Development officer jobs in Mid sussex, west sussex

Key Details

We are seeking a proactive, confident, and relationship-driven Partnerships & Growth Officer to contribute to Bridging the Bar’s external income and growth activities. This is a highly client-facing role that involves engaging with chambers, organisations, major sponsors, donors, grant funders, and other external stakeholders to secure financial support for BTB’s mission and programmes. You will take ownership of outreach, lead meetings and negotiations, and build strong, long-term relationships that underpin the charity’s sustainability and impact. 

Job Title: Partnerships & Growth Officer
Location: Remote (c. twice a month travel to London and other UK cities, with expenses reimbursed).
Working Hours: Mon- Fri  9:00–18:00 with a one hour lunch break.
Weekend Work: 1–2 Saturdays per month (September to June), with time off in lieu.
Salary:£25,396.80 per annum, with eligibility for a discretionary bonus linked to organisational performance. The expected range for this bonus is £1,000–£5,000, depending on results.

About Bridging the Bar

Bridging the Bar (BTB) is an award-winning charity working to increase diversity at the Bar of England and Wales. We support aspiring barristers from underrepresented backgrounds through a range of high-impact programmes, events, and partnerships with leading chambers, law firms, and institutions.

The Role

We are seeking a proactive, confident, and relationship-driven Partnerships & Growth Officer to contribute to Bridging the Bar’s external income and growth activities. This is a highly client-facing role that involves engaging with chambers, organisations, major sponsors, donors, grant funders, and other external stakeholders to secure financial support for BTB’s mission and programmes. You will take ownership of outreach, lead meetings and negotiations, and build strong, long-term relationships that underpin the charity’s sustainability and impact.

As Partnerships & Growth Officer, you will manage the delivery and renewal of our annual Partnership Cycle, cultivate major sponsorships, prepare award and grant applications, support the development of new income streams such as our accreditation scheme, high-value individual giving, and crowdfunding, and innovate novel initiatives. You will work closely with the Head of Operations and Programmes, as well as the wider Programmes team, to ensure high-quality delivery across all external commitments, seamless coordination, and effective communication of BTB’s outcomes and impact.

This role is ideal for someone who is motivated by securing resources, enjoys leading external meetings, thrives in a varied and fast-moving environment, has a flexible and innovative approach, and is excited by the opportunity to contribute to BTB’s strategic growth and long-term success.

Key Responsibilities

Partnerships Cycle

Each year, Bridging the Bar works with a cohort of chambers and organisations who financially support our work through the Partnership Cycle. This cycle runs from April to April, with partners donating a set amount in return for formal recognition and a package of benefits delivered throughout the year. As the cycle progresses, you will be responsible for outreach and renewals, onboarding, benefit delivery, and ongoing relationship management.

As Partnerships & Growth Officer, you will be responsible for:

• Researching and identifying potential partner organisations, and conducting proactive outreach to engage them in the Partnership Cycle

• Renewing existing or recurring partnerships, ensuring positive and long-term relationships

• Leading meetings and negotiations with potential or existing partners to secure onboarding to the current Partnerships Cycle 

• Ensuring the smooth delivery of partnership benefits, including coordinating agreed activities and supporting partners to maximise the value of their engagement 

• Coordinating with programme teams where cross-team collaboration is required to ensure expectations are met in relation to partner benefits 

• Maintaining accurate partnership tracking, including invoicing, communications, benefit allocation, and delivery deadlines

• Monitoring partner accounts and taking a proactive approach to managing partner relationships and resolving issues 

• Developing and refining partnership materials, such as proposals, benefit decks, and outreach resources

• Bringing an innovative, solutions-focused approach to the design and delivery of partnership benefits and improvements to the overall cycle

• Gathering partnership feedback, ensuring partners understand the value and outcomes of their contribution

• Supporting impact reporting, including gathering relevant data, preparing summaries, and assisting the Head of Operations and Programmes in the production of reports for the Board

Major Sponsorships 

Bridging the Bar also secures major sponsorships to fund specific programmes, such as the Academy. These agreements are individually negotiated and supported through tailored engagement plans. You will be responsible for identifying potential major sponsors, supporting negotiations, coordinating the delivery of agreed benefits, and managing these relationships to ensure strong long-term sponsorships.

