Development director jobs in highgate, greater london

Salary: £46,698 (London) / £42,373 (National) per annum

Hours:                       35 hrs per week

Contract: Fixed term contract (until March 2027)

Benefits

· 27 days annual leave + statutory holidays + 3 closures days over the Christmas period;

· Flexible working for all staff including working from home / hybrid working, and flexi-time/TOIL scheme;

· Attractive family friendly policies;

· Private healthcare cover;

· Season ticket loans;

· Employee awards, and training and development opportunities.

For more information about our benefits please visit our website.

Office locations:  London, Bristol or homeworker

The role will involve spending a substantial amount of time in the East of England (including early starts/late finishes and overnight stays where required) and regular travel nationwide for NHF events and meetings. 

Please note, if office based, the successful candidate will be expected to carry out two days in-person working per week on average which will include attendance at your office location.

Flexible working arrangements can be discussed and agreed with the line manager subject to role and business needs.

An exciting opportunity has arisen at the National Housing Federation (NHF) to join our team of External Affairs Managers on a fixed-term basis to cover maternity leave. The NHF is the voice of housing associations in England. We are the trade body to almost 600 housing associations, who have grown from philanthropic roots to provide 2.6 million homes to around 6 million people. You can find further information about the NHF on our website.

Could you be our new External Affairs Manager, working closely with our housing association members across the East of England?

This is a unique and varied role which would appeal to someone with a background in areas such as stakeholder management, policy, public affairs, communications, programme management – or a combination of these areas! For example, you may be looking to step into a role to further develop your leadership and stakeholder engagement skills, whilst still building on your policy or programme management experience and knowledge.

You will operate at the heart of social housing by working with key decision makers across the housing association sector – including managing relationships with chief executives, chairs of boards and executive directors. Strong communication and influencing skills are essential to the role, as well as the confidence to work at the most senior levels.  

It is crucial that you can work collegiately to lead key programmes of work across the NHF with colleagues in other teams, for example from our policy, press, events, and public affairs teams. Equally, you will be comfortable working autonomously and shaping your own work programme.

The core of the role involves being responsible for engagement with a whole geographic region of our membership; and working closely on or leading one of the NHF’s key themes of work, which include areas such as supported housing; devolution; developing new homes; decarbonising existing homes; ensuring the building safety agenda is delivered; or representing our rural or smaller housing associations.

The role is wide ranging and in addition to stakeholder management and programme leadership, will include running roundtables between our members and government, chairing sessions at NHF conferences, and presenting political and policy updates to senior teams within housing associations.

You will be part of a team of eight External Affairs Managers sitting within the member services directorate, which is there to ensure that we provide excellent value for money for our housing association members.

Key elements of the role:

· You will build and maintain brilliant relationships with housing associations leaders, using your well-developed communication and advocacy skills to maximum effect.

· You will develop knowledge, insight and understanding of housing associations to shape our policy and influencing work and to create structured programmes of member engagement on critical policy and political issues.

· You will be the contact point for housing associations in your region, ensuring they receive first class customer service on the issues which matter to them. Working closely with NHF members you will facilitate the organisation of regional chief executive or leaders forums and sounding boards.

· In addition to your regional work, you will lead on the strategic planning and delivery of a key NHF policy priority. This will require collaborative working with colleagues from across the organisation and working with members across every region and specialism.  You will play a leadership role, creating structured engagement strategies to ensure members are able to influence policy as well as engaging key NHF stakeholders and sharing best practice.

· Your role will be to implement structured member engagement to ensure our policy priorities, positions and influencing work are member-led. This will include working directly with members to inform our policy positions and lead our influencing work.

· You will influence debates at the highest level and you will spot in advance and act strategically to mitigate the risk to our membership. As such, this role requires a high degree of political and organisational acumen and the ability to horizon scan.

· You will work with colleagues in our Commercial and Events teams to maximise commercial opportunities and help shape content at our conferences, as well chairing conference sessions.

· To be the face and voice of the NHF with members, stakeholders and the media.

· To ensure that as an organisation we deliver as a whole team, seamlessly, to members to achieve greatest impact in line with the business strategy.

· To maintain high quality standards and follow NHF policy and process.

The successful candidate:

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

· A sound knowledge and understanding of housing associations and issues affecting the wider sector.

· A sound understanding of the political and policy landscape that housing associations operate in.

