Development manager jobs in Guildford, surrey

Family Education Trust is recruiting a Development Manager to turn evidence-led research into real-world impact for families across the UK. This is a rare opportunity to build a fundraising function from the ground up inside a respected policy organisation - with the autonomy to do it your way.

About the role

You will build and lead FET's income growth function, securing near-term unrestricted income while developing durable fundraising capacity. Your core focus is establishing a new major donor and mid-value programme and delivering a high-performing trusts and foundations pipeline.

We have streamlined administrative responsibilities so you can concentrate on what matters: income growth and donor relationships. You will work closely with our Communications Manager, who produces copy and assets for your fundraising brief.

What we are looking for

We need someone with recent, hands-on fundraising experience in a mission-led organisation who has built income, not just maintained it. Experience building a major donor pipeline is essential, along with trusts and foundations competence. You must have genuine personal alignment with FET's mission and established public positions on family policy.

The details

Salary: Up to £40,000, with flexibility for an exceptional candidate Location: Home-based, with UK travel as required Contract: Full-time, permanent Hours: 37.5 per week Annual leave: 25 days plus bank holidays Pension: 5% employer contribution via salary sacrifice Closing date: 9am Monday 16 March 2026 

How to apply

Please read the full job description and person specification (attached) and send a CV and covering letter by 9am Monday 16 March 2026. Your covering letter should explain how you meet the essential criteria set out in the person specification.

Role: Community Development Manager 

Salary: £37,296 (pro rata)

Hours: 28 hours per week (0.8 FTE)

Location: Remote, with frequent travel across the West of England region

Managed by: Chief Executive

Term: Fixed term, 16 months

Deadline for applications: Noon 23 Monday 23 March

Following the appointment of our current Chief Executive in 2025, we are embarking on an exciting new chapter and developing a strategy that aims to extend our impact by addressing key rural issues facing communities locally, namely; access to jobs and services, affordable housing, and health and wellbeing.

Over the next 18 months, and thanks to funding from the National Lottery, we will be undertaking research, engaging stakeholders from across the region, and working with several rural communities to pilot local initiatives. We are confident this activity will catalyse interest in the challenges faced by people in rural communities, demonstrate the value of community-led responses, and lever in longer-term support and resource.

To help us take this ambitious programme of work forward, we are looking to recruit a Community Development Manager.

Reporting to our Chief Executive, key responsibilities will include project management, stakeholder engagement, and drawing on best practice to inspire, facilitate and offer support to groups to help them get going with projects that address local needs.

We are looking for a dynamic and highly motivated individual who’s passion for community development will cut through and help us demonstrate the potential of supporting people locally to have greater agency over the circumstances that affect their lives. 

For more information and details how to apply, please download a copy of the Job Description and Person Specification available from our website.

Community Zakat Development Manager (UK Islamic Charity)

Location / Salary / Contract

UK-wide (home-based) | £30,000 - £35,000 | Fixed term (24 months, with a view to permanent) | Travel required across the UK.

The Opportunity

Civitas Charity recruitment is delighted to be working with UK-wide Muslim charity expanding a localised Zakat distribution model nationwide. In this role, you will build and support a network of Community Zakat Partners, primarily masjids and faith-based community centres/groups, ensuring each partnership is values-led, compliant and effective.

Key Responsibilities

Identify, engage and support prospective Community Zakat Partners, with a focus on masjids and faith-based community organisations.

Lead partner onboarding, agreements and due diligence, working closely with Quality Assurance and Finance colleagues.

Act as the primary point of contact for partners, providing guidance, problem-solving support and clear, timely communication.

Maintain oversight of partnership performance, compliance and risk, coordinating reviews, monitoring and any required audits.

Oversee partner reporting to capture outcomes, data and case studies, contributing to internal learning and impact reporting.

Line manage the Community Zakat Grants Officer, setting objectives and supporting development across the network.

The Candidate

Minimum three years’ experience in partnership or stakeholder management, ideally within the charity, community or public sector.

Proven ability to manage agreements and deliver against objectives, with strong governance, compliance and reporting discipline.

Excellent relationship-building, communication and negotiation skills; confident engaging senior volunteers and faith leaders.

Experience supervising or line managing staff, with a collaborative and accountable approach.

Desirable: experience working with Muslim communities and an understanding of Zakat in a UK context.

Applicants can be based anywhere in England; a full UK driving licence and willingness to travel nationally (car driver) are essential.

How to Apply

If you are keen, please apply directly or contact Syed at Civitas for further info. Deadline is the 20th March 2026. Interviews expected: week commencing 2 April 2026. A DBS application will be required for the successful candidate.

What we're building

Level Water exists to solve a problem that shouldn’t exist: too many disabled children are still missing out on high-quality swimming lessons. 

