Head of employee engagement and communications jobs in croydon, greater london
We’re looking for a Policy and Public Affairs Manager with a proven ability to manage relationships with key stakeholders at a national level and a deep understanding of the education policy landscape. This is a great opportunity to join an ambitious team redefining public service delivery through tech innovation and strong partnerships.
Oak is the publicly-funded provider of free, high-quality digital curriculum and teaching resources for schools. We are a pioneering organsation, fully remote and mission-driven, working to support teachers and improve pupils’ access to quality education. Oak offers high levels of flexibility, autonomy and purpose.
Our culture has been independently recognised through:
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Flexa verified (93% overall score, including 95% for working hours and 97% for role modelling)
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Escape the City's Top 1% Employers – based on anonymous colleague reviews of culture, development, and impact
�� About the Role
Oak's success is built on a wide range of partnerships across the education and wider public sector. This is a fantastic opportunity for a policy and public affairs professional to manage key relationships and develop Oak's policy role.
�� What You’ll Be Doing
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Manage relationships and inputs with important stakeholders across the education, political and commercial sectors. Act as the lead policy liaison between Oak and the Department for Education
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Work with partners and the Department for Education to develop, agree and fulfil Oak’s policy role and remit within the curriculum, education, AI and edtech landscape.
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Write speeches, presentations, briefings and public papers to communicate Oak’s role and impact, and support Oak’s proactive and reactive media work. You will also represent Oak at public events and in meetings with key figures interested in our work.
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Ensure the continuous improvement of Oak’s external monitoring, stakeholder engagement and policy work.
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Deputise for the Head of External Relations and take on other general responsibilities as required.
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Regular travel to London for in-person meetings and events, including some overnight stays
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As a member of the Oak Team, you will contribute to the wider success and culture of the organisation as well as support and model our five values: create the right environment, be a great colleague, own your role but work for the team, make things happen and keep getting better.
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Work in cross-functional and product-oriented squads with colleagues from across the organisation, as required.
�� What We’re Looking For
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4+ years holding responsibility for the development of policy and stakeholder relations.
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Extensive knowledge of the education landscape and policy agenda plus developments in AI and edtech.
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A skilled communicator, able to analyse, distil and convey complex information succinctly and build positive relationships with external stakeholders.
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Organised and detail-oriented.
�� Our Benefits
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25 days annual leave, plus one extra day for each year of service (up to 28)
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Additional Oak closure days over Christmas/New Year
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11% employer pension contribution (with no minimum employee contribution)
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A 36-hour working week, with half-days on Fridays or every other Friday off
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Fully remote working — we’ll support your home set-up and offer coworking options if preferred
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Twice-yearly in-person offsites to collaborate, connect, and have fun
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A culture that genuinely supports flexibility, autonomy, and trust
�� Inclusion and Belonging
We believe diverse teams build better products. We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those who are underrepresented in the tech and education sectors.
We use the Applied recruitment platform to help reduce bias in our hiring process.
�� Key Info
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Location: Remote, but you must be based in the UK with the legal right to work here
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Sponsorship: Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer visa sponsorship at this time
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Closing date: 23:59 on 31 August 2025
If this sounds like the kind of role and team where you would thrive, we'd love to hear from you.
Next steps
You’ll answer some questions related to your day-to-day job. After the advert closes, your answers will go through our sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised, and then reviewed by a panel of reviewers (real humans).
If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next stage.
We love giving feedback, so at the end of the application process we'll share how well you performed.
We are aiming to start interviews in early September 2025.
We are experiencing really good responses to our job adverts. This may lead us to close the role early, so if you are considering applying then please get your application in early to avoid missing out.
We are an equal opportunities employer.
We are committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of gender, age, disability, religion, belief, sexual orientation, marital status, or race, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Actively Interviewing
This organisation is scheduling interviews as applications come in. They're ready to hire as soon as they find the right person. Don't miss your opportunity, apply now!
Starting Salary: Up to £35,000 depending on experience
Specific Hours: 40 hours per week shift work- including evenings, weekends, bank holidays and sleep-ins.
(flexibility to work evenings and sleep-ins are for the Day position. Waking Night position requires staff to be awake for the entire night shift).
Sleep-ins: £50. Overtime / bank holidays paid time-and-a-half and alternative weekends off
Location: Croydon, CR2 - closest station is 1 stop after East Croydon | 10 minutes from Clapham Junction | 20 minutes from Waterloo.
Looking for fantastic career progression, excellent training and therapeutic support? Join our committed and professional team and make a difference to young people living in residential care, where no two days are the same!
About the role
As a Children’s Residential Worker, you will directly look after children and young people who have complex emotional and mental health needs due to trauma, loss and other adverse experiences.
You will be required to support children to regulate and understand their emotions. Working within a therapeutic framework, you will develop a direct programme of work aimed at developing authentic relationships with our children and young people (aged 12 – 17 years old on admission to the Children’s Home).
You will have a key role in making sure our children are safe and happy. You will also be required to work collaboratively with key professionals to ensure that information is recorded and shared appropriately, as well as to enable children to receive the multi-agency support that they require.
If applying for the Day position, you will be required to do sleep-ins paid at £50 each.
If applying for the Waking Night position, you will have the additional support of an on-call manager should there be any emergencies. Further to this, you will be involved in monthly team meetings and receive monthly supervision.
Applicants should have
- Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare or equivalent (i.e. Level 3 Diploma Children and Young People Workforce with the children's social care pathway) as per Children’s Homes Regulations 2015 (England).
- Minimum of 2 years’ experience working and supporting children and Young People to achieve their full potential.