· Demonstrable knowledge and experience of establishing and maintaining relationships with senior stakeholders, demonstrating excellent customer service and value for money.

· Effective communication skills, in person and in writing, including the ability to credibly and confidently present at meetings and events.

· Ability to listen to and influence senior stakeholders, demonstrating diplomacy, effective communication and negotiation skills.

· Clear leadership skills, able to lead complex and strategic programmes of work effectively, including experience of matrix managing and motivating a team.

· Excellent analytical skills and strategic nous with the ability to summarise complex information effectively to aid decision making.

· A commitment to excellent customer service.

· A positive, energetic and agile approach to work.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

The NHF has published its equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, which was co-created with staff. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and we value the contribution each individual makes to our work.  

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and are working to increase the diversity profile of our workforce. We are currently under-represented by ethnic minorities, people with a disability or disabilities and LGBTQ+, and would particularly welcome applications from people in these groups.

Disability confident employer

We are a disability confident employer and if you are a disabled person who meets the skills and experience we consider essential for the role, we will offer you an interview.

Please note: there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the job. In certain recruitment situations such as high-volume of applications, we may be required to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
In these circumstances the NHF will select the disabled candidates who best meet the minimum criteria for the job rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria, as we would do for non-disabled applicants. This is in line with the Disability Confident guidelines.

We are happy to consider reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process if you have a disability or have a condition that you feel may affect your performance during the recruitment process. Please contact the People team with your request or to arrange a time to discuss in more detail.

Our role profile and job advert can also be requested in large print or in accessible format via this email address.

Completing our Application Form

To apply for this role, please complete our online application form. The application form includes your employment and education history plus you will be asked to answer questions in relation to your knowledge, skills and experience, why you are applying for the role and questions in relation to our values. The application form is anonymous and will not require you to upload a CV or cover letter. This will help us to shortlist candidates for interview based solely on their knowledge, skills and experience.

Right to work in the UK/UK VISA sponsorship

You must have the right to work in the UK and it is important to note that the NHF does not sponsor individuals to work in the UK.

Closing date for applications: 4 January 2026

Interview date: 14 and 15 January 2026

The Research Manager at Healthwatch Hounslow will be an experienced manager of community-focused projects or programmes.

You will be comfortable with all aspects of research – from scoping, to desk research, to fieldwork, to analysis and writing reports. You will be a clear and confident communicator, whether producing concise, engaging content such as reports, or resenting/speaking in meetings or at events.

We are looking for someone who understands and has experience of creatively engaging diverse groups and communities – particularly seldom heard and underserved groups. Ideally you will be familiar with and an advocate for the principles and practices of co-production and public involvement.

The Research Manager will enjoy engaging with a wide variety of people – from hearing residents’ views and experiences of services, to influencing senior commissioners or providers of health services to make changes and improvements.

You will have a keen interest in Health and Social Care; and a passion to ensure that local people in the community are heard, and health inequalities are addressed.  

WHO WE ARE

The Humane League (THL) is a global nonprofit ending the abuse of animals raised for food. THL fosters a high-energy culture of teamwork and mission-driven problem solving, and we have earned recognition as Top Charity from Animal Charity Evaluators for all of their rating periods. Over the past few years, we’ve grown to a staff of 100+ talented individuals dispersed around the world. At THL, how animals are treated in the food system is at the forefront of our everyday work. As such, many of our staff are vegan by personal choice, and all of our THL-hosted events offer fully vegan menus. We welcome all mission-aligned candidates to apply, no matter where you are in your journey to end the abuse of animals raised for food.

YOUR OPPORTUNITY

The Open Wing Alliance (OWA), a program of The Humane League, is a global coalition of approximately 90 animal protection organizations across 70+ countries united in a common goal: to end the abuse of chickens worldwide. For the past several years, we have focused our efforts on eliminating cages from the egg industry by securing cage-free policies from major retailers, restaurants, and manufacturers. OWA groups share tactics and resources to secure as many wins for animals as possible, specializing in institutional campaigning that can be tailored to our members’ unique circumstances and challenges.

As Temporary Global Campaigns Coordinator, you will be part of a team responsible for researching, coordinating, and launching hard-hitting global corporate animal welfare campaigns against major multinational companies. These campaigns involve collaboration and coordination with animal protection organizations around the world and directly contribute to The Humane League’s org-wide goal of ending the abuse of animals raised for food by securing global cage-free policies that significantly improve the lives of millions of egg-laying hens. 

