Community development officer jobs in london, essex
At Hestia, we are guided by our core values and are dedicated to fostering an equitable, diverse, and inclusive organisation. Our mission is to empower individuals to rebuild their lives and achieve independence. Right now, we are looking for a Specialist Homelessness Prevention Co-ordinator to play a pivotal role in our Homelessness Service in Central London and Ealing.
Sounds great, what will I be doing?
In this role, you will use your specialist knowledge of housing legislation, including the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, to prevent and relieve homelessness through timely, proactive interventions. You will conduct comprehensive assessments and develop co-produced
Personal Housing Plans that empower clients to resolve their housing issues where possible.
By maintaining accurate, up-to-date records and following up on all actions promptly, you will ensure that risks of homelessness are minimised and statutory duties are met effectively.
What do I need to bring with me?
You'll need to be able to demonstrate the core skills this role requires as well as match our values and mission. You don't have to tick all the boxes right away; the important thing is that you're willing to learn. We also value lived experience of the areas we support, so if you feel comfortable, please do mention this on your application.
Here's what the team will be looking for
You will bring knowledge, experience, or relevant qualifications in housing and homelessness legislation, particularly in relation to private rented housing, the Homelessness Reduction Act, eviction, and tenants' rights. Alongside this, you will demonstrate a sound understanding of welfare benefits legislation, including welfare reform, as well as health and safety. With experience in addressing the causes of homelessness, you will be able to create effective interventions that support service users in achieving stability and progression.
Highly organised and solution-focused, you thrive in fast-paced, outcome-driven environments and can manage a busy caseload in line with service standards. You will be confident in using databases and systems, ensuring accurate and timely case notes, plans, and outcomes. A proactive and flexible team player, you combine excellent communication skills with strong relationship-building abilities, whether working with colleagues, partners, or the public. With a strong work ethic, customer service focus, and a socially conscious outlook, you are motivated to deliver high-quality results that make a real difference.
Interview Steps
We keep our interview process simple, so you know exactly what to expect.
- Shortlisting call: We have a team of dedicated recruitment specialists who will speak to you about your experience, motivations and values. They will also tell you about all the great work we do!
- Face to face interview: Now you will have face to face interview with the hiring manager. Our interviews are value and competency based.
Don't be alarmed if there are other stages in the process, it's all part of the plan for some of our roles.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion
Our services users come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds because it makes us stronger. We are committed to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive workforce and value the skills, abilities, talent and experiences, different people and communities bring to our organisation.
We are a disability confident employer
Hestia is proud to be a disability confident employer, dedicated to the employment and career development of individuals with disabilities. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for all applicants with disabilities who meet the minimum criteria for the role they have applied for. We also provide reasonable adjustments during the selection and interview process, and throughout your employment with us.
Safeguarding Statement
Hestia is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults, children and young people who are potentially at risk, and we therefore expect all staff and volunteers to do the same. We require all staff to undertake internal and external safeguarding training throughout their employment with Hestia.
Important Information for Candidates
If your application is successful, please be aware that you will be required to undergo pre-employment checks before a formal offer of employment can be confirmed.
We reserve the right to close this job advert early should we receive a high volume of applications or if the position is filled before the closing date. We encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible to ensure their application is considered.
We deliver services across London as well as campaign and advocate nationally on the issues that affect the people we work with.



Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for an exceptional Director of Fundraising and Communication who will lead our fundraising and communications with vision and purpose, helping us grow our reach, deepen our impact and amplify our voice. You’ll be joining a people-centred, mission-driven team, united by a shared commitment to making a meaningful difference. At a time when vulnerable young people face increasing challenges, our work has never been more urgent. If you’re motivated by impact and driven by purpose, this is a good opportunity to contribute to lasting change.
You will be stepping into a well-established and highly effective organisation, but one that remains energised by innovation and continuous improvement. We actively welcome fresh thinking and new approaches that help us evolve and enhance our work.
What will you do?
This is a pivotal moment to join JET as we build on fourteen years of impact and enter a new chapter in our journey. We have ambitious plans to expand our reach and influence, and we’re seeking someone who can help us strengthen our funding base and sharpen our message.
Reporting directly to the CEO, you will lead and develop our fundraising team, shaping a cross-stream strategy and an integrated communications plan. You’ll be responsible for setting the strategic direction for fundraising, communications and events across the organisation. By doing so you will raise JET’s national profile, grow our supporter base and significantly increase income to support programme expansion.
