Closing Date: 29 June 2025
Ref 7082
Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for a highly organised and proactive individual with excellent administrative, communication and relationship-building skills to join us as our Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations Executive where you will work with philanthropists, trusts and with teams across the organisations to secure flexible funding and deliver lasting impact for children across the world.
About Us
Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.
When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.
About the role
As Philanthropy and Strategic Foundations Executive, you will manage and grow a portfolio of four-to-five-figure philanthropic and trust-based partnerships, delivering flexible income to support our global and UK programmes.
You will lead our Major Donor Programme and Supporting Trust Portfolio, building and nurturing long-term relationships to deepen engagement and secure ongoing support.
Alongside fundraising, you will provide essential administrative, financial, and project co-ordination support to the wider Partnerships for Impact function, ensuring the delivery of high-quality donor experiences.
This role sits within our Partnerships for Impact function which catalyses change by partnering with governments, institutions, multilateral agencies, high-net-worth individuals and the private sector.
You will work closely with the Head of Philanthropy and Strategic Foundations, Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations Leads, and wider Partnerships for Impact colleagues to manage team processes, ensure visibility of key information, and assist managers on existing partnerships.
In this role, you will:
• Manage and grow a portfolio of philanthropists and trusts, fostering meaningful, long-term relationships to maximise income and impact
• Deliver flexible funding targets by leading the Major Donor Programme and Supporting Trusts Portfolio, with a focus on donor stewardship and retention
• Support the Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations team with day-to-day operations, administration and project co-ordination to ensure high-quality delivery
• Act as the team's humanitarian response representative co-ordinating with internal teams and ensuring a speedy, and efficient notification to all donors of any emergency activations
• Write compelling funding proposals and donor reports aligned with organisational priorities and impact goals
• Build excellent internal relationships across the Partnerships for Impact team to enhance collaboration and collective success
• Support the team on external partnerships when needed, ensuring commitments are fulfilled while identifying opportunities for new impactful initiatives
• Coordinate cross-functional, and donor engagement activities, share best practice and knowledge across the team, and contribute to the development of impactful communications about our work
• Where required, attend and support external meetings and events, representing Save the Children and supporting strategic objectives.
About you
To be successful, it is important that you have:
• Proven experience managing donor portfolios and cultivating four-to-five-figure funding relationships
• Demonstrable success in securing flexible income through philanthropic and trust fundraising
• Strong skills in writing impactful proposals and donor reports tailored to funder expectations
• Excellent relationship-building and stakeholder engagement abilities, both internally and externally
• A highly organised and proactive approach, with the ability to manage multiple priorities across a complex portfolio
• Proficiency in CRM tools such as Salesforce, and experience supporting cross-functional fundraising teams.
Technical Skills
• Proven experience in providing high-quality administrative and project management support.
• Experience delivering mass stewardship or appeal mailings and/or experience securing four-to-five figure level gifts.
• Familiarity with CRM tools like Salesforce for partner management and data tracking.
• Competence in financial administration and fundraising processes.
• Ability to develop and optimise systems and tools to improve team efficiency.
• Experience coordinating bespoke initiatives and activities in a fast-paced environment.
Personal Skills
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills with the ability to collaborate across diverse teams.
• Highly organised, detail-oriented and able to manage multiple priorities with ease.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• A proactive, agile and problem-solving mindset.
• A commitment to the mission, values and safeguarding policies of Save the Children.
What we offer you:
Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance.
We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work.
We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day.
Closing date: 29 June 2025
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 7 July
Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.
Ways of Working:
The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but there are likely to be times when you will be required to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter). This will be agreed with your Line Manager and team and is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and relationship building.
Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense.
Flexible Working - We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion:
Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be "Free to Be Me". We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think.
We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences - of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability - help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Associate Director Commercial
Salary: £75,000 – £80,000 + excellent benefits, including 27 days holiday, 2:1 pension (up to 12% employer contribution), plus many more
Location: London/Hybrid with at least one day per month in the office
Did you know that there are at least 20m people in the UK in vulnerable financial circumstances, who are poorly served or unfairly excluded from mainstream financial services?
That’s nearly a third of all adults in the UK.
We are Fair4All Finance. We are a not-for-profit organisation working with Financial Services providers to improve the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances by increasing access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services.
We are continuing our work following our latest round of funding, and as a result we are now seeking an Associate Director to join our Commercial team.
As an Associate Director in our Commercial team, you’ll help lead the development, testing, and scaling of innovative financial products and services through strategic partnerships. Working at the intersection of commercial contracting, product development, and social impact, you’ll drive key initiatives to transform access to credit, insurance, and savings across the UK.
