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WORKING WITH US
The founder and sponsor of the Harris Federation, Lord Harris of Peckham, opened our first school in 1990. We have, over the past thirty years, implemented ideas and initiatives that have transformed the opportunities of pupils from working class and disadvantaged backgrounds. Harris academies are widely recognised as a force for social mobility. We are immensely proud of the role that our alumni are now beginning to play in the world and of what we believe our current generation of pupils will go on to achieve.
We now have over 50 schools educating more than 40,000 young people across London and Essex, and employ over 5,000 staff across our academies and head office. With the majority of our academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils we serve.
As a provider of employment and education, we value the diversity of our staff and students, and all our staff are equally valued and respected. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment for our students and staff.
Our work will impact many generations to come, and our staff come from all backgrounds and walks of life, coming together to inspire young minds. We promote an inclusive culture that embraces the valuable and enriching contribution that all of our community make. We continue to be proactive in uplifting and supporting all voices at Harris.
To discover more about our culture, ethos and what it is like to work here, visit the page.
ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY
A rare opportunity to lead communications and brand for one of the UK’s leading education trusts.
As Head of Communications and Brand at the Harris Federation, you will shape and protect our public profile, leading strategic communications, marketing and media activity across a network of 55 academies.
Reporting to the CEO, you will act as a trusted adviser to senior leaders, driving brand consistency, overseeing high impact campaigns, and leading digital, PR and internal communications to support pupil recruitment, staff attraction and organisational growth. You will also build and lead a high performing MarComms function and manage external agency partnerships.
This is a pivotal leadership role where you’ll bring the Harris story to life - showcasing our impact, strengthening our reputation, and helping us navigate sector challenges with clarity and credibility.
If you are a senior communications leader with a strong track record in brand, digital and stakeholder engagement, and are passionate about making a difference to young people’s futures - we’d love to hear from you.
MAIN AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
Your responsibilities will include:
Strategic Leadership & Executive Advisory
- Develop and lead the Federation’s external communications and brand strategy at the highest level, ensuring coherence across all academies and central services.
- Act as an adviser to the CEO and executive team on internal and external communications.
Brand Leadership
- Own and embed the Federation’s brand identity, values, and visual standards across all academies and external channels.
- Own and embed brand guidelines, tone of voice, and messaging across all channels to ensure consistency.
External Campaigns & Growth Marketing
- Create comprehensive marketing and communications strategies that align with the Federations aims and increase brand awareness.
- Own and develop high impact external campaigns to support pupil recruitment, reputation and trust building, staff recruitment (in collaboration with Talent Acquisition), and new academy expansions.
MarComms Directorate Leadership
- Build and lead a high performing Marketing & Communications Directorate.
- Set long-term capability requirements and lead workforce planning as the function scales.
For a full list of responsibilities, please download the Job Pack.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR
We would like to hear from you if you have:
- Degree in Marketing, Communications, Digital Media or related field.
- Professional Marketing qualification (CIM or equivalent)
- Evidence of CPD in digital marketing, SEO, or communications.
- Significant experience in marketing, communications, or digital strategy.
- Experience managing brand identity and external communications
- Experience in education, charity or public sector.
- Strong understanding of digital marketing, SEO, Analytics, and social media best practice.
- Excellent written and communication skills.
- Strong design awareness and understanding of visual identity.
- Proficiency with CMS platforms, social media tools, and analytics software.
For a full job specification, please download the Job Pack.
APPLYING FOR THIS POSITION
If you would like to discuss the opportunity further, or if you have any questions, please contact us via email to arrange a conversation.
Before applying please ensure you download the job pack from our careers website, this will help with completing your application. Please note that we only accept applications submitted online before the closing date.
When applying, you will have the option to import your CV or use a LinkedIn profile which will auto populate the online application.
A reminder to check your junk mail for our email communications and add us to your safe senders list to ensure all future email communication is received.
OUR VISION & VALUES
Our vision, from the start, has been to provide the structure and services needed for our schools to amount to more than the sum of their parts, and to free-up our teachers and leaders to focus on one thing and one thing only: the outstanding education of all their pupils. Our young people and communities are at the heart of everything we do. Our core mission has always been to close the educational gap between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. Our ambition is one where every child in London, no matter their background, has equal access to high quality education, giving them the same opportunities and potential to succeed.