As Partnerships & Growth Officer, you will be responsible for:

• Researching and identifying potential major sponsors, and conducting proactive outreach to engage organisations aligned with our programmes and new initiatives

• Cultivating and renewing major sponsorships, ensuring positive, long-term relationships with key funders

• Developing proposals, presentations, and engagement resources tailored to major funders to support pitches 

• Collaborating with programme teams to ensure cross-team deliverables related to major sponsorships are met effectively and on schedule

• Maintaining accurate tracking of major sponsorships, including records of communications, deliverables, invoicing, and benefit fulfilment

• Proactively monitoring sponsor accounts, addressing emerging needs, and supporting strong relationship stewardship

• Gathering sponsor feedback and helping sponsors understand the outcomes and impact of their contribution

• Supporting impact reporting, including gathering relevant data, preparing summaries, and assisting the Head of Operations and Programmes in producing reports for the Board

Grants and Awards Applications 

Bridging the Bar also pursues opportunities through both achievement awards and monetary grants. Achievement awards help raise our profile and showcase the impact of our work, while grant funding supports the delivery and growth of our programmes. You will contribute to identifying suitable opportunities, preparing strong applications, and supporting the stewardship and reporting required by award bodies and grant funders.

As Partnerships & Growth Officer, you will be responsible for:

• Researching and identifying suitable opportunities that align with Bridging the Bar’s mission, programmes, impact, and funding requirements

• Drafting and preparing high-quality applications, including gathering evidence, impact data, and supporting materials

• Monitoring deadlines and submission requirements to ensure timely, accurate applications

• Assisting with stewardship of award bodies and grant funders, including timely communication and relationship management

• Supporting grant reporting requirements, such as gathering programme data, preparing summaries, and assisting the Head of Operations and Programmes with narrative and financial reporting

New Initiatives 

In addition to established activities, Bridging the Bar pursues new and emerging initiatives to support long-term financial sustainability, programme expansion, and reputational growth. This includes in our current development phase; a Chambers focused accreditation scheme, high-value individual giving, and crowdfunding campaigns. Future expansion has the scope to include other opportunities whether identified by the organisation or by you. You will help develop, test, and implement these initiatives as they evolve.

As Partnerships & Growth Officer, you will be responsible for:

• Overseeing the pilot of the accreditation scheme including; conducting meetings with pilot chambers, co-ordinating with consultants, ensuring deliverable are met, assisting with evaluation and refinement, supporting materials production

• Overseeing the initial stages of our high value individual giving work stream including; identifying potential givers, conducting relevant meetings, co-ordinating with suppliers, dispatching thank you gifts, and supporting materials production and distribution 

• Developing crowd funding and fundraising initiatives including; innovating themes for targeted campaigns, overseeing campaign delivery, co-ordinating with volunteer fundraisers, administering recurring donations, and supporting materials production and distribution 

• Applying a creative, solutions-focused mindset to identifying and shaping future opportunities

Other Duties 

Beyond core responsibilities, you will also support wider organisational activities as needed. This may involve assisting with the BarNav newsletter, representing Bridging the Bar at events, and completing additional tasks that contribute to the charity’s overall effectiveness.

• Overseeing production of the BarNav newsletter including; brainstorming issues themes, co-ordinating contributions from partners, sponsors, staff, and/or candidates, compiling contributions and drafting final issue in Canva, and collaborating with the programmes team to ensure distribution of each issue.