As a campaigner, you’ll have the opportunity to develop knowledge of our targets, our primary campaign strategies, and the tools we will use to win. You will assist with the execution of tactics spanning email, social media, advertisements, and other digital spaces, and you’ll also help the team leverage our digital action platform by setting up digital actions with a high degree of accuracy. The ideal candidate will bring determination, creativity, and a collaborative mindset. This position reports directly to the Associate Director of Global Campaigns.

This is a temporary, full-time, remote position, beginning in January 2026 and ending in December 2026. The duration may be extended or shortened at The Humane League’s discretion. The temporary hire will provide coverage while a permanent staff member is on leave. This position provides the opportunity for optional domestic and international travel, equivalent to 2 or more trips per year.

This position can be based in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, or Peru. The successful candidate must be authorized to work in one of these countries and reside in that country while undertaking this role. We are only able to consider candidates who reside in the time zones GMT-6 through GMT+1. Please note that we are not able to consider candidates who reside in Pacific or Mountain Time. To enable collaboration with global team members, the successful candidate must be available to work from 9am-1pm Eastern time on a daily basis.

For priority consideration, please submit your application by December 8, 2025 at 11:59 pm ET.  After this date, we will begin advancing candidates through the hiring process and may close the role. New candidates are welcome to apply as long as this job opening is listed on our website. If you are experiencing technical issues, please contact our careers email, which you can find on our website. Please submit applications and all supporting documents in English. All application questions and materials need to be submitted here through the application submission form; we do not accept applications through our careers email.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Conduct research to help inform campaign strategies, tactics, project plans, and communications (including slogans and language). Gather and monitor contact information, data, and key details about target companies and their executives. 

• Support Global Corporate Campaigns Leads with the preparation and execution of campaign tactics in line with THL’s overarching strategy, including (but not limited to) email and social media actions, phone calls to corporate employees, petitions, and advertisements. Assist in planning the schedule of campaign tactics and developing campaign materials, including website content, videos, petitions, advertisements, social media actions, and literature language.

• Collaborate with internal teams at THL and external stakeholders in the OWA to align on goals and debrief on the progress of our campaigns.

• Work closely with other members of the Global Campaigns team to plan, design, and monitor impactful digital actions that will advance our cage-free work and secure victories in global campaigns.

• Assist with setup of digital actions within the OWA’s internal platforms for action taking and supporter building. Coordinate with campaigners, OWA groups, and IT teams as needed.

• Support Global Corporate Campaigns Leads in coordinating and motivating OWA members across 90+ organizations to take action. 

In addition to the above essential job duties, other duties may be assigned as business needs arise. These may include non-essential, marginal job duties.

REQUIRED SKILLS

• Experience: Previous professional or non-professional experience in advocacy campaigns, grassroots organizing, or activism within the animal protection movement or another social movement. 

• Tenacity: Dedication to campaigning fast, hard, and where it matters to maximize pressure on campaign targets. Ability to address barriers and persevere through challenging campaigns.

• Research and Data Analysis: Ability to compile and organize information effectively and leverage search engines and online resources to conduct research. Manages data entry and performs basic data analysis.

• Organization: Excellent attention to detail needed to accurately set up and monitor digital actions and manage multiple overlapping projects with different timelines and many moving pieces. Ability to prioritize effectively and accommodate last-minute changes.  

• Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving: Ability to grasp organizational goals, policies, and procedures and understand how they align with broader strategic objectives. Identifies and resolves problems effectively, making use of available resources and consulting other staff members when appropriate. 

• Initiative, Proactivity, and Adaptability: Willingness to adapt to changes and embrace new tasks and tools. Manages workload independently and proactively seeks out additional responsibilities and opportunities for improvement. Ability to pivot quickly and creatively as campaign strategies shift.

• Verbal and Written Communication: Communicates clearly and effectively across verbal and written formats, tailoring communication style to different audiences. Ability to participate in presentations and craft messaging that motivates others to take action.

• Collaboration and Interpersonal Skills: Ability to build and maintain positive relationships and work collaboratively with others. Actively participates in team activities and discussions, contributing ideas and supporting the development of a positive team culture.

• Global Perspective: Approaches work with a global and inclusive mindset, prioritizing global impact and taking into consideration the diverse experiences of colleagues and OWA member groups across many different cultures, languages, and political systems.

