Centre leader jobs in Tower hamlets, greater london

Martingale Postgraduate Foundation (Martingale) exists to fund and support the next generation of talented researchers. We believe that family income should not be a barrier to the pursuit of excellence, and our mission is to enable and nurture talented individuals from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to thrive within world-leading postgraduate research.

Martingale’s flagship programme is the Martingale Postgraduate Scholarship, which supports students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds to pursue and excel in postgraduate degrees, by providing:

• A fully-funded Living Wage Scholarship to pursue a one-year Masters degree or a four-year PhD.
• All tuition fees and research expenses, including a tax-free stipend for living costs.
• Tailored support to apply for Martingale courses at our partner universities.
• Access to Martingale programmes, including leadership training and connections with top academic and industry professionals.
• Membership of a pioneering community of talented researchers.

In the three years since Martingale launched, we are now supporting over 100 Scholars to undertake postgraduate degrees across our ten partner universities and have committed over £7.7m in Scholarships. We are continuing to expand our offer, bringing on new partners each year.

We are seeking an experienced, strategic and collaborative Head of Programmes to join our Senior Leadership Team and play a pivotal role in shaping our fast-growing Martingale Scholarship Programme.

As Head of Programmes, you will join our senior management team, overseeing the growing programmes team. Working closely with the CEO, you will oversee all aspects of Martingale’s Scholarship Programme from application to alumni, ensuring that the programme maintains a strong reputation for being both supportive and prestigious.

You will set the strategic direction of Martingale’s Scholarship Programme, working closely with the CEO on a day-to-day basis to ensure that as we expand across STEM the programme remains of a high quality and meeting Martingale’s mission. You will ensure that Martingale’s programmes are impactful, data informed and meet the needs of the scholars we are supporting. You will also be responsible for managing relationships with various external stakeholders including universities, funders and evaluation partners.

We are looking for a strong strategic leader with extensive programme experience including line management, partnership management and external relations. You will bring excellent organisational skills, strong attention to detail, a proactive mindset, and a strong alignment with Martingale’s mission. We welcome applicants from a range of career paths who are excited to be part of a growing, fast-paced charity delivering meaningful impact.

Martingale Foundation is incubated by Purposeful Ventures who provide operational and strategic support. The Head of Programmes will be employed by Purposeful Ventures.

About Purposeful Ventures

Our vision is for a fairer society where all young people thrive. We work with social entrepreneurs, organisations and philanthropists that share our vision. Through our work with these partners, young people are given opportunities in education and beyond, helping them reach their true potential.

Purposeful Ventures offers philanthropists and funders bespoke advice, using an evidence-based approach to help them to identify high-impact opportunities to fund. We then partner with visionary individuals and mission-driven organisations with strong theories of change. We help them turn great ideas into sustainable and successful ventures by offering fully individualised and very hands-on support, access to funding and a ‘high-challenge, high-support’ home. We do the minimum necessary and whatever it takes to succeed.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership of the Scholarship Programme

• Provide strategic oversight of the end-to-end Martingale Scholarship lifecycle, from selection and admissions through to scholar progression and alumni outcomes.
• Develop and deliver a multi-year operational strategy for Martingale’s Development Programme (MDP), ensuring scalability, academic excellence, and alignment with organisational growth plans.
• Continuously refine the scholar journey to ensure it is sector-leading, prestigious, and tailored to the needs of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Build deep expertise in postgraduate education, research culture, and enabling access to inform programme evolution and innovation.

Admissions & Selection Strategy

• Lead the design, governance, and continuous improvement of a rigorous, fair, and high-quality admissions and assessment process across subject areas.
• Oversee shortlisting, interview frameworks, assessment centres, and final scholarship recommendations to the Selection Committee.
• Ensure alignment between Martingale’s selection processes and university partner requirements.
• Maintain oversight of scholar allocation, including place management, deferrals, intermissions, withdrawals, and reallocations.

Scholar Experience & Case Management

• Ensure effective advocacy for Scholars including maximising progression and retention across cohorts.
• Oversee complex scholar casework, including deferrals, intermissions, safeguarding concerns, funding queries, disciplinary action and university liaison.
• Ensure consistent, professional, and high-touch support across the scholar lifecycle.
• Strengthen cohort cohesion and long-term alumni engagement.

Safeguarding & Compliance

• Act as Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for Martingale, ensuring safeguarding policy implementation and record keeping in line with best practice in relation to vulnerable adults.
• Oversee data protection compliance relating to scholar and applicant data, in partnership with the organisation’s Data Protection Officer.
• Ensure programme delivery complies with charity, funding, and regulatory requirements.

