External affair director jobs in Belfast

External Affairs and Strategy Specialist

Location:  Home Based, Expectation of travel
Working Hours: 37
Contract Type: Permanent
Salary: £38,960.00 - £48,960

Flexibility in terms of hours and possible part time hours to be considered.

Please note: The salary listed reflects the full earning potential for this role. Starting salaries depend on experience and progression within the band. 

About Waythrough 

Waythrough was formed in 2024 following the merger of Humankind and Richmond Fellowship. Together, we’ve created one of the largest mental health and social support charities in England. 

Every year, we support around 125,000 people through nearly 200 services – and it’s all made possible by our 3,500 brilliant staff and volunteers.

Make a real difference in your community 

Are you passionate about helping others live safer, healthier, more independent lives? Join our team at Waythrough and support people facing challenges around mental health, substance use, housing or domestic abuse. This is more than just a job – it’s a chance to build meaningful relationships and create lasting change. 

About the Role

As the External Affairs and Strategy Specialist, you will help shape Waythrough’s external influence, ensuring the organisation understands and responds to an increasingly complex political, policy and social environment. Working closely with senior leaders, you will support strategic decision-making, build key partnerships and drive campaigns and policy projects that create positive change for the people we support.

This is a home-based role with some travel required, including attendance at our joint All Party Parliamentary Group (five or six times per year), and service visits, team away days and wider meetings as required. . You will work closely with colleagues across the organisation, particularly the Communications team, to ensure our external voice is informed, impactful and rooted in lived experience.

Key Duties

• Monitor and interpret political, policy and sector developments, identifying emerging risks, opportunities and trends.
• Build strong relationships across Waythrough to identify subject matter experts and ensure external positions are informed by operational and lived experience.
• Lead and coordinate elements of national campaigns, maintaining momentum and working collaboratively with Communications colleagues to maximise impact.
• Brief senior leaders on external affairs issues and provide high-quality research, papers and recommendations to support organisational decision-making.
• Represent Waythrough at parliamentary groups, policy alliances, external forums and partnership meetings.
• Develop policy submissions, consultation responses, speeches, presentations and campaign materials.
• Build and maintain relationships with senior stakeholders, including parliamentarians, sector bodies and partner organisations.
• Ensure the voices of the people we support remain central to all advocacy, policy and campaign activity.

About You

You are a confident and proactive relationship builder who thrives in a complex and fast-moving environment. Working as part of a small team, and with support and coaching from the Director, you'll be comfortable seeking out expertise across the organisation, collaborating with a wide range of colleagues and influencing senior stakeholders.

You have excellent communication skills, a strong understanding of politics and policy, and the confidence to work closely with directors and executive leaders. You can balance multiple priorities while maintaining focus on what matters most, and you are motivated by ensuring that campaigns, policy positions and external messages are genuinely informed by the experiences and voices of the people we support. Above all, you'll bring initiative, curiosity and a willingness to get stuck in and make things happen.

What We Offer

We value the people who make a difference every day. Alongside meaningful work, you’ll enjoy a comprehensive benefits package:

• 27 days’ annual leave, rising to 32 after 1 year (plus bank holidays)

• Pension scheme with 4.5% employer contribution, matched up to 6.5%

• Life assurance (3× annual salary)

• Enhanced sick pay and family-friendly pay

• Birthday leave and the option to buy up to 5 extra days’ annual leave

• Professional fee reimbursement for relevant qualifications

• 24/7 online GP access and Employee Assistance Programme

• Recognition and long service awards via our Way to Go and Aspirations portals

• £500 Recommend a Friend bonus

• Cycle to Work scheme and Credit Union membership

• Discounts via Blue Light Card, Charity Discounts, Extras and Tickets for Good

• Free will writing service and wellbeing initiatives throughout the year.

Inclusion and accessibility 

Waythrough is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and communities, especially those with lived experience of the issues we support. 

We have signed up to the Disability Confident Scheme  - all applicants are welcome, and adjustments can be made to enable fair participation.

The Advocacy Director holds primary responsibility for delivering ECC’s advocacy strategy internationally and within the UK. This strategy aims to ensure states’ legal obligations on casualty recording are recognised and upheld globally, and that casualty data is used effectively to shape policy responses to conflict.

