Communication manager jobs in manchester, greater manchester
Head of Programmes
United Way UK
Home-based with frequent national and international travel and overnight stays around 2-3 times a month. The ideal candidate will be based close to good transport links and able to get to London easily, with access to a car and/or a full clean driving licence
Salary £42,000 - £45,000 based on experience
12-month contract with potential for extension
Full-time, with flexible working
Excellent benefits including annual leave of 25 days per year plus bank holidays, increasing by a day annually for each year of service up to 30 days and 6% employer pension contribution
Charity People are delighted to be partnering with the United Way UK, a charity which believes that all individuals should be empowered through opportunity and resources to reach their true potential, to recruit a Head of Programmes.
United Way is a global organisation that supports local communities around the world in more than 40 different countries. Communities all over the world face similar challenges, but each one requires a unique approach to solving them. United Way UK was established in 2014 and harnessing experience and learnings from United Way Worldwide, UWUK uses local knowledge and global expertise to implement the very best programmes for communities across the UK and is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the times.
Driven by the local community, UWUK works with charity partners, businesses and individuals to provide everything a community needs to thrive (education, financial stability and health), providing support in the form of funds, time and expertise. UWUK funding is privately sourced so that the charity is driving new revenue to the voluntary sector.
The Head of Programmes leads UWUK's talented delivery team and works closely with the CEO on relationship development and strategic planning. As part of a small team (UWUK is currently five staff members), the Head of Programmes will be a strong team player and problem solver, with initiative, reliability and high emotional intelligence.
Key responsibilities
* Programme design, delivery and growth: You ensure the successful delivery of programmes, monitor and report on impact, oversee the budget and ensure compliance with safeguarding, data protection and charity regulations. You will support the growth of programmes by creating, developing and writing proposals, and travel throughout the UK to support project delivery.
* Partnership development: You will scope, develop and secure partnerships across sectors, building and maintaining strong relationships with funders, partners, schools and charities across the UK and support the organisation of fundraising events, campaigns and other fundraising activities.
* Line management: You will line manage the programmes team (x 2 posts), supporting professional development, conducting performance reviews, and promoting strong team moral and wellbeing.
* Operations and strategy: You will support reporting to United Way UK Board of Trustees, United Way Worldwide and UK regulators, as well as work closely with the CEO on strategic planning and implementation.
What we're looking for
The successful candidate will demonstrate the following essential skills and experience:
* Experience in programme management, stakeholder engagement and partnership building, with strong relationship skills combined and a natural ability to cultivate positive relationships with internal stakeholders, charity partners, prospects, funders, corporates, volunteers and internal partners
* Strong project management skills with ability to manage diverse tasks and priorities with attention to detail and accuracy.
* Experience of monitoring and evaluation to collect feedback from stakeholders and continually improve and learn from programmes and report to funders.
* Solid communication skills, in both written and oral English, with the ability to present to stakeholders and write compelling project proposals.
* Experience working in the charity sector or within corporate social responsibility.
* Experience managing staff, including supporting professional development, conducting performance reviews, and promoting strong team moral and wellbeing.
* Experience in volunteering, either working with, or leading volunteer programmes, or being a volunteer.
* Experience either leading or supporting proposal writing for programme delivery.
* Advanced Microsoft Office skills, including Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint.
* Full driving license.
The successful candidate will demonstrate the following personal attributes:
* Self-motivated and results-driven
* Proactive and responsive
* Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
* Collaborative work style and positive team player.
* Commitment to the core mission, values and work of UWUK.
As UWUK is a small organisation, the ideal successful candidate may also have fundraising experience although this is not essential.
The UWUK team are passionate about their mission and delivering results and have a caring, trusting, collaborative and close-knit culture, based on shared values and respect. This role is home-based, but you will be able to travel regularly across the UK, at least 2-3 times a month and be willing and able to easily attend meetings in London on a regular basis. Travel is covered but you will need to be able to be based with easy access to a major transport hub.