We know there are many challenges facing our young people and the communities we serve, and that’s why we need determined people like you to help us tackle those inequalities. Whilst each of our academies has their own unique cultures and values; as a whole Federation, we have four core values which are central to successfully achieving our vision: Excellence, Collaboration, Support, and Innovation. We are proud of our values because they guide us in how we work allowing us to achieve the best possible outcomes for our young people, communities, and colleagues.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Safeguarding Notice
The Harris Federation and all our academies are committed to ensuring the highest levels of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All offers of employment are subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, references, an online search, and where applicable, a prohibition from teaching check will be completed.
Equal Opportunities
The Harris Federation is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified candidates. We value the diversity of our staff and students, and everyone at the Harris Federation is equally valued and respected. We aim to be an inclusive employer that reflects the communities we serve. We are committed to providing a fair, equitable and mutually supportive learning and working environment.
WHAT WE CAN OFFER YOU
Harris has a strong culture of collaboration and best practice, with professional development and career planning at its centre. We invest in our staff with support, coaching, mentoring, and a wide range of top-quality training programmes delivered at every level.
You will also have access to a variety of benefits, support programmes and initiatives including:
- Excellent opportunities for continuous professional development and career progression
- Annual performance and loyalty bonus
- Pension scheme (Teachers' Pension Scheme or Local Government Pension Scheme) with generous employer contribution
- 26 days' annual leave (inclusive of our Christmas Eve closure day) plus bank holidays, rising to 27 days after 2 years' service, or equivalent for staff on term time contracts
- Harris Wellbeing Cash Plan including cover for routine and specialist healthcare
- Employee Assistance Programme for free and confidential advice
- Cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme
- Wide range of shopping, leisure, and travel discounts
- 20% off at Tapi Carpets, exclusive to Harris employees
- Interest-free ICT and season ticket loans
For most non-teaching staff based at our Head Office in East Croydon, we also offer lifestyle friendly working arrangements including flexible start and end times, and hybrid working with two days from home and three days on site.
Non Charity Employer 
More than 1000
Thank you!
The Communications Manager is a key role in the planning and delivering of high quality, integrated internal and external communications to increase awareness of and drive engagement with The Children’s Trust, as part of the Fundraising and Communications Directorate. Working alongside senior colleagues in marketing, media and digital, the role helps ensure our communications are well planned, effective, aligned and consistent, using insight and evaluation to demonstrate impact.
Consistency of Brand and Messaging, content and story gathering
- Build relationships with staff, volunteers and families, telling the stories of The Children’s Trust, to be delivered through a number of channels and who can, alongside celebrities, become ambassadors for the charity
- Drive consistent use of The Children’s Trust key messages across all communications channels
- Work alongside the Senior Marketing Manager to keep style guidelines updated and refreshed on a regular basis
- Work with the Senior Media and Communications Manager to ensure communications collateral is regularly updated, particularly where children and families feature, ensuring it is in line with the charity’s consent process
- Work with the creative team to ensure brand guidelines are refreshed and updated and that there are toolkits and templates available to wider staff
- Assist withthe creation and production of key reports e.g. Quality Report, Annual Report
External Communications
- Work with the Senior Media and Communications Manager to assist with The Children’s Trust press office function, including being part of an out-of-hours press office rota during key periods
- Support a programme of proactive public relations and communications campaigns across a range of media channels, driving awareness of the charity to target audiences
- Support the Head of Marketing and Communications with issues and reputation management
- Help to quickly develop appropriate strategies for responding to a wide range of issues and incidents, whilst liaising with other stakeholders to create and publish the required collateral
- Work with internal stakeholders to identify and create stories and content that supports internal and external marketing and communication activity
- Support the organisation’s approach to volunteer and alumni engagement
- Support the Digital Manager with creating content for and updating The Children’s Trust website and The Children's Trust school website
- Oversee the consent process for work with families ensuring that images and information on the children and young people we support is in line with The Children’s Trust policies and procedures.