• Providing support to the Head of Operations and programmes where needed including; taking meeting minutes, supporting production of financial reports, and assisting with presenting to the Board 

• Collaborating with operations and programmes departments to support cross-functional delivery

• Representing BTB at BTB hosted events, relevant sector events, award ceremonies, or grant briefings where required

• Maintaining a flexible approach and supporting emerging needs across the charity as they arise

About You

Essential

• Adaptable and flexible, comfortable working in a changing environment

• Confident communicator, able to liaise with senior stakeholders and clients, lead meetings, negotiate, and network effectively

• Proactive and self-motivated, with the ability to take initiative

• Innovative, with a willingness to propose new ideas and approaches

• Aligned with the organisation’s values and mission-driven in approach

• Commercially aware, with an understanding of opportunities, markets, and value creation

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities

Desirable

• Experience with business development, corporate relations, grants, or sales or similar

• Demonstrated ability to build partnerships, generate opportunities, or support income-generating activities

• Understanding of the charity or legal landscape

• Creative approach to outreach and audience engagement, including digital communications and social media 

• Competence with common work tools (e.g., Google Workspace, Canva) and a willingness to learn new systems

What We Offer

• The opportunity to support an award-winning charity driving systemic change within the legal profession

• Opportunities to contribute to organisational strategy and shape new initiatives

• Remote-first working environment, enabling flexibility and autonomy

• Flexible scheduling, allowing you to balance work and personal commitments

• Additional annual leave, with one extra day of paid holiday for each year of service (up to three years)

• Reimbursed travel and accommodation expenses for all work-related travel

• Annual funded team celebration days to recognise achievements and strengthen team connection

• Role-specific training and professional development, tailored to your growth

• Regular supervision and mentorship to support your ongoing professional development

• Access to our Employee Development Fund to fund training courses or other progression costs 

• Access to our Employee Equipment Fund to fund to help you enhance your home-working setup

• Supportive, inclusive, and values-driven organisational culture

How to Apply

Please submit a one-page cover letter and CV via the form with the subject line (NAME) – Partnerships & Growth Officer Application - Stage One. Your cover letter should reflect your experience, vision for how you would contribute to the organisation, and commitment to BTB’s mission. This should be submitted to us directly via the email address on our website: applications that are not emailed directly will not be considered.

If you are successful at stage one, you will also be asked to complete pre-interview tasks as stage two between 12th Jan - 16th Jan.

Our third and final stage is an interview stage. Applicants successful at stage two will be invited to interview in W/C 19th Jan. 

We aim to make an offer in W/C 26th Jan. 

All applicants, successful or not, will receive application feedback from the panel.

Application Deadline: 09:00 12th January 2026 

Intended Start Date: 09:00 2nd March 2026 

Please note that you must both be located within and have the right to work in the UK for this role.

Salary: £34,596.75 per annum

Location: Flexible – home or office based

Contract: Fixed term contract ending December 2026

Hours: Full time 37.5 hours

Closing date: Monday the 5th of January at 11:30pm

Are you able to write clearly and accurately drawing on a range of evidence?  Could you use those skills to support our Business Development team with tenders for statutory funding, including preparation work, research, and supporting with bid writing? Then join Shelter as a Business Development Officer and you could soon find yourself playing an important role within our Business Development team

About the role

Responsible for supporting the Business Development Team to generate statutory income and achieve its income target, you will be involved in a range of activities including producing content for bids, horizon scanning and maintaining the pipeline to inform income forecasting.  In collaboration with the Business Development Manager, you will undertake research into local needs and priorities in our service areas with a view to supporting the team in influencing commissioners and driving forward systems change.

About you

To succeed, you’ll be skilled at writing clearly and accurately and drawing on a range of evidence to produce compelling content for tenders, proposals and reports. You’ll be comfortable working on your own initiative or as part of a team, and happy to share your knowledge and skills to play your part in cross-team projects when required. The ability to use Microsoft Office programmes including Word, Excel and Outlook are also a requirement for the role.

Apply to be part of our team and be the change you want to see in society.