How to apply
If you would like to apply, please upload your CV using the link below in the first instance. Jen D'Souza from Charity People will be in touch with the full details about the job and how to apply. The deadline is 9am Tuesday 11 November. The interviews will take place online w/c 24 November. The ideal candidate will be able to start in December and at the latest in mid-January. We will be hosting a webinar on Friday 7 November at 1pm for candidates interested in the role (this will be recorded and shared if you are unable to attend).
Charity People is a forward thinking, inclusive organisation that actively and deliberately promotes equity, diversity and inclusion. We know organisations thrive when inclusion is at the forefront. We evidence our commitment by matching charity needs with the skills and experience of candidates irrespective of background e.g. age, disability (including hidden disabilities), gender, gender identity or gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We do this because we believe that greater diversity leads to greater results for the charities we work with.
Oak is a fully remote, mission-driven organisation offering high levels of flexibility, autonomy, and purpose. We’re a national not-for-profit organisation working in partnership with teachers to create high-quality, sequenced curriculum and lesson resources for pupils across all subjects and age groups.
Our culture has been independently recognised through:
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Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)
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Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact
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Investors in People Gold - through external accreditation and colleague feedback
About the Role
We are looking for an experienced Software Engineer to join our Product and Engineering team.
Oak engineers have a range of specialities and interests covering web application development, APIs, databases, serverless computing, GraphQL, React, and component-led UI. If you have experience in any of these areas, we'd love to hear from you.
We work together in product squads alongside designers, researchers and education experts, regularly releasing new features and improvements to give teachers and their pupils quick and easy access to the highest quality learning resources.
What You’ll Be Doing
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Development of highly performant ed-tech applications that are secure, scalable, highly available and accessible to the widest number of users that meet Government Digital Service standards
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Lead the team on specific areas of the system, infrastructure, or code base
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Take an active role in the design and implementation of new processes and tools that improve the user or developer experience
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Provide mentorship for a less experienced colleague
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As a member of the Oak Team, contribute to the planning and culture of the organisation
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Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required
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Support all work across Engineering and take on other general responsibilities as required
What We’re Looking For
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Professional experience building high-performing web applications with modern Javascript libraries and tools.
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Experience collaborating with product teams to develop high-quality products with large customer impact.
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Knowledge of common web application architectures with some experience architecting simple technical solutions based on product requirements and design.
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Experience in extending automated test suites and an understanding of the value of different types of testing (e.g. unit vs integration).
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Desire to build beautiful, easy-to-use digital products with an understanding of the importance of accessibility in all its forms.
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Great communication and collaborative skills.
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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
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25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)
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Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year
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11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)
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A 36-hour working week, with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off
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Fully remote working — we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred
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Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun
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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
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Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here
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Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time
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Closing date: 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 remote technical interview and a technical pairing session conducted over Zoom. This will last approximately two hours.
We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process, we'll share how well you performed.
We aim to begin interviews in November 2025.
We are receiving excellent responses to our job advertisements. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying, then please get your application in early to avoid missing out.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
About the opportunity
As an Assurance Officer, you'll work in partnership with colleagues across Alzheimer's Society to deliver professional, credible, and valued assurance and counter fraud services. This is a role where your technical skills directly contribute to strengthening the Society's governance, risk management, and control processes, enabling better decision-making and ultimately the successful achievement of our objectives.
You'll be part of our Finance & Assurance directorate, working alongside the Assurance & Counter Fraud Manager to complete risk-based, value-adding assurance work. From conducting internal audit engagements and evaluating the effectiveness of controls to supporting our counter fraud framework and keeping abreast of sector best practices, you'll play a vital role in helping the Society operate safely, legally, and ethically.
This is an opportunity to use your internal audit experience in a mission-driven environment where partnership, collaboration, and continuous improvement are valued. You'll work with stakeholders across the organisation, providing pragmatic recommendations that enhance our operations and reputation while contributing to a year-end audit opinion.
About you:
You're a part-qualified internal auditor or CCAB accountant with proven experience of successfully delivering assurance projects. You understand internal audit methodologies, risk assessment, and control frameworks, and you can plan, test, and document assurance work to deliver credible and timely audit opinions. You're skilled at drafting professional, clear reports that provide real value to stakeholders.
