Head of humanitarian jobs

Closing Date: 29 June 2025

Ref 7082

Save the Children UK has an exciting opportunity for a highly organised and proactive individual with excellent administrative, communication and relationship-building skills to join us as our Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations Executive where you will work with philanthropists, trusts and with teams across the organisations to secure flexible funding and deliver lasting impact for children across the world. 

About Us 

Save the Children UK believes every child deserves a future. In the UK and around the world, we work every day to give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm.

When crisis strikes, and children are most vulnerable, we are always among the first to respond and the last to leave. We ensure children's unique needs are met and their voices are heard. We deliver lasting results for millions of children, including those hardest to reach.

About the role 

As Philanthropy and Strategic Foundations Executive, you will manage and grow a portfolio of four-to-five-figure philanthropic and trust-based partnerships, delivering flexible income to support our global and UK programmes.

You will lead our Major Donor Programme and Supporting Trust Portfolio, building and nurturing long-term relationships to deepen engagement and secure ongoing support.

Alongside fundraising, you will provide essential administrative, financial, and project co-ordination support to the wider Partnerships for Impact function, ensuring the delivery of high-quality donor experiences. 

This role sits within our Partnerships for Impact function which catalyses change by partnering with governments, institutions, multilateral agencies, high-net-worth individuals and the private sector. 

You will work closely with the Head of Philanthropy and Strategic Foundations, Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations Leads, and wider Partnerships for Impact colleagues to manage team processes, ensure visibility of key information, and assist managers on existing partnerships. 

In this role, you will: 

• Manage and grow a portfolio of philanthropists and trusts, fostering meaningful, long-term relationships to maximise income and impact 

• Deliver flexible funding targets by leading the Major Donor Programme and Supporting Trusts Portfolio, with a focus on donor stewardship and retention 

• Support the Philanthropy & Strategic Foundations team with day-to-day operations, administration and project co-ordination to ensure high-quality delivery 

• Act as the team's humanitarian response representative co-ordinating with internal teams and ensuring a speedy, and efficient notification to all donors of any emergency activations 

• Write compelling funding proposals and donor reports aligned with organisational priorities and impact goals 

• Build excellent internal relationships across the Partnerships for Impact team to enhance collaboration and collective success

• Support the team on external partnerships when needed, ensuring commitments are fulfilled while identifying opportunities for new impactful initiatives 

• Coordinate cross-functional, and donor engagement activities, share best practice and knowledge across the team, and contribute to the development of impactful communications about our work

• Where required, attend and support external meetings and events, representing Save the Children and supporting strategic objectives. 

About you 

To be successful, it is important that you have: 

• Proven experience managing donor portfolios and cultivating four-to-five-figure funding relationships 

• Demonstrable success in securing flexible income through philanthropic and trust fundraising 

• Strong skills in writing impactful proposals and donor reports tailored to funder expectations 

• Excellent relationship-building and stakeholder engagement abilities, both internally and externally 

• A highly organised and proactive approach, with the ability to manage multiple priorities across a complex portfolio 

• Proficiency in CRM tools such as Salesforce, and experience supporting cross-functional fundraising teams.

Technical Skills 

• Proven experience in providing high-quality administrative and project management support. 

• Experience delivering mass stewardship or appeal mailings and/or experience securing four-to-five figure level gifts. 

• Familiarity with CRM tools like Salesforce for partner management and data tracking. 

• Competence in financial administration and fundraising processes. 

• Ability to develop and optimise systems and tools to improve team efficiency. 

• Experience coordinating bespoke initiatives and activities in a fast-paced environment. 

Personal Skills 

• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills with the ability to collaborate across diverse teams. 

• Highly organised, detail-oriented and able to manage multiple priorities with ease. 

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills. 

• A proactive, agile and problem-solving mindset.

• A commitment to the mission, values and safeguarding policies of Save the Children. 

What we offer you: 

Working for a charity provides one of the best benefits there is – a sense of purpose and reward for helping others. However, we understand the importance of giving back to our employees to ensure a happy and healthy working environment and work/life balance. 

We focus on flexibility, inclusion, collaboration, health and wellbeing both in and outside of work. 

We provide a wide range of benefits which will reward your hard work, motivate you, and inspire you to work to improve the lives of children every day. 

Closing date: 29 June 2025 

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 7 July 

Please note: To avoid disappointment, you are advised to submit your application as soon as possible as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if a high volume of applications are received. This is to ensure that we can manage application levels whilst maintaining a positive candidate experience. Unfortunately once a vacancy has closed, we are unable to consider further applications.

Ways of Working:

The majority of our roles can be performed remotely in the UK, but there are likely to be times when you will be required to come to your contracted office (up to 2-4 days per month or 6-8 days per quarter).  This will be agreed with your Line Manager and team and is intended to be time spent on collaborating with colleagues and relationship building. 

Please note: travel costs to your contracted office will be at your own expense. 

Flexible Working - We are happy to discuss flexible working options at interview.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion: 

Save the Children UK believes in a world that is fair, inclusive and equitable where all children have the opportunity to change their world. We apply this to our workforce and we are committed to developing and supporting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organisation where all employees have a sense of belonging and feel that they can be "Free to Be Me". We are not looking for just one type of person - we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas or challenge that disrupts the risk of group think. 

We are especially interested in people whose childhood experiences - of life on a low income, of migration, of being in a racialised community, of the care system, of being LGBT+ or in an LGBT+ family or living with (or with someone with) a disability - help us to see things we might otherwise miss. Whatever your story is we want to hear it because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world. This is the reason why we are all here.