Budget, Contracting & Financial Oversight

• Hold responsibility for programme budgets, ensuring effective resource allocation, cost control, and value for money.
• Oversee scholarship programme financial management, and work with Head of Strategy and Operations on onwards grants including deferrals, funding adjustments, and invoicing.
• Work with the Head of Strategy and Operations on university contracting, scholarship agreements, and financial reconciliation with partners.
• Ensure timely and accurate invoicing and reporting processes across programme operations.

University & Sector Partnerships (Programme-Focused)

• Lead programme-level relationships with university partners, including Heads of Departments, Graduate Tutors, CDT leads, and admissions teams.
• Ensure universities meet partnership commitments and that Scholars are appropriately supported institutionally.
• Contribute to partnership negotiations where programme design or operational delivery is concerned.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen university research culture and scholar support mechanisms.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Impact

• Lead development and oversight of Martingale’s Theory of Change and evaluation framework, working with our external independent evaluators.
• Develop robust systems to track scholar progression, outcomes, and programme effectiveness.
• Provide high-quality reporting to the CEO, Board, funders, and partners, evidencing impact and continuous improvement.

New Programme Development & Innovation

• Work with the CEO to design new subject expansions, pilots, or initiatives aligned to Martingale’s mission.
• Assess operational, financial, and reputational implications of programme growth.
• Develop business cases, delivery models, and implementation plans for expansion.

Team Leadership & Culture

• Provide senior leadership to the Programmes team, including line management of programme staff.
• Build a high-performing, mission-driven team with clear accountability and ownership.
• Develop succession planning and team capability as Martingale scales.
• Model Martingale’s values of excellence, professionalism, and thoughtful support.

Organisational Leadership

• Serve as a member of the Senior Management Team, contributing to organisational strategy and governance.
• Represent Martingale externally in academic, sector, and policy contexts where appropriate.
• Support Board and Committee reporting related to programme performance and scholar outcomes.

Key Requirements:

Essential Criteria

• Right to work in the UK

Experience and skills

Essential

• Significant experience leading and delivering high-quality programmes, ideally in higher education, research, scholarships, or a mission-driven organisation.
• Strong stakeholder management experience, with evidence of working effectively with universities, academics, funders, or equivalent partners.
• Proven line management experience, with the ability to develop and lead a high-performing team.
• Experience managing complex operational delivery, including planning, timelines, and coordinating multiple moving parts.
• Strong experience handling sensitive casework and providing professional support to individuals.
• Budget management experience, including planning and overseeing programme delivery costs.
• Excellent written communication skills, including producing clear reports and briefings for senior audiences.
• Commitment to safeguarding, wellbeing and compliance, with willingness to act as safeguarding lead.

Desirable

• Experience working directly with postgraduate research, PhD programmes, or doctoral training environments.
• Experience designing or overseeing selection and assessment processes (e.g. interviews, admissions, recruitment pipelines).
• Experience managing programme evaluation frameworks, including Theory of Change and external evaluators.
• Familiarity with contracting, invoicing, and operational finance processes.
• Knowledge of UK higher education systems and research culture.
• Experience working in a start-up, scale-up, or fast-growing charity.

Personal Characteristics

• Highly organised, proactive, and able to prioritise effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent interpersonal skills: able to build rapport and trusting relationships, able to work co-operatively in a multidisciplinary setting.
• Strong judgement, discretion and professionalism, including ability to handle confidential information appropriately.
• A commitment to Martingale’s mission to support postgraduate students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Comfortable working in a rapidly growing and changing organisation with a degree of ambiguity – confident to create processes and ways forward where they might not yet exist.
• Creative and innovative: willing to think outside the box to maximise reach.
• Resourceful, able to act on initiative, hardworking, detail-oriented, and systematic.

Location: London (flexible working - 2-3 days in the office)

Interviews: 15th and 16th April 2026, and second stage interviews the following week on the 22nd April 2026. 

Employer: King's Trust International (not The King's Trust)

Around the world, 65 million young people are unemployed. Many more face the challenge of unstable, unsafe and underpaid work. King’s Trust International was founded by His Majesty King Charles to tackle the global crisis in youth unemployment and ensure that every young person has the chance to succeed. Central to our new 10-year strategy is the need to articulate the challenges and opportunities faced by young people and help them shape a better future.  We are recruiting a Director of Marketing, Communications and External Affairs to shape and share this story.

