Contract: Full-time (open to part-time for right candidate, minimum 3 days per week)
Salary: £35,000-£37,000 (based on experience, pro-rata if part time)
Contract type: 12-month fixed-term (with strong intention to extend subject to funding)
Start date: May 2026
Reporting to: Director, John Schofield Trust
Location: Remote (UK only), with occasional travel
1. About the John Schofield Trust
The John Schofield Trust is a charity dedicated to improving social mobility and diversity in journalism and the media. We support early‑career journalists and university students from under‑represented backgrounds through high‑quality mentoring, professional development and access to industry networks.
Our work focuses on long‑term, meaningful relationships between experienced media professionals and talented individuals at the start of their careers. As demand for our programmes continues to grow and we work to adapt to a changing sector, we are looking for an Operations Manager to play a central role in delivering our work.
2. Role Summary
The Operations Manager will be a pivotal new role within the John Schofield Trust’s small staff team. You will be responsible for the end‑to‑end delivery of our mentoring programmes, ensuring an excellent experience for both mentors and mentees.
You will manage relationships with mentors, mentees and partner organisations, oversee programme operations, and contribute to the Trust’s learning, impact reporting and future development. This role suits someone who enjoys working with people, managing multiple moving parts, and taking initiative in a mission‑driven organisation.
3. Key Responsibilities
Programme delivery and quality
• Manage the day‑to‑day delivery of the Trust’s mentoring programmes, including supporting a new ‘emerging newsroom leader’ pilot scheme
• Oversee recruitment, selection, training and matching of mentors and mentees
• Ensure a high‑quality experience for participants throughout the programme lifecycle
Relationships and partnerships
• Build and maintain strong relationships with mentors, mentees and alumni
• Represent the Trust in meetings with universities, newsrooms and other partners
• Support the growth and engagement of our mentor and supporter network
Data, impact and learning
• Maintain and develop the Trust’s database of mentors, mentees and supporters
• Collect and analyse programme data to monitor impact and learning
• Gather testimonials and case studies for reporting to stakeholders and the wider public
Organisational contribution
• Support events and occasional in‑person activities
• Administer elements of our governance, including minuting of meetings and assembling annual report
• Contribute to the wider work and development of the Trust, including our marketing and communications
• Undertake other tasks in line with the role
4. Essential Experience and Skills
• Experience of successful programme or project management
• Strong relationship‑building and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines
• High standards of professionalism and attention to detail
• Confidence using Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, to manage and analyse data
• Experience supporting or delivering events
• Awareness of journalism, media, education and/or training and development
5. Attributes
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Proactive, organised and solutions‑focused
• Comfortable working independently in a small, remote team
• Motivated by social impact and widening access to opportunities
6. Desirable (Not Essential)
• Experience working in or with the journalism or media sector
• Experience running mentoring, coaching or development programmes
• Experience of fundraising or donor engagement
• Experience using social media or digital marketing
• Confidence using AI tools
We encourage applications from candidates who meet most, but not all, of the criteria above.
7. Application Process
Please submit the following by email to info[at]johnschofieldtrust[dot]org[dot]uk with the subject line ‘Operations Manager application’:
• A CV (maximum three sides of A4)
• A cover letter (maximum two sides of A4)
Your cover letter should explain why you are well suited to the role, referring to the responsibilities and criteria above and giving specific examples.
Please provide both documents in PDF form and include your name in the file name e.g. ‘Tom Smith Cover Letter’ or ‘Tom Smith CV’.
Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process.
8. Key Dates
Application deadline: 23:59 on 23rd March 2026
Interviews: End of March – Beginning of April
Start date: May 2026 or sooner if notice period allows
9. Equal Opportunities
The John Schofield Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and do not tolerate discrimination on the basis of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.
We are open to flexible working arrangements, and we welcome candidates who have taken non-linear career paths.
Due to the volume of applications, we cannot provide feedback to candidates not invited to interview.
10. Questions
If you have any questions about the role email info[at]johnschofieldtrust[dot]org[dot]uk
Thank you for your interest, and good luck.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Citizens UK
Citizens UK is the UK’s biggest, most diverse and most effective people-powered alliance. We bring communities and local organisations together to work on issues that matter; from campaigning for zebra crossings on dangerous roads, to reforming the immigration system, to the Living Wage campaign. We have a track record of winning change through hundreds of local and national campaigns. We know everyday people have the ability to shape the world around them. We believe that through developing local leaders, we can drive nationwide change and create community-led solutions to big and small problems.
Project Information
Butetown and Grangetown Neighbourhood Fund project, funded by the Youth Endowment Fund. More details here: Neighbourhood Fund | Youth Endowment Fund
Citizens Cymru Wales has developed an innovative approach to reducing youth violence with community organising at its heart, working across four unique assumptions:
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‘It takes a village to raise a child’
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‘Anger without power leads to rage’
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‘Recognising the need to address Adverse Community Experiences’
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‘If you are not at the table, you’re on the menu’
In 2021 it developed a community led action plan to address youth violence in the neighbourhoods of Butetown and Grangetown. This work then secured £1m funding from the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) to demonstrate how community organising can improve the lives of children and young people. Across Grangetown and Butetown, almost 2500 people were listened to, and issues workshops took place from which seven interventions were identified including Mental health, Additional Learning Needs and Literacy, an Employment partnership, Sports and diversionary activities and local microgrants. Each intervention is led by a local community-based organisation. At the heart of the work is building a hyperlocal community organising alliance. Underpinning the work is the development of a Youth Action Zone, a youth-led multi-agency partnership to support young people in the neighbourhood for the long term. The project is in its final year of delivery and needs a locally based project manager to support the current organisations to fulfil the action plan and build a long-term legacy.