Last year, our swimmers raised over £1m. This year we’ve sold out events in minutes and want to double the fundraising. We’re on the path to exponential growth and we need someone who can help us get there.

We're Level Water, a founder-led charity solving learn-to-swim for disabled children. We're not your typical charity. We own our events and run them like a business. We move fast, test everything, and we're building something that doesn't exist anywhere else. Our events are uniquely profitable, and we reinvest in quality and growth. 

We've just brought in a new Fundraising Director, and this Marketing role is a cornerstone of the team we're building. If you want to help define how a modern charity grows and does marketing, this is your chance.

The opportunity

This isn't a "post on social and send a newsletter" role. This is a “build something exceptional, then grow it” role. Marketing is at the heart of our flywheel, which means you’ll be integral to everything we are doing at Level Water. 

You'll own marketing strategy and execution across our entire operation: our iconic events, our life-changing swimming programmes, and our reputation as a charity. You'll drive growth, tell stories that matter, and build genuine communities that scale.

You'll have the freedom to experiment. Want to test a new channel? Launch a content series? Build a creator programme? Run paid campaigns that actually convert? Brilliant. Build the business case and let's do it.

You'll work with real impact. Children with disabilities are learning to swim because of us. Families are transformed by our lessons. Volunteers and incredible teachers make it happen. These are stories that deserve to be told brilliantly, and you'll be the one telling them.

This role is 80% growth and 20% impact storytelling, but the two are inseparable. We’re product-led and we launch and test often. Great stories fuel growth. Growth creates more stories. You'll understand that tension and thrive in it.

You'll work closely with our Fundraising Director and CEO to scale marketing as our most powerful growth lever. You'll also manage a network of brilliant freelancers (photographers, videographers, copywriters, designers) to help you execute at the highest level.

And you'll grow with us. We're scaling fast, and we need people who can scale with us. 

This is a mission-critical role in driving Level Water's growth. Every event you sell out, every story you tell, every audience you build helps unlock more funded swimming lessons, bringing us closer to a future where every disabled child can have a great swimming lesson with a confident, qualified teacher.

Marketing at Level Water isn’t just about selling events - it’s a core delivery mechanism in our Theory of Change. This role exists to move the levers that unlock more lessons, faster progression, stronger outcomes, and a sustainable income engine that funds it all.

This is the most exciting marketing job in the charity sector for the right person.

What you'll actually do

This role owns marketing as a growth engine. You'll set strategy, drive execution across multiple channels, and be accountable for how marketing translates into event sign-ups, fundraising growth, profile, and impact. You'll work closely with the Fundraising Director to shape priorities, influence decisions, and build something that scales.

Drive growth marketing that converts

• Own end-to-end marketing for our events portfolio: from launch campaigns to sell-out.

• Build and execute multi-channel campaigns across social, email, paid ads, PR, partnerships, and whatever else works.

• Test everything. Audiences, messages, creative, channels. Find what works, double down, and scale it.

• Use data to spot opportunities: which channels are converting? Where are we leaving growth on the table? What could we do differently?

• Manage our digital advertising and paid social strategy with a ruthless focus on ROI.

• Grow our email database and social audiences with intent, not just for vanity metrics.

• Be trusted to repeatedly turn £1 into £5 or £10. 

• Define and unleash our audiences: help them share their stories in a way that turns experiences into future sales, and makes everything that Level Water does easier.

• Build and manage our captain and ambassador programmes as genuine growth engines - nurturing relationships, setting expectations, and turning influence into measurable impact.

• Proactively convert interest into action. This includes direct outreach (e.g. picking up the phone to captains, engaging top fundraisers, activating ambassadors) to ensure intent turns into ticket sales and fundraising.

Tell stories that build belief

• Find, shape, and share the stories that show our impact: the children, the families, the teachers, the moments that matter.

• Build and curate a library of content (video, photography, case studies, testimonials) that we can use everywhere.

• Work with freelance photographers and videographers to capture our events and programmes at their best.

• Create content that our supporters, partners, and prospects actually want to engage with, not just content that ticks a box.

• Manage our website (fundraising, events, and programmes pages) to ensure it's always up to date, compelling, and optimised for conversion.

• Ensure our impact reporting to donors is rich with content about our work.

• Use storytelling internally to build shared understanding, momentum and belief across the charity as we scale.

Build our profile and partnerships

• Position Level Water as a leader in accessible swimming and outdoor challenge events.

• Build and leverage relationships with press, influencers, local authorities, and stakeholders.

• Identify partnership and sponsorship opportunities that align with our mission and drive growth.

• Amplify examples of inclusion within our pools, making them known and also making inclusive practice visible.