Hiring Timeline Details

Once your application has been reviewed, you will be notified via email with further details on the status of your application. If a candidate is moved forward, the interview process will be as follows:

• Recorded Video Interview (submission)

• Work Simulation Exercise (completed remotely)

• Interview (via video call)

For full details of our recruitment process please review the document on our website.

Compensation and Benefits

The annual compensation range for this role is:

• $56,895 - $69,539 USD for candidates based in the United States
• $56,269 - $68,773 CAD for candidates based in Canada
• €36,095 - €44,116 for candidates based in Ireland
• €15,331 - €18,738 for candidates based in Portugal
• £34,086 - £41,661 GBP for candidates based in the United Kingdom
• €43,754 - €53,478 for candidates based in Austria
• 385,174Kč - 470,768Kč for candidates based in Czechia
• kr.407,750 - kr.498,369 for candidates based in Denmark
• Ft562,177 - Ft687,139 for candidates based in Hungary
• €26,580 - €39,870 for candidates based in Italy
• €44,392 - €54,258 for candidates based in the Netherlands
• kr559,693 - kr684,080 for candidates based in Norway
• zł54,668 - zł66,613 for candidates based in Poland
• kr382,579 - kr467,607 for candidates based in Sweden
•  $24,222,487 -  $29,606,233 for candidates based in Argentina
• R$23,200 - R$34,800 for candidates based in Brazil
• CLP $10,265,808 - CLP $12,547,953 for candidates based in Chile
• $34,060,829 - $51,091,243 COP for candidates based in Colombia
• $11,281 - $13,788 for candidates based in Ecuador
• S/.35,157 - S/.42,967 for candidates based in Peru

At The Humane League, we believe in maintaining a fair and nondiscriminatory work environment. As part of our commitment to transparency, we have implemented a job architecture framework, which levels all of our roles according to size and complexity, as well as a compensation step system, which allows us to determine fair salaries for all. We also look at market data for each country that we operate in, to allow us to create specific salary bands per country. In addition, we have adopted a no negotiation policy for salaries. To determine a job's level, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including a job's size and complexity, required experience, knowledge, and/or skills, internal comparability, and market data. Candidates whose experience places them at step 5 or above of their job level within our compensation structure will be awarded a “Senior” title designation. These practices are aligned with our organizational values and will help us ensure we maintain clear, consistent, and transparent HR processes.

THL offers a unique and competitive benefits package. Each country will be provided with benefits that are applicable and relative to the location they are in. Therefore, your exact benefits package will be shared with you at the time of offer. However, as an idea, some of the benefits that are currently offered to our global team are:

• Unlimited paid time off
• The last Friday of every month off as a THL ‘Public Holiday’ called ‘Mend Your Heart Friday’
• Enhanced sick pay
• Generous bereavement leave
• Generous personal emergency leave 
• Sabbatical leave
• Enhanced parental leave
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Retirement contributions
• Internet allowance

For candidates outside the United States, The Humane League will not be your direct employer. The successful candidate will enter an employment agreement with a local Employer of Record with whom The Humane League partners.

Equal Employment Opportunity

THL is an equal opportunity employer. THL does not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected classifications, including but not limited to race, color, age, national origin, ethnicity, religious creed or belief, physical or mental disability, marital or familial status, legally protected medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship status, or any other status or classification protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. THL is committed to the importance of non-discriminatory practices within the nonprofit sector, as well as all workplace environments, and strongly encourages all interested candidates to apply.

Accommodations

The Humane League is committed to fully supporting all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, THL provides reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws throughout the hiring process and employment if hired. If a reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact the People team (you can find our email in our website) to initiate the interactive process. THL complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and all other applicable state and local laws.

AI Policy

Original work and thought are essential in the hiring process and allow us to evaluate you based on your own skills and competency. Therefore, the use of artificial intelligence (ChatGPT, Gemini, Rytr, Google Assistant, etc) to generate responses is strictly prohibited. By submitting this application you agree to comply with our AI Policy. Violations of this policy in any part of the recruitment process will result in being dismissed from consideration. If you need a reasonable accommodation to this policy, please see above for more information.

Communications From Greenhouse During Hiring Process

We have occasionally had issues with emails from Greenhouse being captured by spam filters and going to the spam folder. Because we utilize Greenhouse for all notifications regarding your application, please double check your spam folder in case important communications have been routed there.