ID: 1557
Job Title: Deputy Director of Services & Innovation, Central Region of England
Service: Services & Innovation
Salary: £65,782 - £72,959 Additionally, £480 home-based allowance FTE per annum
Location: Homebased with regular travel across the central region of England and occasional London Head Office.
Hours: full-time 37 hours per week.
We offer flexible working arrangements - please see below for more details.
Contract: Permanent
Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.
We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the
importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.
Are you an innovative, strong, team player, who is solution focused and passionate about making a difference in everything you do? Do you have a proven track record of growth and retaining services, delivering excellent, inclusive services and cultivating quality and diversity? Are you looking for a diverse, ambitious and fast paced organisation – if so, you have found it.
About the role:
The roles primary function is to lead the operational teams and lead on strategic development and growth across the region. The post holder will model the organisations values; people focus, can do, excellence and mutual respect.
The Deputy Director leads the strategic development and transformation of Family Action services across the Central region, and implements the organisation’s strategic plan and its 5 key objectives. The role focuses on stakeholder engagement, partnership, service development, and system leadership across sectors. It requires inclusive leadership and the effective line management of Operational Managers and one Assistant Director.
The role has responsibility for service delivery, risk management, performance, quality and practice, safeguarding, income generation and budgets across the region. The post holder drives accountable leadership, innovation, co-creation, and continuous improvement across all the Central region. The Deputy Director will be an excellent communicator, highly resilient, and a decision maker, while always championing Family Action’s values in delivering inclusive, outcome-focused support for children, families, young people and adults.
Main Responsibilities:
· Be accountable for service delivery across the region, contractual performance, safeguarding, quality assurance, risk management, ensuring services meet regulatory standards, delivering positive outcomes and embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in everything we do.
· Lead senior stakeholder engagement and foster strong cross-sector partnerships across the geographic area.
· Line manage Operational Managers, and an Assistant Director, oversee budgets to ensure efficient, cost-effective service delivery. Champion the sharing of learning, development of staff and volunteers and best practice across services to support continuous improvement and innovation.
· Strategic and accountable leadership, leading the region by motivating and galvanizing the team to achieve innovation, growth and quality services maximising outcomes for the people we support
· Working alongside the Business Development & Corporate and Marketing team, drive the region’s income generation through generating and responding to new opportunities, and by leading innovative service design and modelling.
· Be part of a dynamic and supportive team of other regional and national Deputy Directors, sharing and influencing cross-organisational decision making, resource allocation, strategy and organizational development and leadership.
Main Requirements (for details check the job description and person specification):
· Passionate about social justice and improving the life chances and supporting children, young people and adults who experience disadvantage.
· We are looking for someone who has senior level leadership and management experience and expertise in at least one of the settings in social care, health, young people and community sector. Who is highly robust, able to priorities multiple workflows and issues, with a good understanding of and leadership around service risks and decision making.
· We are also looking for someone who can think strategically across systems, contribute to innovation, creativity and diversity, and is an excellent inclusive leader that can inspire their teams as well as their peers and senior leaders in Family Action.
· Appointments are subject to Family Action receiving a satisfactory disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Service – Enhanced and children’s barred list.
· Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- flexible working arrangements and new starters have the right to make flexible working requests from day one of employment
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities
We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.
To Apply:
Click 'Apply Now' to complete our online application form by the closing date of Sunday 28th September at 23:59
Interviews and an assessment exercise will be virtual over Microsoft Teams – Week commencing 13th October.
For any queries, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please email: Helen Cantrell (full email address on advert document)
All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.
Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.
We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we particularly welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates because we are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action. We know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.
We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the role. For this vacancy, we are also applying positive action to improve the representation of people of colour in management roles at Family Action. As such, the guaranteed interview scheme is extended to applicants of colour who meet the minimum criteria.
To help remove financial barriers to working with us, we will reimburse travel costs if you are invited to attend an interview in person.
Registered Charity
501 - 1000
Family Action is an award-winning national charity working from the heart of local communities across England and Wales.
Thank you!
Would you like to support a dynamic annual conference that brings together a diverse group of people to learn, be inspired and collaborate to achieve workplace justice and fight poverty and discrimination?
Workplace Justice is a new company limited by guarantee that has been created to take forward the annual New Organising Conference. The New Organising Conference is unique in bringing together a diverse group of participants - trade unions established and new, community organisers, not for profits, academics, lawyers and journalists, with a shared interest in worker rights. In September 2025 60 people will deliver 40 different sessions to an audience of 135 people.