Main Responsibilities
This is a unique role, focused on project management but embedding community organising. As project organiser for Butetown and Grangetown Neighbourhood Fund you will support the project aims, enabling core partners and intervention leads to fulfil the action plan and build a legacy for the long term. Alongside this, you will develop a craft of community organising, working closely with civic organisations based in the neighbourhoods, understanding local power and building partnerships with wider stakeholders, and developing local institutions and youth leaders. All of this should ladder up to building the power of the broader Cardiff Citizens alliance.
You will embed the ethos of community organising across the project and its legacy by:
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developing the leadership of people within local organisations - our 'leaders' who lead the campaigns we work on
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helping them to collectively identify the changes they want to see and create strategies to win those changes
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strengthen institutions’ own abilities to achieve their missions.
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Support leaders in connecting the hyperlocal work to the Cardiff Citizens alliance – developing their capacity to work with other leaders and civic institutions across the city to develop collective ambitions and actions (leading up to the 2027 Local Authority elections).
We envisage the role to be roughly 2 days project management and 1 day Community Organising, but given the nature of the project, these will naturally bleed into one another.
Working as the Project Organiser for Citizens UK, your main responsibilities will include:
Career Pathways Headings
Build and manage projects and achieve work targets effectively
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Project manage the YEF/Citizens UK Neighbourhood Fund project in the neighbourhoods of Butetown and Grangetown
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Support the delivery of four interventions (Mental health, ALN & Literacy/Sports and Police action team) including due diligence, accountability, measurement and impact monitoring.
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Ensure good governance; setting up stakeholder meetings and working with community leaders to develop the agenda and actions
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Develop an understanding of place-based systems change and support system behaviours across the project, including feedback, collaborative leadership and shared power
Develop and manage external relationships
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Maintain and extend local relationships and partnerships with community and civic organisations and wider statutory power
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Map and develop an ecosystem of strategic relationships at the local level
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Ensure the YEF work is embedded within the local ecosystem of support for young people.
Communications
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Support the interventions with communicating the impact of their work individually and collectively
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Create comms outputs that communicate the work of the YEF project for internal and external stakeholders
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Represent the organisation effectively to external audiences in meetings and at events
Generate income and resources
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Support the interventions to seek additional funding to continue their work beyond 2027
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Support local organisations to increase their capacity
Identify and develop relational leaders prepared to act with others for the common good and support them through a cycle of action and training in our curriculum
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Conduct 5 relational one-to-ones per week
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Identify and discern actual and potential leaders with the passion and ability to drive change
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Achieve significant development of primary and secondary leaders; nominate new leaders for training on the Citizens UK core taster curriculum and for National Training
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Attend Citizens UK 6-day training to further understanding the method of Community Organising used by CUK
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Teach sessions of the core taster Community Organising curriculum at a local level (supported by a senior Organiser)
Strengthen institutions and develop a broad-based neighbourhood alliance
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Ensure good understanding of the basic interests and traditions of typical member institutions
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Support the development of the Cardiff Citizens alliance
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Support with running institutional development campaigns in a range of organisations in the local area
Personal Specification
(D) Desirable, (E) Essential
Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in any subject (D)
Qualification in a subject of relevance to community work or community organising (D)
Experience
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Evidence of having acted in a leadership role with peers or in local community activities (e.g., organising clubs or societies) (E)
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Experience of project management; evidence of having set up and/or delivered projects on time and to standard (E)
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Able to demonstrate previous experience of ‘learning by doing’ in a work or project environment; evidence of being open to feedback and comfortably coachable (E)
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Experience of building consensus between diverse stakeholders to drive progressive change (D)
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Previous campaign experience (D)
Key skills and knowledge
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Excellent interpersonal awareness – ability to listen well and appreciate a viewpoint or opinion that is different from one’s own (E)
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Excellent concern for impact – ability to adapt own behaviour to address the needs or concerns of someone else (E)
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Good communication skills – able to speak with conviction and passion; and to make a logical argument (E)
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Excellent time management skills with the ability to juggle a wide range of competing demands (E)
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Strong IT skills to include MS Office (E)
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Understanding of policy and campaign landscape in the UK, particularly around young people, community empowerment and neighbourhoods (D)
Personal qualities & values
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A self-starter with ability to take initiative and work independently (E)
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A passion for justice (E)
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A positive enthusiasm for working with faith congregations, trade unions, schools, and other community organisations (E)
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An interest in and experience of politics and public life (E)
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Able to work in a team (E)
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Willingness to work within accountable relationships (E)
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Self-motivated and adaptable (E)
Our Organisers and some project teams work closely with our member institutions and will be expected to attend member events that take place in the evenings and occasional weekends. We operate a Time Off in Lieu approach and have very flexible working arrangements to ensure a good work-life balance.
The successful applicant will be required to undertake a satisfactory Enhanced DBS check. DBS checks are renewed on a 3-year cycle.
About the application process
We work within diverse communities bringing people together. In line with our Inclusion value, we would love to see applications from LGBTQIA+ people, people from racialised communities, people living with disabilities and people of faith, all to better represent the communities we work in. We want our employees to have the working conditions that allows them to fully participate, be able to be their best authentic selves and thrive doing so, and we have employee networks to support staff. Even if you don’t quite meet all the required criteria still consider applying, as we invest in our employees and support them to develop the skills and knowledge required to deliver their role.
For questions and reasonable adjustments regarding your application including information in a different format, or our recruitment process, please email us.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.