Communications officer jobs in manchester, greater manchester
The vacancy
We are seeking to appoint one lay member to sit on our GOC Council.
About the GOC
We are the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Our purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education, performance and conduct. For more information about us please visit our website:optical. org.
About the Council
The role of Council is to lead on the GOC’s mission to protect the public by upholding high standards in eye care services. The Council is composed of six lay members (including the Chair) and six registrant members (i.e. registered optometrists and dispensing opticians). At least one member of the Council must work wholly or mainly in each of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. One Council member acts as a Senior Council Member whose role is to carry out the Chair’s appraisal as well as provide a sounding board for the Chair and serve as an intermediary for Council members, Executive and stakeholders as necessary.
The successful candidate will contribute to Council by exercising oversight, ensuring effective corporate governance, and making high-level policy decisions. They will be able to operate strategically and impartially; listen, communicate, and influence effectively; exercise judgment; and inspire confidence and support amongst our stakeholders.
Remuneration and time commitment
Council members are remunerated in accordance with our member fees policy (£13,962 per annum plus reasonable travel and subsistence expenses). The member fee includes time for reading and preparation.
The appointed member will be expected to commit approximately 2-3 days per month. Meetings will usually take place via MS Teams but may on occasion be held at the GOC Offices at Level 29, One Canada Square, London, E14 5AA. There are occasional online catch-up meetings - these are currently scheduled on a Tuesday evening every 6-8 weeks, from 5.30pm – 6.30pm.
How to apply:
Please email the the following to appointment@optical. org
· your CV outlining your employment history, any relevant voluntary work, public service or other experience; together with any relevant professional, academic or vocational qualifications;
· the application form, stating how your experience matches the criteria for the vacancy you are applying for; and
· complete the EDI monitoring form linked in the candidate pack (this is an online form and does not need to be included in the email with your CV and application form).
APPLICATION DEADLINE: midnight on Sunday 10 August 2025.
Online interviews will be held on between Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 October 2025.
If you have any questions, please email them to appointment@optical. org and we will aim to respond to you within 48 hours.
We welcome applications from individuals who are disabled and from diverse ethnic backgrounds as these are currently under-represented on our council and committees.
We strive to be as diverse as the public we protect and welcome applications from everyone, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy, maternity and geographical locations outside of London.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Learning & Development Manager (LDM) – Cymru Wales, West Midlands & South West
Home - Based but within commutable distance to Wales, West Midlands & South West
If you’re passionate about helping further the mission of Methodist churches, circuits and districts, then we would like to hear from you. As an experienced professional with a proven track record in learning and development, and management, you will be part of a Learning Network (LN), within the Ministries and Learning team and part of the Connexional Team of The Methodist Church.
The LN comprises 30+ staff working as part of a single team operating across the Methodist Church in Britain. The team is strategically and collaboratively managed by Learning and Development Managers (LDMs), each having responsibility for a number of Learning and Development Officers (LDO) working within a geographical area. We are seeking to recruit an LDM for the Cymru Wales, West Midlands and South West area. There is a requirement to live within this geography that includes the Methodist districts: Wales Synod Cymru, West Midlands (following the merger of the current Birmingham District and the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District on 1st September 2025), Southampton, Channel Islands, Bristol, and South West Peninsular.
Responsibilities of the Learning Development Manager include:
- strategic shared leadership of the LN
- leading and managing the LDOs, balancing the needs and expectations of lay and ordained
- developing, implementing and reviewing, alongside other LDMs and the Director of Ministry Learning, the strategic work plan of the LN
- building and maintaining good relationships across the Connexional Team and with individuals and communities across the church and beyond
- encouraging the sharing of individual gifts and experiences across a number of teams and stakeholders
- travel (including overnight stays), weekend and evening work
We are looking for someone who has:
- proven experience of coordinating and managing a dispersed team of staff and volunteers
- significant experience and is passionate about learning and development
- a strong commitment to collaborative and partnership working
- a proven track record of meeting deadlines within a complex and varied workload
Knowledge of the Welsh language would be a valuable asset to this role
Our Culture, Values and Benefits
Thank you for considering joining our inclusive and welcoming team that strives for excellence and values employee wellbeing.
We value and support all those who join our team through a positive work-life balance augmented by generous annual leave (plus an extra 3 days over Christmas/New Year), TOIL, flexi-leave and an on-site Wellbeing Adviser service. We offer a generous occupational pension scheme, where the Methodist Church will pay double the employee contribution up to a maximum of 16% employer contribution.
The Methodist Church is an inclusive and supportive employer. We are actively committed to encouraging applications from people of all backgrounds. We welcome applications from people of Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnic groups.
For ministers in Full Connexion the standard terms of service apply.
Closing date: 23:59 on 21/07/2025
Interviews to take place on: 08/08/2025 in London in person.
N.B. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
The calling of the Methodist Church is to respond to the gospel of God's love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.

National Numeracy supports volunteers from our corporate partners to deliver sessions in primary schools
that inspire children to see the value of maths in the real world. The Programme enables volunteers to
directly support communities with low number confidence and skills, celebrating everyday maths, and
developing the building blocks of social mobility in areas of need.
