Deputy chief executive and director of charitable operations jobs
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Chief Operating Officer (COO)
The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
Location: Walsingham, Norfolk
Salary: £60,000 – £70,000 per annum (plus benefits)
The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is one of England’s most important Christian pilgrimage destinations, welcoming thousands of pilgrims and visitors each year from the UK and overseas. Alongside its devotional life, the Shrine operates a range of activities including accommodation, catering, retail, education, events and visitor services, all supporting its charitable mission.
Governed by the Walsingham College Trust Association, the Shrine is now strengthening its operational and financial foundations to ensure long‑term sustainability while remaining faithful to its spiritual purpose.
The creation of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) is in response to this context. The COO will act as deputy to the Priest Administrator and provide professional leadership across finance, operations and organisational systems. This is a broad and influential role, combining financial stewardship, commercial oversight and operational leadership, enabling the Priest Administrator to focus on mission, worship and pilgrimage.
This is a rare opportunity to play a pivotal role in the long-term sustainability of a nationally significant spiritual institution.
Essential experience includes:
- Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CIMA or equivalent)
- Senior level experience covering finance and operations
- Knowledge of charity finance, governance and compliance
- Commercial acumen and experience overseeing trading or income generating activities
- Strong leadership, communication and stakeholder engagement skills
- A collaborative leadership style aligned with Christian ethos and values
- Preparedness to live within reasonable / practicable travelling distance of Walsingham.
Registered Charity 
Thank you!
The Organisation
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is the UK’s leading children’s charity, driven by a single, unwavering belief: every child deserves to be safe, loved, and free from abuse. Established in 1884 and operating under Royal Charter, the organisation has spent more than 140 years working to prevent cruelty to children and create lasting change in their lives.
Today, that mission has never been more urgent. As the challenges facing children continue to evolve, from the risks of online harm to complex family circumstances, the NSPCC provides vital frontline support while also working to influence the systems that protect children. Each year, it helps make over a million children safer from abuse, with thousands of adults turning to its Helpline and children and young people relying on Childline’s 24/7 counselling when they have nowhere else to turn.
Working across all four nations of the UK and the Channel Islands, the NSPCC combines direct services, education programmes, and national advocacy to drive impact far beyond its immediate reach. Central to its work is a commitment to evidence-led practice, ensuring every action is informed by what works, and that the voices and experiences of children and young people remain at the heart of a safer, more protective society.
The Role
At the heart of NSPCC is its Services Directorate, delivering practical, child-centred support that helps keep children and young people safe. These services translate the organisation’s mission into action through prevention, therapeutic support, and strengthening safeguarding practice.
The Services Director will play a critical role in shaping the NSPCC’s future as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, leading the development and delivery of a national services strategy and overseeing a complex portfolio of services.
Key aspects of the role include:
- Leading high-quality national and local services that improve outcomes for children and young people
- Shaping and delivering the services strategy to support the organisation’s wider ambitions
- Driving integration and impact across NSPCC and Childline services
- Building strong relationships with senior stakeholders, including the Chief Executive, Board, and external partners
The Person
This is an opportunity for a collaborative, values-driven leader to navigate complexity, drive meaningful change, and make a lasting difference to children’s lives at scale. The successful candidate will demonstrate the following:
- Extensive experience and proven track record at Director level of successfully developing and delivering services, including co-production and collaboration with partners, in a complex stakeholder environment that have a measurably positive impact for beneficiaries.
- Highly experienced in child protection with demonstrable knowledge and experience of child safeguarding. A social work qualification will be highly advantageous.
- Proven experience leading and managing teams of functional experts, overseeing significant income and expenditure budgets, and driving operational performance through the setting and monitoring of clear, aligned objectives.
- Experience of designing and delivering transformational change and driving performance management using appropriate quality and management methods and models, to deliver efficient and effective services.
- Demonstrable understanding of the operational context for services including the commissioning and market environment.
- Experience of managing senior stakeholders, both internally and externally, and confidence in dealing with, and influencing, senior employees and volunteer colleagues, and producing and imparting clear and non-technical advice and information.
- Values the different skills and attributes of others, utilising the insight, experience and expertise of colleagues.
- Experience of representing an organisation at the highest level. Clearly articulates a compelling vision, focussing on both what the future might hold and the more immediate stepping stones to realise those outcomes.
- Challenges constructively and evidences a willingness to receive constructive challenge in order to drive our individual and collective efforts forward.
Further Information
For further information about NSPCC, the role responsibilities, and the person we are looking for, please download the Candidate Briefing Pack.
How to Apply
If you are interested in this key role within the NSPCC and feel you have the skills and experience required, please include the following with your application:
- An up to date CV with the details of two referees (we will not contact them without your prior permission).
- A supporting statement which addresses how you meet the criteria for the role as detailed in the Person Specification. Please also discuss your motivations for applying.
Closing date for applications: Monday 1st June 2026
Preliminary interviews with Russam: 12th-16th June 2026
First stage interviews with NSPCC: Week commencing 29th June 2026
Second stage interviews with NSPCC: Week commencing 6th July 2026
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