Challenge event manager jobs in Oxford, oxfordshire

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Head of Communications to come and join our team providing maternity cover until January 2027 during a period of organisational growth.

Location – This role is mainly working from home with one day a week in our London office (usually a Monday). Occasional travel to our other programme sites (currently Stoke-On-Trent, Redcar, Middlesbrough and Scotland) will also be required.

Salary – Circa £60,000

Employment Type – Fixed term until January 2027, 35 hours per week

Team – Communications team

About you

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate the following:

· Strong experience in strategic communications, ideally within a start-up, growing, complex or place-based organisation.

· Experience setting up and embedding communications functions, including establishing foundations and building approaches as priorities evolve.

· Significant experience in people leadership, including developing others and building a strong, collaborative working culture.

· Experience influencing senior stakeholders and working with an SLT, including supporting government policy, media, funding and influence related activity.

· Strong content, storytelling and copywriting expertise and the ability to communicate a clear organisational narrative.

About the role

The responsibilities of this role include:

· Overseeing and ensuring the delivery of national and local communications strategies and plans, including national content activity and priority local campaigns and stakeholder engagement.

· Leading the set-up and embedding of new place-based communications functions.

· Leading and overseeing the planning and delivery of Thrive at Five’s 2026 Impact Report, communications relating to evaluations and learning, and our fifth-year anniversary, working closely with evaluation and fundraising colleagues.

· Maintaining and strengthening relationships with key national and local stakeholders in line with our communications strategy and goals.

· Providing professional and operational leadership and coaching to the wider Communications team to ensure they deliver to a high standard.

About us

Thrive at Five is a national charity focused on giving every child the best possible start in life. We know the foundations for life and learning are built in the earliest years, from pregnancy to five. By working alongside families, communities and local partners, we help build stronger, more connected support for parents, so more children get what they need to thrive and reach a good level of development by age five.

Thrive at Five is a relatively young organisation but with an already strong national and political profile, having been called out in Parliament for our ways of working in Stoke-on-Trent and invited to be interviewed at the 2025 Civil Society Summit by the Secretary of State for Education. We have grown rapidly in our first four years, with a growing team of nearly 40 across the country. 2026 will be a year of further growth and milestones for the charity as we celebrate our fifth-year anniversary and expand into our third and fourth regions. This will involve recruiting for a new teams, establishing our programmes and beginning to co-design and implement our work in partnership with communities.

About our benefits

· Pension contributions – We will contribute 3% and you can contribute 5% towards your pension through NEST.

· Hybrid working with one anchor day a week in our central London office near to Victoria train station, coach station and underground.

· 25 annual leave days per year plus bank holidays.

· In addition to your laptop and phone provided by us, you can also receive a £100 contribution towards your home-working set up.

· £100 contribution towards your professional body membership

Please note that as this role is subject to a successful Basic Level Disclosure check through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). If you have any unspent convictions, but wish to apply for this role, please advise us in your application. The successful candidate will also need to provide satisfactory references and current right to work in the UK.

To apply for this role, please submit your cover letter and CV by following the Apply Now button. Applications will be reviewed and shortlisted as they are received. While the closing date is midnight on Wednesday, 18 February 2026, we may close the vacancy earlier if a suitable candidate is identified.

Subject Lead - Physical Education (maternity leave cover)

Remote (UK-based) | Full-time | Salary: £76,313 + benefits (including 4.5 day week and 11% employer pension)

Do your best work, for the right reasons.

We’re looking for an experienced Subject Lead for Physical Education to join Oak’s Education Team, leading the development and continuous improvement of high-quality PE curriculum resources in partnership with subject experts and delivery organisations.

Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We’re a national not-for-profit working in partnership with teachers to create the highest-quality, sequenced curriculum and lesson resources for pupils across all subjects and age groups.

Our culture has been independently recognised through:

• Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)

• Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact

• Investors in People Gold - through external accreditation and colleague feedback

�� About the Role

In this role, you’ll lead the development and continuous improvement of Oak’s Physical Education curriculum, working closely with delivery partners to ensure high-quality resources are produced and delivered at pace. You’ll act as the subject authority for PE, using your expertise to assure quality, guide decision-making and support strong, productive partnerships.

You’ll be comfortable taking ownership of delivery, addressing challenges when they arise, and balancing quality with momentum. We’re looking for someone who enjoys working collaboratively, communicates clearly and respectfully, and is confident working with senior colleagues and external partners to get the best outcomes for pupils and teachers.

�� What You’ll Be Doing

• Responsible for the continuous improvement of full curriculum packages in Physical Education (PE).

• Maintain specialist expertise in PE and be the authority across Oak and more widely across the sector.

• Establish strong relationships with the PE subject community.

• Represent Oak externally at conferences, webinars and subject leadership events, both in-person and online.

• Manage individual curriculum partner relationships and contract performance management.

• As a member of the Oak Team, contribute to the planning and culture of the organisation.

• Work in cross-functional and product oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required.

�� What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years experience of teaching and/or leadership in your subject area.

• Extensive knowledge of latest research and practice in curriculum design, instruction and assessment in your subject area.

• Hold qualified teacher status (QTS) with direct experience of teaching in a school/schools in England in Key Stages 1, 2, 3 or 4.

• Experience of teacher development e.g. Head of Department (Secondary); Subject/Phase Lead (Primary); University PGCE or SCITT mentor/lead.

• Proven success managing high profile and sensitive senior relationships. 

• Experience of curriculum design and delivery in both primary and secondary phases (desirable).

An enhanced DBS check may be required for this role.

The successful candidate will have a desire to contribute in all areas to ensure Oak is successful. You will be comfortable working at pace, with a range of digital systems (including proprietary ones as required) and you will continuously look at ways that the team can keep getting better. You will be excellent at working as part of a remote team, building relationships and managing your time effectively.

�� Our Benefits

If you're joining us from a school, here’s what you can expect in a role that’s still rooted in education, but shaped for flexibility, balance, and impact beyond the classroom.

• 25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28).

• Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year to give you a nice festive break.

• 11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution, which can be varied as you choose). Please note this is a workplace pension rather than the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

• A 36-hour working week (not tied to term-time patterns or school-day hours), with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off.

• Fully remote working - we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred.

• Twice-yearly 'whole Oak' in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun, as well as some role/team-based in-person events

• A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust.

�� Inclusion and Belonging

We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.

We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process. 

�� Key Info

• Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here.

• Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time.

• Closing date: Friday 13th February 2026, 12 noon.

• We’ll be reviewing applications as they come in and may close the role early.

If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you could do your life’s best work, we’d love to hear from you.

Next steps

You’ll answer some questions related to your day-to-day job. Your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised, and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers (real humans).

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next stage, which will consist of a one stage remote interview which will include a short task. The task and interview questions will be emailed to you 3 hours before the Zoom call.

We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process, we'll share how well you performed.

Interviews will be held on Tuesday, 17th February and Wednesday, 18th February.

We are receiving excellent responses to our job advertisements. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying, please submit your application promptly to avoid missing out.

We are an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.