Overview of the role
This role, which will be largely remote, with regular online supervision and periodic meet-ups, offers the opportunity to support an important social justice initiative which has received hugely positive feedback from participants. You will have a high degree of autonomy, and a varied and interesting workload, as well as the opportunity to interact with and meet inspiring activists and educators. Because of the annual cycle of the conference, you will ideally be able to flex your working hours across the year, with the opportunity for a four week break after the conference.
Job description
To provide operational support for Workplace Justice and the New Organising Conference with a particular focus on outreach and social media but also covering finance, website, participant database, registration, and governance.
Outreach and Operations Support Manager, New Organising Conference
3/4 days/week circa £33,000 f/t/e/
Background
Workplace Justice is the organisational home of the annual New Organising Conference, now in its third year, with support from the Network for Social Change The New Organising Conference, held over a weekend, is unique in bringing together a diverse group of participants - trade unions established and new, community organisers, not for profits, academics, lawyers and journalists, with a shared interest in worker rights and community organising. Participants learn, get inspiration and form new collaborations. In September 2025, 60 people delivered 44 different sessions to an audience of 130 people. You can see videos of past conferences here.
Overview of the role
This role is largely remote, with weekly online supervision and monthly meet-ups with the Coordinator, and twice yearly Board meetups. It offers the opportunity to support an important social justice initiative which has received hugely positive feedback from participants. You will have a high degree of autonomy, and a varied and interesting workload, as well as the opportunity to interact with and meet inspiring activists and educators. Because of the annual cycle of the conference you will ideally be able to flex your working hours across the year, with the opportunity for a four week break after the conference. You are unlikely to be able to take more than one week’s holiday during July and August.
Summary job description
To provide operational support for Workplace Justice and the New Organising Conference, focussing on marketing and communications including social media but with responsibility in addition for finance, the participant database and governance.
The role offers 5 weeks paid holiday. PAYE or self-employed status for discussion.
Key tasks
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Raising the profile of NOC and attracting participants and session leaders through social media, email communications and networking
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Responsibility for ensuring the website evolves in line with the needs of the Conference
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Maintaining and operating a database of participants, past and present
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Managing the registration of participants to the conference including taking payment and where necessary issuing invoices, and recruiting volunteers to assist at the conference
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Supporting the Board led process to select sessions and plan the programme
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Attending the conference and trouble shooting as necessary
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Operating a simple finance system
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Support as needed for initiatives arising from the NOC
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Any other support tasks that may be required
Person specification
Essential
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At least three years experience in a similar role
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Contacts in and understanding of the trade union movement, UK or international
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Proven track record of using outreach on social media to achieve results
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Experience of working independently
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Close attention to detail in data handling
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Persuasive and constructive manner in dealing with other people
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Familiarity with website editors e.g Squarespace
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Experience of basic financial management
Desirable
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Experience of using the Action Network system
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Experience of event management
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Ability to accommodate peaks and troughs in workflow
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Experience of using graphic design software e.g. Canva, Adobe
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Experience of website design
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Experience of managing projects or operations with multiple stakeholders
Online interviews will be on October 10th with final in person interviews held in London on October 14th. If selected for an interview, we will email the interview questions ahead of the interview. As well as interviews there will be tests of competencies. All non AI generated applications with an email address will be acknowledged. If selected you will be expected to attend a 24 retreat with the Board on 5/6 December.
We especially welcome applications from people who are or have been marginalised in society on the basis of their class background, income, ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexuality, or other characteristics.
Key dates
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The closing date for applications is midnight on October 4th
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Online interviews will be on October 10th with notification on October 8th.
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In person interviews will be held in London on October 14th with notification on October 11th.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Charity Support Officer
Location: Remote, with regular meetings in London, applicants must be based in or around London
Salary: £27,700 - £29,000 per year
Contract: Full-time with opportunities to work flexibly over 4 days
Reporting to: CEO
About AWN
All Ways Network (AWN) is a UK-registered charity dedicated to empowering non-profits that support diverse Muslim communities across the UK, particularly those with an annual income under £1 million towards becoming fundable.
We provide grassroots organisations with vital services from bid-writing and application reviews to webinars, training, and tailored charity support. This helps them access funding, strengthen governance, build capacity, and adopt best practices in a challenging funding landscape.
Committed to equitable grant-making and a stronger civil society, AWN champions the vision of: “Thriving non-profits empowering Muslim communities to enrich UK society.”
Role Overview: Knowledge in grant-funding, capacity building, organisational support
We are seeking a proactive and collaborative Charity Support Officer to help deliver AWN’s mission. You will be the first point of contact for grassroots charities, supporting them to strengthen their organisations and improve their chances of securing grant funding by offering practical guidance, signposting, and building trusted relationships that help them grow in confidence and resilience. The role includes helping organisations strengthen governance and compliance, sharing information on grant-funding opportunities, and supporting them to identify challenges and develop practical solutions.
