Finance director jobs in barnard castle, county durham

About Kinship

We are Kinship. The leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. We’re here for kinship carers – friends or family who step up to raise a child when their parents aren’t able to. 

Together, let’s commit to change for kinship families.

About the role

This role will support Kinship to operate as an effective charity by ensuring effective day-to-day operations and seamless delivery of the People function at the charity.

You will bring your People leadership experience, attention to detail and excellent communication skills to the role. You will be structured in your approach to ensure that day-to-day issues are handled while also working to improve processes and systems. You will be credible with senior management and able to articulate and balance the trade-offs of a People leadership role.

You will be able to balance multiple competing priorities and prioritise effectively, A positive mindset is key to being part of the team, as is thinking creatively to problem solve and being empathetic to colleagues. You will be highly motivated by our mission, recognising that excellent internal People processes are essential to allowing others to effectively complete their roles and achieve our mission.

You will be a powerful ambassador for our mission, credible with other HR and CSR professionals working to implement kinship friendly employer policies and processes.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Work with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the Executive management team to design, develop and embed a high-quality HR function to support the employee life cycle.

• Responsible for ensuring all policies, procedures, and processes relating to people and culture, work effectively, efficiently and in line with legal requirements.

• Responsible for all People matters, ensuring they are handled fairly and consistently in line with policies and procedures.

• Support and advise line managers on People, EDI and change management activities, including promotions, disciplinary, capability and grievance procedures.

• Organise line manager training to ensure line managers understand their responsibilities and apply policies consistently.

• Responsible for the candidates’ recruitment experience. Ensure candidates receive a consistent and professional recruitment experience.

• Responsible for job descriptions, person specifications, recruitment packs and job adverts.

• Ensure offboarding processes are robust and implemented consistently to safeguard the charity’s assets and to comply with Data Protection rules.

• Lead on the delivery and growth of the ‘Kinship Friendly Employers’ scheme, driving growth in the scheme and the number of bronze, silver and gold partners

• Ensure Kinship role models ‘Kinship Friendly’ employment practices and seek opportunities to share these as examples with other HR professionals.

• Support fundraising efforts with corporate supporters who are ‘Kinship Friendly Employers’

Essential criteria includes:

• HR qualification or significant demonstrable experience.

• Coaching qualification or significant demonstrable experience.

• Demonstrable experience of supporting the development of a high-quality People function within a growing organisation.

• Demonstrable experience working in a changing and flexible organisation.

• Demonstrable problem-solving and conflict resolution abilities.

• Demonstrable knowledge of best practices, employment laws, and regulations.

• Effective communication skills.

• Strong interpersonal skills – a genuine team player able to relate to a wide range of people.

• Ability to work on own initiative and manage own workload.

• Demonstrable experience of EDI principles.

Desirable experience includes:

• Personal experience of kinship care.

• Experience of working in a dynamic and fast-changing workplace.

• Exceptional business-partnering skills

What we’ll offer you 

Kinship offers 30 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro-rata for part-time) as well as a generous pension scheme. We have an excellent wellbeing offer including the Employee Assistance Programme and clinical supervision. We will invest in your professional development with training and career development opportunities.

Kinship is committed to championing equality, diversity and inclusion.  We believe our work is greatly enhanced by the varied backgrounds, experiences and views represented within our teams.  We aim to create inclusive teams, celebrate differences and encourage everyone to join us and be their true self at work. We therefore encourage applications from anyone who fits our values, whatever their religion or belief, sex, gender identity, race, age, sexuality or disability and are actively seeking candidates that can bring real innovation and commitment to us. 

This is a fantastic time to join a supportive and well-established team within an organisation with rapid growth ambitions. This role will be what you make it and we’re looking for someone to seize this opportunity!

How to apply

Please apply via Charity Job with your CV and a cover letter of no more than 2 pages. Please include your notice period and earliest availability to start in your cover letter.     

• Application deadline:  Thursday 22 May, 9am
• First interview:                 29 May - 2 June
• Second interview:            TBC

Kinship reserves the right to close applications early on receipt of sufficient applications. Apply early!

Please identify your notice period and salary expectation in your cover letter.

Note: Unfortunately we cannot support applications from international candidates at this time

As one of the largest federated charities in the UK, with arguably greater reach into the lives of families and educational settings than any other non-Government organisation, Parentkind is on a bold and urgent mission: to support, champion, and empower parents to be partners in their children’s education and wellbeing. To help deliver this, Parentkind's fundraising efforts helped grow Parentkind's income from £1.5m to £10m (including in-kind donations) between 2022 and 2024.

Although best known for our support of almost 24,000 Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), Parent Councils, and Schools, helping them build strong school communities whilst they raise over £130 million each year to enhance children’s education, our work stretches far beyond the school gates. Parentkind is building a powerful movement that recognises parental engagement not as a nicety, but a necessity.

In recent years, families have faced a series of compounding challenges: the cost-of-living crisis, rising child poverty, and deepening educational inequality. These pressures have left many parents struggling to meet basic needs—let alone feel confident engaging in their child’s learning journey.  Parentkind has responded to this moment with compassion, agility and purpose, through a series of transformative campaigns, resources, and partnerships. Our recent transformational journey has seen Parentkind’s network grow by more than 70% of schools, and the income Parentkind has delivered both for itself and for its members by more than 550%. 