ECC’s advocacy work is focused primarily within the human rights and humanitarian multilateral fora in Geneva, but also incorporates work with New York-based UN targets within the security field. In parallel, as a UK-based organisation, we seek to influence domestic decision-makers including those within the FCDO, MoD, and parliament.

The Advocacy Director will be ECC's most senior external face after the Executive Director. As a key figure within a small organisation, the Advocacy Director will lead advocacy activity directly, building and stewarding relationships with state delegations, UK parliamentarians, UN officials, and civil society partners. The role requires exceptional political judgment, fluency across both multilateral and Westminster environments, and the credibility to represent ECC at the most senior national and international levels.

Note: This role is being advertised at the same time as the Executive Director role, as both functions were previously filled by the same person. Candidates can apply for the Advocacy Director role alone, or apply for both roles to combine as a full-time position. Please see full details in the Executive Director job description and advert.

The Marketing Projects & Partnerships Lead will play a pivotal role within the Bikeability Trust's Strategy team, supporting both the Marketing & Communications team and Fundraising team to achieve their 5-year strategic goals – namely income generation and dynamic behavioural change programmes.

This is a project management focused marketing role, spanning marketing project delivery, partnership activation, and stakeholder engagement. The role requires an exceptionally organised individual who can manage and prioritise multiple concurrent projects, ensuring activity is planned, aligned, and delivered on time. 

You will be responsible for keeping complex workstreams moving—coordinating internal teams and external partners—while bringing a solid understanding of marketing channels and approaches to support effective delivery. 

Lead the operations, governance and compliance that enable Solving Kids' Cancer UK to deliver its mission and impact for children and families affected by neuroblastoma. Reporting to the Chief Executive, you will play a critical role in ensuring the charity operates effectively, compliantly and sustainably.

This broad and varied leadership role spans governance, risk, HR, IT, data protection and organisational operations, supporting delivery of the charity's strategy through robust systems, policies and processes. Acting as Company Secretary, you will work closely with the CEO and Board of Trustees, providing advice on governance, regulatory requirements and best practice. As a member of the Leadership Team, you will oversee key operational functions, lead cross-organisational projects and deputise for the CEO where required.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for a strategic, highly organised and values-driven leader with strong experience in charity operations, governance and compliance. You will have a track record of ensuring organisations are well run, compliant and effectively managed, with the ability to oversee multiple operational areas and support strong governance and decision-making at Board level.

You will be comfortable working across a broad remit, including governance, risk, HR, IT and data protection, and confident providing clear, practical advice to senior leaders and trustees.

Person specification

Key requirements include:

• Significant senior-level experience in operations, governance or compliance within a charity or similar environment. 
• Strong understanding of charity governance and regulation, with experience supporting boards and senior leadership. 
• Experience overseeing organisational functions such as HR, IT, data protection or risk. 
• Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and lead cross-organisational work effectively. 
• Strong judgement, integrity and the ability to handle sensitive matters with discretion. 

See our Recruitment Pack for the full role description and specification and for information about Solving Kids' Cancer UK. 

This is an opportunity to make a significant contribution at the heart of a small, ambitious charity where strong operations are a vital enabler of impact for children and families.

Location: Home-based, within easy reach of London, with regular travel to the London office and occasional UK-wide travel.

First-stage interview: Thursday 6 August 

Second-stage interview: Thursday 13 August

About the role

As local campaigning lead in our award-winning public affairs and campaigns team, you will play a pivotal role in driving Sands’ mission to save babies’ lives and ensure bereaved families receive the care and support they need.

You will need experience of delivering and evaluating impactful campaigns, and of working in close partnership with those with lived experience to create meaningful, lasting change at a local or national level.

This is a dynamic, outward-facing role that combines strategic campaigning with hands-on community organising. You will have the skills to support and develop a network of local campaigners, empowering volunteers and supporters to take action in their communities, influence decision-makers, and improve services over the long term. You will also feel comfortable representing Sands at a local level, developing strong relationships to amplify the organisation’s voice and impact.

