestoppers in the Avon and Somerset area, with specific responsibility for;
- Creation and delivery of local/county/regionally specific crime-based campaigns in partnership with law enforcement agencies, local committees and volunteers.
- Coordination of cross border and national activity in support of ROCU’S, the NCA and other bodies such as the GLAA.
- Identifying and maximising funding opportunities for our charity including RM post, campaign activity, Fearless workers and for Business Development.
- Enabling volunteer committees to develop so they can operate effectively and achieve their full potential.
- Act as Crimestoppers spokesperson for the region covered, regarding media interviews.
Criteria
Essential
- Project management i.e. scoping planning, implementation and delivery of projects
- Budget management experience
- Ability to spend time away from home to meet the needs of the role.
- Ability to work unsociable hours in line with the needs of the role.
- Ability to work to tight timescales, and to work within pressurised time critical and decision-making scenarios.
Desirable
- Experience of working with the commercial/ statutory sector in relation to campaigns/ media.
- Experience of working with volunteers and the third sector.
- Ability to liaise with senior and junior management within organisations to delivered relevant outcomes.
- Basic knowledge of policing practice.
- Experience of lone working
Please submit a CV and covering letter expressing your interest in the role.
Please submit a CV and covering letter.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Background
People and communities around the world have the solutions to social injustice, authoritarianism, and the climate crisis. But repressive governments, corrupt corporations, and armed groups use violence and oppression to try and silence them.
By building resistance and resilience among those challenging unaccountable power, Open Briefing supports a shared vision for a world where communities and ecosystems can thrive.
As a mission-driven nonprofit, we join forces with grassroots activists, community groups, and social movements at risk. Working together, we strengthen their physical safety, digital resilience, and collective wellbeing. As a social impact consultancy, we help leading nonprofits and foundations navigate risk and support the people and partnerships that make change possible.
This dual approach allows us to work at every level of civil society, from the grassroots to the global.
We have scaled to meet a 66% surge in demand for our support over the past two years, with our international team now responding to 11 new cases every week. Last year, we:
- Answered 575 calls for assistance across 100 countries.
- Delivered over 6,000 hours of mentoring and accompaniment.
- Trained over 1,000 activists in 112 holistic security workshops.
Across all our work, the same approach guides us. We come with questions, not just answers. We listen to the knowledge and experiences of the people we support before sharing our own. Then we act, together.
We are expanding our diverse, inspired, and purpose-driven team. Will you join us as our new director of digital and information security?
Role description
As our director of digital and information security, you will lead our digital risk and resilience team and programme in order to help build resistance and resilience among the people and movements challenging unaccountable power.
Your focus in this senior role at this crucial time will be on leadership, strategy, growth, and culture, with specific responsibility for our digital risk and resilience programme, internal information security, and tech transformation. Your responsibilities will include:
Lead our digital risk and resilience programme
- Manage the design and delivery of our digital and information security support, including:
- Coordinate the digital security mentoring, accompaniment, and capacity sharing we deliver to at-risk activists and low-resource civil society organisations referred through our rapid response mechanism.
- Oversee the professional information security consultancy and advisory services we provide to high-profile nonprofit and foundation clients.
- Develop our holistic security approach and ensure the smooth delivery of holistic security projects as part of our cross-programme leadership group.
- Lead a team of digital and information security professionals and technologists, including:
- Build and maintain an effective team, and recruit, onboard, and mentor new consultants as required to meet increased demand or to fill gaps.
- Inspire, motivate, and line manage team members and foster a team culture that ensures psychological safety and reflects our values.
- Quality assure and provide expert input into the work of consultants in the team as appropriate.
- Drive our evolution in this risk domain from a service-focussed workstream to an impact-driven programme, including:
- Build strategic relationships with hubs, hotlines, networks, and other key nodes in the protection ecosystem, particularly across the global majority.
- Produce tools, guides, and trainings on key digital and information security issues of concern to activists and organisations at risk.
- Raise Open Briefing’s profile in the digital rights and tech communities by representing the organisation externally, including at conferences and events and within relevant civil society networks.
Champion our own digital and information security
- Maintain an up-to-date registry of our valuable and sensitive information assets and the technical and organisational measures in place to protect them.
- Define, prioritise, and implement additional technical and organisational measures to better protect each of our valuable and sensitive information assets.
- Continuously improve the digital hygiene of our team members and the security of our devices, accounts, communications, and website by introducing additional general measures, including device management and regular digital security training.
- Coordinate our response to any data breach or security incident involving our information assets, devices, accounts, communications, or website.
Drive tech transformation in our organisation
- Act as a catalyst for change and drive tech transformation as a strategic enabler of our growth and scale.
- Map current systems and workflows to identify gaps, reduce complexity, and deliver improvements that strengthen security and ease staff burden.