You’ll bring strong experience across multiple fundraising streams, with a proven track record of securing significant multi-year funding and building lasting relationships with funders—both individuals and organisations. Alongside leading our fundraising efforts, you’ll take ownership of our brand, ensuring clarity and consistency in our messaging, helping partners tell our story, and securing positive media coverage.
You’ll lead the development of campaigns, fundraising and marketing activities, and digital engagement that not only enhance our national profile but also drive supporter engagement and income growth.
This is a home-based role, with travel required to and within the regions where we operate, including attendance at key events.
About you
You will provide strategic leadership across fundraising, communications, marketing and events. Your work will be closely aligned with JET’s five-year strategy, enabling continued growth in funding and programme delivery.
You’ll bring a wealth of experience in leading fundraising and communications at a strategic level, with a strong understanding of the sector and a track record of securing and sustaining major gifts and partnerships. You’ll be adept at managing integrated campaigns across multiple channels and growing income through sustainable funding models.
Your leadership style will be collaborative and empowering, with the ability to build high-performing teams and foster a culture of accountability and innovation. You’ll be a confident communicator, able to inspire and influence, with excellent relationship-building skills and a strategic mindset.
Above all, you’ll be passionate about JET’s mission to empower young people facing adversity. You’ll be a credible ambassador, committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and driven by the desire to make a meaningful difference.
Across the JET team we cultivate a culture of inclusion that respects individual strengths, views, and experiences. We believe that our differences enable us to be a better team – one that makes better decisions, drives innovation, and delivers better outcomes for our young people. We welcome applicants whatever your background and whatever your stage in life, so if you are returning to the workforce after a period away, or even seeking a change of pace, please get in touch.
About the Jon Egging Trust (JET)
At JET, we support vulnerable young people to get back on track and realise their potential; more than 45,000 young people right across the UK to date, and there’s so much more we can do. We’re an organisation that really values its people and we’re immensely proud that our team culture is based on caring and raising each other up.
Our benefits package includes:
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Flexible working
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Enhanced annual leave
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Homeworking allowance
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Occupational pension scheme
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Occupational sickness scheme
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Special paid leave provision
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Enhanced family leave
Download the Candidate Information Pack
Read our Applicant Privacy Notice
Child and adult at risk protection policy statement
The Jon Egging Trust is committed to providing a safe and positive environment for everyone involved in its services and activities. The Trust takes its extended moral and legal duty of care very seriously in relation to children, young people, staff and volunteers. We seek to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all children and to protect them from harm or abuse when they engage in any of our activities. JET expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. The suitability of all prospective employees or volunteers will be assessed during the recruitment process in line with this commitment.
To apply
Please complete our online application form.
The closing date is 16th November 2025 at [23:30].
Interview Process
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First-round interviews: Monday 24th November (online)
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Meet the team task and fireside chat: Thursday 27th November
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Final interview (in person, London): Monday 1st December
Questions?
Contact us through our website.
Please note:
Due to our anonymised recruitment process, if your application is not shortlisted, we are unable to provide personalised feedback.
To become an employee at JET, you must be able to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK and a satisfactory DBS check – enhanced with children's barred is required for this role. As part of our recruitment process, we want to make clear that we are not able to offer visa sponsorship for this position.
As part of our safer recruitment process, all candidates invited to a final interview will also be required to complete a confidential self-disclosure form, which allows any relevant information to be discussed in line with our safeguarding policy.
We also reserve the right to cancel the final stage of interview on 1st December if candidate does not meet expectations at this stage.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Job Title: Head of Philanthropy
Location: Hybrid with 2-3 days a week at our Head Office (Vauxhall) for donor meetings
Salary: £60,066 per annum (Inclusive of London Weighting, which may not be applicable depending on your home location and any agreed permanent homeworking arrangement)
Contract type: Full Time, Permanent
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
This is an opportunity to join Refuge as our next Head of Philanthropy to provide strategic leadership to grow and diversify philanthropy income, delivering an ambitious growth plan across trusts and foundations and major donors.
The post holder will provide stragetic leadership to grow and diversify philanthropy income, delivering an ambitious growth plan across trusts and foundations, and major donors. You will strengthen existing relationships to deepen engagement and secure increased support, while proactively driving new business and developing robust pipelines to secure the long‑term sustainability and impact of Refuge’s work.