You will know your way around a contract and be adept at negotiating terms. You will also know how to dig through the ‘noise’ of a proposal to get to the real information, whilst ensuring you mitigate risk for the organisation on the schemes & pilots that you do progress.
You'll be joining a purpose-driven, high-performing team committed to long-term systemic change. If you're a commercially astute professional with a passion for improving financial inclusion, we’d love to hear from you.
This is a unique opportunity to contribute to a mission-driven organisation, ensuring resources are strategically aligned with our goals to drive meaningful social impact
Key Responsibilities:
· Lead commercial lifecycle for new product pilots – from opportunity development and partner engagement through to contracting, testing, and evaluation.
· Identify and engage mainstream and mission-aligned financial providers to co-design, pilot, and scale new propositions.
· Run transparent competitive processes, negotiate contracts, and manage supplier relationships to ensure clarity, value for money and impact.
· Oversee delivery and evaluation of pilot projects, ensuring robust data capture, impact measurement and evidence-based decision making.
· Design and structure long-term financial instruments (e.g. subsidies, guarantees) to enable sustainable scale-up of successful propositions.
· Work closely with our Propositions and Investment teams to structure deals and build investment cases for propositions.
· Represent Fair4All Finance externally with C-suite stakeholders, financial providers, and at sector events.
· Ensure sound financial and contract management; contribute to investment committee papers and internal reporting.
· Support internal knowledge sharing, deputise for senior leaders, and contribute to building a collaborative and inclusive team culture.
Essential experience and qualifications:
· Proven track record in developing and delivering commercial partnerships, ideally involving financial products or services.
· Expertise in commercial negotiations, procurement, contract management, and structuring financial arrangements.
· Familiarity with consumer-facing financial services and their delivery models.
· Strong stakeholder management, with experience operating in complex, multi-stakeholder environments.
· Experience working alongside investment teams on capital deployment or investment structures.
· High level of numeracy and ability to build and present commercial business cases.
· Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to influence senior stakeholders.
· Detail-oriented with strong organisational and project management skills.
· A collaborative team player with self-starter mentality and the flexibility to adapt in a dynamic environment.
Desirable experience
· Experience working in or with the public sector or civil service.
· Understanding of public procurement, subsidy control, and assessing economic/social value.
· Experience working with or supporting social purpose organisations or financial inclusion initiatives.
Person Profile
· Passionate about financial inclusion and committed to creating long-term social impact.
· Able to create partnerships and commercial structures that deliver value for all parties – customers, providers, and society.
· Comfortable working at both strategic and detailed levels, with a willingness to roll up your sleeves in a small, agile team.
· Values working with diverse stakeholders and across teams to co-create solutions.
· Adept at using data and insight to inform decisions, measure success and adapt for impact.
· Thrives in ambiguity and is able to flex priorities as new opportunities or challenges emerge.
· Confident engaging and influencing stakeholders at all levels, both internally and externally
Who are Fair4All Finance?
We are a not-for-profit organisation working with Financial Services providers to improve the financial wellbeing of people in vulnerable circumstances by increasing access to fair, affordable and appropriate financial products and services.
Founded in 2019, we are funded from the Dormant Assets Scheme. The scheme is led by the financial industry and backed by the UK government. This makes it possible for money in dormant bank and building society accounts to be used to help good causes.
Our vision is of a society where the long-term financial wellbeing of all people is supported by a fair and accessible financial sector.
Fair4All Finance is a Disability Confident Committed scheme member.
Fair4All Finance is a Disability Confident Committed member. We’re committed to an inclusive workplace and will offer an initial interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role. You’ll be able to indicate this in your application.
Our Benefits include:
Financial Security:
· Pension (2:1 up to 12% employer contribution), group life assurance, critical illness, and income protection, family leave
Wellbeing:
· 27 days holiday plus bank holidays, agile working, health cash plan, health & wellbeing resource hub (including an Employee Assistance Programme)
Personal & Professional Development:
· Individual discretionary Training budget
· Book Club – mission aligned, up to 4 per year
Fair4All Finance is dedicated to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. We value different perspectives, experiences, and expertise, encouraging everyone to grow and contribute fully. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, including age, gender identity, disability, marital status, race, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and socioeconomic status.
We ensure fair and equitable treatment for all team members and applicants and actively recruit from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to making reasonable adjustments to support candidates and promote flexible working for a healthy work-life balance.
To apply, submit your application via Applied by 5pm on Friday 4th July.
Please note that your application will be reviewed through a blind, unbiased process, so be sure to provide clear, specific examples in your responses. Your CV will only be reviewed at a later stage in the process.
Due to the nature of our work, and depending on the role, successful applicants may be required to undergo pre-employment checks, which include employment reference, financial and criminal record checks. All checks will be role appropriate and your recruiter will confirm which checks are required. We manage our checks via TrustID