You'll have:
- Part-qualified status as an internal auditor or CCAB accountant.
- Proven experience delivering internal audits, including planning, testing, documentation, and writing reports that stakeholders find genuinely useful.
- Solid understanding of audit methodologies, risk frameworks, and control environments.
- Strong communication skills that balance assertiveness with building relationships and influencing colleagues at all levels.
- Uncompromising integrity and professionalism.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively, with a critical thinking mindset that spots opportunities for improvement.
- Genuine commitment to developing yourself and supporting others' growth.
What you’ll focus on:
- Delivering professional internal audit arrangements that reflect the organisation's risk profile.
- Helping develop and embed the strategic direction of internal audit, including new ways of working and conformance with professional standards.
- Working on internal audit engagements in line with the audit plan, contributing to the year-end audit opinion.
- Evaluating and providing assurance that internal processes and controls are designed and operating effectively to mitigate risks.
- Providing solution-focused, pragmatic recommendations for improvement.
- Ensuring audit recommendations are tracked and implemented.
- Supporting the maintenance of an effective counter fraud framework and culture.
- Helping maintain a log of fraudulent incidents and supporting investigation work where required.
- Promoting continuous improvement within the Assurance team.
- Keeping abreast of sector best practices and emerging trends in assurance and fraud.
Could your assurance expertise help protect a charity that's changing lives every single day? Are you ready to apply your technical skills in an environment where governance, risk management, and control aren't just compliance exercises - but essential foundations that enable us to deliver help and hope to families facing dementia?
Important Dates
The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 9th November.
Interviews will take place virtually on 19th/20th November.
About Alzheimer's Society
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime.
At Alzheimer’s Society, we’re the UK’s leading dementia charity and the only one to tackle all aspects of dementia by giving help and hope to people living with dementia today and in the future. We give vital support to people facing the most frightening times of their lives, while also funding groundbreaking research and campaigning to make dementia the priority it should be.
Together with our supporters, we’re working towards a world where dementia no longer devastates lives.
Our values make sure that our focus is clear for the challenges and opportunities ahead and remind us of what we all stand for.
Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We need to ensure the voices around our table better reflect and understand the communities we exist to serve. We strongly encourage individuals to apply who have a disability, impairment or health condition or individuals who identify as Black, Asian or from another minority ethnic background, as these groups are currently under-represented at Alzheimer's Society.
We want everyone we work with, as a colleague, volunteer, supporter, or someone we support, to feel included and that they belong at Alzheimer's Society.
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy here along with our internal employee forum and Employee Lived Experience network groups help us promote inclusion and belonging, becoming an engaged and inclusive organisation for all our people.
Our hiring process
During your recruitment process we want to make sure that you bring your whole self and can be at your best. We are working hard to ensure our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible, so please do inform us of your experience and anything you think we could do better by completing our candidate survey when you apply. Please also contact Alzheimer’s Society Talent Acquisition Team via [email protected] for application support or any adjustments you might need.
To ensure fairness and consistency to select the best candidate for this role, all our applications are anonymised up until an interview has been confirmed. We recognise the benefits of AI, but if you're considering using it to submit your application, we encourage you to reflect on the value it truly adds. AI tools often lack the personal touch and authenticity that set candidates apart. We want to hear your unique perspective, experiences, and skills, so we encourage you to showcase them in your own voice.
We try to avoid closing roles early where possible, however if we receive a high volume of applications, we may close earlier than the advertised closing date. Should this occur, we will aim to provide you with at least 48 hours' notice.
We are committed to safer recruitment and ensuring the welfare of those we work with, due to the nature of some of our roles, we might need to carry out a DBS check at the relevant level.
Giving back to you
Our employees work hard every day to make a true difference in people's lives. We are proud to support them with a range of benefits, recognition and many options for working agilely, all contributing to a strong work life balance. We also have various learning programmes to support you in your development and help you grow to realise your potential and shape a career with Alzheimer's Society.
You can also visit our Working for Us pages, which give you more information about what it’s like to be an employee at the Society.