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including 30 days of annual leave, enhanced family friendly policies, pension and interest free travel loans. We are committed to offering fully flexible working to help all employees maintain work-life balance. Our employees also have access to a tenancy deposit loan, payroll giving, cycle to work scheme and an employee assistance programme.

About the team

The Business Development team (BDT) is the support function that leads, coordinates and supports Shelter business areas working to develop new and existing services to meet Shelter’s strategic goals.

The BDT team sits within the Income Generation directorate and will involve leading the development of high-quality statutory funding tenders, support growth through researching new markets and maintaining a strong pipeline of opportunities and contribute to strategic projects that embed continuous improvement.

You will collaborate with teams across Shelter including Services, High Value Partnerships and Finance, looking to enhance ways of working, building external partnerships that strengthen applications and delivery, along with influencing commissioners and funders to ensure opportunities align with Shelter’s strategic priorities.

How to apply

Please click ‘Apply for Job’ below. You are required to submit a CV and a supporting statement.

The supporting statement should include your responses to the points in the ‘About You’ section of the job description of no more than 300 words each. Please provide specific examples following the STAR format and ensure you demonstrate how you address the behaviours below throughout your responses:

• We work together to achieve our shared purpose
• We learn from our experiences and are open to risk

Any applications submitted without a supporting statement will not be considered

About Shelter

Home is a human right. It’s our foundation and where we thrive. Yet everyday millions of people are being devastated by the housing emergency.

We exist to defend the right to a safe home. Because home is everything.

We need ambitious, passionate people to join us. This is your chance to play a part in the fundamental change we are striving to achieve.

Our enemy is the social injustice at the core of the escalating housing emergency. To win this fight, we must be representative of the people we are here to help and those who support our movement. In all our people decisions, we take pride in being inclusive, equitable and transparent. We are committed to combating racism both within and outside Shelter. We welcome you on our journey to becoming truly anti-racist.

Safeguarding statement

Safeguarding is everyone's business. Shelter is committed to protecting the health, wellbeing and human rights of those we support, and enabling them to live free from harm, abuse and neglect. All our staff will be expected to observe professional standards of behaviour and conduct their work in line with our Safeguarding Policies.

Shelter does not accept unsolicited CVs from external recruitment agencies nor accept the fees associated with them.

We are seeking a Community Development Officer to lead a major in-progress project improving recognition, support, and care for people with smell and taste disorders at a local level across England. 

This three-year, volunteer-led programme, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund has achieved significant success in its first eighteen months. We are now recruiting a new postholder to take this strong foundation forward through the next phase of delivery. 

Over the past eighteen months, we have recruited and established a thriving network of volunteers and local groups across England. This momentum is expected to continue. The Community Development Officer will work closely with existing volunteers and groups, primarily remotely, while also attending in-person events and meetings in different parts of England as needed. 

The postholder will lead the ongoing recruitment, training, and support of volunteer groups, working with them to identify opportunities for local outreach and engagement. Together, you will ensure that more people affected by smell and taste disorders access the information, support, and recognition they need, while continuing to raise awareness of these often-unrecognised sensory impairments. 

Our volunteer groups bring together people with lived experience alongside experts from the food, beverage and fragrance sectors, and other relevant fields. 

We are looking for a motivated, forward-thinking individual with experience in leading and inspiring others. You will bring energy, creativity, and excellent communication skills to drive the project forward and help build an innovative, sustainable programme of volunteer-led activity, supporting our volunteers to influence change within their communities. 

You will empower volunteers to play an active role in transforming public understanding of how essential smell and taste are to our lives, whether they are running peer support groups, organising local events, delivering talks in community settings, or representing the charity at information days. 

You will join a small, friendly and ambitious team committed to your professional development as the charity continues to grow. 

If you are passionate about making a difference, enjoy working with people, and want to contribute to a pioneering and collaborative organisation that values and empowers its community, we would love to hear from you. We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. 