The new Programmes Assistant will work with the Volunteering Manager and wider Programmes Team to
deliver this exciting Programme. The role will involve working with internal team members and external
partners to assist with delivery, including recruitment of volunteers and schools, training of volunteers,
resource delivery and preparation, feedback, data collection and associated admin. The Programmes
Assistant will be the first point of contact for volunteers, schools and partner organisations.
We are looking for someone who is flexible and able to respond to the fast-paced work around the busiest
periods of the year for the Programme. It’s not imperative that you come from the education or charity
sectors, or that you have held an equivalent role previously, as long as you can show us that you have
relevant transferable skills and an understanding of what it takes to be successful in this role.
National Numeracy is based in Falmer, just outside Brighton, but we are offering significant remote/hybrid
and flexible working with this role. The role may include occasional UK travel, to visit schools, partner
organisations, attend occasional Team Awaydays, and very occasionally to visit the office.
Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
Empowering people to thrive by using numeracy to open up opportunities and access brighter futures.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
At Children’s University Trust, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to thrive through learning beyond the classroom. We’re a small, passionate team with bold ambitions to expand our impact – and we’re looking for an equally ambitious Business Development and Community Partnership Manager to lead the way.
This is more than just a development role. It's about building sustainable growth strategies, forging powerful partnerships, and shaping a future where opportunity is no longer defined by postcode or circumstance.
As our Business Development and Community Partnership Manager, you will take the lead in shaping and implementing visionary, data-driven growth strategies across three vital areas:
- Place-based memberships with schools, universities, councils’ departments, and third sector organisations.
- Individual “at home” subscriptions for children in areas without direct Children’s University provision or those who do not engage with traditional education.
- Strategic business partnerships with corporates and SMEs, securing vital funding and in-kind support.
You’ll be a key figure in our next phase of growth — identifying new opportunities, building meaningful relationships, and helping us scale our reach across the UK.
Key Responsibilities
- Drive new business activity and revenue growth across all three strategic areas.
- Build a strong, inclusive pipeline of potential members, partners, and funders.
- Manage and nurture relationships from first contact through to long-term collaboration.
- Use data and insight to shape decision-making and report progress to the board.
- Be a passionate ambassador for Children’s University at events, conferences, and online.
We’re Looking for Someone Who:
- Has a proven track record in income generation, partnerships or sales – all sector’s welcome!
- Is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people.
- Is a strategic thinker with the energy of a new business developer.
- Has the confidence to influence senior stakeholders and the empathy to build trust.
- Brings a creative, collaborative, and resilient mindset.
- Thrives in a fast-paced, flexible, remote-first environment.
Why Join Us?
- A unique chance to shape a growing national charity’s development strategy.
- A collaborative, driven team that values innovation and purpose.
- Flexible working, with one day a week in Manchester.
- An opportunity to truly change lives through education and opportunity.
If you’re excited by the chance to lead sustainable growth with purpose, and you want your work to matter, we want to hear from you.
Apply today and be part of a team creating a brighter future for children across the UK.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Location: Home based
Contract: Fixed term until 31 March 2026 – Full time 35hrs per week
Salary: £27,250 gross per annum
Closing Date: 21 July 2025
Assessment Day: 5 August 2025
Are you looking for a new opportunity?
The Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) is a vibrant and growing charity delivering life changing nautical adventure for young people through the Sea Cadets to give them the best possible head start in life. We also provide personal and professional development opportunities for seafarers with the Marine Society. Working with our staff, cadets, and volunteers, we have built a vision and five-year strategy to take us forward and further improve the astounding contribution already made through our work to the lives of thousands of young people and seafarers, while fully supporting our volunteers who are vital to our success.
We are currently looking for a Growth and Development Worker based in England to join our team. This is an externally funded post which will be focused on opening new provision and supporting existing provision in order to reduce waiting lists within specific funding areas. This is a very varied and rewarding role that requires someone who is self-motivated, organised, creative, tenacious, positive, IT competent and with a real interest in people. You need to be able to coach, empower and inspire our volunteers and cadets, both in person and remotely, to grow the Sea Cadets.
Responsibilities
- Delivering a variety of training sessions on, for example, recruitment of cadets and volunteers
- Developing new growth and recruitment tools and ideas
- Promoting flexible volunteering and the volunteer strategy
- Assisting with running our social media accounts
- Working with and empowering our volunteers to develop plans for growth
- Planning and setting up Juniors Sections in new and existing locations/units
- Delivering assemblies in schools
- Forming part of various working groups with colleagues to develop the tools, resources and processes needed to increase the positive impact of the Growth and Development team.
- Supporting the delivery of funded outreach projects
Requirements
- Previous experience of working with volunteers
- Experience delivering on multiple project plans simultaneously
- Ability to build and maintain excellent relationships with a variety of stakeholders remotely and face-to-face
- Experience delivering workshops and/or training
- Self-motivated and able to manage your time and workload effectively
- Flexible and enthusiastic
- Able to work as a team player with creative ideas and solutions who will empower our volunteers to make a difference to the lives of even more young people across the UK
For further information, please download the attached Recruitment Pack.
