Development manager jobs in Greater london

Job Title: Community Centre Manager 

Location / Salary / Contract:

Location: Southwark
Salary: £45,000-£49,000 per annum
Contract: Permanent, Full-time (37 hours per week, with some evening and weekend work)

The Opportunity:

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and dynamic Community Centre Manager to lead the operations, programming, and partnership development of a vibrant community space serving both residents and the wider neighbourhood. This is a hands-on role suited to an energetic and organised individual who thrives on community engagement, service excellence, and creating meaningful opportunities for older adults and intergenerational groups. You will play a central role in developing and managing programmes that enhance wellbeing, build community connections, and promote inclusion within an elderly residential care setting.

Key Responsibilities:

• Manage all community centre spaces, ensuring they are well-presented, welcoming, and fully utilised.
• Oversee the programming and scheduling of diverse activities that support organisational goals and community engagement.
• Lead on income generation through effective room hire management and budget oversight.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with voluntary, statutory, and business organisations to enhance programme delivery.
• Supervise and support staff, volunteers, and casual workers to deliver high-quality services and activities.
• Ensure compliance with Health and Safety, Fire Safety, and Safeguarding requirement

The Candidate:

You will be a proactive and empathetic leader with experience managing community facilities or similar public-facing spaces. With excellent organisational, financial, and communication skills, you will have the ability to balance community priorities with commercial needs. You should have a solid understanding of health and safety compliance, staff supervision, and partnership development. A passion for creating inclusive and engaging environments for older people and the wider community is essential.

How to Apply:

If the above role sounds interesting and you feel like you meet the criteria, please apply immediately. Early applications are encouraged as we reserve the right to close this vacancy prior to the stated closing date.

The charity is rapidly scaling up, recently doubling its annual support to £6 million. Degrees has partnered with leading climate change funders and research partners including the Quadrature Climate Foundation, Open Philanthropy, Crankstart, Navigation Fund, Outlier Projects, LAD Climate Fund and UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Transparency of funding is essential to our work. We do not accept support from anonymous donors or funding from the fossil fuel industry. Fundraising for the organisation has been led by the Founder and CEO, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Chief of Staff, and the Chair of the Trustees with the support of an experienced Senior Philanthropy Advisor.

We now seek a full-time team member to build on this base. Reporting to the COO, and working closely with senior staff and the Chair, the Development Manager will support high‑performing fundraising that secures multi‑year, diversified funding. He / she will also introduce robust processes for pipeline management and donor stewardship and manage the complete donor lifecycle (from identification to cultivation to solicitation and stewardship) of a portfolio of top prospects. The post holder will receive initial onboarding support from the Senior Philanthropy Advisor. As fundraising grows, the team may expand in the future.

Initial priorities include expansion beyond the current donor pool, with a strong push to identify and engage new funders, and putting in place the systems (CRM, reporting cadence, key performance indicators) to support growth at scale.

As this is a new role, responsibilities are expected to evolve but some key items will include: 

Strategy & planning 

• Work with the CEO, Chief of Staff, COO, Senior Philanthropy Advisor, programme staff and the Chair of the Trustees to help develop and implement a multi-year fundraising strategy aligned with organisational objectives;

Pipeline development & new opportunities 

• Manage the fundraising pipeline, guiding the ongoing fundraising activities of senior staff and the Chair;
• Research and identify new funding opportunities from trusts and foundations, government funders, and multilateral donors in the development and climate sectors on an ongoing basis;
• Reach out to networks of donor advisors and established relationships for referrals;
• Initiate and manage contact with funding opportunities; 

Grant writing 

• Draft and coordinate the preparation and submission of grant proposals;

Donor stewardship & reporting

• Maintain excellent relations with existing funders by keeping them informed on charity and sector updates, inviting them to events, and ensuring the delivery of annual reports and notices;
• Ensure and manage ongoing formal grant reporting on behalf of the organisation;

Events & engagement 

• Often working with partners, plan and deliver fundraising events for existing and potential funders, particularly in the UK and US;
• Manage invitation lists, track attendance and ensure bespoke follow–up to attendees;
• Assist in the design of events that will inspire and engage funders while involving Southern experts in the Degrees research community;
• Coordinate all fundraising outreach and related programming for the Degrees Global Forum (a conference to be held in 2027); 

Processes, systems & administration

• Create and implement structured processes across the entire fundraising and donor lifecycle;
• Develop and track KPIs, providing regular reports to senior staff and the Trustees;
• Be responsible for fundraising data, contacts and administrative records.