In this exciting and varied strategic and operational role, you will lead KTI’s marketing, communications and external affairs team with the aim of promoting and protecting King’s Trust International and The King’s Group, increasing awareness of our brand and our work for young people around the world. You will spearhead the establishment of our advocacy function and play a key role in research commissioning, awareness raising and coalition creation.  This will involve attendance at key global events, the commissioning of proprietary research, and guiding the marketing and communication strategies that will bring these narratives into the public consciousness.

You will be an experienced and dynamic communicator with significant demonstrable experience in communications, marketing and external affairs at a senior level. This will be complemented by strong knowledge of the full range of media, marketing and communications tools, and how to deploy them effectively to maximise the reach, impact and value of our brand.

In addition, you will have excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to confidently build and maintain strong relationships with a diverse group of people and stakeholders. Possessing strong management skills, you will have experience of managing small multi-disciplinary teams, providing direction and leadership to enable growth and development, and the ability to role-model a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion.

Perks for working at The King’s Trust International:

• Great holiday package. 30 days annual leave entitlement, plus public holidays. Office closure the days between Christmas and New Year
• Fantastic Family leave. Receive 13 weeks full pay and 13 weeks half pay for maternity and adoption leave, and pro rata entitlement for shared parental leave. Receive 8 weeks' full pay for paternity leave.
• Flexible and agile working. Where operationally possible, you can work your hours that support a work-life balance, including compressed hours and hybrid-working (part office - part home-based) or working from home options.
• Benefits platform. Everything from health and financial wellbeing support to discounts on your favourite restaurants, shops and cinemas
• A free employee assistance programme (EAP) to support your mental wellbeing.
• KTI will contribute 5% of your salary to the workplace Pension Scheme
• Generous life assurance cover (4 x annual salary)
• In-house and external training opportunities are available throughout the year

This role is essential in supporting the delivery of Battersea’s commitment to robust compliance with all legal and best practice regulations governing fundraising, animal welfare and grant-making. The post holder will do this by providing support to the Compliance Monitoring Manager, helping to deliver advice, guidance, training, monitoring and reporting to the various internal teams and external agencies.

What we can offer you:
In return for your commitment to our cause and to recognise the value of our employees, Battersea offers a range of benefits to support the wellbeing of our employees. These include:

• 28 days of annual leave (plus 8 days paid public holidays) per year.
• Discounted gym memberships and cycle to work schemes.
• Employee Assistance Programme and access to Wellbeing Resources.
• Generous pension contributions - up to 10% employer contribution.
• Free healthcare cash plan, where you can claim for a range of treatment including dental, optical, physiotherapy, chiropody and acupuncture every year.
• Annual interest-free season ticket loans.

We are also committed to providing learning and development to our employees. During your time with us, we provide support for your professional and career development, including access to digital and in-person training programmes, leadership and management training, mentoring and much more.

Our hybrid working model:
We operate a 50% onsite hybrid working model, with our office-based staff splitting their time between site based and home working. This enables our office-based staff to balance the benefits of home working with onsite collaboration and maintaining a connection to our cause.

Diversity and inclusion:
We are committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive experience for all staff, volunteers and trustees and those hoping to join us. We operate an anonymised shortlisting process and actively seek to ensure our process is fair and equitable for all.

We understand the value of diverse voices, perspectives, and experiences to help us deliver even more for our dogs and cats, and we welcome applicants from all sections of the community.

As a Disability Confident Committed Employer we will ask about any adjustments you may need at application and/or interview stage, and if you are offered a role with us, we’ll talk to you about any workplace adjustments you may need to help you perform at your best. If you would like to talk more about this, please contact us. Greyscale copies of the recruitment pack are also available on request.

More about us:
At Battersea, we aim to never turn away a dog or cat in need of help. We give each one lots of love, expert care and get to know their characters and quirks so we can find them a new home that’s just right for them. Join us and help us be here for every dog and cat, wherever they are, for as long as they need us.

Acceptable use of AI:
At Battersea, we value expertise. We recognise each candidate that applies to us will have a range of expertise they can offer us, so we want to hear about this in your own words. We understand the support that generative artificial intelligence (AI) software can offer but it can also lead to numerous applications presenting as generic and impersonal. This makes it difficult to gain understanding of your unique experience.

To best showcase yourself, we encourage you to write your responses without the assistance of AI. If you require the use of AI software to aid in completing your application, we ask you use the generative responses as a prompt for writing your answers and avoid copying and pasting. You must also ensure the information presented in your application accurately reflects your experience.

Closing date: 1st April 2026
All applications must be submitted before the closing date advertised. We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications is received.

Interview date(s): 9-10th April 2026

For more information about the role, please download our Recruitment pack from our Careers website.