Head of community services jobs in Edinburgh, scotland

About Spear

We launched the award-winning Spear Programme over 20 years ago, and there are now 18 Spear Centres across the country, equipping unemployed 16–24-year-olds facing barriers to employment with the skills and mindset they need to secure work and thrive in the workplace.

Spear operates a joint venture model with churches across the UK to run our Spear Centres. Some Centres operate in collaboration with independent charitable trusts, while others are run directly with the local church (both referred to below as ‘Spear Church Partners’ or ‘Church Partners’).

About the role

We’re looking for a new Church Partnerships Manager to join us for this northern based role, with travel across the region.

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in driving national growth by developing and nurturing partnerships with churches across the North of England. You will be at the forefront of developing new relationships with potential early-stage partners, inspiring churches to engage with our mission, and supporting them through the pipeline, and helping to establish a diverse and thriving network of church partnerships.

We are looking for a confident relationship-builder who can engage and influence a wide range of stakeholders, particularly church leaders, and who is comfortable working in a dynamic and evolving environment.

Key information:

• Salary: £37,000
• Location: Remote with once a month travel to London for team meetings and regular travel in the North of England
• Full-time, 12-14month Fixed Term Contract, with the possibility of extension
• Closing date: Friday 10th April, 09.00am (we interview on a rolling basis and will close the role early if we find the right candidate)

For more information please read through our Job Specification and Work with Us Pack.

If you require any reasonable adjustments as part of the recruitment process, please let us know.

Person Specification

• A practising Christian, passionate about personally representing the values and beliefs of Spear, and our mission to equip and support young people facing barriers to employment
• Strong leadership ability with the confidence to make effective decisions
• Outstanding people skills and emotional intelligence, capable of quickly winning trust and confidence, as well as network, influence and negotiate with church leaders and a range of audiences, internally and externally
• An understanding of the needs and workings of churches and their leaders, and the ability to innovate, build our growth strategy and generate new partnerships
• An excellent communicator (both written and verbal)
• Excellent initiative and a self-starter, with the ability to operate flexibly in a changing and dynamic environment and in response to the support needs of each partner
• Strong organisational skills including the ability to establish appropriate processes and structures and to manage multiple priorities to meet targets and deadlines
• Strong quantitative skills including ability to work with and interpret impact data, fundraising pipelines and basic financial information
• Microsoft Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint competent and experience of/ability to use databases

About Us

We are Global Dialogue, an international philanthropy support organisation partnering with independent funders to advance rights, equity, and diversity. Independent in status and global in reach, we provide funder networks, collaboratives, and partners with the practical support and technical expertise they need to create lasting, systemic change.

The Role

We’re looking for a highly organised and proactive Operations & Systems Manager to play a central role in ensuring Global Dialogue’s operations run smoothly and effectively. This maternity cover role is ideal for someone who enjoys solving problems, improving systems, and supporting teams to be their very best.

You’ll collaborate closely with the Chief Operating Officer, core operational team, and the hosted and incubated programmes to provide a trusted, responsive operational service that enables programmes to focus on their mission. You will be the first point of call for any operational queries, providing clear guidance on our processes and supporting with practical tasks. Your areas of support will span digital and IT systems, data management, programme support, travel and events processes, and internal communications.

About You

The right candidate will possess excellent project management skills, a systems mindset, and confidence working with IT and digital tools. You will be comfortable engaging with stakeholders at all levels, including external suppliers, programme staff, and colleagues across the organisation, and thrive in building trusted relationships. With a passion for improving systems and processes for people, you will be someone who has a track record of providing empathetic and resourceful solutions. An awareness of GDPR considerations and risk management is essential. Experience working in a fast‑paced organisation and confidence with digital systems (particularly Microsoft 365 and SharePoint) would be advantageous.

How to Apply

We are partnering with Doing Good Recruitment for this campaign. Please click ‘Apply’ to find out more, see the full JD and learn how to submit.

Our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

We are committed to the employment and career development of people with disabilities. We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates

may need during the recruitment process, and you will be asked whether you require anything if you are invited to interview. If you need this information in another format or if there are additional options you’d like to request, please contact Tristan at Doing Good Recruitment.

We are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects the communities we serve. To help us monitor how we’re doing and identify any barriers in our recruitment process, we invite all applicants to complete the Equal Opportunities Monitoring form found on Doing Good Recruitment's application page.

• Travel required: 15 days / year (approx.)
• Location: Home-based in either UK, Germany or Spain.

We are seeking a Researcher to support the activities of the Patient Evidence Department of Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE).

Please send your CV and cover letter at recruitment @mpeurope. org. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK, Germany or Spain. Applications without a cover letter will be rejected. 

The following tasks and core responsibilities are non-exhaustive and subject to change depending on needs of the organisation.

Job Purpose

The Researcher will support the Patient Evidence department in generating, analysing and communicating patient-centred evidence to inform clinical, regulatory, industry, academic and policy decision-making, and to fuel progress across MPE programmes and activities. The role involves working with qualitative and quantitative data, supporting research projects and contributing to evidence-based outputs that amplify patients’ experiences and needs. The Patient Evidence department conducts our own patient-focussed research and collaborates on external projects with patient and medical organisations, universities, clinical teams, industry partners and regulatory bodies.