The non-profits you will support work across a wide range of areas for example: women, health and wellbeing, youth, homelessness and poverty, family services, sports, faith groups, crime and gangs, prisoners and ex-offenders, refugees and asylum seekers, drug addiction, older people and rehabilitation, and many more.
Bringing a strong awareness of the barriers facing small charities particularly Muslim-led groups, will be key to helping them build long-term sustainability and impact.
Key Responsibilities:
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Act as the first point of contact for charities and community groups, managing a varied caseload and balancing priorities.
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Carry out needs assessments to understand organisations strengths, challenges, and funding needs, and develop clear action plans.
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Provide tailored support, including health checks on governance, compliance, finances, and funding readiness, offering recommendations and signposting to specialist services (e.g., Cranfield Trust, CVS, Charity Excellence etc).
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Advise on funding opportunities, strategy, and application readiness, with referrals to bid-writing support where needed.
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Deliver workshops, webinars, events, and one-to-one sessions to build skills, knowledge, and confidence of UK grassroots organisations.
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Work collaboratively with organisations and AWN colleagues (including via the triage and referral system) to identify challenges and develop practical, sustainable solutions.
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Build and maintain strong relationships with charities, funders, and sector partners across the voluntary, public, and charity sectors.
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Represent AWN at external events, conferences, and meetings, helping to organise and deliver events linked to your work.
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Keep accurate records on the CRM, gather feedback, write case studies, and contribute to monitoring, evaluation, and service development.
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Support AWN’s communications by contributing updates for the website and social media.
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for someone who is approachable, empathetic, and motivated to make a difference. You’ll have a natural ability to listen, build trust, and meet people where they are, while offering constructive and practical support. Patience, curiosity, and cultural awareness will help you understand the diverse realities of grassroots charities and the communities they serve.
Alongside these personal qualities, you’ll bring a good understanding of the charity sector and the challenges facing small non-profits across the UK, for UK Muslim-led organisations. You’ll have exceptional knowledge of governance, compliance, and funding pathways, and the confidence to guide organisations towards growth, resilience, and long-term impact.
Essential Criteria
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3+ years’ experience within the UK charity sector (domestic, not solely international).
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Strong understanding of charity governance, compliance, and the UK funding and grant-making landscape.
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Insight into the needs and challenges of small and grassroots non-profits, with awareness of the systemic barriers affecting Muslim-led organisations.
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Experience supporting or advising charities, community groups, or local networks to build capacity and resilience.
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Ability to work collaboratively with organisations, offering constructive and practical guidance.
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Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with confidence in public speaking and engaging a wide range of stakeholders.
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Strong organisational and administrative skills with attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple priorities.
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Demonstrated ability to work independently, take initiative, and adapt in a fast-paced environment.
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Comfortable working autonomously and as part of a small team, with minimal supervision.
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Confident using technology to deliver support and manage work effectively, including CRM systems, Microsoft Teams, and other digital tools.
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Experience in one or more of the following areas:
- Community engagement and outreach
- Event or project coordination (online and in-person)
- Delivering presentations, workshops, or training sessions
- Monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities
Recruitment Process
Interviews will take place early October 2025.
The process will include two stages: one online and one in-person (to be held in the City of London).
Exact dates will be confirmed before the application deadline.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
The National Youth Agency is looking for a new Chief Operating Officer to join our Executive Leadership Team.
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full-time - 37 hours per week
Salary: £85,000 per annum
Remote: This role is homebased (within the UK) with occasional to meetings, events and conferences.
What we do
As the national body for youth work, the NYA has a dual function. We are the professional statutory and regulatory body (PSRB) responsible for qualifications, quality standards, and safeguarding for youth work and services in England. In line with our charity mission and aims, we also champion youth work through research, advocacy, campaigns, and programmes.
We work in partnership and believe in collaborative leadership, listening to youth workers and the youth work sector so that we can understand their needs and respond to the challenges they face. We are ambitious for youth work and for young people and integrate youth voice and influence across our work
About the Role
Responsibilities will include:
- The COO leads the day-to-day functioning of the organisation to ensure smooth, efficient, and effective delivery of services. This is vital for maintaining operational stability and achieving strategic outcomes.
- They design and execute strategies that align with the organisation’s mission and long-term goals ensuring resources are used effectively and priorities are clear.
- They promote a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement through supporting employee engagement, productivity, and organisational success.
- The COO collaborates closely with the CEO/CFO and other senior leaders to drive strategic initiatives and business growth, ensuring unified leadership and coherent decision-making.
