Centre director jobs

About Demos

Demos is a highly respected cross-party think tank with a unique approach to making policy to solve our long term problems. Building on nearly 30 years of creativity, ideas and impact, Demos’s mission is to upgrade democracy: rebuilding the relationship between citizen and state. Our work explores the elements of a ‘New Deal’, in which power is devolved, citizens participate in policy making, and together as a nation we find answers to the challenges of our century.

About Waves

Demos is leading the largest trial of digital democracy in Britain. 

Trust in politics and politicians is in crisis. Only 24% of people trust politicians to make decisions in the best interests of the country. Polarisation is increasing. At the same time, people want to be involved in the public policy decisions that affect them. 

Waves is a €1 million project trialling new technology in local democracy, launched to bring people together to tackle contentious local issues and strengthen trust in local government. Thousands of local people will have the opportunity to shape local government policy on an issue affecting their area.

New AI-powered technology is intended to make it easier, cheaper and quicker for participants to have their say, identify areas of consensus, discuss difficult issues and work through trade-offs together. 

We are working in partnership with two trailblazing councils who are both embracing the opportunity to put the public at the heart of their policy making. The trial will begin in the London Borough of Camden to co-develop an approach to adult social care. The trial will then move on to South Staffordshire District Council as they develop an inclusive engagement process to prepare for their next local plan. The partners will also support a further 25 councils to observe and learn from the process so that they too can use the tools in the future.

About the role 

We are looking for an experienced programme manager who can steer Waves from now until it completes in December 2026. 

You would be joining the programme at a pivotal time as we move from the ‘set-up’ and ‘co-design’ phases of the first 6-months, to the start of the first of our two trials running sequentially over the next 11 months, before moving to a final ‘impact phase’ of dissemination of our toolkits, technology and learning in the final 6 months.

Programme management of Waves means ensuring that the whole project stays on track – on time and on budget – throughout its delivery. There are 5 partners, a number of suppliers and many moving parts, so it is critical that we find someone who can work across the whole programme, anticipating who needs to do what and by when, and ensuring that the programme is delivered successfully so we can draw learnings from it to share widely across the local government, democracy, and tech sectors. 

It is worth bearing in mind that Waves is a ‘test and learn’ trial of a new deliberative democratic process using existing and new technology. Therefore, the team is committed to learning from the project and being comfortable with the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what the outcomes are going to be. 

What you'll need to be sucessful

The types of knowledge, skills and experience we are looking for are below. We welcome a range of applications which include at least some of these attributes.

• Demonstrable experience managing an equivalent programme in terms of complexity, scale and partners with a solid understanding of project management methods.
• Understanding and commitment to the mission of the programme – motivated to tackle issues of low trust in democracy among UK citizens with digital democratic platforms and deliberative processes a crucial part of the solution.
• Team management, interpersonal and communication skills – ability to lead and motivate a team with diverse skills and priorities to deliver a programme of great complexity and uncertainty, including fostering collaboration and trust, managing conflicts, maintaining transparency and empowering different partners to perform effectively.
• Strong strategic thinking and decision-making skills – the ability to align activities with overall programme objectives, making informed decisions based on programme lead and partner inputs and, where possible, data and analysis, and drive the programme towards successful outcomes. 
• Ability to identify potential risks, develop mitigation strategies and manage issues that may arise during the programme lifecycle – ideally in an innovation context, one working with diverse partners with different ways of working or when using technology/ conducting trials with the public.
• An interest in, and comfort working with, innovative technologies that utilise AI and collect data, as well as an understanding of the risks and sensitivities surrounding the use of AI, among the public and within the public sector.
• Experience of owning and managing a large-scale budget, conducting calculations when there are changes from the plan, and maintaining clear and robust tracking of expenditure to ensure financial accountability.
• Demonstrable ability to adapt to changing circumstances, solve problems creatively and maintain momentum and energy during challenging situations.
• Highly collaborative, with a commitment to teamwork and inclusivity.

Application and selection process

To apply, please provide the following through our application form:

• an anonymised CV (with any references to your name and personal details removed)
• answers to four screening questions (up to 250 words each) 
• a completed copy of our diversity monitoring form (optional)

All applications will be evaluated and graded anonymously to minimise bias in our screening process.

Questions?

If you have any further questions or aren’t sure if the role is right for you, please feel free to reach out to us and we would be happy to answer any queries. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

The role supports the Individual Giving team by leading the day-to-day delivery of legacy stewardship, supporter journeys, and mid-level donor care. By strengthening supporter relationships, it enables the Individual Giving Manager to concentrate on acquisition and retention campaigns. 

Global Canopy is a data-driven not for profit that targets the market forces destroying nature. We do this by improving transparency and accountability. We provide innovative open-access data, clear metrics, and actionable insights to leading companies, financial institutions, governments and campaigning organisations worldwide. 