Working collaboratively across the organisation, you will ensure campaigns are evidence-based, inclusive, and shaped by the lived experiences of diverse bereaved families. You will create compelling content and digital actions, support media engagement, and use data and insight to evaluate impact and continuously strengthen our approach.

This role offers an opportunity to combine leadership, influencing and community engagement skills in a purpose-driven environment, making a tangible difference to families and communities across the UK.

Main Purpose of Job 

To lead Sands’ local campaigning function.

Co-lead impactful campaigns at a local and devolved nation level with bereaved parents and families, supporting Sands core aims to save babies lives and ensure anyone affected by the death of a baby receives the care and support they need by:

1. Leading the implementation and evaluation of Sands local campaigns to further our core aims.

2. Developing the capacity of Sands local volunteers, supporters and campaigners to take action to improve their local services in the long-term.

3. Ensuring that Sands campaigns are evidence based and reflect the views and experiences of a diverse range of bereaved parents and families.

Principle Tasks and Responsibilities 

Leading implementation, and evaluation of Sands local campaigns to further Sands core aims.

• Lead local campaigns at Sands in line with our local campaigning strategy, collaborating and planning with key internal stakeholders, and staying up to date with best practise in local campaigning and community organising techniques externally.
• Evaluate the success of the local campaigns with internal and external stakeholders, implementing recommendations for future improvement.
• Work with colleagues to grow Sands’ local campaigning presence across the UK, including supporting funding applications to build staff capacity.
• Manage the budget for local campaigning.
• Represent Sands at a local level, attending meetings, and building relationships, with local politicians, NHS and council officials, journalists, third sector organisations, and other local stakeholders.
• Produce engaging campaigns content for use digitally across different platforms and in hard copy, working with the engagement team to ensure asks are effectively communicated to key audiences.
• Create compelling e-actions to support our campaigns using the Sands digital campaigning platform.
• Work with colleagues to support the production of press releases and responses to media inquiries.
• Organise campaigns meetings and events (virtual or in person).
• Recruit and line manage local campaigns staff, supporting and collaborating with them to roll out impactful local campaigns in more areas (subject to future funding).

Developing the capacity of Sands volunteers, supporters, and campaigners to take action to improve their local services in the long-term. 

• Manage local campaign groups of bereaved parents and families, empowering and motivating them to implement campaigns to solve issues that affect them and create long-term change in their communities.
• Using community organising techniques to build the capacity of local campaigners and groups to campaign independently in the long-term – connecting local people, facilitating workshops and discussions, developing local campaign leaders, and recruiting new members into campaigns.
• Work collaboratively with teams working with Sands supporters and volunteers to maximise the impact of our campaigns, including supporting the creation of effective campaign supporter journeys.
• Create written and visual resources to support campaigning.
• Develop training sessions to build campaigning skills, to be delivered online or in person, or recorded.
• Provide advice and support to Sands campaigners via email, telephone and video call.
• Ensure key data and information about Sands campaigns and our campaigners are up to date and stored in the relevant place, including the Sands database.

Ensure that Sands campaigns are evidence based and reflect the views and experiences of a diverse range of bereaved parents and families.

· Undertake evidence gathering projects to support Sands campaigns work, including collating and analysing data and presenting findings in an accessible and engaging way.

· Ensure that the views of bereaved parents and families inform Sands campaigns and provide opportunities for Sands volunteers to get involved in our campaigning activity.

· Provide direct support to bereaved parents to help them become confident campaigners, so they are well informed, equipped to speak out and know how to go about it.

General tasks 

· Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role as required by the Head of Public Affairs and Campaigns and the Director of Research, Education and Policy.

· Model the culture and values of Sands at all times.

· Work flexibly with other members of staff and team, with some evening/weekend working.

· Maintain a high level of confidentiality and professional conduct.

· Abide by all Sands Policies and Procedures and undertake all mandatory training as required.

· Participate actively in annual appraisals and personal development reviews.

· Actively promote and embody the vision, mission, and values of Sands including a commitment to Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EEDI).

· Occasional evening and weekend working.

This job description is not contractual and may be amended from time to time to reflect the changing needs of the organisation.