Youth Group Development Officer (Regional)
Reference: NOV20257605
Location: Homebased, Flexible Within Southeast England (Oxfordshire, London, Essex, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex or Kent)
Hours: Part-Time, 26.25 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Salary: £27,123.00 - £28,956.00 Pro Rata
Benefits: Pension Scheme, Life Assurance Scheme, 26 days' Annual Leave (Pro-Rata)

Are you passionate about nature and wanting to make a real difference? We are looking for an inspiring individual to empower and grow our RSPB Youth Group network, offering leadership, advice and support. In this role, you’ll shape the next generation of nature champions by working through volunteers.

What's the role about?

• Providing regional coordination and direction of RSPB Youth Group operations and building volunteer capability in England.
• Working collaboratively to develop high quality initiatives that enable our Youth Groups to inspire new and more diverse support, giving nature a voice in more communities across England.
• Advocating for RSPB Youth Groups and embedding them in area teams, projects and activities as part of our strategic outcomes to tackle the nature and climate emergency.
• Making sure our Youth Groups are following RSPB policies and procedures, complying with legal requirements and working within agreed RSPB Youth Group frameworks.
• Monitoring and evaluating RSPB Youth Group activities to demonstrate the positive impact of RSPB Youth Groups and their contribution to RSPB strategic outcomes.
• Identifying, developing and delivering training and resources required by RSPB Youth Groups to maximise their impact for nature.
• Championing RSPB Youth Groups both internally and externally, influencing and raising awareness of what they do through communications planning to make sure that their contribution is celebrated and valued.
• Lead, manage and support a team of country expert volunteers to assist with some or all the above.

This role will work alongside the Youth Group Development Officer, North England to manage the England network of Youth Groups. The successful candidate will work closely with colleagues across four countries and UKHQ from a range of teams including Area Teams, People Engagement, Youth Mobilisation and Volunteering.

This role will require one evening each month to deliver training and induction sessions. Additionally, you’ll travel up to six times a year, at weekends, to visit RSPB Youth Groups in person.

Essential skills, knowledge and experience:

• Strong understanding of best practice and sector standards in working with young people in a non-formal youth setting, combined with a proven ability to design, develop and successfully deliver a range of activities that engage and inspire groups of young people.
• Knowledge and understanding of volunteering best practice, innovation and sector standards with a strong track record of successfully developing volunteering roles across an organisation.
• Understanding and experience of volunteering through working with volunteers in a management capacity.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence, persuade, guide and negotiate effectively. Skilled in active listening and constructively challenging thinking where appropriate.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to identify problems and determine areas of improvement. Adept at working collaboratively to develop creative strategies and practical solutions that drive positive change.
• Ability to maintain a strong focus on achieving results while effectively prioritising tasks and resources.
• Experience in designing, developing and delivering youth-focused projects or initiatives that result in measurable/tangible improvements for young people.
• Experience in delivering operational advice, guidance and training to individuals at all levels, while building and maintaining strong, productive stakeholder relationships that drive collaboration and results.

Additional Information

This is a Permanent Part-Time role for 26.25 hours per week.

This role is home based. To cover the required travel across the region, we’re looking for someone based in South East England (Oxfordshire, London, Essex, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex or Kent).

Closing date: 23:59, Friday 2nd January 2026
We are looking to conduct interviews for this position on Tuesday 13 January 2026.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

This role will require completion of a DBS in addition to the standard pre-employment checks.

We are committed to developing an inclusive and diverse RSPB, in which everyone feels supported, valued, and able to be their full selves. To achieve our vision of creating a world richer in nature, we need more people, and more diverse people, on nature’s side. People of colour and disabled people are currently underrepresented across the environment, climate, sustainability, and conservation sector. If you identify as a person of colour and/or disabled, we are particularly interested in receiving your application.

The RSPB is an equal opportunities employer. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

The RSPB is a licenced sponsor. This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

As part of this application process you will be asked to complete an application form including evidence on how you meet the skills, knowledge, and experience listed above. Contact us to discuss any additional support you may need to complete your application.

No agencies please.