Internal Communications
- Be part of a core team to plan and implement an internal communications programme across the charity
- Ensure messages and information is developed and shared appropriately across the organisation
- Monitor key issues and provide guidance and counsel on staff engagement and communications, external communications content in support of agreed projects and objectives
- Work with the Senior Media and Communications Manager and Head of Marketing and Communications to draft internal communications across the charity’s internal communications channels
- Work with wider directorate to evaluate success of existing internal communications and develop new ideas
- Oversee content planning and updating and supporting colleagues to manage their areas on our staff intranet The Loop
Marketing and Communications Management
- Work with fellow managers in the team (currently Senior Media and Communications Manager, Senior Marketing Manager and Digital Manager) to lead the development and implementation of marketing and communications strategies to support the delivery of The Children’s Trust’s strategic objectives
- Conduct monitoring and evaluation to demonstrate the impact of the team’s work
- Provide strong project management for communications projects and campaigns, ensuring work is delivered efficiently, collaboratively and to a consistently high standard
- Develop strong relationships, internally and externally, and role model this to wider members of the department and directorate
Fundraising Communications / Income Generation Communications
- Work with fundraising and retail colleagues within the directorate to plan, execute and evaluate communications campaigns which supports income generation, in line with the fundraising objectives of the charity
- Support the Digital Manager with creation and distribution of marketing emails and creation of reports
- Business Development – working with the team to support campaigns which support the business development objectives of the charity, to promote support the department with its stakeholder engagement to professionals and parents.
Interview date: w/c Monday 1st June 2026
Staff benefits include free staff parking, and more… read more below
About Us
The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.
Boasting a beautiful 24-acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.
Staff Benefits
The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits on our staff flexible benefits platform, on-site nursery, free eye tests, enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms and time off for gender reassignment.
We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.
Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable), Teacher’s pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Rehabilitation of Offenders
Many roles at The Children’s Trust are exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020) and as such, are subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, which will disclose all unspent convictions and adult cautions and any spent convictions or adult cautions that would not be protected. The exceptions to this are our retail roles within The Children’s Trust shops, which are subject to Basic DBS checks which will disclose unspent convictions or adult cautions.
Equal Opportunity Employer
To help us achieve our ambition to give children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability the opportunity to live the best life possible, we want to accurately reflect the UK’s diverse population. We want equity, diversity, and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do, and our people, services, and culture to reflect the diverse needs of all. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we have made a commitment to increase the diversity of our charity and create an inclusive culture. We have networks across the organisation working to ensure that these aims are met - including an LGBTQIA2S+ group, Ethnic Diversity Group, and Spark – our broad EDI group. Read more about our EDI work here. We welcome applications from all who share our ambition regardless of background. We will strive to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are made in respect of interview and working arrangements.
Online Searches
In accordance with statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance, online searches will be conducted for shortlisted candidates before interview. The online searches will be conducted by a person who is independent of the interview and selection process and will focus on relevant information returned via searches of the candidate’s name (and variations thereof). Social media searches will be limited to professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Any concerns relating to suitability for work with children and young people will be forwarded to the interview panel, for discussion during the interview.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Business Support Manager - Philanthropy
Department: P&A Business Operations
Grade and Salary: £45,031 - £52,514 per annum, including London Weighting Allowance
Job ID: 145507
About Us
Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement (P&A) provides a fundraising and alumni engagement function in support of King’s College London. We are proud to work with colleagues across the university and its health partners to help them serve society through world-leading education, research and healthcare. Our work also includes a partnership with the Maudsley Charity in support of children’s mental health initiatives between the university’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust.
We are a committed team that brings together fundraisers working across different channels, alongside colleagues who promote King’s College London’s engagement with its worldwide alumni community. Our work is underpinned and enhanced by a range of dedicated professionals in supporting areas covering proposition development, supporter engagement, supporter operations and business operations.
We have an impressive, well-established track record of success in securing support that allows the university and partners to deliver on their missions. This includes our global, award-winning World Questions: King’s Answers campaign, which set the standard in the sector and enabled us to raise substantial funds to help tackle some of the world’s biggest challenges. Ambitious and innovative, the team has won awards such as a CASE Platinum Award for Fundraising and a CASE Gold Award for Donor Relations and Stewardship. We are strongly values-driven with a focus on sustaining an excellent and supportive culture, which we see as key to creating a successful team that can support the university and its partners in making a real and positive difference to the world we live in.