Closing Date: 09:00am 17 November 2025
First Interview Stage Date: 26th and 27th November 2025 via video conference
Second Interview Stage Date: 3rd / 4th December in person
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Job Title: Head of Corporate Partnerships
Location: Hybrid with 2-3 days a week at our Head Office (Vauxhall) for donor meetings
Salary: £60,066 per annum (Inclusive of London Weighting, which may not be applicable depending on your home location and any agreed permanent homeworking arrangement)
Contract type: Full Time, Permanent
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
This is an opportunity to join Refuge as our next Head of Corporate Partnerships to provide strategic leadership to grow and diversify corporate partnership income, delivering an ambitious growth plan and driving long term, strategic partnerships.
The post holder will provide stragetic leadership and diversify corporate partnerhsips income and engagement, delivering an ambitious growth plan. You will strengthen existing relationships to deepen engagement and secure increased support, while proactively driving new business and developing robust pipelines to secure the long‑term sustainability and impact of Refuge’s work.
Closing Date: 09:00am 17 November 2025
First Interview Stage Date: 26th and 27th November 2025 via video conference
Second Interview Stage Date: 4th December in person
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
The Case Coordinator will work closely with the Head of Direct Work to ensure the delivery of high-quality Independent Social Work Reports (ISWRs) across the direct work strand of SWWB. The Case Coordinator will supervise volunteer social workers, carry out social work assessments themselves, and support quality assurance processes to maintain excellence in social work practice.
About the opportunity
As Accounts Assistant focusing on Treasury and Accounts Receivables, you'll play an important role in delivering a high-performing, efficient financial transactions operation with partnership and improvement at its core. This is both an operational and developmental role, offered with the possibility of pursuing a formal qualification such as a financial accounting apprenticeship or another appropriate finance or administration-related qualification.
You'll be part of our Finance & Assurance directorate, reporting to the Financial Transaction Team Officers and working alongside other assistants and trainees. Focusing specifically on Treasury and AR activities, you'll gain broad experience across cash management, income processing, and receivables. From recording and processing financial transactions to supporting month-end and year-end processes, you'll monitor daily communications and role-model brilliant partnership and customer service, support reconciliations and audits, and work in an agile way across multiple projects and workstreams.
This is a role where your success is built on strong collaboration across multiple teams. You'll have opportunities to undertake specific improvement projects, identify ways to enhance processes, and support colleagues across the organisation to operate within best practice when it comes to financial transactions.
About you:
You're someone with a willingness to learn and develop on the job, sharing your learnings with colleagues to foster whole-team development. You have a working interest in quality improvement and an enthusiasm for a career in finance with ideas to help us constantly improve. You have experience with problem-solving, preferably in a financial environment, and you're willing to proactively reach across to colleagues in different teams.
You'll have:
- Willingness to learn and develop on the job (including undertaking specialist training), sharing those learnings with colleagues.
- Working interest in quality improvement in processes, analysis, communications, or customer service, and experience supporting it.
- Enthusiasm for a career in finance and ideas to help us constantly improve.
- Experience of problem-solving, preferably in a financial environment, and willingness to proactively reach across to colleagues in different teams.
- Good grasp of data and how it can be analysed and presented to improve understanding, engagement, and performance.
- Experience of developing basic financial reports and performing simple bank reconciliations.
What you’ll focus on:
- Supporting the effective running and performance of the Financial Transactions team, with a specific focus on Treasury and Accounts Receivables activities.
- Undertaking specific projects to demonstrate or drive improvements across Treasury and AR processes.
- Monitoring and responding to daily communications from colleagues and role-modelling brilliant partnership and customer service.
- Recording, processing, and filing financial transactions in line with internal procedures, including completing reconciliations.
- Assisting in month-end and year-end closing processes, including preparing for and supporting audits.
- Identifying ways to improve processes and making recommendations to senior colleagues.
- Supporting colleagues across the organisation to operate within best practice for financial transactions.
- Role-modelling working in ways that always adhere to internal policies, procedures, and compliance requirements.
- Liaising with suppliers and other third parties where appropriate.
- Supporting officers and managers with reconciliations, reports, and analysis related to cash management and receivables.
Could your enthusiasm for finance and quality improvement help strengthen our Treasury and Accounts Receivables operations? Are you ready to develop your skills while gaining qualifications in an environment where learning and collaboration are valued? If you're looking for a role where development meets meaningful purpose, we'd love to hear from you.
Important Dates
The deadline for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 9th November 2025.