About Corporate Performance

A growing number of companies and financial institutions are seeking to mitigate their impacts on nature. But many have made commitments that are not being met, and others are failing to take any action at all. We hold to account through our Forest 500 project, assessing the policies and performance of influential companies and financial institutions. We also support financial institutions and investors with our suite of Deforestation-free Finance Guidance and a forthcoming new tool, DEFT Pathway, to support effective engagement with high-risk companies. We support the finance sector, policy makers and other stakeholders by providing market-leading data on deforestation and ESG metrics through Forest IQ. 

Role overview

An exciting opportunity for a creative and highly motivated candidate with strong technical expertise to help increase Global Canopy's impact by making world-leading environmental and financial data more accessible to our key audiences in the finance sector, business and civil society. 

The role will focus on the DEFT Pathway and related products. DEFT is a transparent, easy-to-use framework that maps out practical steps for companies to transition to deforestation-free supply chains. Hosted by best-in-class data platform Forest IQ, DEFT Pathway helps financial institutions to engage effectively with companies on deforestation. 

A key objective is to make the DEFT Pathway data accessible by building user-friendly frontend components. The data is complex and multi-dimensional and will require considerable creativity to communicate in an understandable and compelling way in order to maximise its impact. You will collaborate with designers, researchers and product managers to fulfill these aims.

As a full stack developer, you will also design and implement the backend to allow the data powering the visualisations to be accessed in a secure way. You will work with data engineers and researchers to ensure the database is well-structured and that queries are performant.

The tech team is small, so you will need to operate with a high degree of independence, and will have the opportunity to influence key technical decisions. We are looking for someone who finds this prospect exciting rather than daunting! 

Requirements:

To be successful in this role, these are the things that will matter the most: 

• Excellent full stack web development skills, ideally using python and typescript
• Knowledge of python frameworks for the backend, such as FastAPI, Flask and/or Django
• Knowledge of javascript frameworks for the frontend (preferably React/Next.js), and common data visualisation libraries such as d3
• Experience querying PostgreSQL databases, potentially using SQLAlchemy as an ORM
• Experience working with cloud infrastructure, preferably AWS

Essential behavioural competencies: 

• Self-starter, happy working in a small team with a large degree of independence
• A keen eye for quality, and an appreciation of the importance of automated testing
• A desire to follow industry standard software development processes

Desirable:

• 3+ years experience
• Experience using Agile project management methods and appreciation of the benefits of these
• Knowledge of the Corporate Performance domain

Benefits

Salary: £60K full-time equivalent. This role sits within Band C on Global Canopy’s remuneration framework.
Nature of contract: Full time (37.5 hours) or part time (30 hours, 0.8 FTE). Fixed term for 21 months (approximately the end of 2027). We are a flexible employer and welcome candidates wishing to work flexibly.
Base: Our office is in Oxford, UK with flexible home-working arrangements in place. 
Holidays: 36 days (including bank/public holidays) for discretionary use across the annual leave year. Option to purchase up to an additional 5 days or equivalent of one week’s leave.
Other benefits including healthcare cash-back plan, life assurance, group income assurance, employee assistance programme, and more. 

How to Apply

To apply for the position, you will need to follow the links and submit an up-to-date CV and answer four short-form (100 words) questions.

The closing date for applications is 19 November 2025 at 09:00 UK time. Early application is encouraged as we will be conducting rolling interviews. We may close applications early if suitable candidates are identified. We aim to respond to all candidates within ten days of receiving their application. 

At Global Canopy, we value diversity and inclusion. You can read our diversity statement on our website. We encourage applications from all backgrounds and are committed to having a team with a diverse set of skills, experiences and abilities. We are committed to reducing systemic barriers in our recruitment processes. 

Global Canopy works on issues of tropical deforestation. We are particularly interested in strengthening our team to include those with a background from forest regions such as Latin America and South East Asia. We welcome applications from people from these regions. Anyone with the right-to-work in the UK is welcome to apply. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

Global Canopy is an inclusive employer and accommodations will be made to allow anyone who requires additional support to apply for this role. Please get in touch with us if you require any additional support.

We Are Survivors are excited to be on the search for a Social Worker to come and join our ever-growing team. In our efforts to ensure that NO male survivor is left behind, we are expanding and looking to fill the following roles:

You'll play a key role in supporting clients, managing communications, supporting in relationship management across the partnership. As well as working with partners like Pennine Care and TRC, you will work closely with our community development team and criminal justice teams to ensure survivors have access to the right support.

Why Join Us?

· a competitive salary.

· annual leave package with incremental rises plus bank holidays.

· company sick pay.

· Birthday annual leave.

· monthly clinical supervision.

· pension contribution.

· and a range of discount and benefit programmes.