- They partner with the CFO to manage budgets, forecasts, and resource allocation. Financial oversight ensures sustainability and supports informed investment in strategic priorities.
- Strengthen governance and risk management frameworks, aligned to regulatory expectations and best practice while proactively managing reputational and operational risks.
- The COO cultivates strong relationships with partners, clients, and stakeholders to enhance service delivery and reputation. These relationships are key to influence, collaboration, and impact.
- They lead efforts to improve processes and adopt best practices across the charity to enhance efficiency and keeps the organisation competitive and responsive.
- They ensure that daily activities support the charities long-term objectives.
- The COO mentors other directors and departmental heads and fosters leadership capabilities across teams.
- They establish and track KPIs to identify inefficiencies and guide improvements through data-driven decision-making to enhance accountability and results.
- They evaluate and refine workflows to boost productivity developing efficient processes to reduce waste and improve service quality.
- They act as a bridge between departments and the CEO to ensure cohesive execution of strategic plans preventing silos and promoting organisational synergy.
- The COO serves as a senior figure in national and cross-sector forums, conferences, and strategic partnerships to strengthens the organisation’s voice and influence.
- They demonstrate commitment to Equality, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in both internal culture and external programmes to foster a fair and inclusive organisation.
- They work with the CEO, CFO and Director of Growth to identify and pursue new revenue streams and strategic partnerships. This expands the organisation’s reach and sustainability.
- They engage in public speaking, media interactions, and external representation demonstrating clear communication, credibility, and stakeholder engagement.
- They develop and embed evaluation frameworks to assess progress against strategic goals. The measuring of our impact ensures accountability and informs future planning.
- They promote the organisation’s brand at events and through networking.
The COO takes on other responsibilities as needed to support the organisation’s mission.
About You
Essential competencies of the Chief Operating Officer:
- Extensive experience in senior leadership with a proven track record in operations, financial and risk management, and delivering high-performing teams, ideally in the charity sector.
- Strong understanding of business functions such as HR, Finance, Marketing, etc.
- Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to think strategically and execute effectively.
- Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities. Commercially astute, process-driven, and highly pragmatic in approach.
- Experience in driving performance and fostering a collaborative culture.
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration or related field; MBA preferred
Why Work for NYA?
- NYA operates as a people-first organisation, prioritising the well-being and needs of its employees.
- NYA offers an exceptional flexible working approach which encourages our team to balance professional responsibilities with their personal life.
- A remote based team, spread across England, fostering inclusivity and diverse talent. Despite geographical distances between team members, NYA maintains a highly motivated and connected team through the optimisation of digital tools.
- NYA is committed to supporting the continual personal and professional development of our team and helping them achieve their ambitions.
- We provide 25 days leave plus 8 days, life assurance scheme, 5% employer pension contribution and a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme via Spectrum.life with unlimited specialist support available to all NYA employees.
How to Apply:
To apply, please submit the following via our online application platform by 11:59pm on Monday 29th September 2025:
A detailed CV setting out your career history, with responsibilities and achievements in line with the person specification in the About You section.
A covering letter highlighting your suitability for the role and how you meet the requirements in the About You section.
We will request data for our EEDI monitoring purposes, providing this is optional.
Please note: The covering letter is an essential part of the application process and will be assessed as part of your full application. We use AI detector software, so cover letters or CV’s with over 80% AI generated content will be disregarded. We understand that AI tools can offer support to candidates who have learning differences, which is why we will accept applications with some AI assistance. CV’s will not be accepted without a cover letter.
The National Youth Agency is an equal opportunities employer.
At NYA our inclusive culture means that we embrace individual differences and understand that we need a diverse team to achieve our organisations mission.
We wish to recruit candidates from all backgrounds to ensure our team reflects the rich diversity of the communities we serve. We encourage applications from anyone regardless of disability, ethnicity, heritage, gender, sexuality, religion, socio-economic background and political beliefs but we particularly welcome applications from global majority candidates and those from other minoritised ethnic groups in the UK as they are currently underrepresented in our team.
Youth Work changes lives
Which is why we’re committed to ensuring that as many young people as possible get to benefit from it.As the national body for youth work in England, the National Youth Agency (NYA) exists to champion its transformative power. We believe all young people should have the opportunity to benefit from the life-changing impact of extraordinary youth workers and trained volunteers.
We help to grow youth work provision in ways that keep it effective, relevant, safe and engaging, to help millions of young people reach their potential and thrive. We do this by providing guidance, support, advice, training and staff development opportunities for youth workers and youth work organisations. At the heart of everything we do are young people themselves. We work hard to ensure their voices are integrated into all our work, to develop provision that truly meets their needs.
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