• Promote our swimming pool partners and recognise their contribution to our work.

Manage, measure, and improve

• Own the marketing budget and get maximum value from every pound spent.

• Manage our freelance network: scope projects, review proposals, and ensure quality work on time and on budget.

• Report regularly on what's working and what's not: campaign performance, audience growth, conversion rates, ROI.

• Stay ahead of the curve: what are the best organisations doing? What can we learn and adapt?

Who we're looking for

We care much more about how you work than where you've worked. You don't need charity sector experience .

People who thrive here have:

• Hustle and drive. You take ownership. You spot opportunities and go after them. You don't wait to be told what to do.

• A commercial approach. You think in terms of audiences, funnels, conversion, and scale. You understand what drives growth and you know how to execute it.

• Copywriting chops. You can really write. Headlines that stop the scroll. Emails people actually read. Stories that land. You know that words matter.

• A data brain. You can look at campaign performance and spot the story. You know that "CTR is up 18%" means something, and you know how to act on it.

• A bias for action. You test things. You move fast. You're comfortable with uncertainty and you learn by doing.

• Creative thinking. You generate ideas. You see opportunities others miss. You're not afraid to try something different.

• Organisation. Strong attention to detail, with the ability to run 12 products, 40 email journeys and 100 web pages without dropping anything.

• An entrepreneurial mindset. You think like an owner. If this were your business, how would you grow it?

Bonus points if:

• You've worked in a startup, scale-up, or high-growth environment.

• You've built audiences from scratch or scaled marketing profitably.

• You've led paid campaigns that actually delivered ROI.

• You've worked across multiple channels and understand how they work together.

• You love being outdoors (swimming, hiking, wild camping, anything that gets you outside). 

Why Level Water?

Our values: Bold, Driven, Personal, and Joyful are at the heart of this role. You'll be expected to bring ambition, move with purpose, care deeply about impact, and help create marketing that feels genuinely joyful to be part of.

Bold. This isn't a "follow the playbook" role. We want your ideas. We want you to challenge us. We want you to help us build something better.

Driven. We're growing fast and we need people who can scale with us. If you're ambitious, there's a huge opportunity here.

Personal. We're a small, founder-led team. We move fast, we debate hard, we test everything, and we care deeply about what we do.

Joyful. You'll work on some of the most iconic outdoor swims in the UK. You'll help tell stories that change lives. You'll be part of creating something people remember forever.

Practical details

• Flexible working: remote, hybrid, or (even better) office-based in Tunbridge Wells or Exeter, your choice.

• You'll attend weekend events throughout the summer (with time off in lieu).

• Salary: £30k–£45k depending on experience.

How to apply

We want to hear from you in whatever way best shows us who you are and how you think.

Get creative. It’s a marketing job so sell us on your personality and style. A traditional CV and cover letter? Absolutely fine. A video introduction? Great. A presentation deck? Bring it on. Whatever format helps you shine and show us who you are.

Here's what we'd love to know:

1. How you'd approach marketing growth:
Imagine we want to double sign-ups for one of our summer events (currently sitting at 500 swimmers). Walk us through your approach: which channels would you use, what would your messaging be, how would you measure success, and what would you test first?

2. What excites you about this role:
Tell us why this opportunity appeals to you specifically.

3. Something you're proud of:
Share one thing you've built, grown, or improved. Doesn't have to be in charity or even at work, it could be anything that shows your drive and ability to make things happen.

Before you apply

If you've got questions about the role, the team, or whether this might be right for you, please reach out. I'm Andy Punter, Fundraising Director at Level Water, and I'd genuinely love to chat.​

Deadline

20th March 2026

We're excited to meet you. Let's build something brilliant together.

AHF is seeking an England Development Manager (Heritage Revival Fund) to co‑lead our core grants and advisory programme across England. This role has been created following the recent announcement of significant new investment, which will support the expansion of the Heritage Revival Fund through to 2030. This investment will enable AHF, in partnership with DCMS and Historic England, to provide grants to hundreds of communities across England, helping them bring neglected historic buildings back into use.

Ideally based in southern or central England with focus on southern half of the country. The postholder will work jointly with the current England Development Manager (HRF), who will focus on the northern half of England. Together, they will oversee activity and workflow across the whole country. The role also includes joint management of the England grants team (who work remotely) and programme budget, working flexibly and collaboratively to ensure the successful delivery of AHF’s core programme.

We are looking for a candidate with strong experience across the key responsibilities of the role, including team management, programme budget oversight, and reporting. Ideally, they will bring a proven track record of leadership within the heritage or charitable sector. Candidates must have strong numerical and financial skills, excellent attention to detail, confidence using common IT and Office systems, and the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.