Benefits
- Flexible Working hours and a hybrid culture
- Cycle to work scheme and Season Ticket Loan
- 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Life assurance (4x salary) for those that join the pension
- Private medical insurance
- Pension (employer contribution up to 10%)
- Wellbeing portal and EAP with 121 counselling
- Employee development: We are investing in our employees' development and have an annual calendar of learning and development opportunities, designed to support employees to develop into their roles and stretch them to achieve their full potential.
- National staff conference: All employees come together once a year to reflect on the past year and celebrate success at our offsite staff conference. This is a great opportunity to listen to employees' views, and for employees to network, share information and socialise.
If you are interested in this Growth and Development vacancy, please apply now!
Additional Information
MSSC positively encourages applications from suitably qualified and eligible candidates from all backgrounds. Equity, diversity, and inclusion really matters to us, so we can best serve our beneficiaries from every community. We work to ensure a fair and consistent recruitment process and aim to be a charity where diversity of experience, identity and skills are valued and welcomed. MSSC is an equal opportunities employer.
We recognise our responsibilities to safeguard and protect the young people and vulnerable adults with whom we work. We do all we can to promote their health, safety and wellbeing, and we expect our staff to share this commitment and work in line with safeguarding policy, the MSSC’s values and ethos of inclusivity. We adhere to safer recruitment practices and therefore employment is subject to detailed pre-employment checks for successful candidates, including references and criminal disclosure checks and the completion of a disclosure questionnaire.
All successful applicants are required to attend safeguarding training and undergo a criminal record check.
We help launch young people for life through adventure.




The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Job Title: Employment Adviser
Line Reports: Client Services Manager
Location: Manchester
Salary: £26,000 - £29,000
Hours: Full-time 37.5 hours per week, with occasional evening or weekend work (TOIL provided)
Contract: 2 Years Fixed-Term Contract
Overall purpose
The Employment Adviser (EA) plays a key role in supporting refugees and people from refugee backgrounds to progress towards and secure sustainable employment. The EA provides tailored employment advice and guidance, helping clients build the knowledge, confidence, and skills needed to navigate the UK job market. This role will work with clients at various stages of their employment journey, with a particular focus on those in the earlier stages of understanding career options, developing employability skills, and exploring education, training, and volunteering opportunities.
The EA will deliver one-to-one and group-based employability support, collaborate with employers and volunteers to source opportunities for clients, and maintain strong relationships with referral and support partners to ensure a holistic approach to employment support.
To view the full job description and person specification, as well as details on our accessible recruitment process, please view the attached recruitment pack.
Other considerations
- As part of our safeguarding commitment to our clients, we carry out preemployment checks to ensure that successful applicants are suitable to work with adults at risk. These include basic DBS checks, obtaining references and verifying a candidate’s identity and right to work in the UK.
- Some travel between our different areas of operation (including London, Birmingham and Manchester) will be required. Occasional evening or weekend work may be required. Time off in lieu would be provided in this case.
- We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity status, race, religion or belief.
How to apply
If you are looking for a role where you can make a real difference, we want to hear from you. To apply, please submit a CV and statement (up to approximately 500 words/1 A4 page) outlining:
- Why you are interested in the role
- What skills you would bring to be successful in this role
- Any experience you would like to highlight
- Any reasonable adjustments you require for the interview process
- Disclosure of disabilities if you wish to do so (as a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, we guarantee an interview to all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role)
Please note that applications without a covering letter will not be considered.
Closing date for applications is 11:30pm on Wednesday 23 July. Interviews will be held on a rolling basis so please apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
We belong to the Experts by Experience Employment Initiative, which advocates and supports organisations to employ more people from a refugee background. With this in mind, we particularly welcome applicants with experience of seeking asylum and/or a refugee background.
If you are an expert by experience (a refugee or a migrant with direct, first-hand experience of issues and challenges of the UK asylum or immigration system), you can ask for an independent and confidential support for your job application from the Experts by Experience Employment Network. Please reach out to HR Manager Rebecca Hughes for further details (we are unable to include email addresses in this advert, but you can find contact details on the final page of the attached recruitment pack).
Breaking Barriers exists so that every refugee can access meaningful employment and build a new life.
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
We are looking for a motivated, innovative, creative person, with a passion to share the gospel, to become part of a mission team using rap and/or singing as part of a Hip Hop/Pop group.
You’ll be adding to the work of the existing ministries of The Message by being a key member of a mission team who will visit high schools/Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and prisons across the region, delivering a creative package of assemblies, lessons and concert programs.
Could applicants please forward a 3-5min YouTube video introducing yourself, telling us your journey of faith, and showing a short performance highlighting your creative ability.
- Check out the benefits of working at The Message here: Benefits - The Message
- Hear the heart of what we are about at The Message: Message Values Talk - The Message
Job description and Working for the Message document attached.
This post has been identified as having a GOR to be filled by a Christian under the provisions of schedule 9 of the Equality Act 2010.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.