- Lead the specification, procurement, and implementation of new tools – including secure case management, communication, and collaboration systems – and oversee change management and training to ensure successful adoption across our team.
- Establish a clear and responsive process for handling team requests for IT and digital security support, ensuring timely assistance and continuous improvement.
Shape our organisational strategy and culture
- Play an active role in strategic decision making, organisation development, and delivering our three-year strategy as a key part of our senior leadership team.
- Support our CEO and development director to cultivate new and existing funding partnerships, including for our digital risk and resilience programme.
- Model our organisation’s values and culture by using inclusive language, acting with empathy and compassion, and demonstrating a solutions-focussed and growth mindset in your interactions with all our internal and external stakeholders.
Advance your own growth and development
- Engage in our programme of training and coaching in order to grow as a leader.
- Remain up to date with key developments in digital and information security and relevant technology, such as data protection regulations, digital rights, internet freedom, and new surveillance and censorship technologies.
You will be supported in your role by a digital risk and resilience coordinator and a team of highly-motivated consultants, other members of the senior leadership team, our office manager, and a CEO who models servant leadership. You will also have detailed handover notes and access to our extensive internal knowledge base and up-to-date project management system.
To help you grow as a leader, we will co-design your quarterly objectives, regularly review your priorities and progress, and provide an annual 360 performance and growth review. All team members also have access to unlimited professional coaching and other learning and development opportunities.
Person specification
Essential
- You will be an experienced and empathetic leader or manager who values collaboration and teamwork.
- You will have a proven track record in digital and information security roles.
- You will have considerable digital and information security expertise and be able to communicate and apply that knowledge clearly, concisely, and effectively.
- You will have experience working with nonprofits and foundations and/or grassroots movements, organisations, and activists.
- You will have experience working in professional consultancy and advisory roles.
- You will be sensitive to the progressive and rights-based missions and diverse profiles of our clients and other stakeholders.
- You will have excellent written and spoken English.
- You will be based in a country with a time zone that is UTC +/- 3 hours or able to accommodate our core working hours.
Desirable
- You may have a strong understanding of the physical security and psychosocial aspects of holistic security and how they interact with digital risk and resilience.
- You may have proficiency in additional languages.
Terms and conditions
We are a global, remote-first, and digital nomad-friendly organisation. This is a home-working role with some potential for occasional international travel.
We are looking for someone who wants to become part of our close-knit team and develop a long-term working relationship with us and our stakeholders. You will be properly onboarded and continually supported by empowering managers and highly-experienced colleagues. Your line manager will be our CEO, Chris Abbott.
This is a full-time employed role. We will offer you a remuneration package made up of fair pay, sector-leading benefits, and progressive leave policies, including:
- Salary of £72,400 per annum.
- 7% employer pension contribution (UK).
- Family private medical insurance.
- Employee Assistance Programme, including welfare counselling.
- Unlimited professional coaching.
- Enhanced annual leave of 25 days plus local public holidays.
- Additional leave days for annual closedown.
- Enhanced sick pay.
- Flexible working, including flexitime and remote and home working.
- Access to local coworking spaces.
- Support for climate action:
- Personal carbon emissions offsetting.
- Up to two additional leave days for sustainable travel.
- Up to two additional leave days for climate activism.
- Apple MacBook Pro and peripherals.
In order to ensure that we comply with local laws and regulations, Open Briefing staff based outside the United Kingdom will be contracted locally through an employer of record (EOR). Wherever possible, we apply the same terms and conditions of employment to all staff, whether employed directly or through an EOR. Where there are differences due to local laws and regulations, we will apply the better of the provisions set out above or the local statutory requirements.
How to apply
To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter (no more than two pages each) using the secure form.
You will be asked three screening questions in the form as part of your application:
- What excites you about Open Briefing and this role?
- In this role, you’ll support civic actors facing complex threats from state, corporate, or criminal adversaries. These actors often have limited resources, knowledge, or experience to identify or respond to such risks. What do you see as the key factors when designing effective digital and information security strategies in this context? If possible, please share an example of a role or project in which you tackled similar challenges
- Our team is diverse in language, culture, location, working style, and employment model. Many of our consultants work with us part-time, alongside other clients, and are embedded in a wider ecosystem. Your role will be to support their growth, match them to the right work, and integrate their efforts across a broader, cross-functional team. What challenges would you anticipate in leading such a diverse, distributed team? Please share an example of a role in which you managed similar challenges – ideally within a global civil society or service-oriented organisation.
Please note the following dates:
- Closing date: 20 June 2025 (16:00 UTC)
- First round interviews: 30 June and 1 July 2025
- Second round interviews: 3 and 4 July 2025
- Desired start date: 1 August 2025 or as soon as possible thereafter
Please let us know in your cover letter if any of these dates are problematic and we will try to accommodate. Given the nature of our work, the successful applicant will need to complete a reasonable vetting process before being appointed.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.