More on King’s College London
King’s College London is an internationally renowned university delivering exceptional education and world-leading research. The university is dedicated to driving positive and sustainable change in society and realising our vision of making the world a better place. Through its commitment to exceptional education, impactful research and genuine service to society, King’s College London is creating positive change in its communities, both in London and on the world stage. The Strategic Vision 2029 looks forward to King’s College London’s 200th anniversary in 2029 and sets out ambitious plans in five key areas:
· Educating the next generation of change-makers
· Challenging ideas and driving change through research
· Giving back to society through meaningful service
· Working with our local communities in London
· Fostering global citizens with an international perspective
About the role
The Principal & International Giving (PIG) team is responsible for securing principal and transformational gifts of £5m+, and high-level gifts of £50k+ from across the international philanthropy portfolio.
The Business Support Manager provides critical operational, programme and business support and management to enable the continued success and evolution of the Principal and International Giving programme.
This is a fast-paced and varied role, spanning business operations, cross-team coordination, and international activity management. The postholder will work closely with the Principal Giving and International Philanthropy teams and sit within the wider Business Operations unit, ensuring P&A operates in an efficient, joined-up and high-performing way. They will therefore report to the Senior Business Manager, with their day-to-day activity supporting the Associate Director of Principal & International Giving and the Head of Philanthropy (International).
The role suits an ambitious self-starter who enjoys working with people, processes, and systems; can manage complexity and competing priorities; and can act as an active enabler and connector, bringing together the right people at the right time to support fundraising success.
This is a full-time post (35 hours per week) and you will be offered an indefinite contract. P&A has a hybrid working approach, with a minimum of 40% of time in the office. Typically, this equates to two days per week, but we’re very happy for colleagues to be in more frequently if they so wish.
About You
To be successful in this role, we are looking for candidates to have the following skills and experience:
Essential criteria
· Proven experience in project or programme management or complex coordination
· Ability to prioritise, manage competing deadlines, and work calmly under pressure
· Highly organised and process-orientated, with strong attention to detail and an ability to see the bigger picture
· Strong relationship-building skills and the ability to collaborate effectively across teams
· Proactive approach with the ability to manage own workload and deliver to objectives
· Confident stakeholder management skills, including working with senior leaders
· High level of IT literacy, including strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office and databases
· Strong analytical ability, with experience synthesising and presenting complex information clearly
Desirable criteria
· Experience of fundraising or working within a fundraising operation
· Knowledge of a fundraising database (e.g. Dynamics, Raiser’s Edge)
· Experience supporting senior leaders or high-performing teams
Downloading a copy of our Job Description
Full details of the role and the skills, knowledge and experience required can be found in the Job Description document, provided at the bottom of the page. This document will provide information of what criteria will be assessed at each stage of the recruitment process.
Further Information
At King’s, we believe that the diversity of our community and a culture that is welcoming, open, inclusive and collaborative, are great strengths of the university.
The Equality Act of 2010 protects the rights of our students and staff and provides a framework to fulfil our duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in addition, to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. At times, this will include balancing rights and beliefs that can feel in tension.
We are committed to free speech and to academic freedom, believing that our foundational purpose as a university, is to create spaces where a wide range of ideas, including ideas that are controversial, can be discussed and debated, and where members of our community can express lawful views without fear of intimidation, harassment or discrimination.
When engaging in the robust exchange of ideas, we ask that our community is mindful of our Dignity at King’s guidance.
We ask all candidates to submit a copy of their CV, and a supporting statement, detailing how they meet the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job description. If we receive a strong field of candidates, we may use the desirable criteria to choose our final shortlist, so please include your evidence against these where possible.
We reserve the right to close adverts early due to the volume of applications we receive. While the closing date may change, all adverts will close at 23:59 to allow sufficient time for applications to be submitted on that day.
We encourage you to apply at the earliest opportunity to avoid disappointment as once we have closed a vacancy you will be unable to submit your application.
To find out how our managers will review your application, please take a look at our ‘ How we Recruit’ pages.
We are open to discussing flexible working arrangements, including part-time, compressed hours and/or job shares, as appropriate and in the context of the business needs associated with the role.
We offer the opportunity of an “Ask Us Anything” Teams call on Wednesday 20th May at 11am. During this call you will be able to ask any questions you might have about the role, the selection process, our department, our core values and work culture, our current hybrid work policy, or simply listen to others’ questions.
Close Date: 25-May-2026
This role will have two interview stages, a standard skills-based interview followed (for up to two appointable candidates) by a Core Values interview.
First stage interviews are due to be held on Monday 8th June. Core Values interviews are due to be held during w/c 8th June or w/c 15th June.