- Genuine commitment to working with and supporting children and Young People to achieve their full potential; with the ability to build and promote trusted relationships while maintaining professional boundaries.
- An understanding of the issues facing children and Young People and a basic understanding of safeguarding Regulations and Procedures.
- The ability to cope effectively with challenging behaviour.
- Good communication and team working skills.
- Flexibility to work shifts, including weekends and bank holidays, and if applicable, sleep-in’s.
- Commitment to undertake any mandatory training (outside of working hours) and continuous learning to ensure a high level of service.
- Creativity, enthusiasm and energy to inspire and encourage young people to achieve their goals.
What you should expect from us
- Salary: Up to £35,000 depending on experience
- Sleep-ins: £50. Overtime / bank holidays paid time-and-a-half and alternate weekends off
- A friendly working environment, a fun, open and honest culture.
- 25 days holiday rising to 27 days after 3 years’ service, plus Bank Holidays, pro-rata.
- Industry leading training programme including access to level 3 qualifications, children’s right and participation, CSE, empowerment, mental health and social pedagogy.
- Contributory pension scheme, enhanced maternity and company sick scheme.
- UK Life Assurance (Death in service) to the value of 3 times your annual salary.
- BUPA employee assistance programme, offering counselling, financial advice and legal support.
- Cycle to work scheme.
- Bluelight card; discount shopping scheme at hundreds of retailers across the UK.
- Discretionary funded training programs.
- Employee awards based on performance and length of service.
- Fantastic opportunities to develop your career within our range of services.
Recruitment Process
At St Christopher’s we are committed to the safeguarding of all children and young people in our care. During the recruitment process you will be expected to complete an online application form to ensure we capture essential information to meet legislation, best practice and vetting requirements. Applicants will ideally already be on the DBS Update Service; if this is not the case St Christopher's will carry out a DBS (police) check prior to starting.
Your Online application must include a supporting statement addressing the criteria stated in the Person Specification.
For the full Job Description and Person Specification please see our wwebsite. CV’s will not be accepted.
For more information or assistance during the application process, please visit our website.
Closing Date: August 18th 2025
First Stage Interview – Throughout August 2025
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview at our Head Office
Second Stage Interview
Successful candidates will then attend the second stage interview at one of St Christopher's residential homes.
Our Children and Young People are looking forward to hearing from you
We advise you to apply as soon as possible as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Please note:
- This post has a minimum age restriction of 21 year for roles working directly with children and young people in our residential and supported accommodation Homes in line with the Equality Act ‘occupational requirement’.
- It is illegal to apply for any role that involves working with children and young people under the age of 18, if you know you are barred from working with children.
- All shortlisted candidates invited to interview will be asked to submit a Self-Declaration and Disclosure form which will need to be returned prior to an interview being booked.
Registered Charity
101 - 500
We are a leading charity for children and young people, providing fostering, children's homes and leaving care services across the UK and Isle of Man
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
Using Anonymous Recruitment
This organisation is using Anonymous Recruitment to reduce bias in the first stages of the hiring process. Submit your application as normal and our system will anonymise it for you. Your personal information will be hidden until the recruiter contacts you.
We are looking for an experienced Community and Corporate Fundraiser to join our team at an exciting period of growth for our charity. Building on our existing relationships and developing new partnerships, you will help increase unrestricted income through community and corporate fundraising initiatives.
Elayos exists to bring compassion, support and advocacy to vulnerable and isolated birthing people in Birmingham. Our Perinatal Outreach Workers, come alongside, build relationships, listen and equip with the information needed to empower our clients to have a positive and informed pregnancy, birth and postnatal period.
Our staff and volunteers offer continuity of care as we assist with emotional, practical and physical needs. Elayos values the importance of trauma-informed approaches and seeks to offer this to both staff and clients. Where appropriate, we signpost and collaborate with other organisations to ensure that the greatest range of support is given.
Alongside emotional support, we provide: a baby bank stocking essential equipment and consumables, expert infant feeding support, a small hardship fund for essential items, vouchers to clients at Christmas and toy packs for vulnerable children.
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
StreetGames is a charity passionate about harnessing the power of sport to change the lives of young people and their communities. Through our work with 1,600 trusted local community organisations, StreetGames addresses some of the most pressing issues faced by young people growing up in underserved communities, including poor mental health, food poverty, crime and lack of employment opportunities. We do this by delivering ‘Doorstep Sport’ at the right time, in the right place, in the right style, at the right price and by the right people. Doorstep Sport aims to make sport accessible to everyone regardless of their income and social circumstance.
We are seeking a Network Support Lead (London & South East) to join our team.
The successful candidate will play a vital role in delivering Doorstep Sport offers and support for the network of Locally Trusted Organisations based in the region who support young people from low-income communities to be (more) physically active.
The role involves:
- Working closely with the Network Support Team and the London & South East Place Team to implement regional plans, which ensure that projects, offers and support to Locally Trusted Organisations (LTOs) are effective
- Overseeing and directly delivering a range of workshops and courses, creating and maintaining a safe, supportive, interactive and enjoyable learning environment in all delivery
- Delivering support to the workforce within Doorstep Sport beyond the workshop environment through CPD groups, bite-size learning and other opportunities for improving practice
- Co-ordinating the gathering of monitoring and evaluation information for funder reports, in relation to outputs and outcomes of projects delivered across the region/nationally
This is an exciting opportunity for candidates with experience of successfully managing project work, relationships and working with multiple partners. You will have excellent networking and relationship building skills with the ability to apply these to a range of local and regional organisations.
No candidate will meet every single desired requirement. If your experience looks a little different from what we have identified and you think you can bring value to the role, we would love to learn more about you!