Our No Cold Child initiative, launched with FatFace, stepped in to address a stark statistic: over 150,000 children in the UK do not own a winter coat due to poverty. Through our trusted relationships with schools, we distributed 10,000 warm, high-quality coats worth £600,000 to the children who needed them most. Shortlisted for two Business Charity Awards, the campaign has been praised not just for providing warmth, but for restoring dignity, inclusion, and school readiness to thousands of children.

Our collaboration with Asda on Cashpot for Schools is another example of unlocking support at scale. This innovative community-led funding model allows shoppers to nominate and fund their local schools simply through everyday spending. In just the last year, this campaign has generated £5.78 million for schools—supporting everything from basic classroom supplies to vital extracurricular programmes and pupil wellbeing initiatives. Also shortlisted for a Business Charity Award, it is already a model for community-driven philanthropy.

Meanwhile, our All Dressed Up campaign—developed with World Book Day and Rubies Masquerade—confronted the often-overlooked issue of financial exclusion on key celebration days. More than 100,000 free dressing up costumes worth £1.34 million were delivered to children from low-income families. By enabling participation in events like World Book Day, we helped spark imagination, joy, and belonging for children who might otherwise feel left out—boosting self-esteem and supporting a positive connection to learning.

Alongside these national campaigns, Parentkind supports families year-round through a growing suite of programmes designed to inform, prepare and empower parents. Our Be School Ready programme offers crucial guidance and confidence to parents preparing their children for the leap into primary education. With a mix of practical advice, developmental tips, and reassurance, through the distribution of 135,000 copies of Be School Ready and an online campaign, it supports families at one of the most formative moments in their child’s life.

We also deliver a wide-ranging series of live expert webinars and parent-friendly resources, covering topics such as managing anxiety, supporting special educational needs, navigating school transitions, and building home-school partnerships. These resources—developed in consultation with experts and rooted in lived parent experience—equip families to feel informed and empowered, no matter what challenges arise.

This month, we launched our Parent-Friendly Schools Accreditation Programme, designed to formally recognise schools that go above and beyond in fostering positive, inclusive relationships with parents. The accreditation celebrates schools that actively listen to parent voices, make engagement easy and accessible, and embed family partnership in their culture. It is a practical and inspiring tool to drive long-term change in the sector and offers a roadmap for schools wanting to strengthen their community.

Our work is grounded in evidence. Every year, we conduct the UK’s largest parental engagement study: the National Parent Survey. In 2024, over five thousand parents participated, providing invaluable insight into what families think about the education system. The findings are fed directly into government consultations and have already influenced national debates on school funding, attendance, mental health support, SEND provision, and curriculum reform. We believe passionately that parents must not be the missing voice in education policy—and we work tirelessly to ensure their views shape the decisions that affect their children’s lives.

Today, through Parentkind’s federated network of more than 130,000 parent and teacher volunteers, our work impacts the lives of millions of parents, carers, teachers and children throughout the UK through our membership, programmes, advocacy and campaigns. But we know we can—and must—do more.

We’re looking for someone with passion, purpose, and creativity—someone who understands that a warm coat, a World Book Day costume, or a parent’s voice at the table can all be catalysts for lifelong change.

This is an exciting opportunity to join our growing Fundraising Team and play a leading role in shaping a brand-new trust fundraising programme from the ground up. We’re looking for someone with experience in securing income from trusts and foundations—someone who’s a confident communicator, both in writing and in person, and who brings a curious and strategic mindset to prospect research.

You’ll help craft compelling cases for support and develop a portfolio of proposals and reports that showcase the impact of our work—amplifying the voices of parents and schools and demonstrating how Parentkind is driving positive change. Strong attention to detail is essential, along with the ability to manage multiple priorities and work independently.

If you believe, like we do, that when parents matter, children succeed, we’d love to hear from you.

You’ll have:

• Proven experience in trust and statutory fundraising, securing five- and six-figure grants.
• Demonstrable success in developing compelling proposals and reports for funders.
• Strong relationship management skills with a track record of stewarding long-term partnerships.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to convey impact effectively.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines.
• Knowledge of the education, family support, or community development sectors.

You’ll get:

• To join a fast-moving charity with an exciting future
• To build your own team, playing a key role in driving forward the charity’s strategy and shaping our fundraising activity
• Remote working full-time with a great online team culture
• 25 days holiday in addition to UK public holidays.

How to apply

A full candidate pack is attached on this listing. To apply, please submit a CV and covering letter outlining your motivations for applying for the role and how you meet the Person Specification.

Interviews will be held on a rolling basis via video conference.

Parentkind is committed to a policy of equal opportunities and we ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and equally.  We would be grateful if you would complete the equal opportunities monitoring questions when applying online to help us check that we are carrying out our policy of equal opportunities for all people.  The information will be kept confidential and will be separate from your application.  It will have no bearing on your application.

Parentkind is committed to meeting the needs of applicants with disabilities.  Please let us know if you require any adjustments to your application or interview process.