Main Duties and responsibilities

Perform the following duties in conjunction with and under the guidance of the Head of Patient Research:

• Independently design research projects and develop research protocols aligned with MPE’s research strategy, including surveys, interviews and literature reviews.
• Support the development of proposals to secure public and private funding to support research activities.
• Independently conduct assigned research tasks in accordance with project deliverables and timelines.
• Conduct and analyse qualitative (interviews, focus groups) and quantitative research (surveys).
• Conduct desk research (systematic and non-systematic literature reviews) on topics such as patient experiences, health systems and psychosocial impacts of myeloma.
• Maintain accurate records of participant data, safeguarding the confidentiality of participants and patient data, as necessary.
• Write up research results and prepare visualisations of data for different audiences (including for patients, clinicians, academic journals).
• Disseminate research results including presentations at international and national conferences, internal and external meetings and workshops. Represent MPE at internal/external meetings when needed.
• Collaborate with communications colleagues to design strategies to disseminate our research to wider audiences.
• Collaborate with relevant stakeholders to develop recruitment and involvement strategies to enhance participation from underserved groups and from different parts of Europe.
• Engage with patients, families, clinicians, patient organisations and other stakeholders involved in MPE patient evidence projects and other myeloma research.
• Provide administrative and organisational support for the Research Advisory Committee.
• Contribute to our member research support training programme including delivering workshops and training events on research design and methodology.

Other responsibilities

• Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by the Head of Patient evidence.
• Critically appraise and provide advice to the wider MPE team on research and evidence requests.
• Build good relations with members, internal and external stakeholders (including doctors, researchers and medical representatives within companies).
• Respond to external patient organisations’ requests on research and evidence topics.
• Attend scientific congresses and meetings and stay abreast of important developments related to myeloma patient evidence.
• Develop content for MPE website, social media and other communications.
• Participate in advisory boards for the pharmaceutical industry.
• Engage with training and continuing professional development.

Essential criteria

• An undergraduate degree in a relevant subject (such as psychology, social sciences, health policy, health and social care, public health or related fields)
• Master’s degree in a relevant subject (MRes Health Research, MPH, or health-related subject MSc with substantive research component)
• A minimum of 3 years experience conducting applied health research
• Knowledge and experience of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies including surveys, focus groups and interviews applied to health-related research
• Strong skills in qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods analysis.
• Understanding of principles of Good Clinical Practice in research.
• Proficient at Office suite – Word, Excel, PowerPoint (or equivalent), and specialist quantitative/qualitative analysis software (e.g. SPSS/R, or Atlas/Nvivo).
• Ability to work from home in a virtual setting with a team spread across Europe.
• Strong listening, communication and presentation skills.
• Rigorous work methods and high attention to detail.
• Demonstrated excellence in writing, proofreading, and editing in English.

Desirable criteria

• A PhD in a related field
• Project management experience
• Experience in cross-national research
• Experience in working with patients, researchers, doctors and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry desirable
• Experience in systematic or non-systematic literature review
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Familiarity with patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and patient experience data
• Knowledge/expertise of cancer patient experience research
• Knowledge of drug development process and clinical trials
• Knowledge and experience of ethical review procedures
• Fluency in additional European languages

Personal attributes

• Organised, with excellent project management and time management skills.
• Ability to lead and work independently on assigned tasks and take appropriate initiative.
• A motivated and self-aware team player, who can work independently or collaboratively with equal success.
• Ability to explain complex scientific terms and knowledge into lay language.

We offer:

• Opportunity to contribute to impactful, patient-centred work at a European level.
• An exciting position in the emerging field of evidence-based patient advocacy, working together with key patient advocacy leaders across Europe.
• Permanent position with flexible hours giving the opportunity to progress and to integrate in a dynamic, friendly and multi-cultural team working from different European cities.

About MPE

Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE) is a pan-European organisation representing 57 myeloma and amyloidosis patient groups from over 35 European countries. It is registered as an international non-profit organisation under Belgian Law. A Board mainly composed of patients and caregivers is elected by the membership to oversee the strategy and governance of the organisation. A team of 14 staff members runs remotely the day-to-day operations, programmes and services within 4 divisions: Access and Policy, Medical Education and Scientific Engagement, Patient Evidence and Member and Patient Community Programmes.

MPE’s vision is a world where every person affected by myeloma has access to the knowledge, diagnostics, treatment and care they need to have the best possible outcomes and quality of life.

Our mission is to drive advocacy by empowering the myeloma community through research, education and collaboration.

Read more about our strategic goals for 2025-2030 here: w ww.mpeurope.or g/about-mpe/our-goals/

About the Patient Evidence department

The MPE Patient Evidence department was established in 2020 to generate evidence to better understand and articulate patients’ perspectives, influence decision-makers and use evidence as a driving force for progress across our strategic goals.  The team is led by Dr Eilidh Duncan and our goal is to lead the development of robust patient evidence to improve experiences, outcomes and access for myeloma patients and their families. We achieve this by spearheading novel patient research initiatives that address gaps in the evidence and ensure the meaningful inclusion of patient perspectives in research design, conduct and interpretation. We use the evidence we generate internally to fuel progress across all MPE programmes and activities and externally by decision-makers including those in clinical, regulatory, industry, academic and policy settings.

The deadline for applications is 1 May 2026 and all applications will be reviewed immediately afterwards. Our hiring team will schedule interviews with successful candidates to take place in the following weeks. We will be in touch following the review period regarding next steps. 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please reach out to us at our recruitment email address.