The Organisation

The Royal Parks (TRP) is a charity created in March 2017. We manage over 5,000 acres of diverse parkland, rare habitats and historic buildings and monuments in eight Royal Parks across London. These are; Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, The Green Park, St James’s Park, The Regent's Park and Primrose Hill, Greenwich Park, Richmond Park and Bushy Park.

We also manage other important public spaces including Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens. Our eight Royal Parks and other public spaces are among the most visited attractions in the UK with tens of millions of visits every year.

We are now looking for a Project Manager in our Event Development team to join us on a full-time, permanent basis to support and manage the Tender projects for our major events held each year in our parks.

The Benefits

• Salary of £42,631 - £46,170 per annum, depending on experience.
• 26 days' annual leave (pro rata) plus public holidays, increasing to 29 days after 3 years’ service
• Pension scheme (3% employee contribution; up to 10% employer contribution)
• Hybrid/agile working options
• Private medical insurance and healthcare cash plan
• Employee assistance programme and access to mental health first aiders
• Learning and development opportunities
• Cycle to work scheme
• Offices in a beautiful park location

This is an unmissable opportunity for talented professionals with project management, procurement and event tendering experience to join our wonderful organisation and get involved in some of the capital’s biggest major annual events.

You will have the chance to see your strategy and vision come to life on the vast canvas of commercial events taking place in our parks. Taking the reins on new event development tender projects and supporting other high-profile event tenders, you will be key to maintaining and expanding our reputation of excellence.

So, if you want to help bring unforgettable experiences to life in some of London's most spectacular green spaces, we want to hear from you!

The Role

As one of our Project Managers in the Event Development team, you will play a vital role in project visioning, developing and tendering for a wide range of annual contracted events throughout The Royal Parks.

Specifically, you will help support and deliver the commercial and strategic vision for our most significant major events and lead on the development of new event tender projects.

You’ll ensure that our commercial activities are sustainable and profitable whilst remaining consistent with our values and sympathetic to parkland activities. With this in mind, you will project lead on market research, commercial modelling, strategic and creative visioning, tender planning and contract development work.

The role will involve:

• Creating and drafting strategies for future tenders for major public events
• Preparing and maintaining detailed project plans and tender documentation
• Gathering event feasibility, market research data and information for event tenders
• Supporting the Event Development team project activities for event tenders
• Managing the day-to-day admin for event tender projects

Additionally, the role does not involve:

• Working on or managing events, as the hosting venue we do not organise events ourselves
• Booking events suppliers or entertainment

About You

To be considered as one of our Project Managers within Event Development, you will need:

• Excellent experience working as a project manager within outdoor events or public parks
• Good knowledge and experience in tendering for event providers and contract administration within the events industry
• Excellent communication, presentation, proofreading and report-writing skills
• Good organisation skills
• The ability to work collaboratively and build effective relationships
• The ability to analyse information, make informed judgements, appraise performance, and manage risks
• A PRINCE2 Foundation or equivalent Microsoft Project and/or Project Management experience would be beneficial to your application. A degree level education in event management or equivalent experience would be desirable.

An understanding of the public procurement exercises (The Procurement Act 2023) would be desirable.

IT literacy, including Microsoft Office products; Teams, OneDrive, Project, Planner, To-do, SharePoint, PowerPoint & Sway, Lists and Viva, would also be advantageous.

Other organisations may call this role; Project Manager, Programme Manager, Development Manager, Tender Manager or Contract Manager specialising in events.

The Royal Parks is strongly committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and is an equal opportunities employer. We value diversity and encourage applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

So, if you’re looking to thrive as a Project Manager within Event Development, we would love to hear from you, please apply via the button shown. Successful candidates will be appointed on merit.