Interviews will take place on W/C 17th November 2025.
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.
About Demos
Demos is a highly respected cross-party think tank with a unique approach to making policy to solve our long term problems. Building on nearly 30 years of creativity, ideas and impact, Demos’s mission is to upgrade democracy: rebuilding the relationship between citizen and state. Our work explores the elements of a ‘New Deal’, in which power is devolved, citizens participate in policy making, and together as a nation we find answers to the challenges of our century.
About Waves
Demos is leading the largest trial of digital democracy in Britain.
Trust in politics and politicians is in crisis. Only 24% of people trust politicians to make decisions in the best interests of the country. Polarisation is increasing. At the same time, people want to be involved in the public policy decisions that affect them.
Waves is a €1 million project trialling new technology in local democracy, launched to bring people together to tackle contentious local issues and strengthen trust in local government. Thousands of local people will have the opportunity to shape local government policy on an issue affecting their area.
New AI-powered technology is intended to make it easier, cheaper and quicker for participants to have their say, identify areas of consensus, discuss difficult issues and work through trade-offs together.
We are working in partnership with two trailblazing councils who are both embracing the opportunity to put the public at the heart of their policy making. The trial will begin in the London Borough of Camden to co-develop an approach to adult social care. The trial will then move on to South Staffordshire District Council as they develop an inclusive engagement process to prepare for their next local plan. The partners will also support a further 25 councils to observe and learn from the process so that they too can use the tools in the future.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced programme manager who can steer Waves from now until it completes in December 2026.
You would be joining the programme at a pivotal time as we move from the ‘set-up’ and ‘co-design’ phases of the first 6-months, to the start of the first of our two trials running sequentially over the next 11 months, before moving to a final ‘impact phase’ of dissemination of our toolkits, technology and learning in the final 6 months.
Programme management of Waves means ensuring that the whole project stays on track – on time and on budget – throughout its delivery. There are 5 partners, a number of suppliers and many moving parts, so it is critical that we find someone who can work across the whole programme, anticipating who needs to do what and by when, and ensuring that the programme is delivered successfully so we can draw learnings from it to share widely across the local government, democracy, and tech sectors.
It is worth bearing in mind that Waves is a ‘test and learn’ trial of a new deliberative democratic process using existing and new technology. Therefore, the team is committed to learning from the project and being comfortable with the uncertainty of not knowing exactly what the outcomes are going to be.
What you'll need to be sucessful
The types of knowledge, skills and experience we are looking for are below. We welcome a range of applications which include at least some of these attributes.
- Demonstrable experience managing an equivalent programme in terms of complexity, scale and partners with a solid understanding of project management methods.
- Understanding and commitment to the mission of the programme – motivated to tackle issues of low trust in democracy among UK citizens with digital democratic platforms and deliberative processes a crucial part of the solution.
- Team management, interpersonal and communication skills – ability to lead and motivate a team with diverse skills and priorities to deliver a programme of great complexity and uncertainty, including fostering collaboration and trust, managing conflicts, maintaining transparency and empowering different partners to perform effectively.
- Strong strategic thinking and decision-making skills – the ability to align activities with overall programme objectives, making informed decisions based on programme lead and partner inputs and, where possible, data and analysis, and drive the programme towards successful outcomes.
- Ability to identify potential risks, develop mitigation strategies and manage issues that may arise during the programme lifecycle – ideally in an innovation context, one working with diverse partners with different ways of working or when using technology/ conducting trials with the public.
- An interest in, and comfort working with, innovative technologies that utilise AI and collect data, as well as an understanding of the risks and sensitivities surrounding the use of AI, among the public and within the public sector.
- Experience of owning and managing a large-scale budget, conducting calculations when there are changes from the plan, and maintaining clear and robust tracking of expenditure to ensure financial accountability.
- Demonstrable ability to adapt to changing circumstances, solve problems creatively and maintain momentum and energy during challenging situations.
- Highly collaborative, with a commitment to teamwork and inclusivity.
Application and selection process
To apply, please provide the following through our application form:
- an anonymised CV (with any references to your name and personal details removed)
- answers to four screening questions (up to 250 words each)
- a completed copy of our diversity monitoring form (optional)
All applications will be evaluated and graded anonymously to minimise bias in our screening process.
Questions?
If you have any further questions or aren’t sure if the role is right for you, please feel free to reach out to us and we would be happy to answer any queries.
We look forward to hearing from you!
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.